AT&T have recently been sending out letters offering some wireless customers a free Cisco MicroCell™ — a letter they can redeem at a local AT&T store. I believe they’re doing this because AT&T want to buy loyalty from good but wavering customers. I was one such wavering customer, except I did not come by my free AT&T microcell so easily. Many subscribers got unsolicted letters for a free microcell. I had to argue for mine.
Here’s how to do it …
Long story short, politely report all your signal problems into the drones at Customer Services. Log new calls for every occasion your signal is weak — presumably at your home location since the microcell is only going to give you a thirty foot diameter improvement in service (half of that outside the window you must install it up against). Conduct all the tests Customer Services asks you to, make all the reasonable changes they request of you. Decide whether to ignore holding the iPhone gingerly with two fingers and to only answer calls while standing next to a window.
Don’t bother asking Customer Services for a free microcell, they won’t give you one. Don’t argue, they can’t. Keep the conversation civil. They may even recommend that you buy a microcell and offer you some sort of a rebate/incentive to do so. Politely turn them down. Why should you pay AT&T more money to get the service you’re already paying for? Just make sure they’re writing up your problems in their systems. Logging your signal problems is the real objective here. Cross check next time you call. Give their engineers a reasonable amount of time to re-tune their local cell antennas to your benefit. Keep your own record of dates, times and signal problems reported — and the changes you were asked to make and did.
Install the free iPhone app AT&T Mark the Spot and use it to report signal problems — especially when you’re at home.
When all of that effort doesn’t yield a solution, call AT&T’s President. His office. Ask for somebody on the Executive Response Team to call you back. They will. Try to be available when they call, they’ll only call three times. Your call back will likely go straight to voicemail, so mention what time(s) you’ll be available to take another call. Seriously consider giving them a number other than your iPhone if you’ll be home when they call: If the signal is poor the call may go bad. Explain your case. Ask for a microcell free of charge. Politely remind them you now have the option to switch to Verizon and that you’re doing all you can to remain a loyal AT&T subscriber. They’ll check into their call logs. If your case is solid, you too may just get a microcell free of charge, promptly delivered by next day service!
So, what’s the President’s office number? Try calling 1-866-751-5784*
*people report in comments that the original numbers quoted here no longer work — Eastern States call 877-707-6220 and Western States call 800-498-1912.
Don’t bother asking Customer Services to transfer you to their Executive Response Team nor to the President’s office. They claim to have no knowledge of the former nor the number of the latter. Don’t bother threatening to cancel your service. It’s a pointless threat. They run you through some scripts, take notes and — if you’re lucky — you can get small credits for service problems. That’s all. They’re not authorised to do much else.
Links: AT&T Microcell FAIL: Something to fuel your “privacy” paranoia
slappHappe 
77 Comments
Nice thumbs up. Thanks for the 411 started to notify my service issues to see if they can do anything about it. Hopefully its either solved by antenna fixing or they actually do mail me the microcell. I have a friend who got his from sprint service, so hopefully it’ll go good.
Thanks for this tip. I just spent a good hour talking (actually most of this time on hold) to 3 levels of AT&T customer service people. The last one claims there is no one higher I can talk to. The best they could offer me was a $30 refund for 3 months of service for my daughter’s line, if I buy the $200 Microcell unit. The other “dumb offer” I got was a $100 rebate if I sign up for their $20/mo unlimited plan (OK, so they give me $100 so I can give it back to them in the next 5 months, plus $20/mo extra after that – I don’t need to pay for extra minutes if we have tons of unused roll over minutes). Next, I even pulled my “17 years loyal AT&T customer card” and still no better offer. The last offer I made was to pay for 1/2 of the $200 and still no go. I guess as you say, these people cannot do much for you as their hands are most likely tied.
I will give your tip a try, however my issue is that my service at home is very good, the problem is my daughter’s service in her apartment in another city. I will have to ask her to do the record keeping and see how it goes. She’s been dealing with it for the past year (ending up adding a land line), but she just renewed her lease so I’m a motivated to see if I can fix her problem soon.
So this is my case. Moved to a new address 3 weeks ago. Litterally 1.5 miles from my old address and now have zero bars in my new townhouse. We have to walk to the middle of the parking lot to get a bar or 2. So thinking theres not much I can do about it just didnt call ATT. I work 4 the cable co. and a neighbor leaves a note on my van asking me to come over he had a question. While stepping into his home I see this ATT contraption and ask what it was 4. He says he went to ATT store told them he had no service here they handed him a microcell FREE. Well I dont have much free time to stop by a store so called ATT. My account is under there “Enterprise service” or commercial business. It made no difference they refused to send me a free one. They offered it for $99 then $50 and I was like “your telling me after you just heard me say my neighbor got 1 FREE you expect me to settle for anything less than free?” It got to a supervisor and he stated I may want to stop by that store. My reply was “do you not understand english or just the meaning of the sentence I dont have the time to stop by that store” Well its not over till its over I will either get it free or switch providers makes no difference to me. Whats stupid is they would give up a $2000 breached contract over a $199 valued microcell. Guess thats why they have lost so many customers.
