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New Member

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78 Messages

Saturday, May 18th, 2024 3:17 PM

Is there a way for home users to get an Internet Air for Business Gateway?

I was a fixed wireless customer and was migrated to Internet Air.  I live in a rural area and my cell signal is challenged.  The fixed wireless had an outside antenna (mine is still there) to achieve a reasonable signal.  The All-Fi hub can't be placed outside and doesn't have external antenna connections.  My internet speed significantly slows down in the evenings to the point it becomes unusable for streaming.  I'm assuming this is mainly due to tower congestion however I have found that my speed increases if I increase signal strength.  But I can't get the strongest signal from inside my house.  

The Internet Air for Business Gateway has an optional external antenna however Internet Air for Business isn't available to residential customers.  So I have some questions:

1)  Is there a technical reason the Internet Air for Business Gateway couldn't be used as a replacement for the All-Fi Hub?  

2)  If it is technically feasible to be used instead of the All-Fi Hub how would one go about getting one?  

3)  It appears the official optional antenna for the Internet Air for Business Gateway is only approved for indoor use.  Can any 2X2 MIMO cell antenna be used?  

New Member

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78 Messages

22 days ago

Giving this a bump...still looking for information.  

Former Employee

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22.5K Messages

22 days ago

The obvious answer is become a business such as a chicken farm or tree farm or construction business…

have your address rezoned for commercial property and your property taxes changed to reflect business instead of residential…

Or consider other options for FWA such as T-Mobile, US Cellular, Verizon or satellite internet from StarLink… the answers do not change regardless of times question is asked… this is a user forum for users, not ATT support or any official ATT reply, for that you must call and speak to a tier 1 representative.

E D I T

https://www.att.com/smallbusiness/wireless-internet/

Can I take Internet Air for Business anywhere I go?

No. Internet Air for Business is a fixed wireless solution. The service is not for mobile use and must only be used at the qualified business service address.

(edited)

New Member

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78 Messages

22 days ago

How do I contact an AT&T Internet Air Tier 1 support person?  When I talked to the last AT&T representative she kept trying to tell me I needed a wi-fi extender.  When I asked to speak to someone at the next level she told me she was the highest level I could talk to.  And if this site isn't for AT&T support then why do people claiming to be AT&T representatives respond?  

I tried T-Mobile and it didn't work.  US Cellular doesn't service my area.  Verizon services my area but won't give me home internet.  I don't have a clear view of the northern sky so Starlink's app said it wouldn't work.  

(edited)

Former Employee

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22.5K Messages

22 days ago

800-288-2020, tier 1 is customer support, who answers the phone.

Tier 2 is tech support for techs to chat to while on site but ATT AIR is not a hardwired solution thus no on site tech support available.

Tier 3 is who their 2 contacts, if cannot resolve while keeping the tech in the chat loop

Tier 4 is when tier 3 cannot resolve, they call the on-site tech back, generally the reply is working on it with resolution expected in X number of hours such as customer VoIP issue that is not resolved by the lower support groups.

However as a customer, customer support is Tier 1, first line of support. Script readers, repeating information from the website… unless find an official webpage stating the newer unit is available for residential service the only option is the current one.

Neither would provide better response during high usage times or tower congestion. 


Your best bet is keep after Verizon until T-Mobile buys US Cellular about this time next year if passes government approval. T-Mobile has bought Metro PCS, Ryan Reynolds’s Mint Mobile ($1.35 billion) and now US Cellular ($4.4 billion)


E D I T

@ATTHelp is the only company representative here and their reply is use the CONTACT US information found on the bottom of pages.

PERHAPS you have seen their reply’s…. Looks like this…

The Community Forums are a public support option where other users, and AT&T, will try and assist with high level support needs. This means we won’t be able to look into account specific concerns. To get the help you need for your unique issue, please review our Contact Us page [www.att.com/support/contact-us/], and choose the best option to reach out to us. You can call, chat, or reach out via social media, and we can review your specific issue and provide you support. If you feel your issue isn’t account specific, and can be answered generally, please let us know, and we’ll be happy to help.

 

Thank you for contacting AT&T Community Forums

(edited)

New Member

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78 Messages

22 days ago

Thanks, it is very frustrating not being able to contact someone in AT&T support that might actually be able to help me.  

I had AT&T fixed wireless internet that had an outside antenna.  Not perfect but it worked.  AT&T then migrates me to residential Internet Air which can't get a great signal inside the house and doesn't have an official provision for an eternal antenna.  However they do appear to have a hardware solution that might work (Internet Air for Business gateway).  I'm not asking to switch to Internet Air for Business, just to be able to use the Internet Air for Business gateway on my residential service.  But I can't talk to anyone at AT&T technically competent enough to answer my questions.  Does AT&T management not realize that many previous fixed wireless internet customers can't receive an adequate cell signal inside their home and that an external antenna may be necessary?    

Having said that I'm not sure how much an external antenna will help me.  It sure would be nice to be able to find out if my problem is solely due to congestion and nothing will help when it slows down but, again, that would require communication with competent AT&T support personnel.  The reason I'm questioning it is because I've discovered that if I place my all-fi hub on a window sill facing the tower I can get a 6dBm increase in signal strength if I open the window.  During the day I can get decent speeds with the window closed.  In the evenings when I'm having download problems (the signal strength hasn't changed) I can open the window to increase the signal strength and get significantly faster speeds.  So that implies that if I can increase the signal strength beyond what is necessary for fast download speeds during the day that I could get acceptable speeds during the evenings.   But it seems like if the problem was congestion that AT&T would have a way to level the minimum download speeds during congested periods and not make it an advantage to have a better signal strength.  Now I need to start a signal strength arms race with my neighbors to steal their bandwidth.  

(edited)

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