A pathetic 40-60 foot range that doesn't even cover all rooms of this
guys's house. My Verizon femtocell covers at least a 150 foot radius,
even through trees and/or walls with metal ducting.
And what's this about requiring 1.5MB down/256KB up? Voice doesn't need
anywhere near that much bandwidth. If anyone with 7MB down/512KB up is
having problems with voice cutting out, either their QoS options are set
wrong on their router, or their ISP is not delivering the promised
bandwidth, or their ISP is doing stuff to screw over VoIP (especially if
it's cable instead of DSL).
Then there's the normal AT&T silliness.
Why do you have to log into a MicroCell site with wireless account info
and serial number to "activate" the MicroCell? It may be convenient to
register a list of authorized numbers, but completely unnecessary. It
should just plug and play.
Why do you need to have a 3G phone with AT&T? You should not need service
to buy a femtocell. You are providing AT&T service - greater wireless
coverage - not the other way around, and you're buying the equipment to do
so!
Why do you need an "eligible, local address" and why can't you move your
MicroCell without telling AT&T? The MicroCell is going to report its GPS
location to the mothership. Either it is in an AT&T licensed service area
or it is not. It doesn't matter if you take it with you when you visit
your grandmother's house in another state; if Granny is in an AT&T
licensed service area and has broadband, just plug it in and after a few
minutes it should be online.
What's this about 911? A femtocell knows its location to pass on to 911.
[By the way, the GPS serves two functions. First is to identify its
location to the mothership. Second is to get precise time, which is
needed by CDMA-based technologies (and yes, 3G is CDMA based).]
Why can't you eBay your MicroCell? The only reason why AT&T should even
care is to change the ownership records so the new owner can tweak the
authorized number records.
Then again, I guess that AT&T customers have very low expectations.
That's why they settle for crappy service and crappy phones like the
iPhone.
-- Mark --
http://panda.com/mrc
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.