Thank you for the tip, did my first customer service call now, and they ‘reset” my phone and asked if I would call in a week. They also told me that there might be another radio EF signal causing the phone to drop. Why then, when outside, 30 ft from my apartment, the thing works fine. I told them why would an interfering radio signal interfere in the house, but not on the lawn? Anway, thank you
My wife takes AT&T calls from home. They don’t use a script. They go through 2 months of training before taking calls on their own.
Most everything else you stated about the MicroCell is true. They gave them away for a month. Either you have good service in your home or you don’t. If you don’t, buy a MicroCell. Another advantage of having it is that up to 10 phones can be registered to it, and all calls INITIATED while connected to it will be free. This means, start a call while connected to it, get in your car, and drive for an hour. The entire call is free.
Getting a discount on the MicroCell and paying the $20/month is a 2-year agreement, too. So, if you get one, you’ve extended your contract.
Bryan. Ok, maybe don’t have a script for what they actually do say — but they certainly have guidelines to tell them what not to say (I had one inarticulate agent read it to me so he could get his point across), agreed? Prescribed talking points are, to my mind, near enough to being scripted. My gripe, however, is not with the agents who are, after all, doing the job they are paid to do — it’s with the company that hides behind this clumsy process that seems aimed at retarding customer complaints, excepting for the few that’ll go the extra mile to figure out — all on their own — what to do next.
I WORKED FOR AT AND T FOR SIX YEARS AND THEY DO TRAIN YOU TO READ SCRIPTS AND WHEN A NEW PRODUCT COMES OUT? THEY ASK YOU TO IMPROVIZE YOUR SCRIPT TO INCLUDE THE NEW PRODUCT. I TOOK CALLS FROM ALL THE BABY BELLS AND AT AND T (SAME COMPANY)
i EVEN WORKED THE ATT DSL HELP DESK. THANK YOU FOR CALLING THE ATT HELP DESK, MY NAME IS JOE BLO AND HOW CAN I HELP YOU TODAY? ( YOU CAN IMPROVISE: HOW CAN I MAKE YOUR DAY?) ETC.
AT HOME WORKERS MAY NOT HAVE TO, BUT IN THE CORPORATE WORLD, YOU DO.
ANOTHER NUMBER TO ADD TO YOUR LIST IS THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT.
1-866-751-5784. THIS WILL ASK YOU WHAT REGION YOU ARE CALLING FOR… PRESS THE NUMBER CORRESPONDING TO YOUR AREA. (THIS IS THE NUMBER YOU WILL RECIEVE A CALL FROM IF YOU CALL THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU WITH YOUR COMPLAINT. THIS IS THERE LAST STOP. ATT MAKES 100% ON BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU CALLS. NO OUTSTANDING COMPLAINTS.
FYI by following the steps outlined in this post and politely following up with the presidents office (East coast office number) I was able to get a complimentary MicroCell as well.
Well done Matthew and thank you for sharing your good news and confirming that this process works!
thank you thank you thank you
our free attt microcell just arrived by frd ex
i just spke to the predients office yesterday and already ihave it thank for sharing that important info ! thanks
I called ATT 3 times for no service at home help. I changed my primary address location, was sent a new sim card and was told to stay away from my wifi router. Keeping in mind this blog I walked into an ATT store with my roommate and we both checked our termination fee with the customer service rep. We were very pilot and then started to walk away discussing paying the fee of 190 bucks or getting the microcell. The rep asked why we inquired about the termination and I informed him that I had just moved here and the service in our condo was non-existant. I let him know our neighbors said Verizon works or pay 200 bucks for a microcell while some neighbors had the microcell for free. He stated that the company didn’t allow them as of June 2011 to give out free microcells anymore. Then he told us to let him check with his manager. She allowed him to give it to us free instead of canceling two cell phone accounts with high minute usage. We have both been ATT customers for about 5 years. So 7/31/11 I now have a free microcell with no contract and use my regular ATT minutes. I think it helped to be polite but upset and we thanked them profusely for being the only ones to solve our problem for free.
I liked your in-store strategy to enquire about a MicroCell and to check the termination fee — and then have an audible conversation with a friend comparing your choices. A good-guy/bad-guy role play, where your friend is a Verizon customer advising you to drop AT&T should certainly pique the interest of any reasonably loyal company man– to come to your aid to keep the account!
Thanks for taking time out to add value to this conversation.
This was extremely helpful. The President’s Office called me back within two hours. Here was the catch for me: my billing zip is in an area of great reception. This was for my daughter’s new apartment at college with literally ‘no service’. Not bad serve, NO service!! I do think it’s likely you can talk them into a free Microcell if your account holder location is in a bad service area. The best I could do was to get a $150 credit on my wireless bill. Be careful of the offered rebate: you must sign up for additional service at another $19.99 per month. At a $50 price tag (net, after my billing credit) I’m ok. Not thrilled, but ok. Slapphappe, you are my hero. There is no way any calls (I made many) or visits to the store would work. Thank you so much.
This just worked for me too. Thanks. I tried twitter, chat, email and phoning customer service to no avail. Following all that, this was painless.
Have been a loyal AT&T customer for 5+ years now and glad I stumbled upon this post.. worked for me. Thanks for sharing!
