Sprint gets ready to rock out with its 3G femtocell out
Following AT&T’s recent and repeated claim that it is on schedule with a 3G femtocell solution to be released before the year is out, Sprint’s VP of device and technology development Mathew Oommen has officially thrown down the gauntlet:
Just like Sprint was the first with 2G, we’ll definitely be the first in the 3G space as well. We’re not talking about trials; we’re talking about full commercial service.
Pow… Take that, AT&T. For those unfamiliar with the technology, a femtocell is basically a small base station that provides a bridge between cellular and wired broadband connections. Long story short: It’s your own personal cell tower. Sprint’s Airave was indeed the first 2G femtocell to hit the scene and according to Oommen, Sprint’s 3G offering will follow suit. What’s more, Sprint is apparently prepping both a consumer solution and an enterprise solution. EV-DO Rev. A femtocells at home and at the office? Mmmm.
[Via Phone Arena]
sounds tasty.. ill take two with a large fry and a chocolate shake..
wait a minute… i thought t-mobile’s umts-enabled @home thing was first in the femtocell world. am i wrong? i mean, it’s not exactly my cup of tea but that’s the whole reason i got a [busted] blackberry curve back in ‘06. i’m not even sure how much sense this makes anymore (sprint and at&t have a huge network while t-mobile… not so much). anybody else’s thoughts?
I agree- if these carriers could support UMTS the additional hardware wouldn’t be necessary.
I too thought that was the point with T-Mobile. Also I think Verizon has something similar to this already???
The difference with t-mobile’s @home solution is that they allow you to make/receive phone calls via wifi on your supported phone. Key word is “supported” phone as not all phones work with that @home service.
A femtocell is a microtower meaning it is a mini cell phone tower and can be used with *any* phone for that phone company to provide signal for your phone. Until now data services were limited to 2G (think EDGE) and now am SOOOO happy to hear we can get a 3G version soon!
Hey, if you can get the product out why not do it? Im sure theres quite a few people that will snatch this up especially those select few that claim they cant get 3G in their middle of nowhere towns.
Edit.
Verizon sell a device through customer service call a Cell Booster.
It has to be pluged into a Router of some sort but gives people with almost no service full strength voice and data services.
but that sounds like cell booster not a mini tower
Whats going to be the Cost??
First, First, FIRST!!!!! Weiners, I am finally first.
Firstly T-Mo uses UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) provides voice boost only not 3G (but obviously you’re already on wi-fi so why need 3G?)
Secondly, all Sprint phones would benefit as opposed to a specific set of phones.
yeah sprint really sucks. they are folding and not putting anything new out. huh
are these things locked down to your phone only or can neighbors with the same carriers make phone calls through it?
personally i don’t see a point for it. I can get voice everywhere with Sprint and AT&T. 3G dead spots for data is an annoyance now and my iphone has wifi for that
@ Chuckie – Verizon’s Network Extender is a 1X/2G femtocell, not a “cell booster”, just like the original SPCS Airave. No 3G data. Head over to Howardforums, learn something.
I love that cell phone companies want us to pay for these things. That’s basically saying, “our service sucks and can’t meet our customer expectations, so instead of fixing this problem ourselves why don’t we charge our customers to fix our deficiencies.”
Classic move for cell companies. They make billions a year and they can’t actually provide an adequate level of service.
And why do we need these for data? Isn’t that why we have wifi? Oh wait, Spint and Verizon won’t put wifi in their phones.
You people with “I don’t see the point of this I get service in my house” are STUPID!” Other people exist besides you.
Not everybody lives in your house. Not everyone gets service at home, or in their office.
I live in your house bob
@~Phel
Perfect. Epic Win.
Sorry Guys but this article doesn’t make too much sense to me, what is this femtocell suppose to do?
Get me a better Cell signal (like a Booster)or get me 3G Data improvements?
@mulri……excuse me!!!! I’m using wifi as we speak on my Pre, and there will be more to come.
I agree with others. I wish other carries supported UMA like TMO does on some of their devices. I have used it and it works great. Nothing like being a U.S. TMO customer and placing a phone call over a WiFi connection in a foreign country and not having to pay for it. UMA worked great in my home two. I always had five bars!
Then you better bring a sprint airave if you want service.
And don’t always blame the cell companies for lousey service, it’s typically due to stupid zoning boards not allowing them to install a tower.
@Atown
Apologies. I’m a verizon guy and thought that Sprint had the same issue. I’m about to abandon Verizon until they can produce a world phone that has wifi. The BB Tour is useless for data internationally unless you want to pay some obscene rate per MB.
Lack of wifi in a smartphone is just dumb.
I am a member of a group that has a suite in a cave complex. 84′ under the surface, if it’s not hardwired it probably won’t penetrate the surface. Thus, some one has a Nextel repeater setup down there. It’d be all sorts of awesome if we could hook up a femtocell and get full service support. Think outside the box guys, there are real world conditions that make stuff like this totally practical.
Sprint oftentimes gives the airave for free and rebates the recurring fee for people with lousy service at home. So they aren’t charging extra for them not having acceptable coverage.