 MASantangelo
Premium
join:2004-07-19
Pittstown, NJ
| I must be missing something... Wait...
So people pay for a piece of hardware or the fee to use the hardware in order to ... be able to use the hardware they're already paying for but cannot use satisfactorily?
I must be missing something, because that's what it seems like...
They get you for the phone and the service, the service is crappy at your house, they won't expand the signal to cover you, but hey look we have this $250 box that will allow you to use your phone!
... Someone explain this better because it seems like a load to me. | |
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 | Big Dawg 23
join:2002-03-27
Northfield, MN | Re: I must be missing something... Many people live in structures that block signals. This will allow for many folks to correct that issue. No cell company guarantees a signal withing a building unless they have service repeaters. | |
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TateT
@buckeyecom.net
| said by MASantangelo  :They get you for the phone and the service, the service is crappy at your house, they won't expand the signal to cover you, but hey look we have this $250 box that will allow you to use your phone! ... Someone explain this better because it seems like a load to me. Typically, calls made using a femtocell are free or at a very reduced rate. I haven't been tracking pricing at all, but I seem to recall Sprint's is something like $100 for the gear, then a monthly fee ($15 / mo I believe) gets you unlimited calls.
So you see, this isn't just for people who live in the sticks. It can be beneficial for heavy talkers with low-minute plans too.
- Tate
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| | kingfisher
Premium
join:2007-07-17
Webster, NY
 ·RoadRunner Cable
 ·Verizon Wireless B..
| Re: I must be missing something... From the Verizon literature included in the Engadget article -
"enabling customers to get the most of their plan minutes while at home"
I think I read the information pretty completely and there is no mention of usage external to your plan. I suppose this could change. | |
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digiblur
Got Sipura?
Premium
join:2002-06-03
Louisiana
| The Sprint implementation with the Airave is awesome. I installed a repeater with an outdoor directional antenna and the results were fair but still not the greatest.
I was able to get the Airave from Sprint for free and no monthly service. I get full coverage all over the house now and have the ability to block people from using it but I leave it wide open since I don't live in an apartment.
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Make your Sipura/PAP2 speak. »www.voipurize.com
SouthWest Louisiana PC Users Group »www.swlapcug.com | |
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RickNY
Premium
join:2000-11-02
New York
1 edit | Re: I must be missing something... said by digiblur :I was able to get the Airave from Sprint for free and no monthly service. I get full coverage all over the house now and have the ability to block people from using it but I leave it wide open since I don't live in an apartment. I agree -- the Airave works quite well for me as well.. And, like you, Sprint provided it to me at no charge as well as no monthly service charges. Sprint usually charges $99 for the device and $4.95/mo for just coverage using your included minutes. Without the Airave, I was on a fringe area that showed 0-1 bars on my Blackberry. Since I also have Sprint for my work-supplied Blackberry in addition to my personal one, it benefits that as well. I get 4-5 bars in my home now all the time.
Sprint was very agreeable to providing the device and service to me at no charge. One thing about this that I think is a little ridiculous is that the companies should not be charging monthly fees to simply extend coverage -- you are paying them to a) take load off of their network b) reduce the need for them to invest more heavily in their coverage and c) use YOUR resources to transport your calls to the telephone network. If Sprint hadn't offered it to me at no charge, I probably wouldn't have purchased it. The problem with my area is that all of the major carriers share the same towers - so if I have no coverage with Sprint, I get no coverage with Verizon either.
Just one thing to note -- even though the documentation says you can restrict numbers using the device, it practice this does not happen. Even if you specify that the device is restricted on your account page and provide numbers, it does revert back to wide open. This is because if you are in a densely populated area with low cell coverage, your Airave will deny users from using their phone altogether. They are reportedly still working on a fix for that -- until then, the devices are wide open to anyone else with a non-iDen Sprint phone. | |
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| | Big Dawg 23
join:2002-03-27
Northfield, MN | I guess I missed that part. If they want a $15 access fee for me to have Unlimited as long as I am at home sign me up. I have wanted to dropped my home line but for me and my wife to go unlimited but that is $125 more a month. | |
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| said by MASantangelo :Wait... So people pay for a piece of hardware or the fee to use the hardware in order to ... be able to use the hardware they're already paying for but cannot use satisfactorily? I must be missing something, because that's what it seems like... They get you for the phone and the service, the service is crappy at your house, they won't expand the signal to cover you, but hey look we have this $250 box that will allow you to use your phone! ... Someone explain this better because it seems like a load to me. What makes this even more a rip off is that you are actually doing Verizon a favor by routing the calls over the internet and thus lessing the strain on their towers and the thanks they give you is charging you $250 and a monthly fee. They should be paying you. | |
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spamd
Premium
join:2001-04-22
Rockford, IL | Re: I must be missing something... Some people don't have a choice. | |
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Eat Me
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ | Re: I must be missing something... Agreed.