Just got a response from ATT Executive Response Team — free MicroCell. Thanks for the post/lead.
Verifying that this worked for me. And I didn’t have a long, drawn out customer service interaction as described in the post as ‘required.’ But my situation was different. I recently moved from San Antonio, TX to Virginia, and our new house is in a dead-zone. That’s all I needed to say…the person I spoke to could see that we were now in a shaky coverage area. Now just need to hook up the MicroCell. ATT has kept me as a customer through this act of unquestioned customer service, because my contract was up last month and we were getting new iPhones with Verizon if ATT didn’t make good. They made good…
thanks for the advice i just called executive response team for the west coast and i feel as though i am finally getting somewhere i am now awaiting for a call back either today or early tomorrow morning….. i am hoping for the best but expecting the worse…. either way ill let you know how it goes…..
How did things with AT&T’s Executive Response Team work out for you Roland?
AT&T Customer Service offered to sell me the microcell for 199.00 and my response was I am still within my first 30 days of my contract and can cancel service with out any penalties, and if AT&T cannot fix the problem of no signal at home then I will cancel my service with them and go to Verizon where I know they have great signal where I live…. I just dont understand why I dont have a good signal when i have a cell tower within a 10 mile radius and 6 more within a 25 mile radius. ugh this is frustrating dealing with their Customer Service
well I finally heard back from the Executive Response Team and they told me that i am not eligible to receive a microcell due to the fact that i am still within my first 30 days and can cancel my family plan contract. so much for trying to keep new customers. Not to mention that i was lied to by there customer service rep. who told me that i can go to my local AT&T store and fill out a simple app and receive one for free…… which is not the case.
I even went as far as to threaten to go to Verizon Wireless where I know from past experience that i would have a great signal….. apparently that doesnt matter. they couldnt even explain why i dont have a signal when there is a cell tower within a 10 mile radius and 5 more within a 25 mile radius. I also pointed out that there online coverage map shows that i am suppose to have excellent service.
Sorry to hear this Roland. If I had a similar outcome together with your option to change service provider without a steep cancellation feed — I would make the change. Port the number(s) if you’re attached to them. AT&T really saved their bacon with me by providing me with a MicroCell, else I would have left them at the end of my contract term.
I called today, talked to Cynthia the Coordinator to the President of ATT, She asked how I go the number and I told her from this website. I have been a customer from way back to when they were Pac Bell, then Cingular then ATT. I have been with them for almost 18yrs. I have had very bad coverage at this resident since I have moved in in 2003. I had complained for years to them and they started off by giving me 20/mth credit for the whole year in 2003 and part of 2004. Then it stopped…I called and complained and got 15/mth for a few months…and it stopped. I called again and they said they could not do it anymore. I was not happy to say the least, called back a few times and someone told me about the micro tower and I did not understand it. They told me it would be free and this was in the year of 2007 I think. So last January of 2011 I finally after about 4 years of having a BlackBerry upgraded to the Iphone 4, I was told my reception at my home would so much better, but I was not told about the problems with the antenna in the Iphone 4. When I got home I had NO RECEPTION anymore. I was pissed. I also was leaving out of town for 3 mths, so when I got back I made the phone calls and talked to “Josh” he got me a Micro tower for 107 dollars, told me he would take off 50/mth on my bill in 2 mth incrementals, I got the first 50 taken off while on the phone and awaited the second 50 which never happened. Then I started getting the 19.95/mth bill for the tower? I was never told I would have to pay this monthly fee…and why in the hell would you…they are using your internet package to make their Tower work? Funny…why would I pay for that? I called the normal lines at ATT and got a nasty woman who told me there were no notes about my extra 50 dollars off, and that I had agreed to pay the 19.95/mth. She was of no help. I stated looking for complaints and found this site, I called the number and await my return call. I will post when I get someone to call me back. We will see.
H
well i decided to contact the BBB and sent them my complaints, this is what i wrote. “i contacted AT&T numerous times about the poor service i receive at home weather i was indoors or outside. I pointed out that there coverage map online states that I should have excellent signal but if i want to make or receive any calls i have to walk a 1/4 mile to the hwy to get one bar. i had a customer service rep tell me that i was eligible for a free microcell all i had to do was go to my local att store and fill out a simple application and get approved. so i went to the att store and the customer service rep there said that there was no such application. a blatant lie by the customer service rep i talked to on the phone. i have talked with the technical support to try and resolve this issue of signal strength as well as AT&T executive response team and have had no luck in getting any of this resolved… I have Been lied to about the free microcell device wasted my time and gas on a witch hunt and still i am having problems getting any service at home.” and here is the response from ATT. “T&T Mobility (“AT&T”) is in receipt of the above-referenced customer’s complaint and appreciates the opportunity to respond. Specifically, Mr. Smith recently activated wireless service with AT&T. He states since starting the service, he has been experiencing issues with poor coverage at his home. Mr. Smith was advised about a 3G MicroCell improving the coverage in his home; however, he does not want to pay for the equipment.
