Sprint eyes nationwide femtocell availability
Sprint Nextel has a reputation for launching innovative services before other wireless carriers, an approach that usually gives it an early market edge though sometimes only briefly. Now more than ever, as the company tries to do everything it can to recover from a troubled merger and poor market performance, we can expect Sprint to look for that market edge again by sticking to it innovation guns. The carrier said this week it will expand its Airave femtocell pilot program to make the home base stations available nationwide over its network, with sales of Samsung fentocells set to begin Aug. 17.
Sprint was one of many carriers worldwide conducting femtocells trials or limited pilot programs. It's broader launch will test the viability of femtocells at a time when wireline telcos continue to lose landline market traction. However, Sprint also will take an economic risk in charging for both the femtocell and the service, rather than subsidizing the femtocell.
For more:
- check out this coverage at Telephony
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Posted by Walt Brooks | July 31, 2008 - 6:23pm
Unfortunately, some people in the mobile market are touting femtocell offerings like Sprint’s Airave or T-Mobile’s @home as the newest technology that will revolutionize the mobile market, allowing people to drop their land lines and solely use mobile devices moving forward. While they do offer some advantages, femtocells have far from proven themselves and have some significant issues for users to consider:
• Femtocells are effective only in the home or building where they are installed, and they lock users into a monthly broadband subscription fee. They are not able to boost cellular coverage in a mobile environment.
• Signal improvement is generally limited to a set number of phones previously programmed into the femtocell during set-up.
• Femtocells, like the Airave and @home, are carrier specific and won’t boost signals for multiple individuals with differing carrier subscriptions.
• Perhaps most notably, femtocells require a high-speed Internet connection, something currently unavailable in many areas of the U.S.
In full disclosure, I work for Wilson Electronics, a manufacturer of cellular amplifiers – versatile, affordable alternatives to femtocells. Unlike femtocells, cellular amplifiers are not tied to a broadband connection. This eliminates additional monthly fees and provides help to those without access to broadband service. Wilson amplifiers boost all incoming and outgoing cellular signals within their frequency range, greatly reducing dead zones and dropped calls. It is important to note that our amplifiers are type accepted by the FCC and are available in a wide variety of wireless and direct-connection models.
Walt Brooks
Wilson Electronics