And thanks to growing numbers of NIMBYs who are afraid of cell towers that's not going to improve anytime soon. | |
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03 | Re: I must be missing something... I'd dig the holes for the footings myself if my wireless company would plant a tower in my back yard. | |
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Eat Me
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ | Re: I must be missing something... LOL!
There are a few of those in my area. Those things are f-u-g-l-y and you can obviously tell they're towers. | |
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Dragasoni
We're All Mad Here
Premium
join:2001-12-14
Rotonda West, FL
| Re: I must be missing something... LOL, the one above is off Dale Mabry just north of Henderson in Tampa. It's funny, because you can obviously tell it's a cell tower, so why bother?
-Dragasoni-
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FLY 95 - TAMPA BAY | |
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| openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Alexandria, VA
 ·AT&T Southeast
| said by MASantangelo :They get you for the phone and the service, the service is crappy at your house, they won't expand the signal to cover you, but hey look we have this $250 box that will allow you to use your phone! Don't forget that you have to pay for a connection to the Internet to offload traffic from VZW's network to your ISP's network. VZW should pay you for sparing their bandwidth. | |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| Re: I must be missing something... said by openbox9 :said by MASantangelo :They get you for the phone and the service, the service is crappy at your house, they won't expand the signal to cover you, but hey look we have this $250 box that will allow you to use your phone! Don't forget that you have to pay for a connection to the Internet to offload traffic from VZW's network to your ISP's network. VZW should pay you for sparing their bandwidth. You're just offloading it from their wireless network to their wired network. | |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
| Re: I must be missing something... said by Matt :said by openbox9 :said by MASantangelo :They get you for the phone and the service, the service is crappy at your house, they won't expand the signal to cover you, but hey look we have this $250 box that will allow you to use your phone! Don't forget that you have to pay for a connection to the Internet to offload traffic from VZW's network to your ISP's network. VZW should pay you for sparing their bandwidth. You're just offloading it from their wireless network to their wired network. Not if your wired connection is Comcast. It is only on their wired network if you have Verizon DSL or Fios.
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My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page | |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| Re: I must be missing something... said by TKJunkMail :Not if your wired connection is Comcast. It is only on their wired network if you have Verizon DSL or Fios. The call has to traverse back to the Verizon network for call termination somehow, so only part of it traverses your ISPs network. That's what I meant. | |
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| | | openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Alexandria, VA | Except that I do have a cellphone from VZW, but I don't have a landline from VZ. My ISP is backed up by AT&T, so I would be helping Verizon quite a bit by paying them extra and offloading my phone calls from their network. | |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| Re: I must be missing something... said by openbox9 :Except that I do have a cellphone from VZW, but I don't have a landline from VZ. My ISP is backed up by AT&T, so I would be helping Verizon quite a bit by paying them extra and offloading my phone calls from their network. See my response to Tk. You're not offloading your entire call from their network. They are still responsible for call termination so only part of your call traverses your ISPs network. Just like a VoIP call. | |
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| | | | | openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Alexandria, VA | Re: I must be missing something... Yes, but VZ's wireline network is solid and has plenty of bandwidth to support call volume. That may not be the case wireless OTOH. | |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| Re: I must be missing something... said by openbox9 :Yes, but VZ's wireline network is solid and has plenty of bandwidth to support call volume. That may not be the case wireless OTOH. No argument there, but Verizon is still doing the heavy lifting. | |
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| said by Matt :said by openbox9 :said by MASantangelo :They get you for the phone and the service, the service is crappy at your house, they won't expand the signal to cover you, but hey look we have this $250 box that will allow you to use your phone! Don't forget that you have to pay for a connection to the Internet to offload traffic from VZW's network to your ISP's network. VZW should pay you for sparing their bandwidth. You're just offloading it from their wireless network to their wired network. How am I doing that since I live in an AT&T area for POTS and I get my internet from Charter? Exactly where is Verizon coming in at? | |
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| | | | RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11 | Re: I must be missing something... At the other end of the Internet transport. That box is talking to Verizon and Verizon terminates the call.
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Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
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digiblur
Got Sipura?
Premium
join:2002-06-03
Louisiana
| said by BF69 :How am I doing that since I live in an AT&T area for POTS and I get my internet from Charter? Exactly where is Verizon coming in at? The box VPN's into the Verizon network. So your call enters the Verizon network almost like a cell phone call would except it's not using the local towers to receive the call.
