After all the ranting subsides, I think people will come to their senses, and pass on this if it doesn't make sense, and get on board if it does. I think it can and will save a lot of headache and money for a lot of people.
My Last Question(s):
----------------
The only last question I have is, will it be possible to have more than one 3G MicroCell, and will it cost more per plan for it? (As others have already mentioned). As a corollary question, will it be possible to have only one or both 3GC's on the unlimited plan?
A Few Suggestions:
----------------
Drop the price of the unlimited plan, even $5.
There should also be a bundle discount for the 3G MicroCell if you already have AT&T DSL! (perhaps $50 off per AT&T DSL account).
Also, considering it would be rather unconventional, perhaps calls routed through the 3MC could count as half minutes? We are providing half the bandwidth, aren't we?
Finally, since this has limited simultaneous cell connections, perhaps it would be courteous to allow (as an option), for one of the four connections to be DMZ'd, so outsiders could benefit? I can imagine not many households would simultaneously use all four connections often, and that one extra line may benefit the general network. (Perhaps calls only? or an option for calls and data too.)
Although I have no idea if my ideas can float, economically speaking, from a marketing value perspective, I think they make a lot of sense and would help the service appeal to so many. If you adopt these last suggestions, I'll be on board!
WEll China is slightly smaller than USA and their offer cheaper plans. Maybe we need a person from Russia to comment, since it is slightly less than 1.8 times bigger than USA.
After all the ranting subsides, I think people will come to their senses, and pass on this if it doesn't make sense, and get on board if it does. I think it can and will save a lot of headache and money for a lot of people.
My Last Question(s):
----------------
The only last question I have is, will it be possible to have more than one 3G MicroCell, and will it cost more per plan for it? (As others have already mentioned). As a corollary question, will it be possible to have only one or both 3GC's on the unlimited plan?
A Few Suggestions:
----------------
Drop the price of the unlimited plan, even $5.
There should also be a bundle discount for the 3G MicroCell if you already have AT&T DSL! (perhaps $50 off per AT&T DSL account).
Also, considering it would be rather unconventional, perhaps calls routed through the 3MC could count as half minutes? We are providing half the bandwidth, aren't we?
Finally, since this has limited simultaneous cell connections, perhaps it would be courteous to allow (as an option), for one of the four connections to be DMZ'd, so outsiders could benefit? I can imagine not many households would simultaneously use all four connections often, and that one extra line may benefit the general network. (Perhaps calls only? or an option for calls and data too.)
Although I have no idea if my ideas can float, economically speaking, from a marketing value perspective, I think they make a lot of sense and would help the service appeal to so many. If you adopt these last suggestions, I'll be on board!
I would be glad to share my bandwidth so more of my neighbors (or business Customers) could get great service while in my area. The more AT&T customers the more iPhones the greater the value of my Apple and AT&T holdings in my IRA. The 40 ft radius is what sucks I get 250 feet out of my Apple Airport Extreme and yes I share my Guest Network 8A-10P. 40ft doesn't reach out to the pool house. I do wholeheartedly agree that if we are helping AT&T fill holes in their network we should be compensated. Hospitals and Municipalities are paid to be able to install Cell towers on Buildings and Water Towers. We the consumer pay for the privilege of using their phones and to some ISP for Broadband internet why pay additional to use our own service. That's like paying a car company every month additional monies for the mileage we put on OUR car (not a lease, because yes you do).
This makes AT&T's 3G MicroCell the cheapest option for users who just want to patch a dead service hole for their mobile, and of course the only option for iPhone users.
Now, I have a mobile, and have a dead area. Do I just pay the $150 and it fixes it?
OR
Quote:
[unlimited calling] will cost $20 on AT&T, but will be optional for users who want it.
Huh? Am I the only one who is confused? What good is patching a service-hole if you can't make calls on your phone? How could it possibly be optional to purchase that?
OR is the "unlimited calling" aspect just an addition to your plan if you want it; otherwise you just use your own minutes on the Femtocell antenna?
Holy shit, did everybody get smacked in the head with a two by for at the same time?
The $20/month unlimited via the femtocell is in addition to any plan you already have. As the article points out, if you're already paying for unlimited and you run up a lot of minutes at your home or office where the device could be installed, you'd come out ahead by downgrading to a 900 minute plan.
