Femtocells are small devices that boost cellular networks around areas in the interior of buildings that might have low signal strength. A femtocell is no different from a wireless router and are about the size of a paperback.

Femtocells route the signals from up to 5 mobile phones through a broadband connection and pass them to the service provider thereby bypassing the conventional phone to tower path. Femtocells are currently supported by GSM, CDMA and UTMS networks.

Femtocells benefit both the customer as well as the operator. Customers benefit by improved coverage, lower costs per call, longer battery life and usage of multiple phones and lines on a single connection. Operators get more customers by minimal infrastructure investment and reduced congestion in the network.

Femtocells are already in use in a limited basis across some Major cities in US. Major players like Motorola, NetGear and Google are involved in the Femtocells.

With the phasing out of 2G networks, phones using 3G networks and technologies like HSDPA becoming mainstream, extending a network by conventional means , installing more towers hence result being more expensive. The advancements in the embedded technologies has lowered the price of base stations to affordable levels. Thus the emphasis on Femtocells increases and adaptation to new technologies will be hassle-free.

Learn more here ,
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Femtocell
* http://www.thinkfemtocell.com/
* http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6916125.stm

 

 

 

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interesting... something similar to what a wi-fi router does as opposed to connect our laptop to a cellular operator... so does the user need to actively connect to such network or is the connection automatically done as if it were a preferred network?

just wondering if, like for wi-fi, one can sneak into these networks from outside the building or in an otherwise unintended way... any secure access technology?

I was thinking this technology could be helpful also in remote areas where it's not worth installing a phone tower but, for some reason, there is a broadband connection available...

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