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It's no secret that more and more people are dumping their landlines in favor of just using their cell phones or VoIP solutions. While I've covered VoIP stuff in the past, the purpose of this post is to talk about the ability to Extend your Cell Coverage in your home/office using a hardware extender sold by your wireless provider. All of the major carriers (AT&T, Sprint and Verizon) here in the US offer these devices. Luckily I don't need one. I even get 4-5 bars of signal in my basement. So my AT&T coverage here at the house couldn't be better. However, I know plenty of people that aren't so lucky that have really sucky service at home. My friend Dave has to either sit by a window or go outside to use his iPhone at home. If my coverage was that bad, I would probably opt for one of these devices, but something about this concept bugs me…
Should I have to pay for better coverage?
I have AT&T wireless. I have an iPhone. I'm happy. Sure, I think AT&T has dropped the ball in many areas and I've witnessed the poor coverage that my friends have in places like Tampa FL and NYC. However, for the most part my service has been really good. But let's say I wasn't so lucky. Let's say that my service at home was really crappy and AT&T said, "you can get great service at home. All you have to do is buy one of our NEW 3G MicroCell devices, plug it into your broadband internet and you'll have 5 bars of services for both voice and data all over your house." Would I do it? Probably, but it doesn't feel right. The part about this concept that doesn't sit well with me is that because you have poor service in my area, you want me to pay for a device to improve it. Yet, I pay the same monthly wireless rates as the guy across town that has great service. Not to mention that this device is $150!!! Verizon charges $249.99 for theirs! That seems like a lot of money to fix YOUR coverage problem. The other catch is that to improve my coverage with one of these devices you want me to plug it into my internet connection that I pay for to again make your service better! I wonder how Comcast feels about that?
Monthly Fees
Believe it or not some carriers charge a monthly fee on top of the hardware! It gets complicated so let me try to make some since of it here. AT&T's 3G Microcell is $150 and gives you improved voice and 3G data coverage. You can just buy the Microcell and not pay a monthly fee. However, if you want to have unlimited voice service while you're on your Microcell that will cost you $20/month UNLESS you already have an AT&T landline or AT&T DSL service. The Sprint Airave costs $100 plus a $5 monthly fee. If you want unlimited voice it will be $10/month. The TMobile HotSpot@Home uses your existing router so there is no hardware cost. However, there is the $10/month charge and of course it only works with UMA phones. T-Mobie's HotSpot@Home takes more of a VoIP approach. You buy a $40 router and and plug your regular home phone into it (think Vonage). If you have a compatible T-Mobile HotSpot enabled phone. Verizon's is a flat $249.99, no monthly fee. However, with Verizon's device you don't get any better EVDO data coverage, it's just for voice. Now keep in mind that with most smartphones sporting Wi-Fi these days, that since you're probably going to be near a Wi-Fi hotspot while using one of these, that improved data coverage is not as important as improved voice coverage.
| Cost | Monthly Fee | Improves Data Coverage | max simultaneous users | |
| AT&T 3G MicroCell | $150 | $20/unlimited voice | Yes | 4 |
| Sprint Airave | $100 | $5 or $10 if you want unlimited voice | 3 | |
| TMobile HotSpot@Home | $0 | $10 *only works with UMA phones | No | 2 phone lines |
| Verizon Network Extender | $250 | $0 | No | 3 |
So my question to you my readers, is what do you think about this?
Would you pay $100-$250 for a device to give you great wireless coverage in your home or office? Does this seem fair? From the Wireless provider's perspective they probably view these devices a good viable "option" since they never promised to cover every spot in every location. Even then, do they really need to charge as much as they do?
Tags : terry white tech blog at&t wireless 3g
Check out the solutions from the various Wireless Carriers here:
AT&T 3G MicroCell $150 (Note that the MicroCell hasn't been rolled out nationwide yet. Currently it's being tested in North Carolina)
Sprint Airave $100
T-Mobile HotSpot @Home $0/$40
Verizon Wireless Network Extender $250
Yes, it’s the pits that you have to buy yet another device to allow you to get better AT&T coverage. From the business point of view, it makes more sense (at least financially) to use these microcells rather than install more 3G towers. It doesn’t matter who has the largest coverage map; what matters is do they have coverage where you are. AT&T definitely doesn’t fit that bill.
For all the reasons you pointed out in this article is precisely why femtocells have not taken off here in the US. In fact rollout of femtocell devices in Europe has slowed because providers are not seeing much financial reward compared to the cost to manage the devices. For most consumers adding a femtocell solution doesn’t make financial sense. If you want to keep your cell phone but you have limited coverage you might consider using Skype as an alternative.
Don’t get me started on AT&T’s 3G coverage. I have had the iphone from day one and there is still not 3G coverage in my home town…they should charge me less….anyway
That is some craziness….especially if you’re an iphone user and have a wireless network in your home. Why pay ATT even more money, I’ll just stick to skype on my iphone if I really need to make an important call. Bottom line….Apple is the ONLY reason keeping me with AT&T.