On October 21, 2011, an AT&T Office of the President Specialist, Jontelle Mason spoke with Mr. Smith regarding the wireless complaint received by AT&T. In an effort to resolve Mr. Smith’s complaint, the Specialist explained the level of coverage he is currently receiving is the best available in his area. He was advised the nearest tower is located about ten miles from his home and trees and terrain could be blocking the signal from reaching his home. Mr. Smith was advised AT&T cannot provide a free 3G MicroCell to him as he is within the Buyer’s Remorse period. Mr. Smith was advised if the current level of service he is receiving is unacceptable he can return the devices and cancel his service without penalty. The Specialist explained if he keeps the service beyond the Buyer’s Remorse period, he is accepting the coverage in his area as there are no enhancements planned in his area. Although the Specialist addressed all of the concerns indicated on Mr. Smith’s complaint, he remains dissatisfied.”
This just goes to show that ATT can get away with false advertising i mean how can they blame the trees for my poor reception when i live in the NW which is known for the forest…. and then post on there coverage map online that my entire county has excellent coverage? not to mention i live on five acres with maybe fifty trees i have to go to the end of my drive way (1/4 mile from the house) where most of the tress are located to get a bar maybe two if i am lucky. then for them to tell me one minute i can get a micro cell for free and say the opposite the next min….. ugh
the BBB asked if i wanted to accept the response received from ATT and this is what i wrote
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
for one they are not taking responsibility for there false advertising on there web site, there coverage map shows i should have excellent coverage. there blaming the trees well that is unacceptable because where i live on 5 acres with maybe 50 trees most of them at the end of my driveway where i get on maybe two bars of service just doesn’t make any sense. plus i live in the NW where we are famous for our forest. so that should show on there coverage map as potentially weak signal. and there is still the issue of there customer service rep straight out lying to me by saying that i was eligible for a free micro cell through my local AT&T store which was not the case. so i had to waste my time and gas for there wild goose chase they sent me on.if i were to rate this company on a 1-5 star rating i wouldn’t even give it a half a star……i have a business account through Verizon Wireless where i Have 26 phones the contract is due to expire on Nov 1 2011 and i was considering giving my business account to ATT but now that i see how there service is to there customers i think i will just re new the account with Verizon Wireless
Well…I got called back today by Cathy ( very nice woman) ( I do have her direct phone number and not sure I want to post it due to my outcome) from the ATT coordinator to the office to the president from the number I called from the top of this blog. And guess what…I was very pleased and I was also very to her and explained my problems. I was given back my money I spent to buy the Micro Tower, a total of 100 dollar has now been credited to my account of which is the cost I paid for the Tower. I am the owner of the ATT micro tower as well, I do not have to return it, it is mine. I was also given refunds on the 19.95/mth for the 2 mths they charged me. I elected to not use the service of 19.95/mth because I have an older plan for 59/mth which is the 1100 min plan with rollover, I also pay for text…1000 text/mth for 10.00/mth and I also have the grandfathered in unlimited DATA package that costs me 30/mth, plus my discounts I had been given long ago. My total bill per month is approximately 102/mth with my discounts and is the same bill I have had for over 3 yrs now. I think stating my problem with out to much complaint helped. I have been a ATT customer for over 18yrs….I have been with them sense they were Pac Bell here in CA. So it may have played a big roll in my discounts. But I will say thank you all for posting as I was pretty pissed off yesterday. But today I had a big win!
The 800 number is no longer in service, anyone have a new one?
I called the normal customer care number and chose the dept. to terminate service. I said…”I have terrible cell coverage in my home, but I have it outside… all of my friends and family that come by have Verizon and have no issues inside my home. I want to know what the early termination fee is for my account.”
She replied, “Well, it would be $75. But have you thought about buying a microcell?”
I said, “Yes, but I don’t want to spend $200 when Verizon will work without spending any extra money.”
She said,”Okay, well, I can’t send you one free anymore, but I can credit your account $200, just go to the ATT store at XYZ Road and buy one.”
I said, “Wait, so you’re crediting my account $200 and all I have to do is go buy the microcell, right?”
She said, “Yes.”
It was as easy as pie. I couldn’t believe it!! Took less than 10 minutes.
Yes, the phone numbers listed no longer work. Any idea on how to reach the Executive Response Team now?
Folks are saying the phone number I quoted no longer work.
Does the 1-866-751-5784 suggested by bggulbrand work?
One wonders what AT&T are up to changing those original numbers, huh? I had originally scraped off these other numbers for Executive care people, but I have no idea if they still work or even reach the people named here …
Paula Burke, Executive Care: 952-703-2640
Mic Murphy, Executive Care Manager: 952-703-2310
Reyna Selena, Executive Care: 952-703-2369
If anybody succeeds with these or other numbers please comment …
866-751-5784 DOES work! I actually got to the office by calling 411 information for Atlanta GA. And the operator put me through.
I had purchased an iPhone 4s in November and saw low or no bars at home. I went back to the AT&T store and they replaced the sim and said the microcell would be the next step. Well the $200 was a turn off and they said calling each time I had a problem might lead to a free one. I found this article and started using the mark the spot app. I called the office of the president last Thursday and they checked my reports and said I would get a call from the Exective response team in 24 hours or please call back. I waited the time and called back, they put me thru to the person that had been assigned my ticket. She offered a microcell without a problem and it should arrive later today. Thanks for the help.
