New Personal Cell Spot

[Almeuit]

I have the window unit, I'm lucky if it picks up a single bar. While I wouldn't mind the ISP unit, my neighbors would be able to use it too, I'm in a condo complex. And I'd rather not provide their cellular backhaul. What I'd really prefer to do is switch WiFi calling to WiFi preferred at home (or on certain SSIDs) and Cellular preferred everywhere else. There's a Tasker plugin that used to work for this, but it hasn't been updated and doesn't work with Marshmallow. Or Lollipop. Or unrooted Samsungs.

If I am not mistaken they actually cannot use it. Most things like this (even Sprints) has a way where you can lock it down to only "approved" numbers. I am more than sure this works the same way.

Looked through the FAQ and not seeing so I would have to confirm but -- If older "3g" boosters could do this I am sure this new one can.

 

[raino]

It isn't an amplifier, it is a mini cell tower, that is the difference. You have no TMO service, plug this in and you have TMO service.

The booster requires some TMO service, but the LTE cellspot doesn't.

Right. I meant 'amplifier' as in you go from no signal to signal

Now the technology on that could have changed at this point, BUT.. If they aren't going to have it work the same way others do, it will be a problem. I wouldn't have it and everyone around connecting and then I might not can connect when I need to make a call. That would be a bad move on TMO's part if they do that.

I'm guessing it's a system where if you're connected, you can't be bumped off. The 17th user just won't be able to get on it. That's my guess. But what I'm not sure about is that if this has 8 LTE+8 UMTS "slots," what would happen if an LTE user wants to make a call but the 8 UMTS "slots" are full?

They had a plan at one time with AT&T that you could get unlimited minutes for the microcell, so any calls while connected to that didn't count against plan minutes.

Right. But at this time, the majority of TMO customers have unlimited minutes anyway plus AFAIK, TMO hasn't created any expectations that any non-traditional connections have usage counted any differently. So if someone makes an assumption that it's going to work like it did on AT&T and then gets minutes deducted, that's on them.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

If I am not mistaken they actually cannot use it. Most things like this (even Sprints) has a way where you can lock it down to only "approved" numbers. I am more than sure this works the same way.

Looked through the FAQ and not seeing so I would have to confirm but -- If older "3g" boosters could do this I am sure this new one can.

That is the way my AT&T microcell was, approved numbers.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Right. I meant 'amplifier' as in you go from no signal to signal

Oh, ok.. I'm thinking amplifier as taking a signal that is already there and increasing that. I'll remember how you are referring.

I'm guessing it's a system where if you're connected, you can't be bumped off. The 17th user just won't be able to get on it. That's my guess. But what I'm not sure about is that if this has 8 LTE+8 UMTS "slots," what would happen if an LTE user wants to make a call but the 8 UMTS "slots" are full?

"Bumped off" isn't the best choice of words, I should have said something like, "locked out" instead.

Say you get home late, live in an apartment and everyone around you and below and above, now has TMO because your neighbor noticed their signal improved a lot right after you got the CellSpot, told everyone and they all switched to the great 4 unlimited data lines for $180 promo they having going on right now. So the nine apartments, you on the middle all have TMO now and they all have at least two lines in each apt. You always work late and get home a couple hours after all your neighbors. By the time you get home, everyone is connected and home for the night. You are SOL and have no signal. I guess you could power it down and then pray your phone connects right away when it came back up, but who wants to do that just to use their own signal?

Right. But at this time, the majority of TMO customers have unlimited minutes anyway plus AFAIK, TMO hasn't created any expectations that any non-traditional connections have usage counted any differently. So if someone makes an assumption that it's going to work like it did on AT&T and then gets minutes deducted, that's on them.

Well I'm not talking about the customer doing it, but if it can't be restricted and minutes from any phone connected to the CellSpot count against your minutes, that is a problem. The CellSpot is available for prepaid customers too and they have minute limits for sure.

