Does the iPhone 4 hate the AT&T MicroCell?

It just might. AT&T support boards are filling up with reports from unhappy customers saying the MicroCell, designed to provide excellent AT&T 3G reception in a house or office, simply isn't working well with the iPhone 4.

Users are reporting a good deal of audio breakup on incoming calls, although the person on the other send of the conversation can hear things just fine. Walking toward the device usually helps, and some users saying turning off the iPhone's cellular data clears up the problem. People are even posting videos demonstrating the issue. It doesn't seem to be a matter of range. People are getting the audio 'stuttering' even with 5 bars of signal strength.

I've experienced the problem with my MicroCell as well. AT&T thought the hardware was bad, and cheerfully exchanged it. The problem, although intermittent, remained.

I called an AT&T tech, and he dutifully took down my report, but seemed unaware of any problem. The rub is that you have 30 days to return the MicroCell for a refund, and I've got about 2 weeks left to do that. It's not likely anyone will have a fix before that, so users who are running out of their 30 days, or already have gone past that are stuffed.

Could it be an Apple issue? Uh huh. The vast majority of people posting about the problem are on the new iPhone. I didn't see the issue on my 3GS. It only started when I went to the iPhone 4.

Somebody needs to get going on this. For many AT&T customers, buying a device to fix reception has made reception even worse.

Have you had any experience with the MicroCell on any phone, Apple or another brand? We'd be interested in hearing your reports. Just don't phone them in!

Thanks to Allen and other readers for letting us know about your pain.