Gearlog has scooped pricing details on AT&T's entry into the up-and-coming femtocell market, the
3G MicroCell, where it's currently undergoing a public market trial in Charlotte, North Carolina -- and basically, it's a decent deal as long as you don't want unlimited calling. Stores are charging $150 for the unit itself and service is free (similar to Verizon's model, though Verizon charges $100 more upfront and the unit doesn't do 3G); if you want to tack on unlimited calling, you're paying another $20 a month unless you have some combination of AT&T landline or DSL service at your address. $20 is properly insane, though in exchange, the carrier throws you a bone with a $100 rebate on the device. All they've got to do is drop that unlimited service down to $10 a month to bring 'em in line with Sprint and T-Mobile and put some pressure on Verizon, which still doesn't offer any unlimited add-on.
[Via
Mac Rumors]
posted Sep 21st 2009 1:37PM
$150? The device should be free! Or $50 max.
How much can it possibly cost? A lot less than putting in more cell towers I'm sure.
No it shouldn't.
I doubt it's cheaper per person/user than a cell tower.
Now, maybe they should give it away free if you're willing to turn off the user-screen, so anyone nearby can use it.
Well I was just broke down and bought the third party dual band (1900MHz/800MHz) cell phone repeater ,that requires me to install a rather obtrusive antenna on my roof, from a third pary for $289 on amazon. I have since cancelled my order in hopes that ATT will get moving at moving this thing national as soon as possible. $150 sounds pretty good to me :)
The device I just returned was a "Wireless Extenders zBoost YX510-PCS-CELDual "
Alan, is your signal fine outside but not inside? Or do you have a weak signal in general? If the latter, then it's a good thing you canceled it, because you're not looking for just a repeater. You'd need something like a Yagi antenna pointed at the nearest cell tower, an amplifier, and then a repeater inside. This is assuming, of course, that you just have a weak signal, and not a signal that's messed up because of excessive noise (because the amplifier will just amplify the noise then).
so $150 - $100 MIR?
hmmm... if it was free I was going to get iphone and use it as my landline :P
That's gross. It should be very cheap, people that need this get it because they get bad service in their area or home. Why pay when it's not your fault?
Who's to say it's not their fault, or at least not the carriers fault yet still out of control of the user? I get five bars outside my front door and anywhere else on my property except INSIDE my house. Is it AT&T's fault that their signal can't penetrate the walls of my house for some reason? Absolutely not. My only alternatives are to get a repeater, femtocell or move to a new home.
And this holds true for EVERY carrier I've tried, not just AT&T. I've had phones from all four major carriers in the U.S. and the result has been the same; five bars outside, one bar (if I'm lucky) inside...
Just get a zBoost. It compensates for AT&Ts crappy signal and brings 3G into the home via a tether outside. No extra monthly charges, no additional fees. Now that truely compensates for the service whereas this MicroCell is really setting up an additional tower on AT&Ts behalf and charging you for it.
I suppose if you live in an aluminum foiled house, this would be for you then.
zboost works great if I'm within 10 feet of the device. Try to go through 1 or 2 walls, the floor or 40 ft open space at is does nothing for me. I even bought the extra strength ceiling antenna, but it did not help.
@Jeff; Many people do live in "aluminum foil" houses. If they don't have aluminum siding, then they may have aluminum skinned foam board under vinyl siding.
And in my case, I live in a house built in the '20s, with knob-and-tube wiring wrapped in huge circles around the house and outside walls. Makes for a huge loop antenna that absorbs signals and feeds them through the electrical system. At least I know that any wardriver passing along will not likely see my wireless lan signal either. But like Pasukin above, I get 5 bars outside, 1-2 bars at best inside, and my basement office has zero cell reception.
whatever, I'll pay for the unit as long as I dont have to give AT&T a dime for a monthly fee. Their coverage in my neighborhood SUCKS.
