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femtocell posts

AT&T 3G MicroCell unboxing and impressions

by Darren Murph posted Sep 28th 2009 @ 1:19PM

We've already seen AT&T's 3G MicroCell picked up by a few desperate Charlotteans, but for those residing in North Carolina's only city to own a professional sports championship (sorry, Panthers), their time has finally come to secure what just might be the most anticipated femtocell debut in the states. You heard right -- Raleigh, NC has become AT&T's second test market for the device you're peering at above, and starting today, those in and around the Triangle can procure one from their local store. Needless to say, we jumped at the chance to give the unit a go, so feel free to hop on past the break if you're on the hunt for a few more impressions.

Gallery: AT&T 3G MicroCell unboxing and impressions

Continue reading AT&T 3G MicroCell unboxing and impressions

AT&T's 3G MicroCell tested and reviewed by Charlottean: yes, it works

by Darren Murph posted Sep 22nd 2009 @ 12:08PM

For those who missed the torrent of 3G MicroCell news yesterday, here's the long and short of it: the Cisco-built device is now on sale, but only in Charlotte, North Carolina. One fortunate Charlottean managed to scoop one up, but rather than keeping the experience to himself, he decided to bang out a full review for the rest of the world to see. By and large, Jason's experience with the femtocell mirrored our own with Sprint's AIRAVE. Installation and setup was a breeze, and once it was booted up and operational, it worked like a charm. Before picking this up, he was seeing one bar of EDGE (if he was lucky); afterwards, his entire house was blanketed with five bars of 3G. Not surprisingly, he noted that the before and after difference when fielding calls was "night and day," but he did take the opportunity to bark at the lofty $150 price tag. But hey, those desperate enough will cough up anything to actually use their phone, right?

AT&T's 3G MicroCell gets unboxed, looks sufficiently cute

by Darren Murph posted Sep 21st 2009 @ 6:03PM

It's sort of outrageous how much publicity AT&T's very own femtocell has garnered here lately, particularly when you realize that it's limited to the Charlotte, North Carolina area alone. But look -- did you really expect us to pass up what appears to be the very first unboxing of the 3G MicroCell? No, you didn't. Hit the read link if you're somehow not quite past the point of saturation, and be sure to have a peek past the break for an unexpected treat.

[Thanks, Aaron]

Continue reading AT&T's 3G MicroCell gets unboxed, looks sufficiently cute

China Mobile, Nokia Siemens team up to show first TD-LTE femtocell

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 21st 2009 @ 4:54PM

LTE's being designed to support deployment in both frequency division (FD-LTE) and time division (TD-LTE) modes depending on bandwidth allocation and the legacy network that's being upgraded, and in China Mobile's case, they're looking at possibly rolling out a mix -- TD-LTE makes for an elegant and inexpensive upgrade path when you're starting with another tech with "TD" in its name, TD-SCDMA. Carriers around the world are looking to lean heavily on femtocells to boost LTE footprint out of the gate, and to that end, China Mobile has teamed up with Nokia Siemens -- a company that's been pushing a number of "world's firsts" lately -- to show off the first functional TD-LTE femtocell demo by streaming video over a base station in the carrier's labs. It's still a ways off yet before customers will actually have these tucked away in the corners of their homes, but it's a step in the right direction.

AT&T's 3G MicroCell runs $150 in Charlotte trial, service is free without unlimited calling

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 21st 2009 @ 1:37PM

Gearlog has scooped pricing details on AT&T's entry into the up-and-coming femtocell market, the 3G MicroCell, where it's currently undergoing a public market trial in Charlotte, North Carolina -- and basically, it's a decent deal as long as you don't want unlimited calling. Stores are charging $150 for the unit itself and service is free (similar to Verizon's model, though Verizon charges $100 more upfront and the unit doesn't do 3G); if you want to tack on unlimited calling, you're paying another $20 a month unless you have some combination of AT&T landline or DSL service at your address. $20 is properly insane, though in exchange, the carrier throws you a bone with a $100 rebate on the device. All they've got to do is drop that unlimited service down to $10 a month to bring 'em in line with Sprint and T-Mobile and put some pressure on Verizon, which still doesn't offer any unlimited add-on.

[Via Mac Rumors]

AT&T: 3G MicroCell and its pricing structure are in 'public trial,' Charlotte only for now

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 21st 2009 @ 10:38AM

AT&T has let us know this morning that the 3G MicroCell site revealed last night is currently supporting a "public trial" in Charlotte, North Carolina alone -- and perhaps more importantly, pricing (including that $20 unlimited, we presume) is being considered a part of that trial. Unfortunately, they've got "no other announcements to make at this time," so it's anyone's guess when this will wrap up and the rest of the country can get its hands on some "more bars in your places" (to quote the MicroCell's perky introductory videos). We'll update you as soon as we know more.

