Femtocells for Breakfast?
Well, not quite yet, but will we ever get to the "free with Corn Flakes" stage? Who knows?
Femtocells are low-power wireless access points that operate in licensed spectrum to connect standard mobile devices to a mobile operator’s network using residential DSL or cable broadband connections.
Certainly, since I first came across the concept back in 2006 after some discussions with Ubiquisys, the whole world seems to have gone Femtocell crazy. The Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona last week was described by some as a "Femtocell Frenzy" - event the BBC news reports picked up on the things - meaning that surely the technology has now gone mainstream?
One of the most significant milestones to this technology's mass adoption was the announcement by Netgear of the first commercially available femtocell and combined xDSL modem, router, WiFi access point and four port switch. I want one! Notably Netgear pipped their arch rivals Linksys (a division of Cisco, who have invested in ip.access, another femto manufacturer) to the post.
Some of the initial concerns I personally held about this technology were to do with the ability to maintain the 100ppb frequency stability (required by 3GPP for handset/macro network interoperability) of the air interface in such a consumer device. Imagine your Granny coming home from Carphone Warehouse (for example) with her shiny new 3G handset and Netgear femtocell - she wants to able to plug it in and make calls - has the technology matured enough to be a true plug and play solution? IEEE1588 is being positioned as a possible mechanism to get stability into the box, whilst good old NTP is favoured by some.
Top Ten femtocell plus points:
Femtocells are low-power wireless access points that operate in licensed spectrum to connect standard mobile devices to a mobile operator’s network using residential DSL or cable broadband connections.
Certainly, since I first came across the concept back in 2006 after some discussions with Ubiquisys, the whole world seems to have gone Femtocell crazy. The Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona last week was described by some as a "Femtocell Frenzy" - event the BBC news reports picked up on the things - meaning that surely the technology has now gone mainstream?
One of the most significant milestones to this technology's mass adoption was the announcement by Netgear of the first commercially available femtocell and combined xDSL modem, router, WiFi access point and four port switch. I want one! Notably Netgear pipped their arch rivals Linksys (a division of Cisco, who have invested in ip.access, another femto manufacturer) to the post.
Some of the initial concerns I personally held about this technology were to do with the ability to maintain the 100ppb frequency stability (required by 3GPP for handset/macro network interoperability) of the air interface in such a consumer device. Imagine your Granny coming home from Carphone Warehouse (for example) with her shiny new 3G handset and Netgear femtocell - she wants to able to plug it in and make calls - has the technology matured enough to be a true plug and play solution? IEEE1588 is being positioned as a possible mechanism to get stability into the box, whilst good old NTP is favoured by some.
Top Ten femtocell plus points:
- Better 3G coverage indoors when coverage is there but weak
- Create 3G coverage indoors where coverage hasn't yet been rolled out (e.g. rural areas)
- Uses a standard 3G handset - no need to change your phone!
- "Free" Voice calls via the 3G handset when connected to the femtocell
- "Free" Data calls via the 3G handset when connected to the femtocell
- Single handset for all voice calls (no reliance on the landline for voice!)
- Frees voice/data traffic from macro cellular network - effectively increases capacity for free!
- Single femtocell can handle a handful (5?) of mobile handsets - i.e. get the whole family to take services from one operator.
- Direct delivery of Broadband Access to where the consumer is!
- The handset operates at much lower RF power as it is close to the femtocell.
posted by zedstarr at 11:52
0 comments