If TMO isn't allowing customers to have it open or have it restricted by their choosing, that is a problem. In most houses it shouldn't be an issue, unless you are having a get together with a ton of people at your house that use TMO. That wouldn't even be an issue for some, but in my house we have no landline, we all just have our cell phones. In an apartment complex, it would be much easier for others to be able to connect, since apartments are connected.

Also another thing, it uses E911 and GPS location and the device address is listed in the system for 911. That would mean that any 911 call is going to show your address, including apartment number.

That for sure isn't a good thing. I don't see how in the world they could possibly get by with it not having a way to restrict who connects or you choosing to leave it open connect, as a business would be most likely to.

 

[raino]

Say you get home late, live in an apartment and everyone around you and below and above, now has TMO because your neighbor noticed their signal improved a lot right after you got the CellSpot, told everyone and they all switched to the great 4 unlimited data lines for $180 promo they having going on right now. So the nine apartments, you on the middle all have TMO now and they all have at least two lines in each apt. You always work late and get home a couple hours after all your neighbors. By the time you get home, everyone is connected and home for the night. You are SOL and have no signal. I guess you could power it down and then pray your phone connects right away when it came back up, but who wants to do that just to use their own signal?

Very well described scenario. I don't know how this would be handled, except for a reboot. But then you (i.e. a Cellspot owner) would have a 1 in however-many-TMO-customers-are-in-range shot of connecting, as you pointed out. Maybe shut it off while you're not home, so as to not create a dependency? I would do it just for the sake for bandwidth preservation! Let them all file LCG claims. Lol.

if it can't be restricted and minutes from any phone connected to the CellSpot count against your minutes, that is a problem.

I wouldn't worry about anyone else's usage getting mixed up with the mine (the Cellspot owner's.) A provider witheven the minimal degree of competency would have made sure that doesn't happen. Can you imagine if such mix-ups happened with data, especially if the unit's owner is on a limited data plan? Or worse, international calls billed at ridiculous per minute rates were made?

The CellSpot is available for prepaid customers too and they have minute limits for sure.

Right. And it would be their responsibility for making sure they don't go over.

Plus, how would anyone but you definitively know it's a Cellspot anyways? For all they know, TMO could have put up a new tower nearby.

If TMO isn't allowing customers to have it open or have it restricted by their choosing, that is a problem. In most houses it shouldn't be an issue, unless you are having a get together with a ton of people at your house that use TMO. That wouldn't even be an issue for some, but in my house we have no landline, we all just have our cell phones. In an apartment complex, it would be much easier for others to be able to connect, since apartments are connected.

Agreed.

Also another thing, it uses E911 and GPS location and the device address is listed in the system for 911. That would mean that any 911 call is going to show your address, including apartment number.

That's a very valid concern. And theoretically, this thing can be moved from one place to another, if all you need is an ISP connection for backhaul.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Very well described scenario. I don't know how this would be handled, except for a reboot. But then you (i.e. a Cellspot owner) would have a 1 in however-many-TMO-customers-are-in-range shot of connecting, as you pointed out. Maybe shut it off while you're not home, so as to not create a dependency? I would do it just for the sake for bandwidth preservation! Let them all file LCG claims. Lol.

Yeah, but who wants to have to cut it off when they leave? With the AT&T one, I could remove my sister's number and her be sitting in my living room and she would connect to the actual tower.

I wouldn't worry about anyone else's usage getting mixed up with the mine (the Cellspot owner's.) A provider witheven the minimal degree of competency would have made sure that doesn't happen. Can you imagine if such mix-ups happened with data, especially if the unit's owner is on a limited data plan? Or worse, international calls billed at ridiculous per minute rates were made?

Right. And it would be their responsibility for making sure they don't go over.

Plus, how would anyone but you definitively know it's a Cellspot anyways? For all they know, TMO could have put up a new tower nearby.