AT&T's 3G MicroCell site goes live

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 21st 2009 @ 12:35AM

We still don't have all the details we'd like on pricing and availability, but AT&T's official 3G MicroCell site is now up and running where you can enjoy some video overviews and get a good gander at what the finished product looks like (it's way better than the version briefly shown a few months back, if you ask us). Availability of an unlimited calling add-on is confirmed here, and any calls that originate on the MicroCell before being handed off to AT&T's old-school towers will be kept completely out of your minute bucket as long as you sign up for the unlimited package. Also notable is that the carrier officially recommends placing the box near a window so that its GPS receiver can get reception -- like its cousins on Sprint and Verizon, the MicroCell includes GPS so that it can't be used out of the country. So far we're not able to find a ZIP code that works with the availability checker (including the rumored limited release markets mentioned last week), so if you get through, give us a shout.

[Thanks, joe_smith55]

Update: ZIP code 28201 works, though it doesn't let you see plans or buy online -- it just hooks you up with the addresses and phone numbers of nearby stores. There'll be a few calls being made in the morning, eh? Thanks, ryan0816!

AT&T's 3G MicroCell does unlimited calling, but it ain't cheap

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 20th 2009 @ 6:20PM

How much would you expect to pay to cover AT&T's dead zone using your own internet bandwidth? We appreciate that these guys can't blanket every nook and cranny with HSPA, but carriers need to understand that femtocells are ultimately tools to help them retain customers who'd otherwise have to leave for greener pastures. AT&T's certainly not treating it that way with the 3G MicroCell. Let's compare:

Sprint's Airave runs $4.99 a month, but they'll give it to you for free if the alternative canceling your service. Unlimited use is $10 a month.
Verizon charges nothing once you buy the unit, though there's no unlimited calling option available.
T-Mobile offers unlimited calling through its WiFi-based HotSpot@Home service for $9.99 a month.
AT&T's going to charge $19.99 a month for unlimited use unless you've got internet or landline (ironic) service with them, in which case you'll pay $9.99. If you've got both internet and landline accounts, it's free.

It's nice to have unlimited calling tacked on as an option here, but it should be exactly half as much, end of story -- and in an era where landlines are on life support (and femtocells should be helping to accelerate their demise), the triple play tie-in is wrongheaded. Of course, none of this is official just yet, but with pamphlets already circulating in retail channels, these numbers look like the real deal. A shame, isn't it?

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

AT&T launching 3G Microcell in some markets in the next few days?

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 18th 2009 @ 12:05PM

Zacks Investment Research is reporting in a matter-of-fact tone that AT&T's long-rumored, long-desired 3G Microcell femtocell will be hitting some markets "in the next week." The full list of initial launch areas hasn't been disclosed, but Atlanta, San Antonio, Seattle and North Carolina are all specifically mentioned; as you might recall, Sprint restricted the launch of its Airave for some time, too, so limited availability out of the gate wouldn't really come as a surprise. AT&T had no comment when asked about the report, so it's a wait-and-see game -- but if you're clinging to one bar of service, have hope that help is on the way.

NTT DoCoMo boosts its femtocell with HSPA support for fall launch

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 7th 2009 @ 11:03AM

In these United States, honest, hard-working Americans aren't asking for much -- all they really want out of life is the right to bear 7.62mm tracer ammunition, the right to patronize 24-hour burger joints, and the inalienable, immutable right to a 3G femtocell in every home. Unfortunately, T-Mobile's gone its own way with the whole UMA thing and AT&T's dragging its feet, but over in Japan, NTT DoCoMo has just announced its second-generation device, the simply (but accurately) named Enhanced Femtocell Base Station. While the outgoing model topped out at 3.6Mbps on the downlink and a measly UMTS-capped 384kbps on the uplink, the enhanced station supports full HSPA -- 14Mbps down, 5.76Mbps up (though the carrier warns that HSUPA isn't deployed just yet). It's not just about speed, though -- the new gear also supports interesting new services, including the ability to notify users when other users (for example, children) have entered the base station's range and reception of time- and location-sensitive coupons directly to phones presently attached to the cell. All this action fits into a sexy little box 5mm thinner than the version it replaces, though customers will have to wait until this fall for a retail launch.

