Poasters
Computers and Technology => Electronics => Topic started by: scuzzy on September 12, 2014, 14:29 hrs
-
Just in case you missed this:
Engadget: Why T-Mobile wants to give you a wireless router.. (http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/11/t-mobile-personal-cellspot/)
I'm going to get in line for one. I'm thrilled with my ASUS router (easily the best I've ever had), and this is too sweet to pass up.
-
Sounds like a good deal, the deposit notwithstanding.
-
Yep, but a refundable $25 for such a great router is hardly a show stopper. I'm surprised it's only $25, and not $100 plus.
-
My plan is to use it in addition to my current ASUS router (RT-N66U) to boost my WiFi signal throughout my house.
My T-Mobile signal in my home is acceptable, but it could be better. It's usually at only a bar or two. I figure with $25 for an ASUS router, I can't go wrong. If worse comes to worse, I'll take it back and get my 25 bucks back.
-
JA, You're right. I use an extender for Verizon and I'm not wild about it's performance. But, it is better than before.
-
Just for clarity, as I understand it...
All of T-Mobile's newer branded phones have the ability to access a WiFi signal for voice calling. The feature is built in to the phone's firmware and is not available for download. Customers overwhelmingly love this feature and claim that it works well. This gives users the ability to make and receive voice calls where the T-Mobile cellular signal is weak or non-existent. None of our phones have this feature as we bought them outside of T-Mobile, and without the T-Mobile branding.
The Personal CellSpot will allow the same feature for T-Mobile phones, but takes it a bit further by creating a T-Mobile cellular signal inside the home. It is also a fully functioning AC wireless and LAN router. This means that phones that don't have the built-in wireless calling can take advantage of the increased cell signal. The Personal CellSpot takes it further by prioritizing the signal for cell phone HD voice calling. If you have a newer T-Mobile branded phone, then you automatically get the best of both worlds.
What this means is that if a T-Mobile signal is weak or non-existent, then this router will bridge the gap and provide an excellent, prioritized signal. Of course, this assumes one has a decent internet connection to begin with. Thankfully we do, and with plenty of headroom for our cell phones along with Netflix, etc.
Another thing to consider is that users can travel with the unit and plug it in wherever an internet Ethernet connection is available to the user.
Regardless, T-Mobile has worked exceptionally well for me. This makes them all the better. I have not missed Verizon and all their crap in the least bit.
-
Yes it will, JA. It is a fully featured wireless router. It can fully replace your current router for both wireless and LAN.
The CellSpot can also be used to "cascade" your current wireless router to further extend the WiFi signal within the home. I know that may not be something you want, but I can certainly use that feature.
T-Mobile: Wi-Fi CellSpot Router User Manual (http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-15757)
-
As far as I know my signal extender is wifi only with no RJ45 port. There is also no access to the extender for optimization, at least for the user. However my smartphone can access the internet, slowly, but I have no easy way to tell if the phone is using the extender or my regular router. I suppose I could shut off my router but frankly it's not worth the effort.
Edit: the wifi setting on my phone says its logged in to my house wifi, so I'm not sure what the extender is doing.
-
At the risk of not being fun, I don't like to mess with things that are working. Both the signal extender and router are mine, my ISP provides a Surfboard Moto. modem. Actually I don't care which does what, as long as they play nice together.
-
JA, I have no idea what you saw. But the one I linked above is the actual model that's going out on the 17th. It's a full blown ASUS wireless router with 4 ea LAN ports and built-in cell support. The user manual I linked (so you can get a head start) is directly from T-Mobile's web site.
-
I'm tight on time and I don't know that I'll have the opportunity to check with my local T-Mo store. Even if I can pick one up today I won't have time to mess with it, so I may have to wait regardless.
Either way, here's one author's take on it:
ZDNet: T-Mobile Personal CellSpot hands-on (http://www.zdnet.com/t-mobile-personal-cellspot-hands-on-never-worry-about-signal-strength-in-your-home-again-7000033767/)
-
Thanks for the update, JA. I'll just order via phone, or hit the brick store at a later date.