Well that is the thing about the AT&T one.. I never worried, I had unlimited minutes so my microcell did also. I saw support questions and support articles though about people that had minutes that were strictly attached to their microcell. That was also part of the troubleshooting guide. They couldn't make calls so they had to check their minutes. If their plan had 500 minutes, it would use the microcell minutes and regular tower minutes, but they could also have their 500 minutes or less and then get a plan, sort of like a data plan for a tablet, that was only minutes for calls made while connected to their microcell. Those minutes didn't dip into their plan minutes. In essence, they could get more minutes on the microcell cheaper than adding that many minutes to their plan. So if they had 500 plan minutes and then bought 200 microcell minutes, calls on the microcell didn't touch the 500 minutes. Like I said, I had unlimited minutes anyway, so I never paid much attention to that. In fact I think it was before I got my microcell and I was researching it when AT&T suggested I might need a microcell.

That's a very valid concern. And theoretically, this thing can be moved from one place to another, if all you need is an ISP connection for backhaul.

Yes you can move it, just like I could the AT&T one. While it has a GPS antenna, that is to make sure the physical location is the same as the address you enter in the microcell UI. If the GPS coordinates don't match the address in the microcell settings, it wouldn't connect to AT&T service and you had no microcell.

The TMO one has a GPS antenna and it t says you have to change the address if you move it.

With the AT&T one and it seems the TMO one is the same in this respect, you move it, hook it up and it can take up to 90 minutes to authorize and part of that, the longest part, is the GPS signal lock.

Even with my TMO LTE booster I have to enter the service address for my booster that is assigned to my number. All the people on my account aren't living at the same address, so even with the booster, like the microcell, the phone number attached to the booster on the account, had to have that address listed separately. So if mom was over at my house and called 911 it would give 911 my address as the address of the call. When she was at her house though, even though she is on my account, she had no microcell so it would give her address. If I had put my neighbor in as able to connect to my microcell and she lived two houses down and made a 911 call and said someone was in her house, the cops would show up at my door.

Now if we went to the lake for the weekend and I took it and connected it there, I would have to log in to My AT&T, give the lake address and then let it authorize and 911 would get that address if I called.

My TMO LTE booster doesn't REQUIRE the physical address, it is just something you do for the E911 service. The CellSpot and microcell require the address or they won't authorize because they do have GPS.

I hope TMO does have an actual way to restrict who connects. That wouldn't be good for many reasons. Heck if a crime happened near you and their phone was connected to your cellspot, even that seems bad.

 

[npaladin-2000]

Bottom line, using WiFi calling offers more security and controlled access than T-Mobile's new femtocell. I could just see someone with an unlimited plan latching onto mine and sucking up my Optimum Ultra50.

It would be interesting to do some tests and find out the max data throughput through the femtocell. And it would be nice if it could be configured to only allow voice connections.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Bottom line, using WiFi calling offers more security and controlled access than T-Mobile's new femtocell. I could just see someone with an unlimited plan latching onto mine and sucking up my Optimum Ultra50.

It would be interesting to do some tests and find out the max data throughput through the femtocell. And it would be nice if it could be configured to only allow voice connections.

The actual security of the call isn't in question, the cellspot communication is encrypted.

I haven't seen official confirmation from TMO yet about access control. That is another issue of hat seems to me that TMO would have to have some type of access control, because everyone doesn't have unlimited data on their home internet.

If the cellspot has access control, I think that is better than the WiFi router like I said above. The cellspot does more than the WiFi router does. A voice connection only, why not just use the LTE booster and use WiFi for data? Even a 3G connection for voice only is just fine. The booster and the LTE cellspot boost and/or create your data.

 

[npaladin-2000]

The actual security of the call isn't in question, the cellspot communication is encrypted.

I haven't seen official confirmation from TMO yet about access control. That is another issue of hat seems to me that TMO would have to have some type of access control, because everyone doesn't have unlimited data on their home internet.

