AT&T is set to unveil a 3G femtocell, reports Unstrung. AT&T’s Microcell is expected to reach select U.S. markets including Atlanta, San Antonio, Seattle and North Carolina in the next week and will support high speed data, unlike competing femtocells from Verizon and Sprint. AT&T has been conducting field trials of 3G Microcell in several test markets with nationwide rollout is expected by the end of 2009.
Femtocells are like Wi-Fi access points, but use licensed cellular frequencies to connect to phones. Your DSL or cable modem service supplies the backhaul (saving cellular companies money).
Femtocells provide unlimited in-home voice calling since it’s not going through a cell tower, and can supply better reception inside a building.
Sprint Nextel became the first carrier in the world to commercially offer femtocell with the launch of the $99 AIRAVE box (above) in August 2008. Verizon launched its femtocell product in early 2009. But Verizon and Sprint don’t support 3G data applications. They work with 2G handsets.
AT&T’s 3G Microcell supports up to 10 3G capable cellular handsets and is designed for both voice calls and data applications. AT&T has yet to disclose the pricing or manufacturer of their 3G access point. Unstrung says Cisco has been linked with an AT&T femtocell for over a year, but neither company has yet officially confirmed the partnership. (See Cisco Femto Spotted at AT&T).
Continuous Computing (above), currently supports 3G HSPA technology and their roadmap targets an LTE femtocell, too. They are a member of the Femto Forum.
AT&T is deploying HSPA on its 850 MHz spectrum to increase capacity in Atlanta, New York City and Houston. “We have seen immediate improvement when we turned up 850 MHz,” said Kris Rinne, VP of architecture and planning at AT&T.
But contrary to earlier reports, Rinne said AT&T had no plans to migrate to HSPA+ at this time. Instead the 2nd largest cellular carrier in the USA is deploying HSPA 7.2 throughout its network and plans to have the upgrade in place in 90 percent of its 3G footprint by the end of 2011.
Ivan Seidenberg (right), CEO of Verizon Communications, said the company was simply no longer concerned with telephones that are connected with wires. Verizon is selling off most of its operations in rural areas and is spending billions to wire most of the rest of its territory with its fiber optic (FiOS) network.
FiOS uses the decentralized structure of the Internet rather than the traditional design of phone systems, which route all traffic through a tree of regional, then local offices.
Related Dailywireless articles include; Femtocell Comes Home, Verizon to Offer $250 Home Femtocell, Sprint Rolls Out Home Femtocells, AT&T: Femtocells R Us, EdgePoint Femtocell, T-Mobile Expands Hotspot@Home, Ericsson: Wi-Fi is Dead, Dead, Dead, Femto Forum Expands, Sprint; Femocell at Home, Google Invests in Femocell Company, Hotspots for Cellphones and Cable/Sprint Pole Dance.
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