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Make your Sipura/PAP2 speak. »www.voipurize.com
SouthWest Louisiana PC Users Group »www.swlapcug.com | |
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NOCMan
Verizon Fios User
Premium
join:2004-09-30
Flower Mound, TX | If you read the contract of any cell phone company they do not guarantee signal inside structures. | |
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Big Dawg 23
join:2002-03-27
Northfield, MN | Only if my signal strength was an issue I have a full signal in my house so Femtocell will not do much for more. If I was 1 to no bar then it would be worth it. Verizon and T-Mo have the best signal in my area. | |
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neufuse
join:2006-12-06
Indiana, PA
·Comcast
| What about pre-paid? Can pre-paid verizon customers buy a femtocell? We can buy almost everything else... all I want to do is increase our signal reliability, we have great signal coverage in MOST of the house but some parts it is weak or breaks up some... like in the basement.. | |
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Frink
Professor
join:2000-07-13
Scotch Plains, NJ
| funny. You curmudgeonly people are funny...this is (IMO) pretty cool new technology which is designed to improve service for those that have poor coverage, and while not knowing the details of the pricing, will likely save many a significant amount of money...there was a lot spent on designing it, you want them to give it to you?? | |
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Killa200
Premium
join:2005-12-02
Spring City, TN | Re: funny. In cases like this yes... as they will see a return on their investment from the offload of their repeaters and towers. | |
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Frink
Professor
join:2000-07-13
Scotch Plains, NJ
| Re: funny. I understand your logic, however if I am able to save money by ditching my land line, or improve my quality of service without an 80ft metal monster every block, by propping up a simple device in a corner of my home, I see that as some decent technology education. | |
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sgs66
join:2001-08-10
Pompano Beach, FL | Better Solution I puchased a Zboost dual band repeater that boosted my cell phone and EVDO internet dramatically for $279. A far better deal and I can use it with any carrier except Nextel. | |
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gateguy
Premium
join:2001-02-12
Reisterstown, MD | Access issues? I guess my main question is, who defines who gets to use it?
Meaning if you pay the $250, are your neighbors able to use this service.
What if you don't want them to?
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Without data, it is just an opinion | |
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batterup
I Can Not Tell A Lie.
Premium
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ
clubs:
·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: Access issues? said by gateguy :I guess my main question is, who defines who gets to use it? Meaning if you pay the $250, are your neighbors able to use this service. What if you don't want them to? It covers 5000 square feet up to 3 floors in a house. If one lived in a multi unit dwelling it appears there is no way to stop a neighbor with Verizon from using it. | |
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| Re: Access issues? said by batterup :said by gateguy :I guess my main question is, who defines who gets to use it? Meaning if you pay the $250, are your neighbors able to use this service. What if you don't want them to? It covers 5000 square feet up to 3 floors in a house. If one lived in a multi unit dwelling it appears there is no way to stop a neighbor with Verizon from using it. 5000 sq feet would mean it could work about 40 feet in each direction from the femtocell. Not counting any loss of signal from walls and other things. So people in houses at least should be ok from freeloading neighbors. | |
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batterup
I Can Not Tell A Lie.
Premium
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ
clubs:
·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: Access issues? said by BF69 :said by batterup :said by gateguy :I guess my main question is, who defines who gets to use it? Meaning if you pay the $250, are your neighbors able to use this service. What if you don't want them to? It covers 5000 square feet up to 3 floors in a house. If one lived in a multi unit dwelling it appears there is no way to stop a neighbor with Verizon from using it. 5000 sq feet would mean it could work about 40 feet in each direction from the femtocell. Not counting any loss of signal from walls and other things. So people in houses at least should be ok from freeloading neighbors. I ass/u/me you are correct. at&t has a "security measure" for their offering.
I don't need this as I get 5 bars in my teeth in the swamps of Jersey on at&t, T-Mobile and Verizon. As for free minutes; I use Tracfone as I don't want to talk to anybody that would call me on the phone.
I do have Verizon wireless broadband and get
this is with three of four bars. I will post after I get my 6db trucker antenna attached.
My Verizon DSL gets
I also have Cablevision available @ 30/5 but how much porn can one watch?
