AT&T Tries, Fails To Justify 3G Cap-Eating Microcell

Probably are too lazy to tweak the billing system to tell the difference between the tower and Microcell.

That was my thought. Either they simply figure they can score a few million extra off of users not aware they're using 3G instead of Wi-Fi, or they simply can't figure out how to differentiate the billing here and don't want to admit as much...

Possibly both! it is AT&T you know haha

Or they want the Microcell to fail so they can 'prove' customers just don't want them.

The 3G microcell was most likely designed w/o any reference to caps, and kept it cheap/simple. Now they have a way to make a quick buck.

Problems with this..

If AT&T designed this to be '3g only' then why were they intent on
voice as the primary use ? I poked about on this issue last week on HoFo and AT&T Facebook, and had the same response.

If AT&T wants users to use a WiFi network for data, then why didn't they include a WiFi radio into the microcell? Not everyone has a WiFi enabled device (router).

Also, along with the 'smart phone should connect to WiFi' - I know that the iPhone picks up WiFi before it will hit 3G... what about other devices (WinMo, Blackberry, Android, Pre)? Many many not know how (or forget) to switch to WiFi (conflicts with Bluetooth), and AT&T will have easy money.

that router would have to be 10 years old

quote:

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that router would have to be 10 years old

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Or that person may only use the cable company's modem and connect directly to their computer. Or the DSL company, etc.

Generally those with 1 computer will not have a router. I know many in this situation.

I should say 'Cable modem' not router (TWC Ambit with phone jack).

Yeah, I'd too guess it's a design flaw at some layer and they are too lazy to fix it.

Just like UVERSE they are cutting corners.

Can I get an Amen!

Amen!!

Amen!

If you have a microcell in your home, can your neighbors use it too if they have the same cellular provider? That shouldn't be a problem unless your broadband bandwidth is capped.

They could but I think you have to add them to your list.

Nobody can connect to the MicroCell unless they're on the list of authorized devices. The phone number, or numbers if you have a family plan, from your account are automatically added to the list when the MicroCell is added to your account. You can add any other AT&T Wireless phone numbers you want to the list for a total of up to 10 phone numbers. This prevents your neighbors or someone walking down the street from connecting to your MicroCell unless you've add their number to your list.

10?

they told me 5.

also apparently this is intended for residential use only and they're not wanting to give it to business customers. apparently they're releasing a BYO-bandwidth femtocell solution that has multiple antennae that can hand off to each other. (you can already get this if you're a big customer, but it's a very, very expensive solution and they're footing the bill for the 6 minimum t1 lines it takes).

what bothers me the most is i've been asking about getting this femtocell for a year. we're a business customer, a very large one though our office where we're having issues isn't large in particular. instead of trying to send me this $150 device so my own phone would be fine they made me go through this crazy proposal process to get several cabinets full of shit installed in our suite. won't say how much all that was expected to cost. all i want is this stupid femtocell so i could walk 30' in my downtown chicago office without my calls dropping.

My exact thoughts ... too complex or no cost benefit for AT&T to make the technical change on the billing system to identify what is M-Cell data vs regular 3G tower data.

usually not lazy, just their IT systems seem to be from the 80s and it takes them forever to make any changes.

They have a really brittle infrastructure and they seem to not be able to make common sense changes to adapt to changing conditions.

Isn't that lazy in and of itself for having such old IT systems?

Seems like most big companies are that way with their billing systems.

Another OT example is that it's been 2 years since Sirius and XM merged. I still can not add the factory installed Sirius radio in my wife's car to my XM family plan. I still have to pay full price for that subscription.

I believe they want that extra income and even though they promised that would be an option at the time of the merger, they seem to be dragging it out as long as possible.

Notice the $ signs.

To bad MMS and SMS can't use Wi-Fi to send and receive pictures/text messages.

MMS and SMS do not count towards your data cap. They count towards your text messages.

SMS doesn't count toward your data - but MMS sure does. I do not have a data plan for the phones on my ATT plan, but every month I pay $2/per phone because someone sent/received a multimedia message.

That $2 isn't for MMS. It's called pay-per-use and someone, even inadvertantly, would have to activate the browser or other data using app on their phone to be charged such. MMS will not incur this charge. Check your bill detail online (since AT&T doesn't send the detail in the paper mail version) and you will see the usage of both MMS and 3G data and that the number, time, and date of usage does not concur.

No wonder AT&T gets away with this stuff. Seems like a majority of their users don't understand any of it.

