femtocells
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Congo femtocell pilot could spawn DIY mobile networks for isolated communities
It's nice to get a delivery, but what if your remote village could use the contents to finally talk to the rest of the world? That's what African communications company RascomStar-QAF is cooking up with a pilot network in the Congo's jungles. They're going in to villages throughout the African nation and installing 50 router-like femtocells -- normally used in homes for better cellphone access -- from UK vendor ip.access. Those devices will be connected through the ViaSat orbiting network to RascomStar's telecom gateway in the capital, Brazzaville. Since the femtocell setup is nearly automatic, anyone with limited technical knowledge could do it, rather than the team of engineers normally needed for more complex networks. The result would be a system which could be shipped in a box, connecting previously inaccessible areas to a telecom network -- a lot bigger deal than the WiFi veranda project we were thinking of. To see how it'll all come together, connect to the press release below for more details.
Optus intros 3G Home Zone, Australia's first consumer femtocell
Friends down under: have you been craving a femtocell even more than that luscious vegemite sandwich sitting in your fridge? Undoubtedly you have, if your humble home was built squarely in a black hole of coverage. Optus has the perfect solution, but it's going to cost you; the new 3G Home Zone beefs up the signal in your abode, using your broadband connection to magically transform your dead zone into five bars of wireless heaven. All it takes is a fair amount of green stuff -- the upfront cost ranges from AU$60 to AU$240, but monthly installment plans are available -- and a minimum 1Mbps down / 256Kbps up broadband connection. Oh, and it's only available in select stores for now, so check to see if your neighborhood store has one in stock before squandering away what's left of your day. One last thing: in view of the fact that the 3G Home Zone sucks up data like a milkshake, it's a good idea to make sure a capped data plan won't leave you sidelined before the month is over. Full PR after the break. [Thanks, James]
Federal Wi-Net bill proposes a femtocell and WiFi hotspot in every federal building
Here's one way to fix the spectrum crunch: set up wireless base stations and WiFi hotspots in every single one of the 9,000 buildings currently owned and operated by the US General Services Administration. That idea, along with the proposal that such installations be made mandatory in all future federal structures, was put before the US Senate this Friday. It's argued that installing femtocells at those locations would improve reception indoors, lighten network loads in busy areas, and expand accessibility for more rural locales. Ubiquitous WiFi routers, on the other hand, hardly require any justification beyond "common sense," but you should be aware that the Federal Wi-Net bill also asks for a $15 million budget for the performance of retrofitting and future installs. Full PR after the break.
3GPP publishes world's first femtocell standard
With femtocells slowly but surely making their way out to the major US operators, we'd say it's about time we got a handle on what exactly these things are comprised of. This week, the world's first femtocell standard has been published by the 3GPP, which will supposedly "pave the way for standardized femtocells to be produced in large volumes and enable interoperability between different vendors' access points and femto gateways." The new protocol covers a foursome of areas: network architecture; radio & interference aspects; femtocell management / provisioning and security. For those unaware, a femtocell is a small box that essentially acts as a mini cell tower within the home, piping cellphone signals through the internet and providing great signal in areas where it was previously a struggle to nab a single bar. Now, if only we could get a few of these things in carrier-agnostic form, we'd be set.[Via PCWorld]
Having yet to make a 3G impact, femtocell makers already looking to 4G
We're still waiting for our little ol' 3G femtocell around these parts; only Sprint has put any serious effort into bringing a unit to market with its Airave from Samsung, but even they're restricting it to just a couple markets at this point (lame). Be that as it may, the Femto Forum -- an industry group promoting the tech -- is already pushing ahead into the LTE and WiMAX realms with the hope of being "ready from day one." To that end, it has teamed up with the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance to make sure everyone's on the same page about how femtocells can and should be use in 4G networks. That's all well and good, and we're definitely glad these guys are on top of things, but can we just pause for one hot second and get a few more 3G cells in customers' hands, please?
