Wow! If I get a new iPhone, buy a new device for $150, and pay an additional $240 a year, my AT&T cell phone service could actually work.
Again.
Awesome!
I visited the AT&T store today. The sales rep, a friendly lad who knows his phones and probably shaves once a month whether he needs it or not, showed me their remarkable new product, the AT&T 3G MicroCell.
“This is like having a cell phone tower in your house,” said the sales rep. “You’re guaranteed five bars. Guaranteed.”
This sounded pretty good, since I’ve grown accustomed to one bar, or two, or frequently “no service.”
But I used to get five bars all the time. In fact, a couple of years ago, we did away the the normal land line. We did this for three reasons.
1. The bill was enormous.
2. Nobody ever used it to call out.
3. Nobody ever used it to call in.
4. I had an awesome, new, 1st generation, 2G, iPhone. Great phone. Very expensive. With visual voicemail. Very handy.
5. The reception in our house was pretty damn good.
However, my original, 2G iPhone won’t work with the new AT&T MicroCell. I’ll need an upgrade for that.
I plan to upgrade anyway, eventually — but the current phone works fine and we don’t get 3G service here anyway. So I was going to wait until my town — Salisbury, NC — got 3G service before spending money on a phone that used it.
I learned today that my wife and daughter, who have newer phones, would get excellent service, from home, with the new MicroCell.
“Their phones phones will be great, but you’ll still get lousy service in your house,” the sales rep said. “Cell phones just don’t work that great in your house. They do better when you’re out and about. Unless you have the MicroCell.”
The service used to be equally good or bad in the house or out and about.
Is this a conspiracy? Does AT&T know where we live and intentionally blot out service at our residence — so we’ll get a home phone again, or buy the Microcell?
Are they blotting out everybody’s house, so everybody has to buy extra equipment to use their phones at home?
Seems like it to me.
I’ve heard a lot of people say they don’t get good cell phone service at home.
Also — with the MicroCell, your minutes — while connected to it — are unlimited.
So here’s the AT&T recommendation: Spend $150 for the MicroCell, $20 a month for the MicroCell service, and get a new phone that will access the MicroCell. Then, I’ll be able to talk from my home, with good reception.
Why has the service degraded so?
“They’ve been working on the towers for the past year,” said the guy in the store. “Preparing for 3G.”
Here’s my question. If all this extra cost is required in order to make calls from home that don’t get dropped, and receive calls from people who dial my number — then what are the other minutes for? You know, those 3,000 minutes a month I’m currently buying?
What are those minutes, chopped liver?
I guess they are.