Dave
Thanks for the tip! After getting nowhere with regular customer service and at the retail stores I called 1-866-751-5784 on friday Jan 27th 2012, Pressed the number for my region and was talking to a care rep in 5 seconds. She took all my info and by 8am Monday the 30th called to let me know my free Microcell was being overnighted! WOW! Im impressed and extremely happy that I will finally have a signal in my house! no more driving 2 blocks away to make a call!!
Thank you so much for this! It worked perfect for me! The only exception is that instead of overnight shipping it, they had me pick up my Microcell from the local AT&T store. The people in office of the president were extremely helpful and definitely change my mind about general AT&T customer support.
Wow, this totally worked. I called 1-866-751-5784 yesterday as suggested above. Picking mine up from AT&T store today. I’ve been a customer of AT&T for 10 years and they gave me mine since I’ve been a loyal customer. Now let’s hope the microcell actually does the job.
so are u saying that it’s worth a shot just to call 1-866-751-5784 without doing any of the steps beforehand? Or is it super important to do the steps beforehand? I live in a suburban community and my family has been with at&t since 1998, but I get 1-2 bars at most in my home, and when I can make a call, it usually drops in the middle.
OUTSTANDING!!! I’ve called the normal support lines for months with no resolution outside of the standard “go buy a Microcell”. After finding this site, I called 1-866-751-5784 and gave all of my info with the promise of getting a call back within 24 hours. I actually got called back in 3 hours and after a 4 minute conversion, the rep suggested a Microcell would solve my problems and they would ship it out at zero cost to me :). It took about a week to arrive but OMG, it has solved all of my issues and the 5000 sq/ft is fairly accurate for me – I get 5 bars throughout my 2 story home, including the basement and even get Microcell coverage out into the yard about 40 feet. THANKS to this post for the info on how to get the thing for free and to AT&T for actualyl giving it to me for free.
so are u saying that it’s worth a shot just to call 1-866-751-5784 without doing any of the steps beforehand? Or is it super important to do the steps beforehand?
I’d be surprised if you get away by calling the executive office direct without trying to triage the problem.
Success! Have terrible signal at my house. Spent a couple weeks going through whatever processes AT&T Customer Service would take me through. Was firm but polite, discussed going to another carrier when my contract expired. 1000 extra roller-over minutes and $100 credit later, they had nothing else they could do and nothing else they would say or try. Called the Office of the President, left a message, got a return call within 24 hours. Very kind representative spent several minutes reviewing everything and promised to call me back within 48 hours. Got the call as promised, and the microcell is now on the way at no charge and free shipping. So yes, this process does work!
I called the Office of the President and a rep immediately picked up the phone. Asked what the issue was. I explained from the beginning what had transpired with regard to my 1 bar signal, phone going into search mode constantly and draining my battery, my interaction with support and what they had done (checked the signal) and ultimately said for me to purchase a mini-cell tower to resolve the issue. He then asked me again what I wanted him to do. I realized at that point this rep was going to play hard line. I explained that if they can’t raise the number of bars from their end and I required a min-tower, that I should not have to pay for it. He told me that was not possible since there weren’t any rebates available. I told him that I didn’t care if there are rebates or not, that I was looking for a reasonable resolution to the problem and not have me pay more for a service that I am already paying for that doesn’t work correctly. His response was that they don’t guarantee the service and to please review my contract. He certainly was not very amicable. I didn’t say a word, he waited and waited for a response from me. Finally he broke the silence and told me he would look into it and have the tech team review the signal strength again. What that left me with was that he’s simply either having their tech team check the tower signal again or not have it checked and allow me to believe he’s going through the motions, then tell me that if I want a mini-tower, I will have to pay for it. He certainly has to appear that he is doing something and he that he will be able he said he did – have the techs check the tower again for an improvement.
Any suggestions on how to proceed from here? If that’s the case where the culpabilitiy is place on my hands, should I call back in a few day to their office and try again hoping that I get a new rep? I imagine these calls get carefully logged by their executive team. I feel this will be challenge and in reading others that have been successful – I just might not be one of them.
Just don’t know what to do next.
Wow, that’s not how I would have expected the President’s office to handle your call. I do not know who you should call next.
If your issues have been extensively logged over time and in several calls to customer services and you have cooperated with them in troubleshooting then perhaps you should try one more call to the President’s office in the hope that somebody else picks it up. Be honest about your prior call and why you were disappointed in the outcome.
Take your business elsewhere if the President’s office won’t help you.
