NTCA's The New Edge » femtocells

PicoChip Evolves Femtocell Technology

Jesse Ward — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:49:56 +0000

With the release of two new chipsets, PicoChip is hoping to revolutionize the femtocell business model established by tier-one cellular providers.

A femtocell, often called a microcell, is essentially a small, cellular base station which connects to the cell device within the home and backhauls the traffic over the customer’s wired broadband connection. Media analysts speculated that femtocells would be the next big thing in fixed-mobile convergence, and drive the train for landline cord cutting. Despite widespread media hype, femtocells have been regulated to a niche service.

Users have repeatedly criticized femtocell service offerings. For one, the device itself typically carries a hefty price tag. AT&T, Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless currently offer femtocell devices and service plans. Verizon Wireless’s Coverage Extender device costs $249.99. AT&T’s 3G MicroCell is priced at $149.99, although the carrier has offered mail-in rebates in some states for limited time periods, and Sprint’s Airave femtocell is currently priced at $99.99 with a service plan.

Perhaps more important than the cost of the device itself, microcell usage typically counts toward a subscriber’s cellular plan minutes, despite the fact that the traffic is carried over a wired broadband connection.

PicoChip hopes that by lowering the price tag of the underlying chipset, cellular operators will be able to offer more compelling femtocell service offerings. PicoChip’s new PC7300 chipset draws fewer than 5 watts of power and, most importantly, costs only $50. PicoChip’s new boards are HSPA+ only for now, with a 3G version coming later this year. PicoChip says this new chip could drive an entire new generation of femtocell systems, including residential or business deployments. It could also be inserted into a variety of in-home devices including media boxes.

PicoChip also announced last week that it has developed the industry’s first public access femtocell solution, designed to provide connectivity for metropolitan hot-spots, city-centers and rural areas. The PC333 System-on-Chip device is the first femtocell chip to support 32 channels (scalable to 64) for simultaneous voice and HSPA+ data for more than 400 smartphone users. It also is the first chip to support MIMO, the first to support soft-handover and the first to conform to the Local Area Basestation standard. PicoChip maintains that it will be cheaper to deploy a rural base station with this new femtocell chip versus traditional cellular deployments.

For more, see this PicoChip PC7300 press release and this PicoChip PC333 press release.
Just last week Bloomberg News profiled Sprint-Nextel’s plans for femtocells.
Learn more about femtocell technology. Read NTCA’s ePapers, The Fundamentals of Femtocells & Femtocells and Wireless Substitution: 2009 Prospects.

AT&T Trials New Femtocell Business Model: Offer it for Free

Jesse Ward — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:54:10 +0000

Over the weekend, reports surfaced in tech blogs Engadget and Gizmodo that a select handful of the AT&T’s “most valuable customers” received letters in the mail announcing that they qualified for a free 3G Microcell. Engadget updated the post this morning, saying that AT&T is experimenting with new femtocell offerings. Might this breathe new life into femtocell technology?

For those of you who are unfamiliar, AT&T’s 3G Microcell is a femtocell device which routes traffic — wireless phone calls and data connections — across a customer’s wired broadband connection. This solution is designed to increase coverage for customers with spotty service, and ease cellular network congestion by offloading traffic from the towers to the customer’s broadband provider.

AT&T launched the 3G Microcell nationwide back in April. The device retails for $150. Calls made from the Microcell still use wireless plan minutes, unless you opt for a dedicated “companion rate plan” and pay an additional $19.99 a month to make unlimited calls. AT&T attempted to sweeten the deal by offering a $100 rebate good for the purchase of the device when a customer signs up for the unlimited calling plan. Additionally, existing AT&T broadband customers can receive an extra $49.99 rebate, which essentially makes the femtocell free.

Despite the promotions, AT&T has not generated significant customer interest. Likewise competitors Sprint and Verizon, which also have femtocell services, have struggled to develop a winning business model which benefits the carrier and also attracts customers. Critics argue that customers will not pay an additional fee for a device which corrects the service provider’s failure to offer reliable coverage in their homes.

A recent Parks Associates survey offers femtocell providers some encouragement. According to Parks, more than half of U.S. broadband households with mobile phones are interested in femtocell benefits, and are willing to pay for the devices and associated new services. The survey found that fewer than 10% of consumers were previously familiar with femtocells. However, once they were educated about a femtocell and its benefits, 56% of respondents found the technology appealing, and 72% said they would be interested in at least one advanced femtocell service, such as virtual home number that rings to every cell phone in the home.

“The findings also indicate femtocells can significantly improve subscriber satisfaction and lead many households to consolidate with a single provider,” Parks noted.

For now, I think the jury is still out on whether consumers will embrace this nascent technology.

For more on femtocells, see NTCA’s ePapers.