As far as what AT&T "should" be doing, meh. As has been pointed out, other carriers offer femtocells for local coverage and charge more, so the usual AT&T sucks mantra doesn't make much sense, in this case. Not saying there aren't legitimate grievances, but automatic unconsidered AT&T hate is foolish.
At any rate, one time charge of $150 doesn't strike me as that onerous if I happen to live in an area with poor coverage and it gives me great coverage.
In case we're still having trouble with reading comprehension, short of springing for unlimited, I don't have to pay any additional monthly fees after that.
Uh yea that's a 2X4; and anybody who would pay money to ATT so that ATT could turn around and use YOUR home internet service to make up for their crappy cellular service, needs one. Right between the eyes.
Holy shit, did everybody get smacked in the head with a two by for at the same time?
The $20/month unlimited via the femtocell is in addition to any plan you already have. As the article points out, if you're already paying for unlimited and you run up a lot of minutes at your home or office where the device could be installed, you'd come out ahead by downgrading to a 900 minute plan.
As far as what AT&T "should" be doing, meh. As has been pointed out, other carriers offer femtocells for local coverage and charge more, so the usual AT&T sucks mantra doesn't make much sense, in this case. Not saying there aren't legitimate grievances, but automatic unconsidered AT&T hate is foolish.
At any rate, one time charge of $150 doesn't strike me as that onerous if I happen to live in an area with poor coverage and it gives me great coverage.
In case we're still having trouble with reading comprehension, short of springing for unlimited, I don't have to pay any additional monthly fees after that.
Also so good for 5 users and up to ten . The femocell also comes with a Ballistic Nylon 40 SQ foot blanket that you spread out between trailer park mobile homes ,and your locate your plastic lounge chairs at ramdom places and sit on them and make very many very important phones calls to other lounge chairs callers or even other 40 sq foot blanket groups on the far side of the trailer park.
A warning tag states that folding the 40 sq foot blanket in half does not double coverage . It only
? Will it do seamless handoff to the cell network? - If i leave my house while on a call, will it drop the call when I go out of range, or will it handoff to the cell network? (I'm afraid I have a feeling what the answer to this question already is)
? Does it require device registration? Will there be an option to have it open so anyone in range can use it without registering their device with the MicroCell? Will there be a way to lock it down and restrict access only to allowed users?
? Will it do seamless handoff to the cell network? - If i leave my house while on a call, will it drop the call when I go out of range, or will it handoff to the cell network? (I'm afraid I have a feeling what the answer to this question already is)
The 3G Microcell will do seamless handoff to the cell network when you take a call away from it; however, you can't transfer a call from the network to the Microcell.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fattito
? Does it require device registration? Will there be an option to have it open so anyone in range can use it without registering their device with the MicroCell? Will there be a way to lock it down and restrict access only to allowed users?
Yes, the device requires registration. You can register up to 10 phone numbers that will be able to be able to use the Microcell, restricting access to only those 10 numbers. The Microcell also has GPS verification, so you can only use the Microcell to enhance service in areas already served by AT&T -- basically, you can't take the Microcell and use it in Guam if Guam doesn't already have AT&T coverage.
The United States themselves need competition. We the people aren't like many in this world. We can't cross a country line expecting similar weather and atmosphere. Mexico is 3rd world and Canada is cold (sorry yall). If we were more like Europe with more small countries there would be a lot more competition that would benefit the people. I'm sure some will want to me to explain exactly how. I don't know, it's just a feeling. How is it that Europe, made a many different countries, has superior mass transit that the US which has no other country to cooperate with in an effort like that.
The holders of the data lines tomorrow will become like the holders of the oil today. There is a ton of collusion going on in the industry. If Apple wanted to take the industry on they need to take some of that $30,000,000,000 and start dedicated wireless ISP.
WEll China is slightly smaller than USA and their offer cheaper plans. Maybe we need a person from Russia to comment, since it is slightly less than 1.8 times bigger than USA.
Now, I have a mobile, and have a dead area. Do I just pay the $150 and it fixes it?
OR
Huh? Am I the only one who is confused? What good is patching a service-hole if you can't make calls on your phone? How could it possibly be optional to purchase that?
