AT&T Developing All-In-One U-Verse and Femtocell Box
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009
ATT femtocell
2009 will be the year of the femtocell, a tech that creates a micro cell tower in your home that improves coverage and allows you to make calls over your broadband connection (easing strain on local towers is the primary perk for AT&T). AT&T has been testing femtocells in employee homes for some time, and recently stated they’ll be engaging in a broader, “city-sized test” with customers in the second quarter of 2009. Ars Technica notes that AT&T is now contacting some customers to invite them into the trials. From the e-mail:
“AT&T’s new product is a small, security-enabled cellular base station that easily connects to your home DSL or Cable Internet, providing a reliable wireless signal for any 3G phone in every room of your house. The device allows you to have unlimited, nationwide Anytime Minutes for incoming or outgoing calls.”
AT&T has supposedly already signed a contract with London-based ip.access for $500 million in femtocells, which rumors suggest should be sold to customers for somewhere around $100 each. Meanwhile, there’s an interesting conversation in our VoIP forums about what the rise of the femtocell means for residential VoIP.
The AT&T 3G MicroCell blankets your home or office with 5,000 sq. ft. of 3G wireless goodness. The AT&T 3G MicroCell routes all communications through a high-speed wireline internet connection (DSL, Cable) and works with up to four mobile phones simultaneously. Better yet, AT&T’s femtocell supports 3G data, unlike Sprint’s Airave femtocell that limits network communications to the 2G variety.
