 CMoore2004
Premium
join:2003-02-06
Jonesville, MI
| Buggy Can you blame Sprint for not advertising them unless a customer threatens to cancel. If so many people in your apartment building had one, chances are decent you'd pick one of them up. If the customer restricts access, the only way to avoid using the femtocell is by setting the phone to "roam only", if you're lucky enough to still have a phone with that option.
My dad had no coverage at his place, I got him the Airave. I restricted access, now the neighbors on one side struggle to make any calls (even more so than before). | |
| neufuse
join:2006-12-06
Indiana, PA
1 edit | prepaid I think its redicious that pre-paid customers on verzion arn't allowed to buy them...... you HAVE to be post-paid... all you get is a stupid setup window on your verizon website that lets you pick priorities of phones *rolls eyes* | |
|  | 
aaronwt
Premium
join:2004-11-07
Woodbridge, VA
 ·Verizon FIOS
1 edit | Re: prepaid said by neufuse  :I think its redicious that pre-paid customers on verzion arn't allowed to buy them...... you HAVE to be post-paid... all you get is a stupid setup window on your verizon website that lets you pick priorities of phones *rolls eyes* It doesn't matter, not if you have INternet service from Verizon, since their plans are unlimited. I don't care who uses my Femtocell as long as when I need it, it's available for me to use. Which it is by giving my cellphone number the highest priority. | |
| jimbo2150
join:2004-05-10
Youngstown, OH
| Issues, Bad Marketing... Combine these facts:
•Slow broadband upload speeds in U.S.
•Still kills minutes on some providers (as stated in above)
•Can still cost an arm + leg even thought it most-likely lowers the providers costs
•Some reports I have seen say that some femtocells do not even cover whole house (poor wireless?)
•Some lack features like WiFi/3G/4G internet access
I say it's a combination of a new product (still with bugs), poor marketing, lack of support services (like internet speed), and (in some cases) poor feature selection.
Depending on how fast internet upgrades go, I say give in 5... maybe 10 years... supposing some revolutionary wireless product does not pop up in that time they may catch on.
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- "Techie" Jim | |
| | 
cableties
Premium
join:2005-01-27 |  Re: Issues, Bad Marketing...
| |
| 
GlobalMind
Domino Dude, POWER Systems Guy
Premium
join:2001-10-29
Hollywood, FL
| The Not Ready for Prime Time Player Long term I think they're a great idea.
Short term, the carriers haven't made a compelling enough case for the devices given the features offered.
As to coverage in the house I'd think they're subject to some of the same issues that plague many people getting service in the house to begin with.
--
TheGlobalMind.com / Speed costs money. How fast do you want to go? / Trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason. - Ralph Waldo Emerson / Free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity. | |
| 
chlen
Ethically Challenged
Premium
join:2001-01-16
Albany, NY
| airave Sprint has advertisements all over their stores for the Airave, but I got mine for free with the service on it free. I live in a brick buildings between two other solid brick buildings and my house is a deadzone for any cell provider. I called Sprint about this and they had me pick one up at the store and refunded the cost. The device works fantastically and the voice quality is the better then any phone I have ever used, be it landline, voip or cell. The only thing that sucks is that the device needs a GPS lock to be sure you are in the US, otherwise it would be like having free calling to the US from anywhere with an ethernet connection.
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This is not the greatest post in the world, no, this is just a tribute!
Слесарь-гинеколог | |
| | CMoore2004
Premium
join:2003-02-06
Jonesville, MI
| Re: airave I think the GPS does more than make sure you're in the US. Sprint can't use the spectrum the Airave operates in if they don't have the license to that band in the area you're in. It may also have some E-911 functionality, but I'm not sure about that. | |
| | | 
Telco_Tech
join:2009-05-18
Toledo, OH
| Re: airave said by CMoore2004 :I think the GPS does more than make sure you're in the US. Sprint can't use the spectrum the Airave operates in if they don't have the license to that band in the area you're in. It may also have some E-911 functionality, but I'm not sure about that. This is an excellent point! Until you mentioned it, I assumed the GPS was only for the carrier's benefit (making sure you're not taking the unit out of your calling area). I was thinking it'd be fun to figure out how to spoof the GPS signal and use it overseas. I'd still love to figure out how to do that, but now I wouldn't just piss off the carrier -- I'd be pissing off the FCC and it's foreign counterparts too! Two birds with one stone!
