anogee
@pacbell.net
| Femtocells
I think many people miss the point of femtocells, and when you dig into the ecosystem, you learn its not just about technology.
Yes, repeaters have been around for years, and guess how many operators offer them? Yes zero. Why, because they offer little benefit to an operator while conceding that the operator's indoor coverage is poor. Of course an operator doesn't want to endorse those, and guess how popular these devices are? Good luck even finding them at Fry's.
And Wi-Fi, yes more phones are getting it, and reports that I have written say its becoming increasing popular, even for low-end phones, but while interesting, operators have much more planned for your phone than Wi-Fi, and most untechnical people don't use it, especially on their phones.
Femtocells can support both data and voice, but its not mandated and operators can restrict one or the other. Femtocells also reduce an operator's infrastructure cost, so that is why they like them. And your femtocell may even be providing better coverage for your neighbors using your Internet connection.
There are still lots of unknowns, to be sure, but I wouldn't write them off just yet.
Allen Nogee
In-Stat |
