I finally got my housing assignment from the university last week (I was waitlisted).  Pretty nice place if I do say so myself.

Only one problem: I don’t get any cellular reception in the apartment.  I’m not talking about having 1 or 2 bars and suffering dropped calls.  I’m talking about no reception whatsoever.  Oh sure, if I open a window and lean out at the right time of day, I might get 1 bar.  On a good day.  If I’m lucky.  Other than that I get nothing.

My first instinct was to blame AT&T.  After all, it’s AT&T that had a huge dead zone in the middle of campus at my last school, and it’s AT&T that offered almost no coverage at home back in California.

Apparently, my instincts are correct.  My roommate, who also has AT&T, has the same problem.  My neighbor, who has Verizon, has no problem at all.

So naturally, I called AT&T to complain.  Their suggestion, after I had spent a nice chunk of the afternoon on hold, was to purchase a ‘MicroCell tower’.  This device which attaches to your internet connection, acts as a cell-phone booster and re-routes cellular communications over your network.

Here’s the problem: I’m already paying AT&T monthly (~$65) for service.  Now they want me to pay $60 in addition, just so I can use the service I’m already paying for?

Thanks, but no thanks.  Goodbye AT&T.  Somehow, I don’t think I’m going to miss you.