If the cellspot has access control, I think that is better than the WiFi router like I said above. The cellspot does more than the WiFi router does. A voice connection only, why not just use the LTE booster and use WiFi for data? Even a 3G connection for voice only is just fine. The booster and the LTE cellspot boost and/or create your data.

It's not the security of the call, it's the security of the femtocell. As in lack of access control. I understand T-mobile wanting to make it easy to use and open and all, but that may be a good choice for a standalone house it's not a good choice for my situation (condo complex). Now, if the femtocell was voice-service-only (which one could reasonably expect, since one should be using one's own WiFi for data rather than the LTE off of the femtocell and thereby digging into their data bucket) then it might be a different situation, some

An LTE booster doesn't work when there's little to no LTE to even boost in the first place. The LTE booster I've got only picks up one bar in my bedroom off of the tower in that direction (and loses that periodically), and nothing from the tower covering the front of my condo. Anyone can connect to the booster also, but that doesn't bother me much as the booster goes to the tower for backhaul. The femtocell, on the other hand, uses my ISP. Which I don't want them tying up while I'm binging on Netflix and Hulu thank you.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

It's not the security of the call, it's the security of the femtocell. As in lack of access control. I understand T-mobile wanting to make it easy to use and open and all, but that may be a good choice for a standalone house it's not a good choice for my situation (condo complex). Now, if the femtocell was voice-service-only (which one could reasonably expect, since one should be using one's own WiFi for data rather than the LTE off of the femtocell and thereby digging into their data bucket) then it might be a different situation, some

An LTE booster doesn't work when there's little to no LTE to even boost in the first place. The LTE booster I've got only picks up one bar in my bedroom off of the tower in that direction (and loses that periodically), and nothing from the tower covering the front of my condo. Anyone can connect to the booster also, but that doesn't bother me much as the booster goes to the tower for backhaul. The femtocell, on the other hand, uses my ISP. Which I don't want them tying up while I'm binging on Netflix and Hulu thank you.

The access security that others use is easy to use and open to whom you want it to be open to. Again, there is no confirmation from TMO they don't have that access control, TMO hasn't actually addressed that. People being able to connect and not having to log in to connect, is not a sign of open to all and no access control.

No one on my microcell list had to log in and would never know they connected to my microcell unless they happened to glance at the phone for the second that "AT&T Microcell" popped up on the status bar, instead of just "AT&T" on the status bar.

The LTE booster requires at minimum at 1 bar LTE signal, but sometimes you have to just try other windows to get a better signal to boost. Also moving around the other unit can make things better. I found that having my window unit downstairs and then putting my coverage unit upstairs, basically above it, gave me a much better signal.

Again, I understand and understood what you are saying about the access control. I was speaking in "all things being equal" with how femtocells work, you do have access control.

This is my LTE signal right now, off the booster, it isn't a really good signal, pretty bad signal with a lot of noise. This is OFF my booster. I've been having trouble with my booster, a lot of disconnects. They sent me a new booster a couple of weeks ago and it still had problems but started giving me an error message, the error message was my signal was too strong for a booster. Come to find out, they completed a tower near me. I'm in a "hole" massive, massive tree coverage and surrounded by so many towers in a 2-5 mile radius, there is a lot of interference. Yet.. My bad signal is too strong for a booster. If I was about half a mile down the road, the signal is much cleaner and my speeds are more than double. Before they completed the tower and I was on the booster all the time, this was about the speed I got on the booster, sometimes a bit higher. Off the booster, a maximum of 5 mbps download. The booster can do a lot with a very bad signal. My signal before the tower was completed a few weeks ago made this crap signal I have now, look very good. It was a horrible signal and would give me the same speeds. My coverage unit was always 8-9. Even my very bad signal that is now too strong for a booster, is decent. I'm going to experiment some and move my booster to some different areas in my house. If I still get the error message, then I'll send it back to TMO.

