Is there a replacement for Micro-Cell?

If you're going to buy your phones independently from the carrier, the responsibility falls on you to make sure the phone's features will work with the carrier.  That's not a provider issue.

WHY should I purchase  from the provider?

If I buy a phone from att it comes with a 36 month payment  plan. Unacceptable.

Why?  Because there's an implicit contract of fitness for the service.  

I buy my phones from sources other than the carrier, too.  But if the phone I buy doesn't work correctly, I don't blame the carrier for my mistake.

@dyezback

No one said you have to buy from AT&T. And it is NOT true that a 36 month installment payment is required.  Since 2013, installments can be paid off at any time. And while most At&t retailers are required to put you on installments, 3rd party are not.  You can purchase any android at best buy, Walmart, Costco, Target, Amazon, etc, at full cost. 

There are also many unlocked, non AT&T phones that are wifi calling capable, as listed in the righthand column here

Unlocked phones that will work on AT&T now that 3-g is going away

You will notice Motorola phones listed have HD voice only.  But the last 2 generations of Samsung and pixel since the 3 have wifi calling.  

As an android person myself, who exclusively buys unlocked, this is a nice change. 

If I buy a phone from att it comes with a 36 month payment  plan. Unacceptable.

The phone is the same price whether paid in full at purchase or on the payment plan and the payment plan is optional, not required.

As an android person myself,

I thought you were human!  

@JefferMC

It's questionable when I get going on this topic.

@BeNotTooSilly Sorry. I missed your post. As pointed out above, yes, AT&T is sending out the new Cell Booster to most current MicroCell users who have active accounts. However, there are still lots of issues with the initial release that I hope to address when I update my Tech Guide.

WiFi-C is, and always will be, the preferred method of improving in-home coverage. For most people, it works far better and is more reliable than the femtocell (MicroCell and Cell Booster). There are issues with both technologies but WiFi-C still comes out on top, at least so far. Until the many issues with the new Cell Booster get resolved, we just won't know how robust of a system it will be. As with its predecessor, it all depends on your ISP, equipment used, location, setup, etc. It should be plug and play but it's not.

Just like the MicroCell , there is no cost to use it and no hit on your data plane as long as you leave WiFi enabled (not to be confused with WiFi-C) enabled for data and leave the Cell Booster for just voice.

Hi OttoPylot, thanks.  Firstly if a person lives in an underground floor of a building, or as in my case, I live in a weakly supported cellular area (as the cells are far away) PLUS I have a metal shingle roof on my house, so very few signals of any kind can be received inside my home.  Those are two cases a cell booster is not a good candidate, but makes a microcell (or femtocell if they're the same) helpful.  A cellular booster would probably be a waste of time for me.  Was my Cisco DPH153-AT a "femtocell" or what?  We never called it that at Cisco, and I know there are some subtle differences in implementation that create confusion between names for technologies.

There are many customers in my area that report delayed voice message and txt messages arriving late, so it would be great if someone knows more than me about that, but around here that's a true statement, and those are store-and-forward messaging systems which may be susceptible to delivery delays.

I can understand people frustrations with AT&T as I share them, but there's no use roasting other posters here over it.

Thx, best

@BeNotTooSilly The MicroCell, all iterations (DPH-151,153, and 154) were femtocells. The new Cell Booster is also a femtocell even tho AT&T calls it  "cell booster" The choice of the name Cell Booster was a marketing decision because most customers have a vague idea of what a cellular booster is but not a femtocell.

The basic operation will be the same but you may have to use the included external GPS antenna given your location environment. Delayed calls and SMS are a different issue. I've never had any issues with any of the various models of MicroCells that I used, and tested over the years. My previous house had a metal roof that had no effect on the MicroCell. It was also a single level home. Currently I'm using my MicroCell again for testing purposes and it is upstairs at the opposite end of the house and I have zero issues using it downstairs or on the property. I expect the same from the Cell Booster. If you are able to do WiFi-C (WiFi Calling) that would be the preferred method of connectivity for poor in-home coverage if you have good WiFi.