Best comment here. AT&T is banking on the fact that users don't understand this stuff. This is nothing more than a cash grab at the expense of their less intelligent customer base.

Google voice has email to sms ( and sms to email), so if you are using wi-fi it won't touch 3G.

No it isnt using a cell tower, but what do you think the microcell connects to at the other end? Equipment that costs nothing to run and maintain? Geesh.

You also never make mention in these stories that these are not being marketed (at least from what I can see) to users with usable signal in there home. If you have quality service from AT&T in your home then there is no reason to get one.

I have had Sprints version of this for several years, and as a person who actually needed one, it is a great device, and I can see value in it....for someone who has good service in there home don't bother.

These are users already paying for a monthly wireless voice and 3G connection, a home broadband connection, possibly an additional home landline connection, and shelling out the upfront cost for the device itself (plus a monthly fee of about $20 if they want unlimited voice).

Just how much do people think routing minor voice traffic over AT&T's core network costs? It's certainly not in line with 200MB and 2GB caps and $10-$15 per GB overages, plus all these other costs. Again, the caps should not apply to Microcell traffic.

How many people have heard of a "Cellular Repeater" aka "Booster" raise your hands?

If you haven't, Google it. These devices use the cellular network already in place, but repeat a stronger signal into your home from a place (like a window) that has good reception. Granted, there are a handful of places that can't even get a decent signal at any point to boost, but this is rare.

It's completely transparent and doesn't use any of your valuable broadband internet connection. In that case, AT&T is justified in charging you for caps.

Their argument on capping due to congestion is only valid when discussing tower capacity.

As someone pointed out, these devices could easily be built and programmed to act as a gateway and send all internet requests directly over your internet connection. However, I believe most layers in 3G are encrypted all the way up to the point of presence (At AT&T), so the box has no way of actually handling the data in that manner. A simple revision in the 3G protocol should remedy that, but it would only benefit the customer, so dont count on them doing it like that any time soon.

Yes, they are in some cases expensive, sometimes large, and many may nt want to get on there roof and such to install and maintain it....When they can simply plug a Femtocell into there router.

your internet connection that you are paying for
(trolling remark goes here)
you must double pay for everything?

you pay for 3g data over your own internet that is what the whole thing is about!

I'm guessing that's because you live in a rural area that gets a weak signal.

You're looking at it from the rural perspective--that you chose to live in a rural area, and with that comes either sacrifices or higher costs.

The problem I have with paying $150 for this device is I live in Chicago, and it's not that we have weak signal, the signal is fine ... it's that their network has so much traffic operating on it that the voice and data network is tripping over itself and it becomes unusable to everyone. This is AT&T's fault. Their network used to be great. Now thanks to the 3g Iphone traffic, it's not. The only solution to this problem is either less devices talking to one tower, or more towers operating with less range. More towers is a slow and very expensive process. Giving out femtocells accomplishes lowering the traffic without having to do any of this. In this example of urban congestion, AT&T should be bending over to give these out to customers for free, it fixes a real problem that their network is becoming known for. If anything, they should at least be offering it in a pricing similar to a cable modem.

Also, the $150 seems to have a bit of a "convenience" factor attached to it. I doubt it really costs $150, or even $100, to manufacture. In the first example of a rural customer I can see the price working. In the second example of urban congestion, again I can't.

Not really to defend, but the voice portion is still going through their network when you receive or make a call just like any other VOIP provider. There are real costs associated, and personally, I wouldn't necessarily expect it to be free. However, unlike a VOIP provider, they are still charging through the monthly plans the same rate effectively for VOIP calls as they are for tower based calls which seems a bit hooky if you ask me. Not what people want to hear, but the same can also be said for SMS and MMS messages.

The 3G data on the other hand is either a case of lazy implementation or greed creating stupidity on AT&T wireless's part. I can't think of one good reason why 3G data should go via the microcell through AT&T just to get back to the Internet. Obviously one motivation might be profit considering their new heavily biased provider friendly (read: rip-off) data plans but how much infrastructure did they have to create and how much bad press is worth the limited amount of extra cash they are going to get from this?

I know when using my Airave on Sprint to browse the web (at 2G speeds for that matter) the traffic is encapsulated and passed to Sprint's network. The IP that the traffic originates from remains a Sprint IP address and not my home IP address. That being the case, maybe ATT is doing the same thing, routing all 3G data through their network and trying to justify the data passing through their network, even through that method, as being valued at some ridiculous rate.