- Tate
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It's time to let go of TDM people. If it's not IP-based, it's crap! | |
| | | 
tmh
@com.sg
| said by CMoore2004 :I think the GPS does more than make sure you're in the US. Sprint can't use the spectrum the Airave operates in if they don't have the license to that band in the area you're in. It may also have some E-911 functionality, but I'm not sure about that. So does that mean you can't use it in the basement, precisely where it'd do the most good?
T-Mobile's UMA capable phones work better in that case. I'm out of the country now, but I have local calling thanks to a UMA-capable phone and WiFi I'm leeching off the neighbors. | |
| | | |
chlen
Ethically Challenged
Premium
join:2001-01-16
Albany, NY
| Re: airave said by tmh :said by CMoore2004 :I think the GPS does more than make sure you're in the US. Sprint can't use the spectrum the Airave operates in if they don't have the license to that band in the area you're in. It may also have some E-911 functionality, but I'm not sure about that. So does that mean you can't use it in the basement, precisely where it'd do the most good? T-Mobile's UMA capable phones work better in that case. I'm out of the country now, but I have local calling thanks to a UMA-capable phone and WiFi I'm leeching off the neighbors. it has 20-30 feet of wire to a powerful GPS antenna, but it would work in the basement since that is what it is for.
You would hook it up to your router and then your house is covered. It covers my basement very well, and the second floor, the device is on the first.
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This is not the greatest post in the world, no, this is just a tribute!
Слесарь-гинеколог | |
| | | | |
tmh
@verizon.net
| Re: airave said by chlen :it has 20-30 feet of wire to a powerful GPS antenna, but it would work in the basement since that is what it is for. I'm beginning to think the GPS is required more for syncing the CDMA chip sequence.
CDMA cell towers need an accurate timesource to stay in sync. It's one of the reasons why you can still get a good signal from multiple towers even when individual towers have a marginal signal. All GPS satellites carry an atomic clock, so putting up a GPS antenna is an an easy way to get the time.
If your local femtocell is to work the same way, it needs to sync up too. Of course, the provider can probably add in other interesting "features" like limiting the calling area.
Have you actually tried using it out of the country to see if it'll lockout?
This need for a time signal seems like a shortcoming of CDMA femtocells, since you must always put the GPS antenna somewhere close to the outside. Using NTP won't get you an accurate enough timelock. You probably couldn't use it in a basement facility of an office building for example.
Looks like UMA's a better bet in this case. | |
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chlen
Ethically Challenged
Premium
join:2001-01-16
Albany, NY
| Re: airave Maybe, the time sequencing is a part of it. The rep told me pretty openly that they simply did not want people plugging it in Europe and being able to use sprint like a domestic. That it was to verify location. The GPS seems pretty powerful on the device though, and does need a lock. You could not set the device up in your basement unless you put it near a window, but you would want it near the wifi router anyways.
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This is not the greatest post in the world, no, this is just a tribute!
Слесарь-гинеколог | |
| | | | | | |
tmh
@com.au
| Re: airave said by chlen :The rep told me pretty openly that they simply did not want people plugging it in Europe and being able to use sprint like a domestic. Might be worth while to try it just for grins.  If it works, you're golden. | |
| | | | | massysett
join:2006-01-04
Silver Spring, MD
| No solution These are only a "solution" for anything if the carrier gives me the device and gives me a discount for using it. Otherwise, why should I pay the carrier to make up for its sorry network? If I can't get good coverage somewhere, I will get another carrier. | |
| | 
jefe
Premium
join:2001-05-19
Northport, NY
·Verizon FIOS
| Re: No solution That would be a great solution is any of the competing carriers had better coverage than your current provider.
