How many times have you been inside a home or office building and the conversation goes like this:

“Hi Bryan, I wanted to find out your flight schedule from Europe now that the Iceland volcano is settling down.”

“Good grief, the cellular reception is terrible.  I can only hear every other word you’re saying.” 

“Ok, just a minute. I’ll walk outside so you can hear me. (Pause).  Is that any better?” 

“Yeah, that’s a lot better.  I can hear you just fine.  I believe you wanted my flights for my return to the U.S.  OK, let me check on my flights.” 

“If someone could solve the problem of cellular reception indoors, they could become a multi-millionaire.”

Well, I’m here to tell you that this problem has been getting a lot of attention lately by the cellular operators all over the world but particularly here in the United States.  There’s a new solution to fixing this age-old problem.  It’s going to make using cell phones inside homes and offices operate just like it does now when within close range of a cell tower.  Here’s the story.

A number of years ago, wireless networking came into the market.  It worked OK but it was very expensive ($700 per device) and there were a number of companies who had proprietary solutions. Then, the Wi-Fi standard was created so that all of the vendors’ products would work together.  Anyone could buy a Wi-Fi Access Point (router) at a reasonable price (under $100), take it home, plug it in to their cable or DSL modem, run some software and then enjoy high speed Internet access anywhere in the house (and also in the front and back yard).

Device vendors standardized on the client side so that any notebook would work with any Access Point. Prices came way down and volume went through the roof.  Now, all notebook, netbooks and most SmartPhones have Wi-Fi built in.  Today, Wi-Fi Access Points cost $40 to $60 at most consumer outlets like Best Buy.  Thus, Wi-Fi now enables tens of millions of people to connect seamlessly to the Internet inside their homes and offices.

But what about cell phones and making voice calls?  Some attempts were made (particularly by T-Mobile) to allow a Wi-Fi enabled phone to use VoIP (Voice over IP) technology and the user’s Wi-Fi connection to assist in making (free) calls.  The modified Access Point enabled the call to be received and routed to the wireless operator.  However, it turned out that while this would work, it was a heavy drain on the battery, and it required setting up a special arrangement with the operator. 

Now, a newer (different) technology is coming to the home and office.  The technical name is femtocell, but it works similar to the way Wi-Fi works -- only specifically for cellular phones.  It works on the same frequency as the phone (thus, you need a specific femtocell that’s sold by your wireless operator), but the result is immediate improvement in your cell phone coverage indoors.  No more dropped calls.  No more problems having to run outside.  No more poor reception. 

You buy the femtocell under the operator’s brand name (e.g. AT&T 3G MicroCell), take it home, and plug it in to your cable or DSL modem (typically through the extra LAN connector on the back of your Wi-Fi Access Point router).  Run a simple setup program, and then it become operational.  You don’t need to do anything else but simply use your phone.  It lets you stay connected all the time. 

Whereas Wi-Fi will work with any notebook or Wi-Fi enabled phone, femtocells will only work on the specific operator network in which you subscribe.  If you happen to have two different cellular accounts in the family, then you’d need two femtocell units.  If you’re in a small office environment, it operates the same way.  Larger offices use more sophisticated in-building solutions like the one from MobileAccess, but the goal is the same: improve cellular reception indoors.

There are a number of companies building femtocells including Percelo, PicoChip,  QUALCOMM, AirWalk Communications and Cisco (that builds the 3G MicroCell for AT&T) for homes and small offices.  All of these companies sell solutions to wireless operators who, in turn, are going to be marketing femtocells under their brand name. Eventually, millions of people will set up their home or office with femtocell technology.  It’s like buying a micro cell phone tower and setting it up in your home or office. It can be used for both improving cellular calls and for data access, although many people will set their portable unit to use Wi-Fi for data access because it’s faster. 

And, here’s a rather interesting long-term possible effect of millions of people setting up femtocells in their homes and small offices: the femtocell works great outdoors near the house.  So, eventually, millions of femtocells could add significant coverage to the wireless operator’s coverage, adding little micro-cells all over the neighborhood thus improving outdoor coverage in ways that big towers may never be able to do.  Here’s a way to accelerate the adoption of femtocells: have the operators agree to credit each customer’s account for adding capacity to their network.  It wouldn’t take a lot to make a huge difference. 

You’ll soon be able to buy a femtocell from any wireless operator, and the days of poor coverage and poor quality cell calls will become a thing of the past.  Making calls with your mobile phone will work – every time – all the time – and whether you’re outdoors or indoors.

Written By:

J. Gerry Purdy, Ph.D.
Principal Analyst
Mobile & Wireless
MobileTrax LLC
gerry.purdy@mobiletrax.com
404-406-5309
 
Disclosure Statement: From time to time, I may have a direct or indirect equity position in a company that is mentioned in this column.  If that situation happens, then I’ll disclose it at that time.