Samsung's 'combo' femtocell for Verizon in the wild at CES

Verizon's current Wireless Network Extender is cool and all, but it's got one huge Achilles' heel: it only does 1X data, which is pretty egregious by 2010 standards (or 2007 standards, for that matter). Enter Samsung's revised 'combo' femtocell, so named because it offers both 1X and EV-DO service simultaneously. It's got support for up to eight connections -- up from the original unit's four -- and sports a decidedly more retro look that we're not sure we love. Really, though, who cares how it looks -- you stuff it behind a bookcase and you've got five bars of 3G around the home. Samsung's placard says we can expect this to launch in the second quarter of the year, so stay tuned.
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