In our hilly neighborhood no carrier has good coverage. And they never will because NIMBYism is alive and well around here. There's always a huge outcry when any carrier proposes putting a cell tower near enough to do any good.
Thus I'm chompin' at the bit for at&t to release a femtocell. If they do and it works as I hope it will, I can see my wife and I joining the ranks of those who give up their landline and just have cell numbers. | |
| b10010011
Whats a Posting tag?
join:2004-09-07
Bellingham, WA | Too girlly sounding Being a man I do not buy anything that starts with FEM.  | |
| | 
rolande
Certifiable
Premium,Mod
join:2002-05-24
Powell, OH
clubs: | Re: Too girlly sounding You could succumb to the power of a FEMBot and not realize it. | |
| | | | chsteiger
Premium
join:2003-10-03
Pasadena, TX
| AT&T Late To The Party As Usual Could also be that AT&T is the last to roll these out. They were to have them in two test markets by the end of 2nd quarter (didn't happen) and were to have them nation wide by end of year (the odds are better at winning the lotto) and we don't know if AT&T will make the mins free or not.
No way in hell I would pay Verizon 200 bucks for the box and then have calls made on it bill against my min plan. What are they thinking..... | |
| patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
1 edit | femtocells are for idiots Who should get a femtocell? You pay for the privilege of running a cell tower at home using your own bandwidth? Thats as idiotic as an ad I once saw "$100K house for sale, land not included", guess who just got a free, or profitable demolition? Or cable TV, you pay for the privilege of watching ads, they should be paying you to watch cable TV.
If you need a femtocell because of coverage, get a new carrier. You pay each month for the right to USE a network, not the right to RUN a network. Let the carriers build and maintain a network, not hand it off to subscribers.
Now if a cellular company wants to place an small (no more than 3 feet) omni antenna on my house, pay me $50 a month in rent, and bring their own bandwidth (pay for a T1), by all means I would be happy to allow that, I included some pics of what I mean  | |
| |
aaronwt
Premium
join:2004-11-07
Woodbridge, VA
·Verizon FIOS
1 edit | Re: femtocells are for idiots said by patcat88 :Who should get a femtocell? You pay for the privilege of running a cell tower at home using your own bandwidth? Thats as idiotic as an ad I once saw "$100K house for sale, land not included", guess who just got a free, or profitable demolition? Or cable TV, you pay for the privilege of watching ads, they should be paying you to watch cable TV. If you need a femtocell because of coverage, get a new carrier. You pay each month for the right to USE a network, not the right to RUN a network. Let the carriers build and maintain a network, not hand it off to subscribers. Now if a cellular company wants to place an small (no more than 3 feet) omni antenna on my house, pay me $50 a month in rent, and bring their own bandwidth (pay for a T1), by all means I would be happy to allow that, I included some pics of what I mean No cell provider can give me coverage where I live. I'm surrounded by hills that block the signal so I get zero to one bar depending on where I stand. I could get a repeater but then I would need to put up an antenna for the base station around 12 feet high so I could get a reliable signal. The Femtocell makes much more sense. It's in a cabinet, hidden away, and works perfectly. | |
| | | patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY | Re: femtocells are for idiots Then get a satellite phone  | |
| | chsteiger
Premium
join:2003-10-03
Pasadena, TX | I can't speak for the other providors, but AT&T plans to have their units LOCKED down to just the people in your house. Others in the neighborhood will NOT be able to get on your cell and make calls. | |
| | 
buckingham
Buckingham Pa
join:2005-07-17
Buckingham, PA
1 edit | said by patcat88 :If you need a femtocell because of coverage, get a new carrier. You pay each month for the right to USE a network, not the right to RUN a network. Let the carriers build and maintain a network, not hand it off to subscribers. Not an option here to just change carriers. The cell tower for ALL the carriers is on the mountain behind our home, but just due to the specific place our home sits, signals are very low inside the house and on our property due to the shielding that a mountain sized rock between the antennas and us affords. (The house also has 18" thick limestone exteriors walls in part of the structure, too) There are many dropped calls on every carrier as folks drive by for the same reason.
