AT&T rolls out MicroCell support for iPhone and iPhone 3G
By Will Park on Monday, February 9th, 2009 at 12:09 PM PST In AT&T, Announcements, Apple, Hottest Hardware, iPhone, iPhone OS
AT&T (NYSE: T) is gearing up to launch their own signal-boosting femtocell solution for customers with spotty wireless service in their homes. The misleadingly-named AT&T MicroCell serves as a mini cellular tower in your home that routes cellular communications to AT&T’s network via a broadband internet connection. The MicroCell blankets up to 5,000 sq. ft. of real-estate in AT&T’s GSM network, allowing up to 10 handsets to use voice and even 3G data simultaneously.
Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s iPhone and iPhone 3G are now officially compatible with AT&T’s upcoming MicroCell femtocell. AT&T has pushed out a “carrier patch” to iPhone users via iTunes’ iPhone update mechanism. The update patch essentially provides a new carrier logo to replace the “AT&T” carrier logo when an iPhone connects to a MicroCell network. Of course, there are some additional changes rolled into the AT&T iPhone “carrier patch,” but special dialing codes and new default application settings take a back seat to the iPhone’s MicroCell support.
So, if your iPhone or iPhone 3G is always searching for a reliable signal in your home, you can rest easy knowing that AT&T is working to bring you 100% signal strength in your domicile soon. With AT&T pushing out updates to bring its fleet of iPhones and iPhone 3Gs, we’re expecting AT&T to get the MicroCell-ball rolling sooner rather than later.
[Via: MobileCrunch]
According an AT&T insider, this service is not being released until end of Q3 – tentatively, probably even later. Currently AT&T is still at their testing phase and are late with developments. The fake banners that AT&T put up on their site is there because of the competing providers already have this type of technology available to the public. They will be using picoChip technology. http://www.picochip.com/
I am using beta 3.1 O/S on 3GS phone and am seeing “M-cell” in a lot of locations (businesses and densely-populated areas), as well as sometimes in my home (rural area)… not sure if that is picking up an M-Cell that they’ve put on a nearby telephone pole…?