OR is the "unlimited calling" aspect just an addition to your plan if you want it; otherwise you just use your own minutes on the Femtocell antenna?
?!?!?!
Mandricard, not aimed specifically at you, but more to the questions in general. Your questions and many others', make me recall all the confusion when cell phone plans started differentiating, and before much standardized in common understanding. AT&T would be much aided if they made a comparison chart to other services, and helped to standardize terms and terminology across carriers. I realize they are still tinkering with the terms (of contract) and terminology, but I could see how this could be very confusing for newer consumers.
Regarding two complaints:
1. Short range: This seems more like an FCC kind of limitation, although I'm sure the carriers don't want to coordinate lots of OTA bandwidth conflicts?
2. Our paying to purchase, install and maintain a box that should be included in the price of our already paid contracts for reasonable coverage: Yes, the point is well taken...this isn't right if the contract supposedly includes access to a network with supposed good coverage. However, I think it's better to think of it as, a luxury insurance of almost guaranteed highly localized coverage, with an option to add unlimited calling. I would still promote my ideas of at least 1/2 rate minutes while on a 3MC, a slightly cheaper unlimited plan, and a lower purchase cost, along with greater range and ability to share one or more lines publicly. Perhaps once the product reaches maturation.
If we were more like Europe with more small countries there would be a lot more competition that would benefit the people. I'm sure some will want to me to explain exactly how. I don't know, it's just a feeling. How is it that Europe, made a many different countries, has superior mass transit that the US which has no other country to cooperate with in an effort like that.
The holders of the data lines tomorrow will become like the holders of the oil today. There is a ton of collusion going on in the industry. If Apple wanted to take the industry on they need to take some of that $30,000,000,000 and start dedicated wireless ISP.
I recall people hoping/rumoring that Apple would adopt some form of WiMax and beam from Apple Stores and set up other much greater range towers than what cell towers do, essentially forming an iPhone wireless system (before the first iPhone came out). I think negotiating with carriers to connect to their networks probably was the biggest barrier.
Considering AT&T is supposedly investing $18 Billion, and Verizon something similar, I'd say that Apple probably doesn't want to blow 2/3 of their cash on such a venture, when purchasing land/rights and to put up towers from scratch could be much more expensive than simply upgrading radios on the top of towers that Verizon and AT&T merely have to do. Plus, it would take too long for Steve Jobs' patience!
I recall people hoping/rumoring that Apple would adopt some form of WiMax and beam from Apple Stores and set up other much greater range towers than what cell towers do, essentially forming an iPhone wireless system (before the first iPhone came out). I think negotiating with carriers to connect to their networks probably was the biggest barrier.
Considering AT&T is supposedly investing $18 Billion, and Verizon something similar, I'd say that Apple probably doesn't want to blow 2/3 of their cash on such a venture, when purchasing land/rights and to put up towers from scratch could be much more expensive than simply upgrading radios on the top of towers that Verizon and AT&T merely have to do. Plus, it would take too long for Steve Jobs' patience!
It takes a lot more than just putting up or upgrading towers.
WEll China is slightly smaller than USA and their offer cheaper plans. Maybe we need a person from Russia to comment, since it is slightly less than 1.8 times bigger than USA.
I've been out of the loop for awhile. Let me see if I understand this...
So, I could buy this $150 device and pay $20 a month over my current 900-minute iPhone plan and get unlimited calls while I'm at home...
Or the FCC could bring the hammer down on AT&T and force Apple to allow VOIP apps on the iPhone and I can do unlimited VOIP calling at home for free.
Is that right?
Or you're a troll who doesn't know that you can do VOIP calling at home for free already?
The $150 to use your plan minutes is great if you have so-so coverage at home. When it comes out I can dump vonage although I may buy a ooma to port my old vonage number over first.
Comments
Over here in Thailand we get unlimited data plan (edge, 3g, tethering and wifi) for only $17 per month.
About twice the size of Wyoming.
Wonder how many towers they have.
After all the ranting subsides, I think people will come to their senses, and pass on this if it doesn't make sense, and get on board if it does. I think it can and will save a lot of headache and money for a lot of people.
My Last Question(s):
----------------
The only last question I have is, will it be possible to have more than one 3G MicroCell, and will it cost more per plan for it? (As others have already mentioned). As a corollary question, will it be possible to have only one or both 3GC's on the unlimited plan?