While I like the idea of a femtocell in my home, I'm not willing to wait much longer for it to be available on my carrier...one that I'm satisfied with overall and have been with since 1996. So it's likely that a repeater will be installed here in the not to distant future. I can get an outside signal high enough on the roof to make that a viable alternative. | |
|
Telco_Tech
join:2009-05-18
Toledo, OH
| Minutes should be free I agree with most everyone else's point of view that the minutes you use while on a femtocell should not be deducted from your monthly allotment. That's a deal breaker for me right there. The other deal breaker? Access restrictions. I don't want my neighbors getting a free ride off my broadband. It'd be different if I had FiOS type upload speeds, but my ISP doesn't offer anything with more than 1 Mbps upstream so I'm very stingy with sharing. If I had 5 Mbps or more I'd be happy to let anyone make calls via my connection.
- Tate
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It's time to let go of TDM people. If it's not IP-based, it's crap! | |
| |
aaronwt
Premium
join:2004-11-07
Woodbridge, VA
·Verizon FIOS
| Re: Minutes should be free said by Telco_Tech :I agree with most everyone else's point of view that the minutes you use while on a femtocell should not be deducted from your monthly allotment. That's a deal breaker for me right there. The other deal breaker? Access restrictions. I don't want my neighbors getting a free ride off my broadband. It'd be different if I had FiOS type upload speeds, but my ISP doesn't offer anything with more than 1 Mbps upstream so I'm very stingy with sharing. If I had 5 Mbps or more I'd be happy to let anyone make calls via my connection. - Tate The femtocells use very little bandwidth. I think the total, up/down, is only around 80kbs. | |
| | | Crypto_Bug
join:2001-05-31
Torrington, CT
| Re: Minutes should be free I think they would be faster to catch on it the carriers weren't so greedy and trying to extort additional money and use your minutes for these devices. Carriers need to remember that they these devices are to provide coverage in areas where their product is deficent. Perhaps the carriers should be back billed for using the customers Internet connection.
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Certs: CCNA, GPEN, GCIH, GCFW, GSEC, GCIA, GCFA | |
| | | dcdeadbeat
join:2008-10-07
Washington, DC
 ·Covad Communications
| said by aaronwt :said by Telco_Tech :I agree with most everyone else's point of view that the minutes you use while on a femtocell should not be deducted from your monthly allotment. That's a deal breaker for me right there. The other deal breaker? Access restrictions. I don't want my neighbors getting a free ride off my broadband. It'd be different if I had FiOS type upload speeds, but my ISP doesn't offer anything with more than 1 Mbps upstream so I'm very stingy with sharing. If I had 5 Mbps or more I'd be happy to let anyone make calls via my connection. - Tate The femtocells use very little bandwidth. I think the total, up/down, is only around 80kbs. A PSTN phone call would use 64Kbps (as set by the G.711 codec that is the phone standard). Cell phones use even less, depending upon the codec used by the carrier.
In other words, you could stuff over 20 phone calls on a 1Mbps upload connection, and that's before compression and transcoding to a lower bandwidth codec. With compression you could most like get another 8 calls on that same upload connection.
So the argument of using your bandwidth is really a weak argument. | |
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Telco_Tech
join:2009-05-18
Toledo, OH
| Re: Minutes should be free said by dcdeadbeat :So the argument of using your bandwidth is really a weak argument. Did you somehow miss the part where I said I'm stingy with my upstream? I have roughly 900 Kbps usable upstream bandwidth when my LAN is idle. Let's assume that a cell call only uses 32 Kbps and let's also say that the femtocell limits itself to a max of four concurrent calls at any given time. That's 128 Kbps of my already meager 900 Kbps upstream being used by whoever happens to be within range. That may not seem like much to you, but I do a lot of uploading (security cam streaming) so every little drop of upstream bandwidth is important to me. You're also failing to take into account the fact that newer femtos are going to support 3G data sessions, so please don't tell me my concerns about bandwidth utilization are unwarranted or somehow irrelevant.
