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Our microcell from ATT was free. I just called them to inquire about the cost of leaving ATT to move to Verizon, and they offered the microcell. Works great so far (going on 4 months).Thanks for the idea of the prepaid Verizon phone. Smart !
Last time I checked ATT did not offer DSL above Arnold.
I believe that the only non-dialup internet options above Arnold are Comcast and Satellite (like dishnet). In our location, Dish couldn’t find the satellites so Comcast is the only option.I talked with Golden State Cellular who was acquired by Verizon and still in the integration process. Right now you should, if you can, get you prepaid phone from them. I bought mine with a Bay Area number and Big Trees is in an extended service (aka roaming) area. Phone works fine but you have to dial the 10 digit number twice to complete a call. That will go away sometime next year according to the folks I talked with. Not a big deal for me because my Verizon cells work fine and are not affected by power outages. It is really just for guests that use our plac and don’t have Verizon.
Jedediah,
Thanks I will look into that. Arrived this afternoon andd so far so good with the cell phone and microcell.
I will also be looking into a prepaid Verizon phone for this other emergencies. Would be nice if AT&T would extend service to this area? Is tere any hold over territorial agreements between AT&T and Golden State/Verizon that are preventing that from happening
On the battery backup you get what you pay for. The modem for comcast doesn’t draw much power and I haven’t had to test it though an extended outage thankfully. Google battery backup for modem and you will find all sorts of info. I think I paid about $225 for mine.
APC Pro 1500. I am sure it would gina full day with just the modem to back up. It is also a surge protector.Jebediah
What is the cost of a battery back up for your Comcast connection and how long does it last?
SteveWell, we ended up sorting over our cabin number to a cell phone and I registered it on our Microcell. Fingers crossed that we made the right decision.
SteveWow, great idea on the Verizon prepaid phone for cable outage emergencies. I may look into that. Once you buy one of those, does the value expire after a certain number of months?
We finally ditched ATT cells and went either Verizon because we get good reception (Ottawa and Miwok). We put in a battery backup for our comcast to help bridge powers outages, and dropped the cabin ATT landline. My ATT microcell still works at the cabin so I can out visitor numbers in if needed. And lastly we have a prepaid Verizon cell at the cabin which works fine in emergencies when power does go down for comcast.
We got a microcell a few months ago and it works great. We bought it on Craigslist for $20. Looks like new and no problems. It covers our entire lot and a little beyond. It can store acce3ss for 15 different ATT phone numbers. Most activation can be done online in a few minutes and it usually activates within an hour or less. Since everyone has cell phones now the cost of a land line for part timers was wasted money. No cost associated with the micro cell but internet connection is required. When power goes out it resets itself with no problem.
Unfortunately, they are not free. I thought I paid $150 for mine, but a quick check on Amazon looks like they are going for $250-$300. AT&T site shows that they have a $75 rebate going on. In the past, some have claimed that they got one for free, probably for complaining that they didn’t get good cell coverage in their house. I imagine that was only in areas where AT&T actually provided cell service. They don’t claim to cover Big Trees.
We bought ours at our local AT&T store.
Very easy to set up. It does have to be next to a window to get GPS signal, as caleach said. There are GPS antenna extensions on Amazon so that you can place the MicroCell in the middle of the house/room and then run the GPS antenna, via a coax, to a window.
More info here:
http://www.att.com/att/microcell/#fbid=KqrCfJkEbowBTW, Verizon has a similar unit for their service. I understand (from reading blogs on BigTreesTech) that they now work in our area, after a couple of years of being deactivated by Golden State Wireless.
The AT&T microcell is a devise that hooks up to your intetnet comnnection, accessa GPS connection for location services and creates a mini cell coverage service within your house. You have to register each AT&T cell phone to work on this device but it works
as if you had perfect cell service anywhere else.The last I knew they were free from AT&T.
we to have ATT for our cell’s.
How do the micocell’s work? I have never seen one and was wondering if they work ok and how one goes about getting one.We ditched our ATT land line a couple of years ago and have been using our ATT Cell phones with a MicroCell ever since. Yes, we understand that with a power outage, we’re out of luck, and Comcast may be less reliable than the ATT wires, but we’ve been good with our situation, especially as only part timers. Frankly, we hardly ever use our phone. Usually just to make reservations at Sarafinas or order a take-n-bake pizza from Snowshoe. Everything else is text or email.
Yes, we understand the small risk of no 911, but I understand that our ATT lines are actually still active and can make a 911 (although I haven’t actually plugged our phone in to listen for a dial tone in a while…)
For the other question on internet, we have Comcast Blast-Plus which is now advertised at 105 MBps download. During the holidays this was plenty for us to use our AppleTV to watch endless episodes of Game of Thrones with only a couple times pausing for buffering. This was in parallel with our daughter playing games and texting on her phone.
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