AT&T Announces Nationwide Plans for 3G Microcell

Kevin McGuire — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:52:25 +0000

Yesterday AT&T announced that it will begin the nationwide roll out of its 3G MicroCell device in April. The device is a femotcell (read NTCA’s ePaper on femtocells) and according to the press release “… is an innovative solution that allows residential customers to route wireless phone calls and data connections (or sessions) across a home broadband connection. This solution is designed to benefit customers who live in homes that have coverage impediments that consistently interrupt wireless spectrum, such as dense wall and roof construction or unfavorable terrain. ”

So basically if your customer is an A&T wireless subscriber, with this device, AT&T will be migrating traffic from its towers to your customer’s broadband connection. Oh, and if AT&T service was spotty in your customer’s homes, well, this solves that also.

We’ve seen femtocells as a threat for some time now, and to my knowledge AT&T is the first femtocell device to support both voice and 3G wireless access. Some early reports on Verizon’s Network Extender were pretty harsh, with the most criticism stemming from the lack of 3G support (for phones that lack WiFi), open access (meaning anyone near the femtocell could use it to make calls), and the fact that calls made over the broadband connection continued to “eat” minutes.

I’m shocked that the latter complaint hasn’t been addressed by AT&T. Calls made from their MicroCell will still use plan minutes, unless of course you opt for their “companion rate plan” and pay an additional $19.99 a month to make unlimited calls, and of course for the privilege of offloading traffic from their towers.

Stay tuned. We’ll see if the device takes off or not later in the year. If there was a silver lining in this story, I suppose rural telcos might gain some additional broadband subscribers. But if this works well and is successful, I question if additional traffic on the network will negate any benefit.

MagicJack Showcases Femtocell Device

Jesse Ward — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:26:58 +0000

YMax Corp., the parent company of magicJack, announced last week that it plans to offer a femtocell device that will enable any GSM user to place unlimited nationwide VoIP calls for a low annual fee.

A femtocell is essentially a small, cellular base station which connects to the wireless device within the home and backhauls the traffic over the customer’s wired broadband connection.

The company is remaining mum on most of the details. However, YMax CEO Dan Borislow touted that the pending device can be used with any GSM phone, on any band, including locked phones, the Apple iPhone and phones that do not currently have a cellular plan. The company also says the registration process will be plug-and play, and users can automatically connect to other femtocell-enabled magicJack’s at friends’ houses and businesses.

Of note, the new femtocell device utilizes licensed spectrum, in this case spectrum which may belong to cellular providers. YMax CEO Dan Borislow said the device is legal because wireless spectrum licenses don’t extend into the home. I expect that AT&T and T-Mobile, which both offer femtocell products, may have something to say about this.

magicJack is known for its VoIP device, a USB dongle which connects to a computer and a regular phone. In the past two years the company has sold 5 million devices through retailers such as Best Buy, Walmart and RadioShack. The initial magicJack device costs $40, and includes one free year of service, then charges $20 per year for subsequent years. The fee includes calls to other magicJack users as well as to conventional phones.

The pricing will remain the same for the new femtocell, which the company plans to offer in the second quarter of 2010.

Read more in the release.
Visit magicJack’s Web site.

Ubiquisys Launches Outdoor Femtocell for Rural Areas

Jesse Ward — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:55:10 +0000

Ubiquisys has introduced a wide-area femtocell solution, designed to serve as a mini outdoor base station that supports a small number of users, but over a greater range than indoor femtocells.

Similar to its femtocell predecessors, the wide-area solution is not a mini version of a macro cellular platform, but rather a subsidiary to the macro network, which monitors network conditions and reconfigures itself to prevent interference with the prevailing network or neighboring femtocells. And like an indoor femtocell, it can be hooked up to a broadband connection, enabling it to backhaul cellular traffic via broadband to the operator’s core network.

According to the Ubiquisys, the wide-area solution is a 20-30 watt device, which can deliver a clear voice signal up to 1.5 km, and HSPA capacity within 700 m. But the platform can only support 16 simultaneous calls. As such, Ubiquisys is positioning this solution as ideal for rural areas with poor cellular coverage.

In the future, Ubiquisys foresees this solution being of use in urban areas, as a means to expand capacity in highly trafficked areas. In fact, as spectrum becomes a scarce commodity, many experts believe that femtocells can help cellular providers fill in coverage holes, and offload traffic, shifting the capacity burden to the broadband pipe.

Telephony Online has more.
Read Ubiquisys’ release.
Learn more about femtocells: Read NTCA’s femtocell ePapers.
Attend the 2010 Wireless Symposium, where the Femto Forum will moderate a panel of experts as they discuss “Femtocell, Picocells and Smart Repeaters: Implications for IOCs.”

AT&T Hops on Femtocell Wagon

Jesse Ward — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:15:48 +0000

As rumored, AT&T has gone live with a new femtocell offering, AT&T 3G MicroCell service. The telecom provider is trialing the service, including a draft pricing structure, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

AT&T is charging $19.99 a month for unlimited use, unless you’ve got Internet or landline service with them, in which case you’ll pay $9.99. If you’ve got both internet and landline accounts, it’s free.