A Few Suggestions:
----------------
Drop the price of the unlimited plan, even $5.
There should also be a bundle discount for the 3G MicroCell if you already have AT&T DSL! (perhaps $50 off per AT&T DSL account).
Also, considering it would be rather unconventional, perhaps calls routed through the 3MC could count as half minutes? We are providing half the bandwidth, aren't we?
Finally, since this has limited simultaneous cell connections, perhaps it would be courteous to allow (as an option), for one of the four connections to be DMZ'd, so outsiders could benefit? I can imagine not many households would simultaneously use all four connections often, and that one extra line may benefit the general network. (Perhaps calls only? or an option for calls and data too.)
Although I have no idea if my ideas can float, economically speaking, from a marketing value perspective, I think they make a lot of sense and would help the service appeal to so many. If you adopt these last suggestions, I'll be on board!
Over here in Thailand we get unlimited data plan (edge, 3g, tethering and wifi) for only $17 per month.
about $20-25 per month here in India.
About twice the size of Wyoming.
Wonder how many towers they have.
WEll China is slightly smaller than USA and their offer cheaper plans. Maybe we need a person from Russia to comment, since it is slightly less than 1.8 times bigger than USA.
http://www.insidervlv.com/landmass.html
Hey! Thanks for hunting this down.
After all the ranting subsides, I think people will come to their senses, and pass on this if it doesn't make sense, and get on board if it does. I think it can and will save a lot of headache and money for a lot of people.
My Last Question(s):
----------------
The only last question I have is, will it be possible to have more than one 3G MicroCell, and will it cost more per plan for it? (As others have already mentioned). As a corollary question, will it be possible to have only one or both 3GC's on the unlimited plan?
A Few Suggestions:
----------------
Drop the price of the unlimited plan, even $5.
There should also be a bundle discount for the 3G MicroCell if you already have AT&T DSL! (perhaps $50 off per AT&T DSL account).
Also, considering it would be rather unconventional, perhaps calls routed through the 3MC could count as half minutes? We are providing half the bandwidth, aren't we?
Finally, since this has limited simultaneous cell connections, perhaps it would be courteous to allow (as an option), for one of the four connections to be DMZ'd, so outsiders could benefit? I can imagine not many households would simultaneously use all four connections often, and that one extra line may benefit the general network. (Perhaps calls only? or an option for calls and data too.)
Although I have no idea if my ideas can float, economically speaking, from a marketing value perspective, I think they make a lot of sense and would help the service appeal to so many. If you adopt these last suggestions, I'll be on board!
I would be glad to share my bandwidth so more of my neighbors (or business Customers) could get great service while in my area. The more AT&T customers the more iPhones the greater the value of my Apple and AT&T holdings in my IRA. The 40 ft radius is what sucks I get 250 feet out of my Apple Airport Extreme and yes I share my Guest Network 8A-10P. 40ft doesn't reach out to the pool house. I do wholeheartedly agree that if we are helping AT&T fill holes in their network we should be compensated. Hospitals and Municipalities are paid to be able to install Cell towers on Buildings and Water Towers. We the consumer pay for the privilege of using their phones and to some ISP for Broadband internet why pay additional to use our own service. That's like paying a car company every month additional monies for the mileage we put on OUR car (not a lease, because yes you do).
This makes AT&T's 3G MicroCell the cheapest option for users who just want to patch a dead service hole for their mobile, and of course the only option for iPhone users.
Now, I have a mobile, and have a dead area. Do I just pay the $150 and it fixes it?
OR
[unlimited calling] will cost $20 on AT&T, but will be optional for users who want it.
Huh? Am I the only one who is confused? What good is patching a service-hole if you can't make calls on your phone? How could it possibly be optional to purchase that?
OR is the "unlimited calling" aspect just an addition to your plan if you want it; otherwise you just use your own minutes on the Femtocell antenna?
?!?!?!
Hope Springs Eternal,
Mandricard
AppleOutsider
Holy shit, did everybody get smacked in the head with a two by for at the same time?
The $20/month unlimited via the femtocell is in addition to any plan you already have. As the article points out, if you're already paying for unlimited and you run up a lot of minutes at your home or office where the device could be installed, you'd come out ahead by downgrading to a 900 minute plan.
