“A subscriber in an anecdote this weekend said he had received a letter from the carrier giving him the femtocell as a reward for being one of AT&T’s ‘most valuable customers,'” Electronista reports. “The subscriber noted to Engadget that retail staff didn’t have an explanation as to why he was given the normally $150 local cell site for free.”
Electronista reports, “Suspicions have been raised that the gift is a method of keeping customers like the example, many of whom were on the verge of finishing their contracts and who are often iPhone owners. AT&T has dropped repeated hints that its iPhone exclusivity may be coming to an end, as it moved up eligibility for the iPhone 4 to include everyone who would have qualified in 2010 and nearly doubled cancellation fees to make it difficult to leave for those who renew their contracts.”
Read more in the full article here.
If AT&T;really wanted to keep accounts they would let family plans upgrade if the primary phone is eligible.
I find these microcells to be completely offensive in that they charge you for it then they have the audacity to charge you minutes while using YOUR broadband line to prop up their crappy network.
If ever there needs to be a lawsuit, it’s for this.
What about on the call side you have roll over but no mention of roll over on the data side? The other point that I have is the promised tethering. When finally delivered different than the vision of what you get with blackberry. When will these people learn? Business types require standardization. The service side is making it difficult for the purchase case for an iPhone.
I’ll need to get one of these soon since I get no reception at home. Oddly when I got my 3G things were fine at home.. 3Gs came out and it was ok.. not too many dropped calls until a few months before the iphone 4… then I got the iphone 4 and I get anywhere between searching and 1 bar.. sometimes though it will jump up to 5 bars… makes NO sense.. and its not just mine.. its both my parents iphone 4’s too.
You pay 150 for it… and opt in for their $20 a month bull for unlimited calls… then cancel that after 3 months til you get the rebate and you end up spending only about $100. Unfortunately my parents just left verizon so im sure we are considered ‘most valuable customers’ though I am after 3 years but thats through my company.
It really is an insult to not give these out for free. We all pay some good money for the iphone with the AT&T;plan and their horrid reception.. and they have the balls to charge? I bet once Apple announces the iphone for another carrier or right before it.. AT&T;will be giving these out by the boat loads.
I received this offer Saturday morning, and by 1:30 hat afternoon I’d set the MicroCell up and was receiving five bars (whatever that really means) all over my house. Prior to the MicroCell, I’d only had one bar of reception, so it seems like a good deal so far.
The AT&T;staff didn’t know why I’d received the free offer (in fact, they’d never seen a free coupon like mine), although I wondered if it has anything to do with the many times I’ve used the Mark the Spot app from AT&T;to point out the terrible reception in my house. The staff didn’t have a comment on that.
The interesting part is that I’ve only been an AT&T;customer since February. Granted, I bought an iPhone 4 the day of release, but I wonder how that makes me a ‘valued AT&T;customer.’ At any rate, I have a free MicroCell, and I can finally make calls in my basement, bedroom, kitchen, and everywhere else in the house. The amount of good will AT&T;could generate by giving these things away is tremendous, but I wonder if it’s a little late for long-time users/sufferers.
Has anyone tried this with either of the satellite broadband providers?
Not only no cell service where we live but no cable or dsl.
@Marty Wells
The latency on a satellite internet connection is … horrible. My mom had satellite internet at her cabin. It worked. We even used it to make skype calls. But, there is a LONG delay between the two ends of the conversation. It would be similar (if not worse) with a microcell device.
If you’re completely desperate, and don’t mind a very long and awkward delay, then give it a try.
I got my letter this weekend and cannot wait to pick it up. I am a a fairly new customer (11/09) but pay $250 a month. We are renovating and moving to a new house with zero reception despite being in their best reception area. Each time I am out there I “mark the spot”. I wonder if that helped me get the free one. I will not be adding anything to my bill as we never use all our minutes anyway.
AT&T;is the most incompetent corporation in existence; even moreso than Microsoft…
Phu-lease….
AT&T;has always offered this (since the first subsidized iPhone) Customers who were within 6 months of the end of an iPhone contract have ALWAYS been offered the opportunity to renew (at the low buy in price) For “heavy” users they typically offer it a year early.
That they would offer a good customer a $150 device to 1) improve his reception, and 2) take part of the load over thier network and backbone is just a no brainer. It means nothing
Move along, nothing to see here… just another apple/AT&T;hating tech reporter trying to make a story out of nothing
Just downloaded and started using the Mark the Spot app.
Thanks for the heads up.
Though I’ve had no issues with ATT, I would like to have a $10 monthly discount. I’ve been a good customer. I hate Verizon but I could switch.
I’m just saying.