The Web site, which AT&T says was designed with a single trial market in mind, gives users a detailed explanation of how specifically the device works, and the benefits to consumers.

AT&T is smart to start with consumer education. Many customers don’t understand the product, and question whether they should pay for a device that improves cellular coverage, something they think the carrier should already be providing. It’s a valid argument. Clearly positioning the service is as important as the price.

Visit AT&T’s 3G MicroCell Web site.
Read more at Engagdet.
Read NTCA’s ePapers on femtocells.
Learn more about femtocell, picocells, smart repeaters and the implications for IOCs at the 2010 Wireless Symposium.

MagicJack Innovates with Femtocell, Number Porting

Jesse Ward — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:39:22 +0000

magicJack, the device that lets users make and receive calls over its VoIP network for a flat fee, announced in an industry article that it plans to link femtocell service to its product.

magicJack joins a standard home phone to its VoIP service via a $40 USB jack, which sells at big box stores such as Best Buy, RadioShack, and Walgreen’s. It lets you place and receive unlimited phone calls for $20 a year, with the first year free. The company collects revenue through selling ads, displayed as a part of the software client that runs as magicJack is operational. Despite media praise, magicJack has its flaws; for one, your computer must be turned on to make and receive calls.

The company is selling about 9,000 to 10,000 magicJacks a day, according to Daniel Borislow, the company’s founder, and customers are using about 500 million minutes a month. Further, Borislow touted that the company will do more than $100 million in sales this year and is cash-flow positive, a far cry from other VoIP providers (remember Sun Rocket?).

Borislow plans to add femtocell capability this year, and number porting sometime in 2009.

Read the Business Insider article.
magicJack’s inventor addressed the industry in January 2009.
Read NTCA’s ePapers for more on femtocells.

Sprint Offers Femtocells Wholesale

Jesse Ward — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:03:45 +0000

Sprint announced late last week that its wholesale group will offer femtocell solutions to its wireless resale partners, and landline telcos and cable TV companies looking to provide wireless coverage inside customers’ homes.

A femtocell functions like a mini cell tower. Sprint says that its CDMA femtocell solution provides improved wireless coverage for up to 5,000 square feet within the customer’s home or small office. The service works with any Sprint phone and requires an existing Internet broadband connection to backhaul the call back to the Sprint network. Calls initiated on the femtocell will automatically transfer to the cellular network when leaving the femtocell coverage area.

Sprint is billing the femtocell solution as more reliable then unlicensed spectrum solutions, e.g. typical WiFi. Further, the wireless carrier is targeting wireline and cable partners as a way to add wireless to their portfolio, especially important as landline cord cutting continues to spike in tough economic times.

“We want to provide the best set of solutions to Sprint partners and their customers,” said Jim Patterson, president-Sprint Wholesale Solutions. “The femtocell offering is not only a differentiator in the marketplace but is very compelling to those who want to get into the wireless business.”

Learn more about femtocell technology. Read NTCA’s ePapers, The Fundamentals of Femtocells & Femtocells and Wireless Substitution: 2009 Prospects.

VOTW: Femtocell Applications

Jesse Ward — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:24:56 +0000

And, last but not least, our tech video of the week, sponsored by ViodiTV: femtocell applications with Rob Riordan.

Have you recently seen a funny, entertaining or informational video? The New Edge would love to hear from you. Please send your suggestions for the next “video of the week (VOTW)” to jward@ntca.org and your video might be featured in an upcoming issue.

AT&T Doubles Mobile Data Network Speed

Jesse Ward — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:10:52 +0000

AT&T announced last week that it would double its current wireless data network speeds as part of a high-speed packet access (HSPA) technology upgrade that it plans to kickoff later this year and complete in 2011.

The upgrade will increase AT&T’s theoretical network speed to 7.2 Mbps, more than double its current offering of 3 Mbps, and serve as an intermediate step to the deployment of long-term evolution (LTE), a 4G technology. AT&T’s LTE trials are scheduled for 2010, with deployment set to begin in 2011.

As part of and alongside its move to HSPA 7.2, AT&T announced a series of initiatives that it is planning to undertake this year:

Near-Doubling Radio Frequency Capacity. In 2008 and 2009 to date, high-quality 850 MHz spectrum has been deployed in more than half of AT&T’s 3G network footprint to improve overall coverage and in-building reception, with additional markets planned for later in the year.
More Bandwidth to Cell Sites. AT&T is adding fiber-optic connectivity and additional capacity to thousands of cell sites across the country this year, expanding IP backbone network connectivity. These upgrades will support the higher mobile broadband speeds enabled by both HSPA 7.2 and LTE.
More Cell Sites. Deployment of about 2,100 new cell sites across the country.
Wi-Fi Integration. Many AT&T smartphones will be able to switch seamlessly between 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity.
MicroCells. Customer trials leading toward general availability of AT&T 3G MicroCell offerings, which utilize femtocells to enhance in-building wireless coverage.