As far as what AT&T "should" be doing, meh. As has been pointed out, other carriers offer femtocells for local coverage and charge more, so the usual AT&T sucks mantra doesn't make much sense, in this case. Not saying there aren't legitimate grievances, but automatic unconsidered AT&T hate is foolish.
At any rate, one time charge of $150 doesn't strike me as that onerous if I happen to live in an area with poor coverage and it gives me great coverage.
In case we're still having trouble with reading comprehension, short of springing for unlimited, I don't have to pay any additional monthly fees after that.
Uh yea that's a 2X4; and anybody who would pay money to ATT so that ATT could turn around and use YOUR home internet service to make up for their crappy cellular service, needs one. Right between the eyes.
Holy shit, did everybody get smacked in the head with a two by for at the same time?
The $20/month unlimited via the femtocell is in addition to any plan you already have. As the article points out, if you're already paying for unlimited and you run up a lot of minutes at your home or office where the device could be installed, you'd come out ahead by downgrading to a 900 minute plan.
As far as what AT&T "should" be doing, meh. As has been pointed out, other carriers offer femtocells for local coverage and charge more, so the usual AT&T sucks mantra doesn't make much sense, in this case. Not saying there aren't legitimate grievances, but automatic unconsidered AT&T hate is foolish.
At any rate, one time charge of $150 doesn't strike me as that onerous if I happen to live in an area with poor coverage and it gives me great coverage.
In case we're still having trouble with reading comprehension, short of springing for unlimited, I don't have to pay any additional monthly fees after that.
Also so good for 5 users and up to ten . The femocell also comes with a Ballistic Nylon 40 SQ foot blanket that you spread out between trailer park mobile homes ,and your locate your plastic lounge chairs at ramdom places and sit on them and make very many very important phones calls to other lounge chairs callers or even other 40 sq foot blanket groups on the far side of the trailer park.
A warning tag states that folding the 40 sq foot blanket in half does not double coverage . It only
? Will it do seamless handoff to the cell network? - If i leave my house while on a call, will it drop the call when I go out of range, or will it handoff to the cell network? (I'm afraid I have a feeling what the answer to this question already is)
? Does it require device registration? Will there be an option to have it open so anyone in range can use it without registering their device with the MicroCell? Will there be a way to lock it down and restrict access only to allowed users?
2 QUESTIONS:
? Will it do seamless handoff to the cell network? - If i leave my house while on a call, will it drop the call when I go out of range, or will it handoff to the cell network? (I'm afraid I have a feeling what the answer to this question already is)
The 3G Microcell will do seamless handoff to the cell network when you take a call away from it; however, you can't transfer a call from the network to the Microcell.
? Does it require device registration? Will there be an option to have it open so anyone in range can use it without registering their device with the MicroCell? Will there be a way to lock it down and restrict access only to allowed users?
Yes, the device requires registration. You can register up to 10 phone numbers that will be able to be able to use the Microcell, restricting access to only those 10 numbers. The Microcell also has GPS verification, so you can only use the Microcell to enhance service in areas already served by AT&T -- basically, you can't take the Microcell and use it in Guam if Guam doesn't already have AT&T coverage.
This all still seems confusing to me:
Now, I have a mobile, and have a dead area. Do I just pay the $150 and it fixes it?
Yes.
OR is the "unlimited calling" aspect just an addition to your plan if you want it; otherwise you just use your own minutes on the Femtocell antenna?
Yes.
The holders of the data lines tomorrow will become like the holders of the oil today. There is a ton of collusion going on in the industry. If Apple wanted to take the industry on they need to take some of that $30,000,000,000 and start dedicated wireless ISP.
WEll China is slightly smaller than USA and their offer cheaper plans. Maybe we need a person from Russia to comment, since it is slightly less than 1.8 times bigger than USA.
http://www.insidervlv.com/landmass.html
Yep. Right now China Unicom 3G charges $27 US for 60 MB.
Keep in mind that most countries outside of the US and Canada are or were heavily subsidized by tax payers.
This all still seems confusing to me:
Now, I have a mobile, and have a dead area. Do I just pay the $150 and it fixes it?
OR
Huh? Am I the only one who is confused? What good is patching a service-hole if you can't make calls on your phone? How could it possibly be optional to purchase that?