"Wi-Fi is the optimal solution for home mobile data use. We encourage people to take advantage of Wi-Fi capabilities"

If WiFi is the "optimal solution" to offloading network congestion, then why doesn't AT&T offer a VoIP-over-WiFi solution for their subscribers and do away with the MicroCell altogether? Oh wait...$$$$$$$, that's why!

Voice traffic isn't what's eating their network alive. You don't see AT&T citing 100s of percents increases in voice traffic. What you see is them citing these increase with data.

True, because most self-respecting data users wouldn't use AT&T except for their stupid exclusive with Apple iPhone. It's like a large boiling pot was upright (before Apple, the boiling water being normal data users boiling away), but when Apple signed their exclusive with AT&T, the existing upright large boiling pot was simply poured on AT&T, the wimpy outrageously priced carrier, which said "oh my god! real users! poor us! We must charge SO many more people outrageous prices, it is burning us alive! Quick witches, hide!"

Are Mcell users not using their own connection to connect with AT&T? If we use 3G over a Mcell is our request going directly to the internet or through AT&Ts servers then to the internet?

Also, I love the Mcell. Totally worth the $150.

»www.wireless.att.com/lea ··· crocell/

From the graphic at the bottom-left of the video:

quote:

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Five Bar Coverage In Your Home

* Now get up to 5 Bars in your home and coverage up to 5,000 square feet

* Surf the web and watch video on the nation's fastest 3G network.

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Sure as hell seems like the statement in this article contradicts their marketing materials.

This is all about profits... They will do whatever underhanded tricks they can get by with to rack in as much money as possible.

Just look at how they work overtime to upgrade the baseband on iPhones to require the more expensive plans just to use the phone. It's nothing more than a glowing brick to make 911 calls simply because they went out of their way to program it to lock you out.

All of this is absurd. You buy phones, they should be yours. You use your own bandwidth over DSL/cable, it doesn't need to be metered and charged by at&t.

It's crooked, plain and simple.

These devices are a really good concept, however they need to be a lot more affordable. If they were more affordable you'd get more people using them, especially in sparsely covered areas.

You could in theory have nothing but this & sat internet and be off the grid entirely out in some cabin...

- A

They should be FREE! Seeing as how the only purpose they serve is to relieve AT&T's network. In many places they have easements in every neighborhood they can place their own microcells to improve their network.

With this 'femtocell' racket, they con YOU not only into buying the network infrastructure components, but using your own bandwidth. On top of that, they still charge you for caps, which they claimed was because of congested network, which this investment YOU made is supposed to relieve. Where is the reasoning behind THAT?

Sad, indeed.

I bought one of these the week before the new plans were announced. Worked great. Wonderful tech. But the pricing structure is just incorrect. I do hope that this is something AT&T considers changing soon.

You know what? Good point. I don't have to buy one. They can give me one if I need it, or I can find another solution from a different provider base, or better yet, structure my life around not using wireless devices. Wired is so much better. Fiber is the best. I really almost never leave my work/home site, and it's a nice break from everything whenever I do, so screw the pocket radio.

While I agree with the sentiments, the variance in savings the femtos provide is less than a rounding error on the books.

How many of these are out there, 1500?

If they announced they were removing the caps and minutes off the femtos, then it would open another "hole" in the billing that people would run through. They just closed a hole in the pre-paid data plans last year that was causing billing problems, so why would they give a nit about a few femtos that represent .001% of total traffic?

Is it fair? No. Do they care? No.

AT&T is the new AOL on DSLR.

Who doesn't use WiFi when at home? Jesus! Why would I want to use 3G at home? Come on people get a brain.

Then they can triple-dip you for using a Femtocell!

1) Use your minutes
2) Count against your 3G caps
3) The data on your broadband burns your Caps here too!

AT&T. Your world. Terminated.

The device makes a connection to an arbiter device on the network's edge where they have a softswitch deal with the voice and data traffic. In the end, not only does it eat your bandwidth, but it also has to traverse back to your carrier and be processed and retransmitted anyways.

The primary function of any femtocell device is to increase your signal quality because many homes are hostile to wireless signals from cell towers, most newer homes with energy efficient attic barriers and windows can actually block or make your signal worse. The addition of a femtocell would fix your indoor problems.

This applies to all carriers, AT&T's decision to make you pay, and use your minutes is probably not smart, since you're likely to use half the resources you should get some sort of benefit such as 3:1 ratio of minutes used when you're on a femtocell.