It's no coincidence that Verizon and AT&T both offer traditional land line service and both offer either no or unreasonable IP-based unlimited calling. That said, I'd call this relatively reasonable if you don't need the unlimited calling feature. And with rollover AND "a-list," how many people really do? I do think that $99 would be a bit more appropriate for the hardware, though, considering that you most likely are making up for a deficiency in AT&T's own network.
Were the profiteers you can be one too. Cause bleeding people dry is the thing to do. Looting and pulluting is a fun way to pass the day. Hear what captain PROFITS has to say...
YOUR MONEY IS MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!
By your financial dependence, I am RICHER THAN EVER!
You guys seriously didn't think it was funny? I wasnt being serious...just trying to be cute. (Cries)
thank god we get to hear the same story twice in a few hours, god knows this AT&T femtocell crap is so important.
For some of us, it is! Don't like it, don't read it...
How lovely. You already pay a monthly fee to your ISP for internet service. AT&T is going to ALLOW you to use your already paid for service be the conduit to their backbone and not be decent enough to not count the time on the femtocell against your plan!
No thanks.
Same to all the carriers who do the same.
you really think it doesnt cost anything to run the network even though it isnt over towers? what, you think once a phonecall hits your internet it is magically transported to the recipient? there is still switching and the backend to receive the calls over ip. if there is no additional service charge for this thing, and just a one time fee for the device, id say this isnt unreasonable at all.
@Dean
I know pretty well what it costs having worked for and with telecoms over the years and the costs you refer to would be there regardless of this device. In fact they will save quite a bit of money if they can get enough buy-in to these. Tower capacity is probably the biggest expense for the carrier and if they can keep from adding capacity or erecting towers in remote local and still add new customers they win big.
You mean like MS ALLOWS you to connect to play online via those SAME ISPs we already pay for?? lol...if MS can get away with it for gaming damn sure AT&T can with this...as does everyone else...
Engadget, thank you for posting this. Most of the reports and articles on the net now (including Gizmodo) are inaccurately saying that the service itself costs $20 a month, and are not doing their homework first.
OK AT&T, lower the price on the box and I'm in.
With a lower price, I'm in too
Call their customer retention line and threaten to buy a Palm Pre and an AIRAVE from Sprint and see how free this box will end up being.
"bring 'em in line with Sprint and T-Mobile and put some pressure on Verizon"
How? isn't this the only 3G offer?
Don't care about 2G and well, WiFi, I already have at home...
This is an Apple, those others are Oranges ;^)...
See what I did there?
As far as I know, sprint's offering is $20/mo for unlimited minutes for a family, or you can save $5 if you only have one user on it. For no minutes, it's $5/month.
Sounds to me like AT&T's offering is slightly better than Sprint's?
Here's one way to get the box for slightly cheaper:
Buy the Microcell for $150 and pay for the $20 per month unlimited minutes plan to get a $100 rebate. Once you receive the rebate, cancel the $20/month plan. If the rebate arrives within a month the box will cost you $70 net. There is no contract when you sign up for the unlimited plan.
any word on if Uverse Voice can replace land line service to get you the discount?
A $150 upfront fee (plus $100 rebate = $50 total cost) with free unlimited min from calls that start from home seems like a great deal for my situation.
Assuming you have WiFi already and U-Verse VOIP service why not just add a Bluetooth Cordless with cellular link.
http://www.smithgear.com/bluetooth-landline.html
Or does your cell not have WiFi and you need the 3g?
my wifes phone is sans wi-fi and those devices are all >$50 which the MicroCell would be $50 to buy and free to use if they count Uverse voice as equivalent to ATT land line service.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I already pay for Comcast broadband AND pay for Comcast voice. $20/month would still be cheaper than the price I pay for Comcast voice. Sure, I pay $150 for a box, but that's a relatively short payoff
Ah, finally someone who gets it! :)
for $150 I will be all over it....my phone never works in the basement so this will be welcomed in my house.
My ? is. If i get someone i know in charlotte to purchase and send the unit can i use it now, outside of the trail market?
Not too bad, we have AT&T landline and DSL. I hope they release to everyone soon, my family will be all over it!
Any word on the range of the product?
Says it can cover 5000 sq feet.