- Tate
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It's time to let go of TDM people. If it's not IP-based, it's crap! | |
| MichaelWacey
OwlSaver
Premium
join:2005-01-30
Berwyn, PA
·Verizon FIOS
 ·Comcast
| When I will get one I would get one and drop my landline if:
- The device were free/included in the price of cell service
- The device supported 3G service
- The minutes used did not subtract from my plan
Since I have Verizon FiOS (Phone, Internet, TV) and Verizon Wireless, Verizon has no incentive to meet my needs listed above. It would only drop their revenue from me.
I could see Verizon putting a FemtoCell in every FiOS house and using the Fibre frequency for Voice for the backhaul. It could greatly expand their coverage area at little cost. They would just add the functionality to the Routers or OTNs. | |
| | dcdeadbeat
join:2008-10-07
Washington, DC
·Covad Communications
| Re: When I will get one said by MichaelWacey :I would get one and drop my landline if: - The device were free/included in the price of cell service - The device supported 3G service - The minutes used did not subtract from my plan Since I have Verizon FiOS (Phone, Internet, TV) and Verizon Wireless, Verizon has no incentive to meet my needs listed above. It would only drop their revenue from me. I could see Verizon putting a FemtoCell in every FiOS house and using the Fibre frequency for Voice for the backhaul. It could greatly expand their coverage area at little cost. They would just add the functionality to the Routers or OTNs. Most likely you will see Telcos like Verizon implementing femtocells into their router/head unit and using a separate channel to funnel the call through the fiber to a private network (not related to your FIOS account). This will give them access to put a micro cell tower in your house without those pesky FCC oversight issues of network neutrality. Private networks (or separate channels piggy-backing on a network connection but unrelated to the "Internet" connection are exempt from network neutrality and QoS issues of giving one provider's service priority on a network over another's competing service. Comcast already currently does this for phone service (not wireless, though) and will most likely do this for their wireless service in the future.
In other words, you next FIOS or Comcast modem/router will also be a femtocell whether you know it or not. | |
| | 
caesarv
join:1999-08-02
Santa Rosa, CA
| I have Verizon's Femtocell since my wife really wanted better inside coverage. It works very well and we have had no issues with it. While I can see charging some amount of money for the device, the current $300 is a bit much. The fact that you still get charged airtime would have been a deal breaker if not for the fact that we use nowhere near our allotment. That particular policy just seems to add insult to injury. | |
| Samsonian
join:2007-06-15
| Femtos are dumb, Wi-Fi works Femtocells have always been kind of a dumb idea, especially since we've have WiFi for years now.
Femtocells have no scale or volume. WiFi has ridiculous scale and volumes. There's probably billions of WiFi devices out there, and it keeps growing. WiFi is being integrated into more devices and volumes keep increasing, some analysts think the industry will ship more than a billion WiFi devices in 2012 alone.
The problem has always been the telcos. Specifically the telcos fears of becoming a "dumb" pipe, revenues being sqeezed, and their overpriced, fragile network being seen for what it really is.
So the telcos "discouraged" WiFi enabled cell phones and Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA), also known Generic Access Network (GAN) in 3GPP lingo.
Thanks to the iPhone, everyone clearly sees the value in having WiFi in a mobile device now. This trend will continue and eventually all mobile devices will have WiFi, and that can't be stopped.
But most carriers are still holding fast on UMA. There's no technical reason why the iPhone, or any other WiFi phone, couldn't support UMA though. Aside from a few progressive carriers like T-Mobile, most big carriers are holding it back.
