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I have been reading recently about Vodafone & O2 carrying out trials for something called Femtocells. These Femtocells apparently improve 3G coverage indoors in peoples homes. Has anyone heard of this and when it will be rolled out? Will anyone be able to have these in their homes if they have poor coverage? Im curious :-S
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Posted: 2009-05-27 03:55:00
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Quite a good page on the BBC about it
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6916125.stm
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Posted: 2009-05-27 10:58:05
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Oh cheers. Be nice to know when trials will be over its been a long time.
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Posted: 2009-05-27 12:43:00
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From Wikipedia's
GSM page:
"There are five different cell sizes in a GSM network—macro, micro, pico, femto and umbrella cells...
...Femtocells are cells designed for use in residential or small business environments and connect to the service provider’s network via a broadband internet connection."
Networks are finding that although they want to roll out faster 3.5G and 4G network infrastructure and customers like us want it too, no-one actually wants to pay much to have it.
Market research has found that it costs about 900 Euro per subscriber to build a cellsite with the latest technology but if a personal cellsite about the size of a wifi router which plugs into a landline broadband connection was supplied to customers the cost would come down to about 200 Euro per subscriber. Assuming a fibre optic connection to the home, the lower traffic through the femtocell compared to a macrocell would mean data speeds closer to the peak levels.
Plus enthusiasts like me might even pay the 200 Euro cost to get 7.2-42Mbps HSDPA or 150Mbps LTE speeds. Otherwise the cost could be subsidized in the same way as a USB modem is, on a 24 month plan.
Basically it's all about the money. Mobile data going forward has to be cheap to get near universal takeup and the conventional infrastructure is too expensive to get a return on investment.
Personally, I can't wait - I'd have a femtocell in a nanosecond. I guess I'll have to have the landline reconnected at some point in the future to enable it though. I've been mobile only since 2006.
Read more about femtocells here:
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/May200[....]le_3G_LTE_User_Experience.html
or here:
http://www.femtoforum.org/femto/news.php?id=80[ This Message was edited by: carkitter on 2009-05-27 13:24 ]
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Posted: 2009-05-27 14:17:43
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Wow great insite into it there thanks. But do you think then pay as you go customers wont be offered one of these guess pay as you go customers would have to buy one
I guess too this could really help with future home coverage where people are struggling with a signal. Lets hope.
[ This Message was edited by: Bonovox on 2009-05-27 18:06 ]
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Posted: 2009-05-27 19:05:00
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great!!!#this tech has got a long way to go
#and we have a long wait to make..##
till they become affordable!
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Posted: 2009-05-27 21:22:47
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Yeah, pay as you go subscribers who want the benefits of a femtocell would have to pay upfront, but a femtocell won't be compulsory to get 3.5 or 4G. There will still be new technology rolled out to existing cellsites and you'll still be able to use a future phone in the same way the a current one is used for data. It's just that you can either wait for your network to eventually roll out the new technology and hope that distance, weather, terrain (hills/trees) and the construction of your house/workplace don't degrade the signal too much, or pay for a femtocell and have Wifi like performance.
It's not that far away. The pressure is on to roll out LTE (4G) and femtocells are going to be crucial in keeping the costs down, especially in a recession.
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Posted: 2009-05-28 01:22:57
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Yes indeed and alot more happy people with coverage at home. Though i cant see 4G happening anytime soon when 3G is still quite poor in many areas of the UK. I would be happy to pay up front for one
depending on cost.
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Posted: 2009-05-28 01:30:00
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i dont think there's any point in 4g for common people.... we already have just been utilising 20%3g..... all these times
there's still a lot more bandwidth into 3g iteself...
so we will see better speed and tech on 3g...
how i wish i get a portable femtocell with 3.5g and unlimited data coverage!!!!
i think that would be saying i got nirvana!
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Posted: 2009-05-28 02:19:31
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4G is just beginning
in Sweden and the US is raring to go. I think the yanks have realised that they're so far behind on 3G that they might as well just skip 7.2, 14.4, 21 and 42 Mbps 3G and go straight to LTE; can't say I blame them. This will hasten the appearance of some LTE handsets, modems and LTE equipped netbooks/laptops I hope.
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Posted: 2009-05-28 04:20:43
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