They should do this, because for a few ten millions of dollars in hardware and contracts, they're essentially masking cellular congestion without paying out the billions it actually costs to build out new networks. Towers are not cheap in an era where cities demand hundreds of thousands of dollars in concessions from the cellular provider and in many cases weaken the improvements with height restrictions where the cell phone company now pays a lot of money and the tower does not benefit the residents of the area as much as if they were allowed to keep the requested height.

I challenge anyone who has crappy signals in a urban area and look at your city council requests of the cellular providers. You'll see that what the provider requests and the city's demands can actually work against you getting better cellular service.

I can see and agree with several points people have been making.

1. This is absolutely profit-driven by AT&T.
2. They will not bother to invest the time and effort to rework their billing systems.
3. AT&T is counting on people not being able to differentiate when they are using 3g as opposed to wifi.
4. They do it because they can.

There are lessons to be learned here, but unfortunately, since the vast majority of people are lazy, nothing will ever get better. What's missing in the equation is COMPETITION! Yeah, I know there are other carriers, but market penetration and coverage are not uniform, and so people are forced into using maybe the only carrier in their area that works decently most of the time.

Femtocells, as others have noted, are simply a way for carriers to avoid building out decent networks. They should be free to obtain and to use. Femto vendors have once again taken shameful advantage of a captive audience to fatten their already obscenely fat wallets. All I do is try to minimize the extent to which I'm bent over by greedy businesses, and try to be an informed consumer. More people should try it.

Good day to all,
I would like you to know that I'm super duper happy as I have a super duper fast connection provided by tmobile now. I used speedtest.net in my old & dilapidated G1 and I got 6.5mbps then 2.6 uploads in Houston then when I tether it in my netbook then use again the speedtest.net I got this »www.speedtest.net/result ··· 6301.png
Its mind blowing as I hit one time the 16mbps but I didnt recorded it but the 14mbps u have it.Then my latency_ping are between 45-60 in my location-shadow creek ranch in pearland ( a bit outside of downtown houston ) then 70-150 in other locations.I did the test between 9:30am-10:00am as many people starting to use the service as my clear if that time of usage will be horrible.
I have CLEAR now in the house that I'm paying for $40/month as I bought the modem,so no leasing fee for me just $40/month. That internet of mine hit the highest is 16mbps in early in the morning between (2-5am) but before or after that time I will hit only 3-6mbps download then 800-900kbps upload unlike tmobile from 1mbps-3mbps upload.
I'm always travelling around Texas & I found out that Austin,Houston,Dallas & San Antonio has the highest download speed to compare to any cities when I compare in Westcoast & Eastcoast cities.
Then if ever they will make more fiber optic backhaul they can minimize the latency problems others have now.I used to have that problem in my location but now its GONE.
I'm not the kind of person wasting time to bash any company but now I will because I was with AT&T and they are full of lies company as I had my iphone 3gs & my wife & we never seen more than 2mbps connection the whole of Texas or whenever I was in California or New York. All PEOPLE WHO WILL SAY THEY SEE 3MBPS OR BEYOND (its not real), THEY ARE AT&T PEOPLE OR JUST ANYBODY WHO WANTS TO DEFEND AT&T EVEN AT&T DOESN'T CARE FOR THEM. Mine is real experience with my wife... I work in IT company & I always use the one that I think is not just cool but I can tweak & use the heck of it whatever it can offer unlike iphone that YOU can just unlocked & jailbreak (like what i do) but android & windows can be hack & put lots of fast & best ROM that apple iphone cant do. Our iphone is now an mp3 player in our cars, wants some pictures? Then my wife using the EVO as her company pay for her monthly then she just bought it from Sprint. Its a sweet phone but the speed is not consistent & theres time it will be switching a lot of times from 4g to 3g. But still wayyyyy better than verizon & AT&T. Take note, only Tmobile & Sprint didn't have the cap now they will just throttle you if your beyond 5gb but no more paying overages (Tmobile then sprint in 4g mode). Can Verizon & AT&T do that? Nope & never because AT&T made the worse decision in lowering the internet usage to 2gb for $25 (Tmobile has $20 for unlimited no cap with super duper fast internet 16mbps versus 1mbps by AT&T) then Verizon is thinking now to do that also as Sprint & Tmobile will go for no capping.
Theres a lot of fanboys especially in APPLE stuff like iphone that has the basic stuff that was available 10 years ago but Steve Jobs will say magical & unbelievable, he's the no. 1 liar in the world (I have a friend who still working in APPLE) I'm just new here in Texas as I'm from California & work with IT company near APPLE. But Texas is the best place to make money now (hehe) then cheaper way of living... He said to me that Steve Jobs is very good in marketing hype but he's not the real guy who's thinking & making apple stuff to work, he's just the marketing guy of APPLE. Then all of his components are made mostly of asus & samsung (not them as other blindly knows) only software & design are theirs, I can attest to that, so wheres APPLE real product-NONE. They are just a big marketing & design company, if you don't believe go to California (to their main headquarter) see if they building any pieces of material to use for their products - none, most of what they are doing is just software & how to market their product. I was there with my friend & I know what I'm saying. Ask ASUS & SAMSUNG then FOXCONN, they will tell you that no parts are made by apple, they will give the design then what materials will use ( APPLE ) then they will wait for delivery then they will use their technology & manpower to build APPLE products ( FOXCONN ).
FANBOYISM towards APPLE is not bad but you should know the reality of what the company you like & love what they really offer to you & if they lying to you.
Back to Tmobile, they are the company to watch for & they are not like AT&T that will make advertising 1st before they will do the action, as tmobile will do the work & everything before they will announce in a simple way unlike AT&T like APPLE, they love marketing hype like shortage of Iphone in the 1st day as they know how many people will go & get them but they will not release many units to show they don't have unit to sell, believe me or not those iphone & ipad was made already & its millions now in FOXCONN factory but they will release only hundreds thousands then it will show to their system they don't have stock anymore even they have more, for the people to be more excited & feel the APPLE products are so good that people lining up & their hysteria in getting in store or online, thats MARKETING 101, YOU HAVE TO MAKE PEOPLE EXCITE IN YOUR PRODUCTS THEN THEY WILL THINK YOUR PRODUCTS IS SO GOOD THAT PEOPLE NEEDS TO WAIT FOR LONG TIME.
I hope people will get it now as I want you to be more well aware of what those companies been doing to you, they making you follow them even they are shortchanging you.
I want to share more my ideas, experience & knowledge about all these stuff - just don't go with the hype, test drive it - tweak it & if you feel it has everything u want & its more cheaper - go for it... you can email me at sir1honda@aol.com ( i can give you the best advice in telecommunications & computers stuff if I have enough time to answer )
To all those people bashing each other because you like this or that, think first & I suggest that research in google then don't defend what you have that you feel is not giving you the real deal. WE LIVE ONCE NOT TWICE , LIVE TO THE FULLEST ( get the best stuff that you think is appropriate & can make things more easier to you not just LOOKS & BRAND NAME of the products.
Always take care gurls & guys... GOD BLESS YALL...

