AT&T Microcell Wireless Cell Signal Booster Tower Antenna (Compatible with 3G, 4G, and LTE Phones)
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- Supports voice and 3G data for 3G/4G/LTE mobile phones, including iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, etc.
- Simple setup process using quick setup guide - Note that you must have an official AT&T account (not a 3rd-party carrier)
- Status Indicators: Cell Signal, GPS Signal, Internet Connectivity, Power
- Works at home or the office (broadband internet connection via Ethernet is required) Note that satellite internet connections often have too much delay for this device to work properly
- High quality design and construction by Cisco Systems, a leader in cellular and network technology
This AT&T Microcell is built by Cisco Systems, a leader in cellular network technology. It can provide up to 5 bars of AT&T cell signal to your 3G and 4G mobile phones (including iPhone, Android, and Windows mobile). Setup is quick and easy - just follow the included “quick-start” guide and it will be up and running typically within 2 hours of setup. Note that this device requires internet connectivity through a wired Ethernet connection (cable is included). Most wired and wireless routers include 4 or more of these ports. Also requires installation close enough to a window to receive GPS signals for use during emergency (911) calls.
Product Reviews
Awesome Device - Awful Policy
This is going to be lengthy review, if you want my quick opinion: this box is incredible, turning no signal into five bars but do not purchase it. Have AT&T send you a free one.How the Box Works————————I thought I should just highlight how the box works for those that are not clear. This box is basically a mini cell tower, hence the name ‘MicroCell’. Once in operation you can make calls, texts, and run 3G and ‘4G’ HSPA data off of it (not recommended – use your home broadband for internet tasks). To do this it utilizes your existing broadband connection. This basically means AT&T is using your internet to provide you with cell service. Don’t worry; your neighbors will not be able to use the MicroCell as it only allows numbers you approve in the settings to connect to it.Rant - skip to the next paragraph if you are not interested :)————————Let me start off the real review with a little rant. This box is wonderful with one exception – this should be free. AT&T should not be charging you to help fix their coverage – they should be handing these away like hot potatoes. They even charge you against your monthly allowance of minutes which may not affect those that are on the unlimited talk plans but my family is on the old 450 minute plan. Minutes are precious; if I am providing the internet connection and paying for the box calls made should not count against my minutes. What makes this worse is their pitch to pay $20 a month and get unlimited calling. Who cooked up this scam?Some defend AT&T and say that they cannot cover the entire country inch by inch. I agree; towers are expensive to build and maintain, but I pay a lot of money for service that doesn’t cover where they say it does. In that case, it should be free. I have read a well thought out parallel on Amtrak; you pay to get from one set location to the next. If you need to get further than the closest stop you have to pay to get a bus – or other transportation – to your final destination. You would never expect Amtrak to pay for the extra transportation. Where this parallel falls apart is that Amtrak doesn’t expect you to pay them and the bus/taxi.(End of rant)Setting the MicroCell Up————————Getting this box up and running is extremely simple. When you receive it, you have a couple of choices. If you have a wireless router, you can hook the box up in the back in one of the LAN ports (usually WiFi routers have 3-5 ports). The setup would be Wall -> Modem -> Router -> MicroCell. If you just use your home computer hooked up to a modem (cable, DSL, etc) you can hook this up directly to the modem and use the computer internet pass-through port on the MicroCell. Your setup would be Wall -> Modem -> MicroCell -> Computer.Once you have the device all hooked up and the lights are coming online (ensure the GPS light turns green or you will be wasting a lot of time – if it comes up red, move it closer to a window), simply go to the MicroCell webpage on AT&T’s website. I usually Google “AT&T 3G MicroCell™ Activation” as I can never find the page using their homepage. It should be the first or second result. If you see an information page, click on the settings tab and hit ‘Activate’. Follow the on screen instructions. Once you fill out the information (it took me about 5 minutes) which includes the S/N number on the box, your account information, approved numbers, etc it will take anywhere from 15 minutes to 90 minutes to activate. It took mine about 20 minutes to activate. AT&T will send the primary account holder a text message telling them the device was activated. You may have to wait a few minutes for it to connect up. When it is connected you should see the AT&T indicator on the top left change to AT&T MicroCell or an abbreviation of that. This will tell you the device is connected to the MicroCell. If you do not see this then you are not connected.How well it Works————————This will depend on how bad or good your signal was originally. It got my house which bounced between 0 and 2 bars (about -118 dBm) to bouncing between four and five bars all over the house (-51 dBm in the room it’s located in and -90 dBm at the further reaches of the +3000 sq. ft. house). It works fine on my Nexus 5 Android 4.4.3, iPhone 4S iOS 7.1.1, and Samsung Galaxy S3. I have noticed that signal strength will vary as the MicroCell attempts to compensate with the changing signal strength of the closest towers. It takes anywhere from 15 seconds to 5 minutes to connect once I get home. The S3 seems to take the longest for some reason and does occasionally disconnect. I also noticed that the MicroCell had issues the first night, stopping signal broadcast occasionally. After that it has been rock hard solid all day and night long. Texts go through just as fast as on an AT&T tower, and call quality is the same as when I sat next to a tower to compare. I did test data on my Nexus 5 for my curiosity and Ookla Speedtest gave me 4.86 Mbps downstream and .8 Mbps upstream (my cable service regularly tests at 45 Mbps downstream and 5-6Mbps downstream). I would again stress that you should not use the MicroCell for data. The data you use will count against your cap and it is most likely slower than your WiFi.Should you Get a MicroCell?————————If you have really bad signal at home, yes. The signal difference is incredible: I haven’t dropped signal at home since I got the device (I have an app called OpenSignal on my Nexus 5 that monitors my signal). You should get a MicroCell, but do not buy it: it is a complete rip-off. I called up AT&T and complained that we have had terrible service the past year or two and keep getting dropped and missed calls on multiple devices (to ensure they knew it wasn’t the problem of a phone). I was very polite and asked what they could do. The guy put me on hold for a few minutes while he looked at my account. When he got back he told me that he would be sending me a MicroCell, explaining what it was. I picked the free shipping and it got to my house in 5 full business days at no charge to me.Final Thoughts————————This is incredible. I go from missing calls from work, dropping important calls, bounced texts and texts that take 20 minutes to arrive (I compared time stamps) to 5 bars all across the house. BUT if AT&T wants my stamp of approval, they need to make it clear those with terrible signal at home qualify for these for free. They also need to stop counting minutes on calls that are made on the device. I should not be charged for minutes that MY internet powers. Also, for those that only have satellite internet or no internet at all at home: sorry folks, this won’t work for you. For those will DSL: it may not work as well as it should. I have read that those on DSL have latency issues that can introduce delays in phone calls. Not all have this issue so I would bet this is only on some providers and those with the slower/slowest plans. My cable internet connection clocks in at regularly (Ookla Speedtest) 45Mbps downstream and 5Mbps upstream with a 20ms ping (delay). I have had no trouble with latency or quality issues. Texts go through just as fast as on an AT&T tower with a strong signal, and call quality is the same as when I sat next to a tower to compare. I haven’t dropped signal at home, and I have not missed a call as of yet. I will update if it begins to have issues or flakes out on me.