Please come back to share your experience with us …
Well, I have to say I am truly surprised. Yesterday about an hour 1/2 after I spoke to the Executive Office, I received a return call, but was unable to respond at that moment, so it went to voice mail. When i picked up the call, it was late that evening. The message indicated that he would like to ask me a few questions with respect to the mini-cell tower and to please call back, leaving his name & phone number. Today at work I got so tied up that I didn’t get a change to call in the morning and sure enough he contacted me again around 3:45 PM. He told me that there weren’t any promotions, but that he was able to come up with something from the marketing side. Advised me that the mini-tower would only affect the voice, not my data signal and wanted to know what broadband type & speed I had. He sounded very happy today, I could tell by the tone of his voice. Having been in sales for years, I can tell so much about the person on the other end, just by listening to their voice, pauses, inflection, etc. That Nokia Lumia has superb audio quality I have to say. So I asked how I would get it, would I pick it up at a store or would they mail it. He indicated it would have to be mailed and might take 3-4 days. Was that Ok with me – how can I complain. They are shipping it to my work address instead of home. So I don’t know what transpired in the interim, but it certainly was refreshing to hear that news.
I figured yesterday after such a quick return call from him that the answer was no and nothing could be further done. If he checked with the tech team that manages the tower, he would have clearly seen that I was on the phone with them for about an hour and they agreed that the best I would see based on their tower position and my location was 1 bar. They also had advised me that towards the end of the year they expected to put up more antennas for signal improvement in my area and that there are about 10 mini-towers in my general location. Whether those people paid for it or not they didn’t say, but apparently the signal is not that great. So they probably have access to when new towers are being added, the reasons why are obvious and the 1 bar signal when their maps shows the area as being Good, on level form Best is all obvious if they check.
It was annoying to hear that they don’t guarantee any signal quality, because when you hear the advertisements they claim they have the largest best signal int eh market place which is probably very true. However to use the “legalese” as an excuse & that I had 30 days to make a decision was a little tough to tell a customer on the first call especially since I was not demanding or rude – I was very nice on the phone as I know being rude never gets you anywhere.
My last comment to him when I ended the conversation yesterday was that I was really surprised that this would happen, I was using one of their flagship phones – the Nokia Lumia 900 and their LG network. They certainly have a strong partnership with Microsoft and Nokia being they are the exclusive carrier selling that phone. BTW that phone is gorgeous for those that don’t have it.
So the story had a happy ending. I’m so happy to have and he was very pleasant. He was always professional which is what I would have expected from someone working at that level in AT&T, it’s just that that initial call it appeared the conversation was a tad challenging.
Thanks to everyone here – the info was invaluable in navigating through this issue in a professional and higher level way.
A 180 degree turn around for sure and a nice ending!
= )
I just wanted to make everyone aware that I used the 866-751-5784 number to get to the presidents office I called them directly first they connected me to the executive response team took my information they called me back and told me they would send me out a microcell at no charge I am moving to North Carolina to the mountains from Florida and there is no service on the mountain where I am going so they are not sure if this is going to work for me or not but they sent this out to me I had no problem they were very helpful I did not have to go the customer service route and file complaints I have been an AT&T customer since 1995 I’m sure that helps the microcell is supposed to be there when I get there next week I will try it out and see if it fixes my problem hopefully it will I will get back to the website and let everyone know the outcome I thank you very much for this website this is very helpful I wish I had of known about this five years ago when I lived out in plant city and had no service at home hopefully this will fix my problem up on the mountain I have no signal I do have signal when I drive down to the valley do you have to have at least a little bit of signal for this to work or does this work solely off of the Internet if anyone knows please post the information for me I would like to know I have not had time to do a lot of research on the microcell yet other than what I have read on this site again I thank you all very much for the information it was very easy once I call the presidents office I have no problem they were very helpful again I will post more information once I have moved and hooked it up and see if it works thank you all again talk to you soon
Congrats! I received mine last week. Plan on spending about 90 minutes from when you log in with you PC to your AT&T account and when you are up & running. The process is very easy, just read through the info they provide online on the process and take the time to see the tutorials which are very clear and easy to understand. The connection is relatively easy. You will connect the mini-tower device via the supplied Ethernet cable they provide to your router, modem or gateway. You will also need to connect it to a power source as it comes with its own transformer. So you will be limited to the distance from these two wires. They claim you should put it near a window to ensure that the mini-tower get a hold of one of the cell tower signals. It then ties in to your broadband connection to provide the stronger signal. I didn’t put mine near a window, it is inside the middle of the room. I only had 1 bar before and sometimes none on my Nokia Lumia 900. Now I have 5 bars on the phone and indicates 4G al the time. The mini-tower also has bars and they are all lit up. Before sometimes it would switch to E which is super slow (dial-up) speed if I turned off wireless on the phone and allowed the cell data to kick in. I did that to see just what would happen to better understand the losing connection issue.
So far I have perfect connection no matter where I go inside and when I walk outside, it switches to the cell tower and disconnects from my mini-tower. When I get home, it automatically switches over to the mini-tower. It’s worked flawlessly so far. Just be patient when you go through the setup because you might think since it takes quite a while that something went wrong with your PC and nothing is happening and then after 15 minutes it completes stage 1 and lets you know it is going to step 2. However, while in step one, you might think nothing is happening, but that’s not correct. Be prepared for the 90 minutes they indicate in setup, they are not kidding. At the end of each stage, it will tell you whether it completed successfully or not – that’s all you will have to watch for.
Worked my microcell is on the way!!! Thanks!
