A Cell Tower of Your Very Own

#1

Post by grellas » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 1:04 AM UTC

A Cell Tower of Your Very Own
online.wsj.com

Re: A Cell Tower of Your Very Own

#2

Post by petervandijck » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 2:22 AM UTC

I live overseas in an area with spotty wireless reception... any chance I could use a similar technology to improve signal?

Re: A Cell Tower of Your Very Own

#3

Post by nhnifong » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 2:23 AM UTC

For all the author's sarcasm, it was not much a relief from the marketing-speak that the cell companies are plagued by. But I am still glad they are selling these. To me it is a symbolic gesture that says they actually care about solving the many technical problems that they still face.

Re: A Cell Tower of Your Very Own

#4

Post by Retric » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 2:52 AM UTC

Heh,

So they all have the same range... Provides signal for data and voice up to 5,000 square feet and none of them want to admit it's ~40 feet from the base station. (40^2 * pi > 5000)

Re: A Cell Tower of Your Very Own

#5

Post by bnchdrff » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 2:57 AM UTC

What's going on with magic jack's femtocell device? It was getting hyped this past January... based on the PR, it's a femtocell that can hijack nearby GSM phones and bridge them to magicjack's VOIP network. seemed bizarre.

Re: A Cell Tower of Your Very Own

#6

Post by Daniel_Newby » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 3:02 AM UTC

petervandijck wrote: post #2

I live overseas in an area with spotty wireless reception... any chance I could use a similar technology to improve signal?

Sure! Cell phone repeaters and boosters are widely available. http://www.google.com/webhp?#q=cell+phone+repeater

Re: A Cell Tower of Your Very Own

#7

Post by jgavris » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 3:32 AM UTC

San Diego city proper has complete M-Cell coverage. 5 bars and snappy latency wherever I roamed. Still seems expensive when it's such a commitment to be with an operator, anyway.

Re: A Cell Tower of Your Very Own

#8

Post by drewcrawford » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 3:51 AM UTC

It's not really very much of a win for me, is it? I mean, basically I'm paying $250 for the privilege of paying AT&T dollars per gigabyte for traffic that goes through my own broadband connection that I'm already paying for.

I can't even begin to understand... why I would do that.

Re: A Cell Tower of Your Very Own

#9

Post by binaryfinery » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 3:58 AM UTC

I got one. Voice goes over M-Cell. Data goes over my wifi. 5 bars in entire house. Getting rid of the land-line covers the $20/month unlimited usage (and that gets you $100 rebate).

Re: A Cell Tower of Your Very Own

#10

Post by illumin8 » Thu, Jul 08, 2010, 4:02 AM UTC

binaryfinery wrote: post #9

I got one. Voice goes over M-Cell. Data goes over my wifi. 5 bars in entire house. Getting rid of the land-line covers the $20/month unlimited usage (and that gets you $100 rebate).

I'll give you a better idea: Instead of spending $149 to pay for an AT&T femtocell, buy an Ooma VoIP phone for about the same money, plug it into your cable modem, and never pay for a land line again. I bought Ooma 2 years ago and it paid for itself in about 6 months of phone bills.