I have a Blackberry, but would really like to have an iPhone. The problem is AT&T has crappy coverage where my son goes to college, so we are on a Verizon family plan.I would not “help” out AT&T. I would switch services even if it meant I could not have an iPhone, which I did.
Why pay extra for something you’re suppose to be getting in the first place?
Not to hijack this topic, but now that Apple has joined the advertising campaign against Verizon. Does this mean the end of a possible Verizon Iphone anytime soon? Thoughts?
AARON,
Like people, companies fight and makeup all the time. When it comes to making a buck, I think they will put aside their differences. Look at how many years Apple has openly advertised against Microsoft (even to this day with the I’m a Mac campaign) and no one would have taken the bet that Bill Gates would be on stage (via satellite ) behind Steve Jobs when he returned to Apple, but it happened.
So while we may not see a Verizon iPhone next month, I do believe that Apple (in order to continue to grow) will have to have more than one US carrier and most likely it will be Verizon.
Like one of the other posters, AT&T doesn’t even have 3G in my town and the “E” coverage is like having dial-up. I do, however, have a wireless router (not even Apple) in my home and the iPhone uses that signal to give me service at least as fast as 3G, if not better. I’m not a techie, but why not use your wireless router for no extra charge (assuming you have broadband cable)? Seems like AT&T had the golden egg handed to them with the iPhone and has just sat on their profits as opposed to actively addressing their coverage issues.
I would pay.
I work from home and coverage is patchy. I frequently leave my study to get a cup of coffee – and when I get into the kitchen (where there is coverage) I get voicemails and missed calls.
How many of those missed calls might have been projects? Customers who didn’t leave a message?
I suppose I could forward all calls – but I never remember…
So yes, I’d be happy to pay to get my cell to work perfectly. Indeed, if I got unlimitted calls I’d dump the landline.
Of course I would love it if they gave better coverage: but at the end of the day, we pay for that anyway… And all attempts to put in new tower in my neighbourhood get blocked, so it ain’t happening.
So, yes, I think they ought to give it to me as part of the contract.
But if they don’t, well, I’ll pay for it.
Actually – i would not purchase one of these devices from a carrier – rather – I would purchase a device based on the square footage and band(s) needed to be covered. There are a bunch of devices that are good.
Many, many office buildings, various gov’t agencies, create their own repeated networks to improve and boost coverage.
For $250 or so, you can get a great cell repeater.
Here in the greater Portland, OR area, I use Clear — a WiMax service — and I get unlimited internet (minimum 3mb/s) plus unlimited phone for $64/month including all taxes.
It’s a great deal.
Alan
How on earth can AT&T, or any of the carriers for that matter offer to charge you more for something you are already paying for. Let Verizon and everybody else sell the iPhone and let’s see who cares about providing the best service.
I wanted to use the TMob service for my 2G iPhone (running on TMob), and was informed that I needed one of their crappy phones and would need to extend my contract for 2 more years in order to get one. Ummm, Pass.
You don’t need to waste money and buy any 3G microcell. All you need is WiFi, an iPhone or iPod Touch for now and download an app called Vonage Mobile from the same company.
http://www.vonagemobile.com/phones_iPhone-info.html?lid=fom_iphone
http://www.vonagemobile.com/phones_Touch-info.html?lid=fom_ipod_touch
When you call using the Vonage app and you are in an WiFi zone, the app automatically uses WiFi to make the call for you and you can talk for free within the U.S. without using any cell minutes. You can also make call internationally and Vonage rate is lower than even Skype and Truphone. But calls within the U.S. are free and nobody has this but Vonage. Currently, the company does not advertise this WiFi feature widely yet because I am guessing they are preparing some infrastructure behind the scene before launching at a larger scale and so it is not well known. Currently you can only make outgoing calls but in the near future around Dec 09 – Jan 10 time frame, Vonage will release a new update to the app which will allow incoming calls as well. Since it will be SIP and VOIP, I think that incoming calls will not use you cell minutes in a WiFi zone either. The call quality is superb, at least on a par with 3G or almost as good as landline. Oh also the app is available for the iPod Touch as well. When the new app will be released that allows incoming calls then the iPod Touch will act like a “poor man” cell phone that does not require any phone contract. You buy an iPod Touch to listen to MP3 and then it will double as a wireless phone as well while at home or in an WiFi zone. So if you have poor 3G reception at your home, get an iPhone or iPod Touch equipped with a microphone and then download the Vonage app and then you can yap for free for hours without having to worry about missed and dropped calls. Vonage said that it will release this app for other smart phones in the future but it is currently available for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The version for the Blackberry can only be used for the moment for low rate international calls but it does not work with WiFi yet.
I agree with others, that AT&T customers shouldn’t have to pay extra for something we are already supposed to be getting – good 3G signal! so, the microcell is just another rip-off of theirs. I pay a lot each month for my iPhone service and am tired of waiting for 3G signal to reach my area!