Sprint swaggers, promises to be first to release 3G Femtocell in US

by Ross Miller posted Jul 3rd 2009 @ 3:12AM

While AT&T's still claiming MicroCell will be out before the year's up, Sprint's bringing out the big words by boasting to Unstrung it'll be beating everyone to the market with its 3G femtocell solution. Company VP of device and technology development Mathew Oommen is pretty light on some of the finer details -- like actual release date, hardware supplier, pricing scheme, and pretty much every other piece of information we'd want -- but he did imply there'd be multiple options available for the CDMA EV-DO Rev. A extender, including a device more tailored for enterprise use. Look, you two can fight all you want over who gets first, but in the end, we just want our Pres and iPhones to live together and home in perfect-reception harmony -- think we can get that in time for Christmas?

[Via Slashgear]

AT&T's 3G MicroCell still on track for release sometime before the end of the year

by Tim Stevens posted Jun 25th 2009 @ 7:29AM

We've known the tech behind AT&T's spin on the home-based femtocell repeater since January, and in February a little iPhone update revealed that we were getting closer to prime time. Finally, news of limited trials and then... silence. AT&T has apparently been keeping its head down, diligently testing its MicroCell service, with 200 lucky subscribers having Cisco boxes beam full bars to the darkest corners of their living rooms for months, testing that has been successful enough for AT&T's Gordon Mansfield to say that it's still "on track for a full national launch." That's the good news. The bad news is that he continued by saying it'll release sometime "by the end of 2009." So, you might be in for up to six more months of dangling your iPhone out the window to get your voicemail, but hold tough -- you can make it.

magicJack working with magicFCC and magicCarriers on magicFemtocell

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 22nd 2009 @ 3:48PM

It's been revealed that perennial SkyMall and late-night TV favorite magicJack has a bunch of new features in the works for its low-cost, USB-bedongled VoIP service including landline number portability and Linux compatibility, but that's not the real news -- what's got us all worked up is word that they're allegedly working on a GSM-based femtocell that'll hook your cellphone into magicJack's service when it's in range. Even better, it all fits into a box "just a little bigger" than the current USB stick, which would make it considerably smaller than any femtocell we've seen launched so far. We're not sure whether these guys have bothered consulting with the FCC or carriers on this, but we've got dozens of questions:

Are these guys licensing spectrum from the gub'mint, sublicensing it from carriers, or just going rogue?
Are any carriers in on this, and if so, why?
If carriers aren't involved, why would they establish roaming deals that would allow carrier-branded phones and SIMs to roam on magicJack's rogue airwaves?
If they're not working on roaming deals, the femtocells will need to spoof a carrier ID -- never mind the fact that TDMA femtocells are virtually impossible to design and install for technical reasons, which means these would have to be 3G. So magicJack's going to offer a UMTS femtocell?
Do you get to keep your phone number when you roam on the magicFemtocell, and if so, how?

Helluva mess, isn't it? We're sure we'll eventually be able to find out the answers -- and a whole lot more for just one low price -- in a few months' time at 2 in the morning on your local Ion affiliate.

3GPP publishes world's first femtocell standard

by Darren Murph posted Apr 11th 2009 @ 6:02AM

With femtocells slowly but surely making their way out to the major US operators, we'd say it's about time we got a handle on what exactly these things are comprised of. This week, the world's first femtocell standard has been published by the 3GPP, which will supposedly "pave the way for standardized femtocells to be produced in large volumes and enable interoperability between different vendors' access points and femto gateways." The new protocol covers a foursome of areas: network architecture; radio & interference aspects; femtocell management / provisioning and security. For those unaware, a femtocell is a small box that essentially acts as a mini cell tower within the home, piping cellphone signals through the internet and providing great signal in areas where it was previously a struggle to nab a single bar. Now, if only we could get a few of these things in carrier-agnostic form, we'd be set.

[Via PCWorld]

AT&T 3G MicroCell trials starting this week, retail in June or later?

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 8th 2009 @ 11:10AM

Word on the street is that AT&T kicked off a trial of its 3G MicroCell HSPA-enabled femtocell this week, with units being delivered to signal-deprived homes on Tuesday. We've been hearing about the thing for long enough now that we would've liked to see a release, like, now -- but given that these trials are apparently expected to run through June 9, we guess we wouldn't expect to see it at retail until then, assuming everything goes well. In the meantime, participants are getting 200 bones on top of the unit itself, so color us jealous. Follow the break for AT&T's full email to testers.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Continue reading AT&T 3G MicroCell trials starting this week, retail in June or later?