You might want to experiment with moving yours around too or if you have had it a while, see about trading it for a replacement. It seems the newer ones do not have to be as far apart from each other.

Maybe try the signal apps I used for these tests, see exactly what your signal is and make sure your signal is too bad for a booster. It could be needing to move it around or it could be lie mine, your actual signal has improved and with all the disconnects I was getting, it was making connections and speed look like my signal was still bad or worse. It wasn't, the problem was the booster didn't need to be connected, so my phone being connected to it and dropping and connecting to the tower and back to the booster, because the booster didn't need to be used, made it seem like I had a signal that was literally worthless.

I'm not saying take a cellspot with no access control, I wouldn't do that either unless I lived way out in the country. I'm still waiting for TMO to confirm about the access control, one way or the other. I can't imagine TMO would do no access control and if they do, I would think that will be something they need to and will end up, rethinking soon enough.

Also all things being equal as far as signal you would get, access control, like I said above, my choices would be in this order:

Booster
Cellspot
WiFi router

 

[RicKaysen]

I really don't see how this LTE Cellspot benefits the majority of customers. If your phone is on WiFi, that takes care of data speeds. For calls and texts, there's WiFi calling which, again, can be powered independently of this device (at most, with the ASUS router they loan out for better QoS on WFC.) Unless TMO wants to openly declare that WFC is a hugely unreliable solution for domestic coverage and/or they can't make it work and this Cellspot replaces it, it's pointless for the majority of their customers.

I would kinda understand if these were band 12 compatible. But they're not.

To repeat what I said in an earlier post, WiFi calling is totally unreliable ..... " I couldn't rely on WiFi calling, it just stopped working too often. I'd pick up the phone to make a call and see it had turned itself off. I'd have to fiddle with the settings and sometimes reboot to get it back all the time wondering how long it was off and how many calls I'd missed. The cell spot gives me five solid bars all the time."

 

[Kelly Kearns]

I also just don't like WiFi calling, but we have some issue with the service out here and the ISP can't seem to figure out the issue. It goes up and down, a lot, for a few minutes at at time. Even if that didn't happen, I still prefer the booster over all of the options. It is only needs electricity, doesn't matter if the Internet is down or not. For me, WiFi calling is when there are places I have to be with my job that no cell service can get through. WiFi calling is just a back up for me.

 

[raino]

To repeat what I said in an earlier post, WiFi calling is totally unreliable ..... " I couldn't rely on WiFi calling, it just stopped working too often. I'd pick up the phone to make a call and see it had turned itself off. I'd have to fiddle with the settings and sometimes reboot to get it back all the time wondering how long it was off and how many calls I'd missed. The cell spot gives me five solid bars all the time."

Right. And my WFC experience has been spotless, albeit I don't use it on Android.

 

[Almeuit]

Well .. looks like T-Mobile confirmed the cellspot is open and there is no control. Very shocking since previous models (3g only ones) had this. This is a big fail in my opinion. You should be able to restrict who can use it so you don't have to provide cell service for your neighbors through your internet.

 

[raino]

You should be able to restrict who can use it so you don't have to provide cell service for your neighbors through your internet.

They don't really care. They just want to increase their footprint.

 

[Almeuit]

They don't really care. They just want to increase their footprint.

Yeah I won't be using one. The 4G LTE booster works okay for me and solved my issues at home... and doesn't rely on my home internet .

 

[Kelly Kearns]

They don't really care. They just want to increase their footprint.

I think they will have to be changing this eventually.

You can't even go an add MAC addresses of people allowed to connect with your router, because it is on the "other side" of the router.

 

[cdd543]

Anyone having issues with the new unit? I'm having a problem using it with my note 5...calls are crystal clear and then I'll have 2 or three seconds of silence, then it comes back. I unplug it and this issue goes away. I have gigabit internet so it's not a bandwidth issue. Tried rebooting it and it's the same. Wish I still had my 6p to test, but I returned it a few days ago.