Spent about three and a half hours on the phone with AT&T customer service, technical support, sale and finally retention s last night trying to talk them into getting a microcell at no charge with no luck. Got to the point where they were offering me credits on my account but still wanted me to go to a store to pick one up paying the 199. I was almost at the point of giving in to one of those offers but decided to not give them an answer last night and wanted some time to think about it. Glad I did. I hopped online and did some searching and found this blog. I have contacted the executive response team and logged my case with them and I’m awaiting a callback. Hopefully something will come of this.
Generally in my home I’ve had terrible service for years. Tech support confirmed that I am in a low signal area and that there were no plans for any cell towers to be added to this area at this time. The low signal didn’t really trouble me before because I had a landline. However I’m trying to get to the point where I can disable cable service and the phone service from my cable company and only keep internet to lower some monthly costs but to do that I need these cells to work. I’m really hoping that this results in something.
my micro cell arrived yesterday and works great, finally i am able to make calls and have full signal. Thank you!!!! was wondering if anyone else had battery drain problems while using the micro cell? samsung infuse.
Got my free Microcell today. Set it up and now I’m five solid bars throughout my house. Thank you for this information, worked out great for me.
Just dialed the 866-751-5784 number (via my Skype line, which is the only way I trust to maintain a call dialing out at home). Left a detailed message… will keep everyone posted on my experience.
After almsot 2 weeks of going back and forth with AT&T customer care reps, I decided it’s time to call the President’s office. I am in California so I tried the 800-498-1912 number first, but it was disconnected. I then tried the 1-866-751-5784 number and left a voice message with the President’s Office asking for an Executive Response Team member to return my call concerning the open case I have. I told them I’ve been a happy AT&T customer for the last 11 years and the signal in my home had been deteriorating over the last 7 months. I now have no service at home and would like to receive a free microcell. Fingers crossed and will update everyone on the progress.
I received a call back from the President’s Office. The woman helping me asked me a few questions to verify my account and my case. I explained the situation to her again and told her a rep told me about using a microcell to boost the signal in my home. She said AT&T doesn’t guarantee service and that microcell doesn’t guarantee a signal, and that she’s not sure she can offer this to me for free. She said she’ll research the case and call me back in 5 business days and let me know what she finds out. I’ll keep everyone posted.
Thank you for this posting…while sitting in the parking lot of my local Barnes and Noble last night speaking to customer service about the connection issues in my new apartment I came across your blog. So I was patient with CS as well as Tech Support (I even spoke with the Tech Support supervisor) knowing that I could use this information as well.
This morning I called 1-866-751-5784 and a case was opened for service at my address. A couple of hours later I received a phone call from Daniel on the Executive Response Staff during which he offerred to send out a microcell to me after reviewing the details of my case with me. I later received an email telling me that my order has been processed and I should have my microcell by the middle of next week.
Thanks again for this great information…
Just called the 1-866-751-5784 and left a message for the Executive Response staff to return a call regarding my lack of service at my home. Explained that I did call customer service to try and solve the issue but to no avail. Was told I need a microcell and it’s $199 but today they have an instant $100 rebate BUT I would have to change my lines to unlimited minutes for an additional $20 a month. They did offer a couple of different credit options to my account to help cover the cost of the microcell but I didn’t accept anything. Told them I would need to think about it. Came across this site and made the call. Waiting to hear back. I will repost when I get a call back. Thank you for sharing this information.
I just heard back from the April, who took my case on the Executive Response Team. She looked into my case and confirmed that there has been no network change in my area, so there may be new buildings that were put up that caused the change of signal in my home. She is sending me a microcell free of charge (horay!). I should be receiving an email with my order and tracking number in the next couple of hours. She said I should be getting my microcell in the next couple of days. She asked me to try it out over the weekend and she’ll check in with me early next week to follow up. Thank you for this post. This process is working for me!
I, too, just called the 866 number and was told a rep from the ERT would call back within 2 hours. Low and behold, an hour later the phone rang (my landline). Cathy D explained where the closest towers were and wanted to make sure that I did get full coverage when I was near those towers (which I do). She then went on to explain that several customers in my area have MicroCell’s in use around me (indicating a service issue). Long story short (too late), my FREE MicroCell is enroute and I should be receiving it in a few days. Thank you for all the help here everyone!
I’d like to add my thanks for providing this useful blog post. My experience was the same as Jeff Baldwin’s – I called the 866 number, got a prompt callback, investigation revealed full coverage but “unusually high” Microcell use in my area. Free Microcell was sent via two-day delivery, set up was a little irritating because my AT&T service is through my work, but it is now working as advertised. Thanks again, I wish I had found your blog post sooner!
Just wanted to follow up from my Oct 6 post. I talked with a rep from the ERT department and he asked me for the details of my issue. After he checked some things out he told me I would be getting a free microcell deliivered to my home in a couple of days. That was Thurs., Oct 11th and I had the microcell on Mon., Oct 15th. Works great! I now have at least 4 bars vs 2 bars in my home! Thank you for sharing this information with everyone!! Good luck to anyone else having issues.
I am so glad I read this blog post, which I found on ATT Forums.
