our extended family had ATT untill a month ago... my mother-in-law had to step outside to the porch to talk on her phone...
when I called to cancel they asked why and I gave them that as the big reason and they natrually asked if we'd been told about the att MicroCell... hook it up to your broadband and it lets several phone devices connect as a mini cell tower....
I'd known about it but we planned to jump to another carrier when our contract was up as the ATT coverage in our area sucks... I know at some point ATT would give them away (cost $200-300 or so) if you'd complain and threaten to cancel, I know when I worked for a wireless internet provider our cancellation team could authorize certain things for free like that to "save" the customer from canceling...
WONK posted the link above but verzion has their own version (as does everyone else it looks like
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/device/network-extender
another possibility
you could transfer your number to google voice and set your forwarding rules to ring your VOIP, also as long as you are on wifi you would recive your txt and voicemails though the google voice app (on android at least)... then you could even add a free VOIP app to make calls over the wifi though your phone (i've been trying out GrooVe IP)... with the pay for version you can make calls though your data plan... being i've got 5gb of data but only 100 min of talk i've got to save min when I can haha
so in short... if you want to use it like you've always been using it talk to verzion about your issue and see about getting that microcell type thing... if you've got good wifi and don't mind some changes look into google voice... i've used it for years and love it... only thing that sucks is because i'm on prepaid they don't do call forwarding so I don't get my visual voicemail anymore :(
donalson wrote:
so in short... if you want to use it like you've always been using it talk to verzion about your issue and see about getting that microcell type thing... if you've got good wifi and don't mind some changes look into google voice... i've used it for years and love it... only thing that sucks is because i'm on prepaid they don't do call forwarding so I don't get my visual voicemail anymore :(
I've had nothing but trouble with google voice. I had it on my Droid X and it was great. When I downloaded it for my S3 it said that it wouldn't work... and boy were they right. I'm still sorting out issues a half-year later with getting VM to work on my S3.
Its not so much the calls, but also the texts.
1988RedT2 wrote:
curtis73 wrote:
I don't need to do anything drastic like using "two copper wires." 
Not sure how having a land line that actually works all the time qualifies as "drastic."
My solution: Give people your home number and/or set up your cell phone to forward to your landline.
Your solution: Buy a fancy electronic gizmo that will amplify a non-existent signal or use a high-powered laser beam to bounce a modulated signal off the moon so you can get texts at all hours. Yeah, whatever! 
I'm sure the people who sell expensive electronic doodads will appreciate your dedication.
Haha... I understand your argument, but I feel like I said, "I need a way to make my technology work," and your response was "62 Studebaker because it doesn't have any technology."
I haven't had a land line since 1997 and a landline wouldn't solve my problems with texts.
I also don't feel like paying $X a month for a landline when I already have VOIP and can get a one-time antenna/booster for $150 and call it done. I have done some fun things with the VOIP forwarding and my cell phone, but I inevitably forget to cancel forwarding, then go away for the weekend and wonder why no one loves me
Does your phone support WiFi calling? That would solve your problem for zero of the dollars. I think the S3 does generically but you can never tell how the branded phones get messed with.
https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-205163/
This is what I used on a fishing trip with a buddy. I had zero bars without it and zero trouble with it.
