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AT&T rolls out MicroCell support for iPhone and iPhone 3G

By: , IntoMobile
Monday, February 9th, 2009 at 12:09 PM

AT&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.

iphone-itunes-carrier-updateApple’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.

att-microcell-logo

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]

About The Author

Will Park

Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...

  • Sava308

    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…?

  • Alisande

    How about just getting the service that we thought came with the phone to begin with?
    Its the biggest scam that everyone is pray to: sell product, create problem in that product, sell solution to the problem. When you bought a toaster 20 years ago, you didnt have to
    worry about updates every 2 weeks and having a new problem
    on a monthly basis.