How far must I be from a tower to get excellent coverage from the MicroCell?

There is no definitive distance that I've been able to ascertain because of multiple variables that will affect in-home coverage. You basically have to go by whatever your phone indicates and your call quality.

The MicroCell, during the Initial Activation (which is covered in the Tech Guide, link in my sig) will adjust its output based on the detected macrocell (tower) output. Basically, the further away the tower signal strength, the stronger the MicroCell signal output and vice versa.

There are other factors though that come into play for the MicroCell to work well besides macrocell distance/signal strength. Most MicroCell's work as advertised but ISP, hardware, physical location (rural vs suburban), physical location of the MicroCell, etc all factor in to adequate performance. There are no absolute guarantees that the MicroCell will work for every situation.

The MicroCell currently only connects at 3G speeds so 4G/LTE is not a factor. The recommendation is to leave WiFi enabled on your phone so that data is sent via WiFi and not 3G. That way there is no hit on your cellular data plan. 3G speeds via the MicroCell are about 3-5Mbps but that is more than adequate for voice.

I bought a MicroCell yesterday. It took very little time for it to get a GPS signal and send me a confirmation that it was ready to rock and roll. I am getting 5 bars upstairs where the MicroCell is located and 4 bars downstairs, 3 if I go to the farthest point from the unit, but even then it will quite often alternate between 3 and 4 bars. I was on the phone with a friend long enough that I was able to walk throughout the house to test the reliability of the connection. The was only one time when I heard what might have been a dropout, but it happened so fast that I can't be sure what it was. Sound quality was excellent. No robotic voices, etc. So far I am very pleased with the unit.

Excellent! Thanks for taking the time to report back. If you ever do develop any issues, we are always here to help.

Geez....a satisfied customer!  We don't get many of this type of post here so it's good to hear that someone is happy with their Mcell performance.  If something comes up though, stop back here and we'll try to help.

Thanks, OttoPylot and Avedis53. I'll keep that in mind. Today I'll try moving the MicroCell to a more central location in the house to see if I can get 5 bars everywhere.

Just make sure you can still get a solid GPS signal. In other words, it should be close to a window.

So, I moved the MicroCell downstairs into our TV room, fully expecting it not to work because it was downstairs and it was at least six feet from the nearest window, but lo and behold, it worked, and very well at that! I only lost one bar when I went upstairs to the part of the house that was farthest from the unit, and I only lost two bars went I went as far away as I could in the backyard. Since I'm much more likely to be on the phone downstairs as opposed to upstairs, I'm even happier with the performance of the MicroCell today than I was yesterday. Here's hoping that in the next few months the unit doesn't develop any of the issues that I've read about on this forum.

Great! We're here if you need us.

The Mcell is a 100% problem-free device......just ask Otto.

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@Avedis53 wrote:

The Mcell is a 100% problem-free device......just ask Otto.

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Careful now, or you and I are going to have to keep our day jobs