Does your AT&T gateway double as your modem? If so, installing the new router ahead of it won't work.
-
CNet has an informative review on the CellSpot (http://www.cnet.com/products/t-mobile-personal-cellspot/).
-
FAIL.
I ordered the router by calling T-Mobile, and I received my order today. But I did not receive the router. I instead got the dedicated cell phone hot spot thingy, despite my clarity on the phone.
Sigh. Time to call TMo.
-
You mean the 4G LTE signal booster (which is what I received)? I specifically want the TM-AC1900 CellSpot *router*, not the signal booster.
I can see that the problem is that T-Mobile named both products "Personal CellSpot". That is ripe for confusion.
-
You see, there's the confusion. Both products share the same name "Personal CellSpot", but they are completely different products. One is a dual band router. The other (that I received) is an LTE signal booster.
I was clear that I wanted the router, but I guess I wasn't clear enough. I'm still waiting on TMo to call me back.
-
T-Mobile support page: Which Personal CellSpot is right for you? (http://support.t-mobile.com/community/phones-tablets-devices/blog/2014/09/16/which-personal-cellspot-is-right-for-you)
-
I got in touch with TMo, but it looks like it's gonna be a short wait to fix the problem. The friendly rep explained that he can see I placed the order, but that the product has not posted to my account. Until it does, he cannot exchange it. He will personally call me as soon as my account updates.
Scuzzy; oh well.
-
So I had to wait close to 3 weeks for the mis-sent signal booster to be registered to my account. I called T-Mobile after it showed on my account to make the switch. The rep clearly understood the problem, and the new "router" is on its way. T-Mobile is also making arrangements to send back the signal booster.
For my troubles, I was refunded the original $25 deposit and S/H fees. So in essence, I am receiving the router free of charge.
-
The mix up finally got fixed. At least mostly. The new router is here, but T-Mobile has not made any arrangements for the return of the signal booster. So I now have both. This hasn't cost me anything since T-Mobile refunded the deposit & S/H, so I'm not losing sleep over it.
I'll get the router up and running shortly.
-
Not me. I've got it maxed out and I'll use my old router to further boost the signal throughout the house.
I got sidetracked a couple dozen times, but I finally got it all set up. It's working very nicely. I like that the software is exactly what I'm used to.
-
No HD calling for me. At least not yet, as none of our phones support it. We purchased all of our phones outside of T-Mobile's ecosystem, so to speak.
I'm considering buying the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 in the near future, however, which I'll purchase directly from T-Mo when the time comes.
-
I'm currently on some sort of promotion where I get 2.5GB per phone at the 500MB rate. I'm not sure if the promotion is still available, but you can only get it by asking for it. It is not automatically offered.
-
I just checked and the promotion offer expired Oct 30th. We'll get to enjoy the extra 2GB per line until January 2016, and then back to the 500MB per line.
Regardless, I probably average 300MB monthly. I don't think I've ever reached 500MB in a single month.
-
None of my phones can currently access that feature, JA, since I bought the phones outside of T-Mobile. I have no way to currently test that feature.
FWIW: Everyone else works great.
-
Yeah, mine is feeding all my wireless devices, to include the WiFi on all our cell phones. It's been working great.
The only thing I cannot access is the voice feature for the cell phones, for reasons previously stated.
-
No, JA. I do NOT have the ability to send voice calls over my CellSpot router, HD or otherwise. None of my cell phones support that feature, since I bought them outside of the T-Mobile ecosystem.
However, the phones do access the WiFi for data without a problem.
-
In order for a smartphone to take advantage of T-Mobile's voice over WiFi, the phone must have T-Mobile's firmware installed. It cannot be added as an afterthought or as an app. Only smartphones sold directly by T-Mobile have that feature.
Since we bought our smartphones directly from Google and Motorola, we don't get the added benefit.
-
I would simply restore my backed up settings.