If you think about it, it's a pretty dumb move on their part. Having your paying customer's traffic offloaded on unlicensed spectrum (which you didn't buy), on somebody else's device (which you didn't buy), and backhauled over the internet (which you don't pay for) back to you to handle the rest of the way (which has almost no marginal cost). It seems like such a good idea, it saves money and frees up capacity on the cell network. I have to wonder why almost all of them have their heads up their butts, they should be tripping over themselves to implement this. | |
| | dsl_sutra
join:2003-12-25
Jersey City, NJ
1 edit | Re: Femtos are dumb, Wi-Fi works Why isn't T-Mobile mentioned here? We use UMA - calls over wi-fi for $9.99 a month for all phones on a family plan, 24x7 on T-Mobile without eating into are monthly allotment of minutes. UMA is a good thing! | |
| | | unoriginal
join:2000-07-12
San Diego, CA | Re: Femtos are dumb, Wi-Fi works With T-Mobile' setup you are limited to whatever phones they decide to offer that will let you use wi-fi to connect. With my Airave I can use any of the phones that I currently own with no problems. | |
| | | Samsonian
join:2007-06-15
| said by dsl_sutra :Why isn't T-Mobile mentioned here? ... UMA is a good thing! You should re-read my post. I explicitly mentioned T-Mobile (I'm a customer in fact). I never slammed UMA, in fact my entire post extolled the benefits of UMA enabled, WiFi phones.
"There's no technical reason why the iPhone, or any other WiFi phone, couldn't support UMA though. Aside from a few progressive carriers like T-Mobile, most big carriers are holding it back. If you think about it, it's a pretty dumb move on their part..." | |
| | | sonicmerlin
join:2009-05-24
Cleveland, OH
| said by dsl_sutra :Why isn't T-Mobile mentioned here? We use UMA - calls over wi-fi for $9.99 a month for all phones on a family plan, 24x7 on T-Mobile without eating into are monthly allotment of minutes. UMA is a good thing! I'm having trouble understanding why you have to pay T-mobile to use the internet connection that you already pay for to place calls. How is this costing them any money? | |
| | | jjeffeory
join:2002-12-04
USA
| Why Why would I pay a cellphone company more money to use the network that I pay for at home? If I could just buy the femto cell, hook it up to my home internet connect, and then reap the benefits of better coverage it would be fine. I am not going to pay for coverage that the cellphone carrier should already have. It's just another way to get you to pay for helping THEM. That's just crap. | |
| | dsl_sutra
join:2003-12-25
Jersey City, NJ
| Re: Why said by jjeffeory :Why would I pay a cellphone company more money to use the network that I pay for at home? If I could just buy the femto cell, hook it up to my home internet connect, and then reap the benefits of better coverage it would be fine. I am not going to pay for coverage that the cellphone carrier should already have. It's just another way to get you to pay for helping THEM. That's just crap. It doesn't come out of the "minute bucket" on TMO, so I don't have to wait until 9PM to answer and make calls. UMA is supported by Blackberry and other smartphones. You can buy an unlocked phone of your choice. | |
| ronus
join:2003-02-09
Dallas, GA
| Something for nothing I'm not sure why people wail and gnash teeth over paying for minutes while using the femtocell. Do you not understand that this is a VOIP device that connects to your carriers servers? Why do you think you should get cell phone service over these for free?