What I don't get is how AT&T can continue saying it has "the nation's fastest 3G network" when T-mobile's network is clearly a lot faster.

I was in a class recently where 70% of the people had Android, and about 20% had "Other", including Apple and Blackberry. Your information is good for the few leftovers who aren't clued in about AT&T and Apple. I'm not saying Android is perfect -- far from it -- but it really doesn't have to be that good to beat AT&T (I mean Apple I mean AT&T actually it is AppleApple&Apple).

Thank you for writing this article. it needs to be heard. I had one of these because service i my areas shows full bars 3g, but it drops calls CONSTANTLY. In this type of situation, the Microcell doesnt do anything except make it worse because the cellphone doesnt know which connection to stay connected to, and needless to say, then drops the call when it tries to switch back and forth. PUT a feature option control in the microcell that keeps calls that originate from it ON IT, so they dont transfer off it. This may require some sort of software on the phone as well. Or better yet, BUILD MORE INFRASTRUCTRE to support the amount of lines of service you sell. FASTER. its taken you YEARS to even plan on upgrading the towers around here in North Hollywood.

Who cares about femtocell, if you have UMA phone, just connect to any wifi. It uses your minutes and data (T-Mobile still has "unlimited") but since you can use it ANYWHERE, I am not complaining

The T Mobile G1's (Google Developer versions with the fancy case back) will use Wi-Fi connections with 3G/Edge turned off completely. If a compatible Sim card without data service from an AT&T phone (Nokia) is installed, there is no data service. Thus any billing of any type for data service from AT&T is totally bogus in this situation.

The beauty of such a customer owned phone as the G1 "Developer" version is that the provider does not directly control what operating system version is used, and does not have the ability to easily disable phone features, such as tethering and use of apps obtained from other than the provider.

The greed of mobile phone providers is monumental.

I use rooted G1 and I enjoy tethering (wired or wifi) it just lacks UMA that blackberries have, but I believe phones should have unrestricted access to net via wifi. Sadly even blackberries limit free wifi usage