your very own home cell network

[dhilipkumar]

Femtocells:  your very own home cell network


Besides the "femtocell" sounding like a robotic sex toy or an individually wrapped feminine hygiene product, in technological terms it is a router-like device which converts a portion of your broadband bandwidth to provide you with a compact cell network in your house.

The concept is a relatively simple one. You buy a femtocell from your mobile network operator, because if you were on Verizon and bought a T-Mobile one, that would be pretty pointless. You switch it on, plug it into your broadband router, and as simple as that, you have cell signal.

Another use for femtocells would be trains and railways. Not only do phone users struggle to maintain a phone call travelling at 130mph through the countryside, but the constant barrage of tunnels makes it difficult to maintain a connection.

As broadband routers often provide a home network of speeds around 2-4MB speeds, the increasing number of devices connected to routers are slowing the overall network down.

zdnet