I had a weak signal at my home with Verizon for years, but I was usually not disconnected. I had 0 to 1 bars at times. When I made a call on the phone I was charged for the minutes (of course). Now I have Verizons Network Extender (femtocell) and I get an excellent signal and call quality. I don't mind paying for minutes that I would have been charged for anyway! Even though you are making a call through YOUR internet connection, the call is still completed on the other end by your carriers VOIP servers. I have my "Network Extender" set up to give priority to certain phones. The neighbors CAN'T connect to my internet connection as long as they can get any signal at all from the cell towers. That is specifically stated on Verizons web site. | |
| |
aaronwt
Premium
join:2004-11-07
Woodbridge, VA
·Verizon FIOS
| Re: Something for nothing said by ronus :I'm not sure why people wail and gnash teeth over paying for minutes while using the femtocell. Do you not understand that this is a VOIP device that connects to your carriers servers? Why do you think you should get cell phone service over these for free? I had a weak signal at my home with Verizon for years, but I was usually not disconnected. I had 0 to 1 bars at times. When I made a call on the phone I was charged for the minutes (of course). Now I have Verizons Network Extender (femtocell) and I get an excellent signal and call quality. I don't mind paying for minutes that I would have been charged for anyway! Even though you are making a call through YOUR internet connection, the call is still completed on the other end by your carriers VOIP servers. I have my "Network Extender" set up to give priority to certain phones. The neighbors CAN'T connect to my internet connection as long as they can get any signal at all from the cell towers. That is specifically stated on Verizons web site. It doesn't work that way here. Even with a signal from the cell tower here, my neighbor will connect to the Femtocel if they are within 15 feet and the signal is stronger than what they get from the tower. Which does happen with my neighbors above me that are on Verizon. But what do I care, even though I dropped down from the 50/20 tier to the slow 25/15 tier on FIOS, the bandwidth the Femtocell uses in small, and Verizon doesn't have any bandwidth caps. So my neighbors can use the Femtocell all they want. I have no complaints. The fact that I get full signal strength and can make calls without any problems is certainly worth it. | |
| | sonicmerlin
join:2009-05-24
Cleveland, OH
| said by ronus :I'm not sure why people wail and gnash teeth over paying for minutes while using the femtocell. Do you not understand that this is a VOIP device that connects to your carriers servers? Why do you think you should get cell phone service over these for free? I had a weak signal at my home with Verizon for years, but I was usually not disconnected. I had 0 to 1 bars at times. When I made a call on the phone I was charged for the minutes (of course). Now I have Verizons Network Extender (femtocell) and I get an excellent signal and call quality. I don't mind paying for minutes that I would have been charged for anyway! Even though you are making a call through YOUR internet connection, the call is still completed on the other end by your carriers VOIP servers. I have my "Network Extender" set up to give priority to certain phones. The neighbors CAN'T connect to my internet connection as long as they can get any signal at all from the cell towers. That is specifically stated on Verizons web site. If you have to pay them monthly on top of your normal cell phone bill, then what's the point? | |
| | |
bluebirdFL
@nettally.com
| Re: Something for nothing The $9.99 at T-Mobile is for unlimited UMA wi-fi calls. You can just let your wi-fi time come out of your monthly call time, if you prefer. Your usual plan rules, including fav 5, nights/weekends, M2M, etc would still apply, is how I understand it.
I bought a used UMA phone on ebay to try it out. Since I get good coverage at home, I don't use it. Mainly, I'm hoping it will be cool when I next travel overseas, because TMO wisely doesn't care where in the world you are connecting to the wi-fi from. | |
| | slckusr
Premium
join:2003-03-17
Maumee, OH
 ·Verizon BroadbandA..
·AT&T Midwest
| Love Mine I got one form sprint, It works great, good coverage around my yard and house. i can get down the end of the block ( im about halfway) before i hand off to the tower.
Hand offs suck, Their pretty smooth when going from femtocell to tower, but from tower to femtocell i have to hang up and call the person back.
Overall it made coverage in my house, at the cost of some bandwidth and 4.99 a month. well worth it. | |
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Femtocells Slow To Catch On
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More heart burn for wireless subscribers.
When I moved into a new home Two Years ago, I discovered that I had no wireless signal. I was fortunate that Sprint offered to release me from my contract. It took several months to complete the sale of my old house, so I did not want to subscribe to broadband service right away at the new house. In the future will wireless carriers refuse to release the subscriber from their contract if they cannot get a satisfactory signal and demand that they purchase a Femtocell and subscribe to broadband service?