OR is the "unlimited calling" aspect just an addition to your plan if you want it; otherwise you just use your own minutes on the Femtocell antenna?
?!?!?!
Mandricard, not aimed specifically at you, but more to the questions in general. Your questions and many others', make me recall all the confusion when cell phone plans started differentiating, and before much standardized in common understanding. AT&T would be much aided if they made a comparison chart to other services, and helped to standardize terms and terminology across carriers. I realize they are still tinkering with the terms (of contract) and terminology, but I could see how this could be very confusing for newer consumers.
Regarding two complaints:
1. Short range: This seems more like an FCC kind of limitation, although I'm sure the carriers don't want to coordinate lots of OTA bandwidth conflicts?
2. Our paying to purchase, install and maintain a box that should be included in the price of our already paid contracts for reasonable coverage: Yes, the point is well taken...this isn't right if the contract supposedly includes access to a network with supposed good coverage. However, I think it's better to think of it as, a luxury insurance of almost guaranteed highly localized coverage, with an option to add unlimited calling. I would still promote my ideas of at least 1/2 rate minutes while on a 3MC, a slightly cheaper unlimited plan, and a lower purchase cost, along with greater range and ability to share one or more lines publicly. Perhaps once the product reaches maturation.
If we were more like Europe with more small countries there would be a lot more competition that would benefit the people. I'm sure some will want to me to explain exactly how. I don't know, it's just a feeling. How is it that Europe, made a many different countries, has superior mass transit that the US which has no other country to cooperate with in an effort like that.
The holders of the data lines tomorrow will become like the holders of the oil today. There is a ton of collusion going on in the industry. If Apple wanted to take the industry on they need to take some of that $30,000,000,000 and start dedicated wireless ISP.
I recall people hoping/rumoring that Apple would adopt some form of WiMax and beam from Apple Stores and set up other much greater range towers than what cell towers do, essentially forming an iPhone wireless system (before the first iPhone came out). I think negotiating with carriers to connect to their networks probably was the biggest barrier.
Considering AT&T is supposedly investing $18 Billion, and Verizon something similar, I'd say that Apple probably doesn't want to blow 2/3 of their cash on such a venture, when purchasing land/rights and to put up towers from scratch could be much more expensive than simply upgrading radios on the top of towers that Verizon and AT&T merely have to do. Plus, it would take too long for Steve Jobs' patience!
I recall people hoping/rumoring that Apple would adopt some form of WiMax and beam from Apple Stores and set up other much greater range towers than what cell towers do, essentially forming an iPhone wireless system (before the first iPhone came out). I think negotiating with carriers to connect to their networks probably was the biggest barrier.
Considering AT&T is supposedly investing $18 Billion, and Verizon something similar, I'd say that Apple probably doesn't want to blow 2/3 of their cash on such a venture, when purchasing land/rights and to put up towers from scratch could be much more expensive than simply upgrading radios on the top of towers that Verizon and AT&T merely have to do. Plus, it would take too long for Steve Jobs' patience!
It takes a lot more than just putting up or upgrading towers.
http://www.wimax.com/education/faq
So, I could buy this $150 device and pay $20 a month over my current 900-minute iPhone plan and get unlimited calls while I'm at home...
Or the FCC could bring the hammer down on AT&T and force Apple to allow VOIP apps on the iPhone and I can do unlimited VOIP calling at home for free.
Is that right?
WEll China is slightly smaller than USA and their offer cheaper plans. Maybe we need a person from Russia to comment, since it is slightly less than 1.8 times bigger than USA.
http://www.insidervlv.com/landmass.html
Ok, had to do it...
In Soviet Russia, micro-cell call youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!
I've been out of the loop for awhile. Let me see if I understand this...
So, I could buy this $150 device and pay $20 a month over my current 900-minute iPhone plan and get unlimited calls while I'm at home...
Or the FCC could bring the hammer down on AT&T and force Apple to allow VOIP apps on the iPhone and I can do unlimited VOIP calling at home for free.
Is that right?
Or you're a troll who doesn't know that you can do VOIP calling at home for free already?
The $150 to use your plan minutes is great if you have so-so coverage at home. When it comes out I can dump vonage although I may buy a ooma to port my old vonage number over first.