3G MicroCell Review

[rbowers216]

OK, so I have been using MC for about 6 months. My impression - Meh.

Background: Live less than 1 mi from tower. Tower is partially obsured by pine trees (we live in forest area). Tower is adjacent to Interstate Highway. Signal fluctuates in home, apparently in relation to amount of 3G data use on the tower (confirmed by tier 3 support). Own 3 iPhone 4s and a Nokia 3G. 

MC seemed like the answer to all my problems. Not so much... When I return to the home, or phone has been asleep for a while, I often don't pickup MCell connection without bumping the phone (airplane mode on/off). I seem to have to reboot the MCell weekly in order to reset it. I must keep the MCell in a location that is less than optimal both for convenience and signal due to GPS feature which apparently is a poor attempt to either restrict use outside of my home, or a poor implementation of 911 (like other VoIP solutions, why not allow me to manually set the address and force me to acknowledge understanding of the risks).  I experience failed outbound calls the first call attempt since connecting, or after MCell reboot etc. I am dropped or get one way audio intermittently. 

Although all issues are intermittent, and are resolved by re-attempting a call or rebooting the MCell, it simply is not a robust solution. When I purchased this, I did so at a time when ATT was charging for the device and giving it away to some, and occasionally to complainers...so I complained. I got enough credit to offset the cost as I saw this as an attempt to charge me more in order to solve their network issues. I stressed that as it was a Cisco/Linksys device, I expected less than stellar performance given my experience with other Cisco consumer products, it has clearly lived up to that reputation! 

I do not use many data features on my phones while at home, MMS rarely, Netflix rarely etc. So, I cannot comment on the issues others have experienced with these.

I for one am eager to see if the TMo acquisition will result in expansion of the Wifi calling option to all subscribers?. My advice - Avoid the MCell unless your service is so poor you can't use your phones...and then, don't expect too much.

[Otto Pylot ACE - Czar]

FWIW, it's been my experience that the MicroCells are good for phone calls only and messaging. Any other use is not supported or implemented very well. We have 3 iPhone 3Gs and various other cell phones and they all work just fine. It seems that most of the iPhone issues have to do with the iPhone 4s, which makes no sense to me but is an observable fact. That being said, the whole MicroCell system, IMHO, was not ready for prime time when released last year. Way to many home network configuration options that just weren't adequately tested. There are quite a few workarounds but not all of them work for everyone. I was out for around 10 days last March after an update by AT&T, went thru two warranty replacements and finally found a configuration that has worked well for me ever since. Tower hand-off is still clunky at times but we can at least use our phones at home with minimal difficulty.

Don't expect the possible TMO merger to solve any issues or make existing ones better. The idea of breaking up Ma Bell years ago into the 7 Baby Bells was to foster competition with the customer ultimately getting the benefit of it. Well that hasn't happened and we are quickly getting back to one, maybe two prevailing carriers who will control the horizontal and vertical without any regard to customer satisfaction or choice. Just call AT&T support and ask them to help you with their MicroCell........