Are you tired of dropping calls on your AT&T network cellular device?Are you tired of having to deal with slow speeds on your iPhone’s Internet?Do you wish you could download the “I Am T-Pain” application at a higher speed, thus allowing you to start synthesizing your voice sooner?Well, have no fear. AT&T might soon have a solution for you — sort of.Last month, AT&T started testing a new product called the MicroCell in parts of North Carolina. The MicroCell is a little box used to boost coverage in your home or business. The box basically connects to the customer’s Internet connection and boosts the 3G network in that area.Your area might not have the best AT&T coverage, so you get this little box, and all of your problems are solved. Sounds like a good deal, right?To quote coach Lee Corso, “Not so fast, my friend.”Instead of AT&T working on improving coverage in these so-called “dead zones,” they want you, the customer, to pay extra for one of these little boxes that does the same thing.How much extra, you ask?In these North Carolina test areas, AT&T is tacking on an additional $20 a month to your cell phone bill on top of $150 for the box itself.Now, while numerous phones run on AT&T’s 3G network, the most popular is Apple’s iPhone, so that’s the phone I’ll be talking about today.As most iPhone users know, having Apple’s “Jesus phone” does not come cheap. Monthly minutes, on top of texting and the mandatory $30 iPhone media package, start to add up. Now think about adding an additional $20 to have your iPhone run as smoothly as promised.I call foul on AT&T.AT&T released the iPhone without a strong enough network to support it.Now, with the iPhone’s popularity and affordablity, AT&T’s network is hauling a lot of weight on its shoulders, and some customers are experiencing the negative side of its poor performance.Dropped calls, unreliable 3G speeds and delayed voicemails are just a few of the problems facing some AT&T customers.Don’t get me wrong, AT&T isn’t the only service provider screwing its customers with these femtocell devices.Sprint charges $20 a month for its AIRAVE femtocell and Verizon charges $250 for its Network Extender. T-Mobile charges $10 a month for its @Home service, which uses Wi-Fi instead of a cellular connection, but does the same thing.AT&T isn’t the only one at this party, but AT&T’s prices are the most absurd of the four companies.Also, with AT&T boasting the iPhone as its crown jewel, it has many more customers for its network to haul around and as many to disappoint.Instead of overcharging customers even more, AT&T should step it up and start improving its network, eliminating these “dead zones” so many people are encountering.AT&T should even be giving these things away. With the MicroCell running through your Internet connection, that’s less work the AT&T network has to do, yet it puts more work on your Internet service provider.I’m sure the Internet companies just love that.I hope these test areas will show AT&T just how pointless these things are.Sure, there are buildings where absolutely no one can get coverage. But it’s a little ridiculous when you can have full bars on your cell phone, yet magically have no signal when you walk 5 feet away when your buddy on another network does.Get your stuff together, AT&T, and maybe you won’t have so many disgruntled customers on your hands. And maybe people won’t think about jumping ship if Verizon gets its rumored iPhone in January.Adam Arinder is a 20-year-old electrical engineering junior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_aarinder.—-Contact Adam Arinder at [email protected]