VZW Network Extender femtocell to launch 25 January
It looks like Verzion is all set to launch its answer to Sprint’s Airave femtocell on Sunday January 25th. What the heck is femtocell you ask? In a nutshell, a femtocell is a teeny, tiny cellphone tower that allows users to get all of their cellular services via a broadband connection. This means that soon you can be rocking up to three Verizon lines in the middle of nowhere, which is a bit strange since we’re pretty hard pressed to name an area Verizon doesn’t cover. Anyway, in case you’re the type of person who likes to cheat the system and were hoping to use a VPN to make it look like you’re dialing locally in Ottumwa, Iowa when you’re actually in the middle of Zonguldak, an aGPS chip has been built-in to stop you. On the plus side however, you can also connect and external GPS antenna to authenticate your position. So what does the luxury of having your own 5,000 square feet of Verizon signal cost? $249.99, we’re told. Fair enough.
Man you just said what I said, just to clarify. It works with any red handset.
In theory, all phones (from that one specific carrier) should work with a Femtocell. That’s a key alleged benefit of the Femtocell proponents. There are at least two counter-arguments to that: First, many of the new attractive phones have WiFi. For example, 100% of the Blackberries offered by T-Mobile USA (8120, 8220, 8320, 8820 and soon also the 8900) have WiFi. Second, some industry commentary suggest that not all phones work well with Femtocells, but rather that they have to be optimized for it, “Femto-aware” or “Femto-optimized.” If this is the case, then why not just switch your phone to a WiFi phone instead? This article has some more info about it: http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/06/26/handset-issues-may-hurt-femtocells
@LilDonnie: There is a bit of difference between “any phone” and “any _Red_ phone”.
Holy Stupidity, Batman!
ATT is testing femtocells too, and need to make them available asap. I live in a dead zone in Armonk, NY with no cell services for any providers. Femtocells will be a lifeline for me. Come on ATT – I’ll even pay to beta test!!!
Keep in mind that all Femtocells will be carrier-specific. Many US households are multi-carrier, having phones from Sprint, AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, among others. Therefore, these homes will have to install multiple boxes, one for each carrier. Oh wait, there is one carrier — T-Mobile USA — which allows you to use the box you already have: WiFi. So with T-Mobile USA, no extra box. Now, if all the other carriers bothered to take the same approach…
Seems expensive, especially considering the device will become obsolete when LTE rolls out. That T Mobile gadget seems nice but once you step outside you remember that they have crappy coverage, which is why I stick with Verizon.
^ We get it already.
Move on.
Durat t mobile and then sprint and now Verizon…. When in the hell is AT&T going to get their ish together and release there own????
This is a tech blog, talking about different carriers on different networks, only a dense person would assume I meant an att or t mo (GSM) phone could work on a vzw or sprint (network). Look a smidgeon closer and you’ll see we had the same points, I guess you want to stop me from posting altogether
^The word you chose to use as the qualifier was “any”, was it not?
I rest my case.
I’ve been shown as a ignorant fraud again, thank you backbeat
“…we’re pretty hard pressed to name an area Verizon doesn’t cover.”
Been to the Seattle area much?
Quite welcome, Louie.
Sounds like a great deal to me. All of my staff have verizon phones and our server room is in a dead zone. Even though there’s a land-line in there, having a micro cell in the room would be very beneficial. When things go wrong, it’s important to be able to communicate.
The black on this is nice, now the price of unlimited use w/o deducting from anytime minutes should come out.
You move on you troll.
Just because you’re smug and think you know everything doesn’t mean you do.
Get a life dude.
Mr. Wahlman’s link has some interesting points, it was noted that some of the early adopters of the Airave had similar issues. Wonder if red’s will encounter the same?
It’s out today, price is $250 and no added cost to use, take a hint Sprint, still no unlimited option. Them not charging for use makes sense with a minimum $35/mo. broadband needed to operate
Is it available on the website? I haven’t been able to find it so far today.