Verizon Wireless today launches its first femtocell -- a $250 box that will improve voice and data connections for users living in difficult coverage areas, but won't support 3G EV-DO networks for faster downloads in the home.
The Verizon Wireless Network Extender, which the company is calling a "mini-cell site", is made by Samsung Corp. for the operator. The CDMA radio boasts a coverage range of 5,000 feet and allows voice and data calls to be routed back through the user's wired home network.
The largest CDMA operator in the U.S. is charging $249.99 plus tax for the box but won't be tapping users for a service fee after the initial purchase.
Verizon describes the Network Extender as "ideal for customers who want to boost their wireless signal when making voice calls, sending text/picture/video messages, accessing Mobile Web or accessing Smartphone/BlackBerry data in situations that could include houses with structural barriers, in basement rooms, or in some remote, mountainous or hilly areas." The femto will also boost coverage for those living on the edge of Verizon's network deploymemts.
The initial user questions around the mini base station are likely to center around the cost of the box and the lack of 3G support. The only current rival on the U.S. market, the Airave -- also made by Samsung -- doesn't offer 3G support either, but only costs $99. Sprint, however, does charge a monthly fee for the femto subscription.
The lack of EV-DO 3G support will likely raise some eyebrows, given the initial cost of the unit. A Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) veep, talking to Unstrung at the CES show recently, suggested that the main reason carriers wanted femtocells in the U.S. was to relieve some download pressure brought on by the latest wave of 3G smartphones. Cisco is reportedly working with AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) on its femtocell deployment project. (See AT&T Targets Q2 Femto Launch and CES: AT&T's Femtos in the Fall?)
The extender concept, however, is actually right in line with what Verizon Wireless's CTO, Tony Melone, told us he wanted out of femtocells last year: better indoor penetration for voice. (See the video below.)
Verizon has been vocal about its interest in femtocells for months now. (See Verizon Eyes Femtos and Verizon Eyes Femtos for 2009.) In fact, the Network Extender follows hard on the footsteps of the box that many expected to be the big V's first femto but which turned out to be a fancy home hub. (See Verizon's Home Hub-Bub (But No Femto).)
Verizon Wireless’s Network Extender is available online and at "select Verizon Wireless Communications Stores."
Price is one thing, but it's all about how you package it. For the home user, provide a femto package which includes a dongle/sim for the laptop. Or do a deal with a laptop vendor. This is but a simple example. It's the same for enterprise - many opportunities, I can't elaborate though. So... there are business drivers.
There is somewhat of an access list. You can have a set of UEs that connect to your femto (I assume this is what was meant by access list).
Multiple carriers are possible, depends on national roaming (regulation), etc.
Handover will be sorted out eventually in standards.
The GPS is annoying both from the standpoint of slow synchronization and limitation to placement. One variant that would be nice to see would be a network extender that operated over the WiFi network and allows flexibility in placement.
I don't use the WiFi on my phone at home. Typically, I will use a full computer at home.
The family is all on Verizon, clearly a mixed mode Femto is interesting, but it will have to operate with multiple carriers.
I would suggest adding an access list, WiFi (in addition to Ethernet) and look at the hand off issue. I did confirm that I have overlap with the Macro infrastructure and they Femto does not hand off.
At some level you need to handover UE from macro to femto - otherwise it will never use the femto!
>> once in femto coverage you lock on femto and new session initiates on femto. only hail mary attempt if macro coverage is lost make sense otherwise IMHO
And why should an enterprise deployment be a nightmare? >> well leaving the technical aspects aside (which are much much more significant than you would indicate) what about installation, maintenance, etc., etc. does the enterprise own, service it? or carrier? think it through from the business side and it falls apart pretty quickly much less from the techncial side...
I received my femto (sorry, network extender) yesterday and promptly installed it.
Verizon charges a connection fee of $35 in addition to the taxes and base line cost of $250. So you are looking at more like $300 when all is said and done.
The femto is made by Samsung and it has Verizon branding on it. Installation is pretty trivial (if everything works); you need access to a window to allow the GPS module to have line of sight. They do include an extension cable to allow the GPS to be located near a window remote to the femto. I ended up using that.
Overall, the installation is to plug into an open port on your router (you will have to have VPNs enabled) and power the puppy up. It took about an hour the first time for the GPS to sink up with the signal (much shorter there after).
The femto recognized my phones and worked immediately. When you use the femto, it gives you a double beep to indicate that you are not on the macro network. In addition, the WAN light blinks like crazy and you can visually tell usage.
I have not tried to find out whether there is handoff between the femto and the macro network. Frankly, I am not sure whether there will be enough signal overlap anyhow.
Pluses:
- Pretty much plug and play - Reasonable coverage - Appears reliable - Voice quality is good (with my cable modem)
Minuses:
- Expensive - Ethernet cable is too short - Need access to a window for the GPS - No 3G (just 1xRTT) - No real access control
1. But what if there is a femto cell in the coverage area of macro cell?
They probably will be. Most people expect femtos to be used to improve coverage and to offload dense data traffic from the macrocell, not to be used in serious middle of nowhere.
This is the way they are designed to work, and not sure what problem you expect?
2. Should we see the femtocell as something to increase covergae and capacity?
Yes, exactly.
3. Increase in Network traffic due to increase in handovers ( Femtocell-Macrocell)
How often do you arrive at your house / leave your house? So there'll be a few handovers a day: nothing compared to what a busy microcell in a crowded city centre supports all day every day as crowds of people come into coverage, buses drive past, trains arrive etc etc
Not sure I follow / maybe there's something missing
At some level you need to handover UE from macro to femto - otherwise it will never use the femto! Maybe you decide not to do it middle of call, but for people who buy a femto to get decent coverage everywhere in the house (not just at front door) it is probably a requirement ;)
And why should an enterprise deployment be a nightmare? There are plenty of carriers planning just this: the RF control & interference management algorithms work and this is a very high value deployment.
Thanks for the answers. Few more questions for the discussion.
1. I agree that handovers are same as normal handovers. But what if there is a femto cell in the coverage area of macro cell? shouls we assume that operators would not encourage subscribers to buy femtocells in the areas where there is full coverage?
2. Should we see the femtocell as something to increase covergae and capacity? I mean if there is a macrocell near by, would femto cells help in gaining full advantage of soft handovers?
3. Increase in Network traffic due to increase in handovers ( Femtocell-Macrocell)
I agree with you, my intention was when people install femtocells to increase the capacity ( this means they are in a macro cell coverage, but they install femtos for capacity). I dont know hoe frequent the handovers between femto and macros in these scenarios. If these scenarios are very less than i think that there would not be much effect on the network traffic (signalling traffic)
But thank you very much for you answers, i could improve my understanding !
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