If you need it, this is a great solution
My wife and I work remotely for the same company and spend anywhere from 3-8 hours a day in meetings and conference calls, and are essentially on-call 7x24x365 and need to be reachable at all times. We moved to a new house and found that our cell coverage was very spotty, and we were missing calls and text and voice mails to a significant degree.In researching I found this item, which had mixed but generally positive reviews, and decided to give it a shot. Bottom line, it works.Setup is relatively straightforward. This device connects to and uses your internet connection, meaning that your calls/texts/browsing actually go from your phone to the microcell and from the microcell over your internet connection to the cell network, so be sure you have a fast internet connection. It also means that if your internet goes down so does your microcell.Once the device is connected it needs to find a GPS signal to validate where you’re using it, and for that I needed to add the GPS antenna.Once the device is fully activated you can then control it via your AT&T account via the web. You have to tell the Microcell what phone numbers are allowed to connect to and use it, and they have to be AT&T numbers.I had to work with AT&T support because while our calls were working our data was not, meaning we couldn’t surf the web, etc, over our cell connections. They worked for several hours, were knowledgeable, but were unable to solve the problem and told me that the Microcell was bad. I eventually fixed it myself by changing my internet router and voila, it started working for data.In use this thing works great. First, battery life is MUCH improved because our phones aren’t wasting energy constantly looking for signal and reconnecting. Voice-wise the sound quality is virtually indistinguishable from a normal cell connection. Also, if we start a call at the house and then drive away the call (usually) transfers to the regular towers without issue, but going the opposite way (coming home) almost always results in a dropped call.I didn’t like having to spend my money to solve what is, to me, an AT&T problem, but in our situation our livelihoods depended on solving the problem, and spending a couple hundred dollars for it was worth it.
Can you hear me now??
I was unable to take calls in my house due to poor signal strength I would actually have to walk outside to talk and even then my conversation would cut off. I have no idea why because I live in Houston, Tx not in the boonies. It is a Business phone my employer provides, I have AT&T and I tried different phones etc. This unit Boosted my signal strength from 3 Bars to a full 5 bars depending on where I am in the House. The unit was easily installed and set-up online after I registered. Very cool to finally use my phone at home!
Wish it would have worked for me.
It may work for others, in fact, I know it works for others. It worked for my neighbor. It did not work for me.I worked with ATT for hours and still wouldn’t make it connect. Bummer
Great Bargain
Due to a metal roof on my home, I couldn’t get reception on my cell phone. AT&T suggester a booster but I was able to save well over $150. by purchasing it through Amazon. It works fine.
GREAT RECEPTIOON BOOSTER (if you need it)
If you have reception problems (I do and did), and if you are an AT&T customer, this product is for you. It does what it’s supposed to do (boost the reception of my cell phone from zero to normal levels), and works silently, reliably, and where it should, i.e. at home where there’s poor (or no) reception but not outside where there is normal reception. Easy to install too.
Works great! Good seller
Product as described! Works great! Good seller!
Not user friendly to add user phone numbers into the …
Not user friendly to add user phone numbers into the program. We don’t have a mobile phone connected with our business and had to use an employees personal information to sign in…
Microcell is still registered to another ATT Customer
The micro cell is still registered to another ATT customer!! I cannot activate it! See screen shot!! Tells me to contact the previous customer and have them deactivate it.
great when it works, but frequently disconnects and then drops calls anyway
I work from home and have horrible ATT coverage where I live. I’m giving this product 2 stars because when it works, I have full cell service.
Good hardware, bad software.
This COULD be a good product if AT&T let it. The hardware is good but the software and support are terrible.
One Star
didn’t work for me
Microcell Working As Adverstised
I received this on time as promised. The set up was easy and it has greatly improved my signal strength. It’s working great so far.
Unit says 3G but works well for 4G LTE too!
I got this for our older 3G phones and was going to get rid of it. When we got our new 4G LTE phones we had no signal inside due to having aluminum siding and a steel roof on our…
thanks
Never got it to work
Microcell exceeded expectations
comments powered by DisqusMore than exceeded my expectations! Before the microcell, I could not use my iPhone in my House. Now with the microcell, I have 5dots and no problem receiving or sending calls…