FiOS will be mine some day and then I will post some numbers that will make the World drool at my ability to down-load porn. | |
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OnlyYouCanUseIt
@cunamutual.com | No, it is locked down to 3 cell phones... Only the phones you want it to work on can use it. Nobody will be stealing your bandwith. | |
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elbm
join:2000-08-03
Reisterstown, MD
 ·Verizon FIOS
1 edit | Benifit My understanding of how these femto cells are to work; or what the true benifit is, is that it is not so much to improve cell reception in your house but to allow you to use your cell with out using up your minutes. So when you are calling out or receiving over the femto cell you would not use any of your plan minutes thus really allowing your cell to replace your home line.
The one thing I did not understand was why VZW would care if you used the femto cell elsewhere other than your house. What difference does it make where my call originates from? | |
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batterup
I Can Not Tell A Lie.
Premium
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ
clubs: | Verizon Tracfone I wonder if this will work on a Tracfone that uses Verizon? | |
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batterup
I Can Not Tell A Lie.
Premium
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ
clubs: | Goodby VoIP Another shot at the leeches. | |
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veloslave
Geek For God
Premium
join:2003-07-11
Pleasant Hill, CA
 ·PHONE POWER
·SONIC.NET
| Yes... this is a major load of bull$h1t We supply them free bandwidth AFTER they charge us a massive fee just because they are too dang cheap/lazy to put in the coverage they should have in the first place.
I live in a densely populated area and there should be no need to buy one of these dang things... and there are a lot of reasons (and principle) for these to not exist... at least not in a massively populated Northern California suburb. I do have very poor reception where I live and at the price they are asking for this POC.. I certainly will not be buying one. If they gave it free... then I would not be so insulted to allow them to ride my bandwidth for free.
This whole thing is a joke, a bad joke. I don't think Verizon would have even done this had ATT & Sprint not done it... but they did and now they have to keep up with the Jones'
Bad PR Verizon... you have a good network and service but this just looks bad all around. Been with Verizon for many years now and this is embrassasing.
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Mom was right.... I NEED fiber! | |
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kyler13
Is your fiber grounded?
join:2006-12-12
Arnold, MD
| Not so fast $250 for this box? Wait until Verizon sees how much I'll be charging them monthly for having a cell on my property. I'll go easy on them. Give me free, unlimited service (all the options) and free phones (any phone) every two years and we'll call it even. | |
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moremoney
@tn.gov | seriously Offloads towers.. Use's your monthly caps, and the calls don't even really route through verizons equipment... Holy crap what a deal for verizon! They should give these away!!! Land of the free my @$$ | |
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wittybabie
join:2009-01-18
Fort Wayne, IN | Here I have three cell towers where I live so I always have four bars on EV and 1x through Verizon. | |
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mod_wastrel
join:2008-03-28
·magicjack.com
| From one point of view... if you've gone wireless-only for phone service, and you're concerned about call quality (and you have a good enough broadband connection), then femtocells make sense. However, a $250 OTC doesn't--anything more than a few dollars per month doesn't make sense; you're basically just adding VoIP to your home, and you don't really need a femtocell to do that. Compare the cost of an ATA and the monthly cost for one of the cheap/typical VoIP providers. Is the additional cost for the "simplicity" of a femtocell worth it? | |
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pabster
join:2001-12-09
Waterloo, IA
·Mediacom
| Ching! Ching! Ching! Now you suckers can fork out an extra $250 up-front or perhaps what $10 a month or something to lease/rent our "Femtocell" so you can actually use our service (which you're already paying out the ass for!)
This is a boondoggle for the carriers. More profits, and you are lessening the burden on their terrestrial cellular networks at the same time. It's win-win for the carrier!
Seems to me Verizon and the others ought to be paying *us* to operate a "Femtocell" as we're lessening the burden on them and perhaps improving quality of service for at least a handful of others at the same time. This is ass-backwards. | |
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nitzan
Premium,VIP
join:2008-02-27 |  $250???
They should be paying us to use it. | |
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madiany
@charter.com | can i take one with me to mexico ? can i take one with me to mexico and use my cell phone down there? | |
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batterup
I Can Not Tell A Lie.
Premium
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ
clubs: | Re: can i take one with me to mexico ? said by madiany :
can i take one with me to mexico and use my cell phone down there?
No you thieving person on unmarried parentage. | |
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| stufried
Premium
join:2003-10-13
·Verizon BroadbandA..
| No, most units have GPS and won't work out of their coverage area. I'm not sure what will happen if you authenticate it inside the Verizon area and then relocate it to Mexico outside of GPS range (e.g. an indoor closet). I presume that the change in IP addresses will force you to reautheticate. Someone will probably hack this, but I would definitely lock my service. It would be flat out rude to make people in Mexico CIty start roaming on Verizon. | |
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Verizon Femtocells Arrive January 25
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