I downloaded the “Mark the Spot” app and documented numerous dropped calls, bad reception and no data, then called the 611 number after only a week of using my iPhone. The level-1 tech support person suggested I buy a microcell from them for $200 and I protested firmly and politely, thinking this would be the first of 4-5 weekly calls until I rang the “executive line”. Surprisingly, she offered to transfer me to her manager, who began the call by offering a $200 credit on my account and advising me to go to the store and buy one for $200.
I called around and neither of the ATT stores near me carried them in-store, so I rang back on 611 and asked for the department that could sell me one and ship it out. The customer service rep checked my account, saw the credit, and then without any request, sold me one for $125, which he then offered to ship priority so I will have it in about 48 hours.
This is kind of amazing, given the history of poor customer service in the telecom industry, so I am waiting with bated breath to see if the thing shows up and works. Which I suspect it will.
#attwin
just called and spoke with someone at the ERT and they are aware of this blog “oh you found that site online” but she seemed willing to help with the legitimate problems that I have been having. Keeping my fingers crossed for the callback.
Apparently I am the only sap around. I originally purchased an M Cell for $200 back in January of 2011 after being told that AT&T couldn’t do anything with the cost of the unit. My home is in a low urban area and received zero reception in my home. Once I installed the M Cell coverage works great. Now after finding and reading this blog I am certainly disheartened and upset that I had to pay for the unit as opposed to reaching out to the proper channels.
Fast forward to today, I am near the end of my contract with AT&T and decided to ask a retention specialist what At&T would do to continue earning my business. After discussing multiple unresolved issues over the course of the 2 year contract the specialist was able to offer a whooping $75 credit spread over 3 months in order to keep my $2000/year bill.
REALLY! At&t is handing out $200 units which I paid for and now they are willing to offer $25/month for 3 months. SO i reached out to the number listed above in the blog just to ask why units were being sent at no charge to some customers in an identical situation while others are being charged the $200. She was kind enough to forward the notes on to a specialist and state that they would contact me in 24-48 hours. I will certainly update as I hear more.
We are new AT&T customers and were told, when we signed up for service, that we could call customer service and request a booster (for free) if the phones didn’t work in our house. Of course, we called, and were told the best discount they would give us was $100. After searching online, I found your blog, called the number, and boom! They called us back within 24 hours, and said they did some research, verified that there are service issues in our neighborhood, and they are sending us a free booster. We built our home a little over a year ago, and we have energy-saving insulation that affects our service. When we were with Sprint, we needed a booster as well. Sprint gave it to us for free, and I’m happy to say that, because of this post, AT&T is giving us a free one as well. Thanks for being a good person and posting this on your blog!
After reading all these blogs, it seems I’m the only one who HASN’T gotten a call back from the presidents office. Any other tips? Last April 2012, we upgraded our phones to smart phones with AT&T being told that we would have 3G in our area by August. That never happened. I called AT&T and they said sorry I was misled and gave me 6month of messaging for free. Then I found out a friend of mine just got a free microcell last week after he called and complained about his service. I called customer service and they said I am eligible for a microcell in my area however, I have to pay $199.00? I should not have to pay extra for a service I am already paying for!! Very frustrating! We are still on “E” services here. No 3/4G. Not right.
Beth: If you haven’t heard back from the Executive Response Team (ERT) I’d suggest you call again — it sounds like your case might have fallen through the cracks. Hopefully you’ve had all your service complaints and attempts to tweak the service in your area written up by Customer Services against your account, since the ERT will fist investigate your complaint history before responding with a free microcell. Harry
Just took your advise after 18 months of no phone service in our home, numerous complaint calls and being told I would have to pay $200 for a microcell. Executive response team answered in one minute and my free microcell will ship Monday! I did not have to extend my service or buy any additional plans. Thank you! Thank you!!!
Well done Maureen and thanks for letting us know that this still works!
I just got my free microcell in the mail today. Thank you so much for this post, I couldn’t have done it without this information.
I called AT&T as listed above and the executive response team replied right away. They send me the micro cell the next day. My phone service has full bars and no issues.
Thanks
Worked great followed all the steps 3 days later I called my rep back thu his direct line he answered right away no wait time no answering machine or anything like that he told me he doesn’t service will get any better in my area and he will be sending out a microcell free of charge thanks for the tips can’t wait to get my free microcell from att thanks “Mr.Hooper” my att rep from the presidents office in Sacramento California
talked on phone to the Prez office and they r sending the microcell. The whole thing was like a walk in the park. Didn’t even call the customer service prior to calling the Prez office. Though downloaded the Mark the spot app today and used it a few times today to apprise them abt the coverage issues. Just told them that I have always had this problem and I didn’t know if there existed something like booster or else I would have called years ago…..Anyways thanks a lot guys for posting these guideline…cannot imagine how much this has saved for many of us…
None of the numbers listed are working 😦
Oh no, I’m sorry to hear that!
I’ll look into whether there are new number to call.
If anybody beats me to it, please post here in comments for the benefit of all and I’ll update the main article.
None of the 3 numbers above are working for me either. Any luck finding updated contact info?
Has anyone had any luck finding an updated number? I’ve been arguing with AT&T’s customer service for nearly a year now and am tired of even trying.
I just sent in a complaint to the Better Business Bureau, but would love to add a phone call to the pile.