Femtocells to the Rescue

If there is one thing that has prevented cellular networks from completely devastating traditional wired landline service, it is a lack of coverage.  Particularly a difficulty receiving a signal in buildings, underground, in remote locations, or other obstructed areas.

Femtocells seek to resolve this problem by transmitting a localized signal over a specialized device that looks like a lot like a broadband router.  Users with a broadband connection can set up a Femtocell and place or receive calls even if there is no local cellular coverage.  This is an advantage to both the user and the cellular carrier.  Users are able to enhance their coverage and carriers are able to offload calls from their cell towers and terminate the traffic over the internet.

As these things often work out, Femto devices have been hampered by a lack of standards amoung carriers and device manufacturers.  The good news is that members of the Femto Forum have finally agreed on a standard for management of femtocells and hopes that they will be ready for regular use on 3G wireless networks by the end of 2008.

If femtos are made easy enough that a user can self-install them at a reasonable (or subsidized) price, Femtocells could fill a tremendous void for business and residential users everywhere.