AT&T opened up more markets for the 3G Microcell, one of which is where I live – Tifton, GA. So, once I found this out, I called the AT&T store in Albany, GA. I spoke with a very helpful sales rep – Joey. I wanted to verify that they did have them and he said – yep, they had sold several.
So I traveled about 1.5 hours to the store, picked one up and traveled back home (another 1.5 hours). The cost was $149 plus tax as I didn’t buy the unlimited minutes plan, etc.
I connected it at about 5:30pm to my network. I placed the unit close to a window since it did need to have a GPS lock so that it could activate. The documentation stated that it could take 90 minutes to activate. Around 8:30 I called tech support as the unit still was working. The tech was very nice but all he could really offer was to move the unit.
I told him I could move it right out of the house. LOL. We laughed, but I was almost serious. I didn’t spend $150 plus tax and 3 hours of my time to have to play the “where can I stick this damned thing so it will work” game. He said to give it more time and he would call me back at 9pm. In the meantime, I did move it to another, bigger window.
He called back around 9:10 and the unit had not locked yet. As we were talking, it suddenly locked and was working. Happy day, happy day! Or so I thought. Yes, I could make a call and it was good (no, I’m not creating light or anything), but once I unplugged it the next morning and then reconnected it, the damned thing hasn’t worked since.
As a matter of fact, I’m sitting here watching the bottom light, the 3G light, just blink. The GPS says it locked, the Ethernet port says it’s good…just no final connection. Poor iPhone…no 3G for you tonight.
I understand that we’re still testing these units – but why the hell does it take so long to provision them? Cell phones can activate in less than 30 seconds. What’s the big deal???
My experience thus far hasn’t been all that positive. The Droid on Verizon’s network is looking better and better. I love my iPhone, but it has been nothing but a bigger version of the iPod Touch for almost a year at my home. I can’t make calls on it – I have to use the WiFi for everything here.
I’ll keep this post updated if anything new happens, but for now – I’m really, really, disappointed in this product.
UPDATE (7:46pm): After sitting on my desk for about 45 mins, the damned thing finally locked. Now we’ll see how the call quality, etc. is.
UPDATE (11/21/09): So far, so good. I woke up this morning to find the unit was no longer locked but fortunately it wasn’t its fault. The link to the switch it is connected to had died. I corrected that and within 10 minutes the 3G light was solid again. Now maybe I can test the call quality and range today.
UPDATE (12/22/09): Well, I tried it for about a month and the experience was positive. However, AT&T’s overall coverage area where I live isn’t as good as Verizon’s. I upgraded my wife’s phone and added one for my oldest son on Verizon. This meant that AT&T and Verizon combined was about $200 per month. It was time to make a decision. I’m tired of the smartphone scene. I just want a phone that works, can do text messaging, a good camera and video. I ported my number from AT&T over to Verizon and bought the LG evnTOUCH. I love this little phone. And the battery life, so far, is great. I’ve had it for about a week and it’s still working on the first initial charge I gave it when I got it. In short, if the other areas that you use your AT&T phone have good coverage but your house does not, the 3G Microcell is a good investment (especially with the unlimited minutes option). In my case, however, it was just too much expense when I needed a family plan that had the coverage in the areas that my entire family frequents and AT&T wasn’t getting the job done.
I was going through some old magazines today and I came across a few ads. The magazine was Boardwatch from 1994. Boardwatch was THE industry standard magainze for BBS operators, users, etc. It brought back memories of when I use to run my own BBS. I was a Wildcat! BBS operator in 1986 and for a few years afterwards. Around 1993/1994 the company I was working for started a 2 line BBS, running