Spoke with AT&T today, I live in Orlando, FL but they said only the Atlanta, Raleigh and Charlotte regions are in testing right now. Which makes no sense... if it is internet based shouldn't they be able to test it anywhere?
Perhaps they're using the built-in GPS to determine your location, and locking out users that aren't in the test areas. They can already lock you out if you take it to a different country, so I don't see why it would be any different.
Ok...
So you have to
pay to buy this thing....
pay a monthly fee...
So someone in the area can connect to it and suck up your bandwidth?
Looks like AT&T should pay us...
So you have to
pay to buy this thing....
TRUE
pay a monthly fee....
FALSE - You only pay a monthly fee if you want unlimited calls, otherwise you just use the minutes you already have for no additional fees.
So someone in the area can connect to it and suck up your bandwidth?
FALSE - The device only allows authorized phones to connect to it.
I live literally right outside of the charlotte market 3g area for AT&T(3g towers are 5-10 miles my house)but i travel mostly in the area. I'm wondering if your phyiscal address has to be inside a 3g zone to get 3g service.
That wouldn't make much sense (not that that stops many carriers). It isn't like you get a discount on your data plan because you don't have 3G (or if you do, please let me know because I sure don't). No the device has a mini-HSPA radio that bridges directly to your wired broadband connection. It'll use whatever bandwidth it can fit in regardless of whether the surrounding area has 3G or not.
The $30/month for data or $30/month text & $99 for unlimted voice isn't enough money already AT&T?
I think a good compromise between At&t and its customers is to offer this device for free under a 1 year commitment. I would sign up in a heart beat. At&t coverage sucks bad in my area, I can't even make a damn text message sometimes, and I live in Los Angeles. What I still need however is clarification on the pricing. Is it $10 for those who have either landline or DSL with At&t.
It would be best if the microcell were FREE for subscribers who were using the device within an area that is covered by 3G according to their 3G coverage map. (Since the device carries a GPS tag, it would be easy to tell if the device were in a 3G coverage area).
TO me it seems ethically wrong to advertise that 3G is available in a specified area and then charge at least $150 for people to receive the service when they are clearly in that coverage area.
It seems more acceptable to charge for people to purchase a microcell if they are outside a coverage area, since it would be a cost-effective way not to have to build as many new towers in areas with low coverage.
That said ... if I pay $25/month for VoIP thru my cable company then it takes about 6 months to break even with a $150 microcell, which I guess is not that bad, plus I don't have to memorize a new number.
This is a perfect product at a great price if you ask me. I have practically unlimited minutes anyways due to rollover, and I really dont care about shelling out 150 bux to fix my signal.
Here is an idea, if AT&T builds a tower in my neighborhood in like a year, they buy back the MicroCell for 75 bux?
Who's the creepy bitch on the couch?
Hi, does anyone know if these the AT&T 3G femtocells work with older, non-iphone AT&T cellphones? My trusty old Tilt still has a lot of years to it, and my wife has an even older gsm phone from Net10, and it would be great if we could boost the signal in our house, which is like at 1/2 bar or less.
It isn't tied at all to the iPhone. It is essentially just a miniature cell tower. It is possible that it doesn't work with non-3G enabled devices (haven't seen the specs), but I'm pretty sure it'll probably enable GSM/EDGE (2g) connections as well as UMTS/HSPA (3g) phones.
How about allowing smartphones to make calls directly over WiFi? That would make more sense IMO.
Apparently T-Mobile offers such a service, but for some reason the Android phones don't work with it.
It's just backwards, they should be crediting us to use our bandwidth and take load off their network broken lame ass network.
You still end up using their network resources. The only difference is that you use your broadband to get your phone connected to their service. If it works anything like Sprint's Airrave, it makes a VPN connection to your carrier, and everything you do is still through the carrier's network not your ISP. The ISP only provides your connection to the carrier. So the only part of their network you're not using is their cell towers.
I just did a full review on the MicroCell I picked up yesterday. So far it's great.
http://jasonnash.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/review-of-the-att-3g-microcell/