

Review: AT&T 3G MicroCell - PStamatiou
http://paulstamatiou.com/review-att-3g-microcell

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sh1mmer
Maybe I'm missing something, but given that I live in the mission in San
Francisco halfway up a hill, it seems pretty poor form for AT&T to expect me
to purchase one of these things at my expense.

While I realise that currently they are being offered in rural regions. I'm
pretty offended at my surprisingly terrible coverage at home and it seems
pretty lame of AT&T to suggest that their customers should a) buy additional
hardware to get better cell coverage b) have to provide a free internet
connection for their calls

I have to pay AT&T for both my cell connection and my internet connection, and
now they think it's appropriate for me to pay to piggy back for free on the
internet connection I'm already paying for in order to get decent cell
coverage. Uncool in the extreme.

~~~
PStamatiou
"While I realise that currently they are being offered in rural regions"? I
live in midtown Atlanta, not quite rural. (I'm OP) :-)

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shimon
The main reason for having GPS in these devices isn't to support a phased
rollout in US markets. The main reason is so that I can't install one of these
outside the country, and still dial/pay like I'm still in the US.

T-mobile offers a number of phones with WiFi that, similarly, connect to the
T-mobile network via the internet. I hear they are a great way to get around
overseas roaming charges.

~~~
Imprecate
That may be one factor, but avoiding lawsuits over broken E911 functionality
is another: <http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=77368>

~~~
bsgamble
Correct. That is exactly the reason. The revenue protection is a happy
coincidence.

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bsgamble
Great review. I have wanted one of these ever since a friend at AT&T shared
details about them almost two years ago. I have a mostly stone house with
plaster interior walls that is essentially a Faraday cage to wireless devices.
I'm just waiting for AT&T to add my city and I'll be first in line to buy one.

If you think about it, it's ironic that I'm looking forward to paying $$ for a
device that will extend the coverage of my wireless telephone by using
bandwidth provided through my broadband carrier. AT&T should really pay us $20
a month to use them.

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justlearning
If I hadn't noticed the OP was the author of the article, I would have shouted
foul play - in the wake of the at&t-verizon battle with 3G. The article is
well written enough for me to remark as a viral ploy by at&t to get back to
customers. (I didn't know of the 3G micro cell until I read this article; I
assumed that this is a new device released)

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timdorr
I know Paul personally and he's a pretty reputable guy. Plus, he used my
little Stammy head rating graphic at the end of the post, so how could I not
appreciate that :D

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anthonymc
The GPS requirement seems ridiculous. I understand why they are requiring it,
but it really highlights how ridiculous tying services to geographic locations
can be when the internet gets involved.

That being said, I'd buy one without hesitation if they were available in
Houston.

~~~
bsgamble
I wonder if the GPS sync is a one-time requirement, or if it does it
periodically to ensure that the device isn't moved.

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tumult
GPS simulators exist, though they're expensive. I wonder how cheaply you could
make a ghetto one yourself?

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brk
Would probably be easier to just plug it into a small UPS.

If you were driving, you could very easily transport it hundreds or even
thousands of miles without ever worrying about power loss.

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1010011010
T-Mobile customers can roam onto AT&T... does anyone know if this microcell
works with t-mobile phones?

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chrisbolt
Not only will it not work with T-Mobile phones (which use a completely
different 3G frequency), it won't even work with AT&T phones that aren't
registered with the device.

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jackman002
It seems like femtocells are are a half way solution. Leveraging a dual mode
smartphone would provide much easier solution. Maybe a phone based client that
automatically routes through the WiFi to the cellular infrastructure would be
a better solution.

I know t-mobile has a solution but that still requires you to get a separate
router and it is limited to certain phones. .

I've looked at enterprise solutions like Agito Networks, but the cost seems
prohibitively high for non enterprise users..

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Poiesis
I have waffling between waiting for this and getting a run of the mill signal
booster/amplifier (which should work in my circumstance). I think I'm going
for the latter because it doesn't require phones to be manually added and
works regardless of carrier. I want visiting phones to work too without
hassle.

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tjmc
_My apartment gets absolutely no signal of any kind, so why would I be able to
get a solid GPS satellite lock? Ridiculous._

I don't understand this complaint. Lack of cell phone signal has nothing to do
with GPS signal availability. You just need a reasonable amount of sky to
point at.

~~~
maximilian
Which makes the requirement that it gets a GPS lock before it works that much
more ridiculous. GPS gets terrible reception in any indoor situation. It can
have trouble with just trees.

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philwelch
Idea: hook your MicroCell through your broadband connection, jailbreak your
iPhone, and use it to tether another computer's internet connection through
the 3G through the wired broadband connection.

~~~
PStamatiou
Could you clarify a bit? Is there any use for this when I have Wi-Fi? Unless
you are talking about using your connection with someone else's MicroCell, in
which they have to add your phone to the authorized list. In which case I see
what you mean.. getting access to Internet on your computer when you only have
a access to a MicroCell connection. (?)

~~~
philwelch
There's no use for it, I just thought it would be funny.

I guess if you didn't have WiFi, had this, and all your friends had jailbroken
iPhones it would be useful.

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kylec
You don't need to jailbreak to tether - there is a carrier file you can
download on iPhone 3.0 that will enable it.

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daeken
Ok, I can't be the only one that wants to get one and hack it to work with any
VoIP provider. I haven't been this excited about working on a device since the
original iPhone came out.

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brk
I missing something. What part would be VoIP?

DO you mean, hack it so that a VoIP phone can pair with it, because those
product already exist...

Or do you mean hack it to carry calls over VoIP, which seems like just another
monthly-bill layer of abstraction in the transport, since it can already use a
"raw" Internet connection to carry the calls.

~~~
encoderer
I'm thinking he's saying he'd like to be able to use a 3G phone via this
device without AT&T being in the mix at all.

It does use the "raw" internet to make a VPN-ish connection to AT&T... it
would be highly cool if I could make that connection to a VOIP Provider
instead.

