Solution: how to get your AT&T MicroCell tower to work
I post this so that future buyers of this in the USVI can avoid the 4 months I spent getting it to now function.
The issue is that the USVI does not have regular addresses like in the states, it's basically plot numbers. When you go to register AT&T will reject your address and suggest something that makes logical sense (with your street name in it) but actually will not work. Their support people will be flabbergasted as to why that would be an issue. Your address must exactly match what the 911 service in the VI shows as your home address (xx estate xx), and the support people at AT&T have to find your house on a map, and tag the exact GPS co-ordinates to that address for the MicroCell to work. I found the co-ordinates of the windowsill I put mine on to really be safe to the 6th decimal place 😉
In the end, the address 911 had for me was not even my estate, it was a neighboring one, which caused more confusion because AT&T told me they had mapped my correct address of a-b estate x but it was actually mapped as a-b estate y. If you live in a steel house like I do it's a godsend - our phones previously would work only when standing outside of one side of our house (facing town), otherwise we didn't even know anyone has called until we went out to our cars. With the MicroCell mini-tower in our house, we can actually use our phones in our home. Hopefully this helps anyone who bought a Micro-Cell and can't get the darn thing to work, and support can't explain it. Invested a total of 7-8 hours over 4 months, but this is the key to getting it to work. So far we love it.
I am surprised you had that much trouble. When I went to activate mine and the address would not match up AT&T's support was very familiar with the problem. Similar to the problems they have in Alaska.
Gave them my GPS coordinates and in five days all was good.
The support people I dealt with that handle activation of this product were among the best support people I have ever dealt with. Perhaps in the past year they have disbanded the group that supported this product exclusively.
My service installation was as easy as Jim's. Sorry to hear you had a nightmare with it, but maybe it was a freak incident?
What does the service cost for a Microcell tower?
What kinds of speeds do you get?
No additional monthly cost - I think the tower cost us $150. The tower plugs in to your cable/DSL and your phone connects first to the tower for calls instead of the big tower.
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