Femtocell Reality CheckFemtocell Reality Check

If you're an AT&T customer, they will now be willing to charge you for the privilege of using your own broadband Internet connection to address the deficiencies of their wireless network coverage. Yeah, that's right--the femtocell works over your Internet connection.

You really have to love the cellular operators. According to Unstrung, John Stankey, President and CEO of AT&T's operations, said at a UBS conference in New York this week that AT&T is "validating" femtocell technology now with customers and employees, and they "will be into a broader-scale metropolitan deployment the second quarter of next year". Most of all, Stankey says: "We are really excited about this."So thank your lucky stars! If you're an AT&T customer, they will now be willing to charge you for the privilege of using your own broadband Internet connection to address the deficiencies of their wireless network coverage. Yeah, that's right--the femtocell works over your Internet connection (that you're paying for), and it provides a way of addressing AT&T's failure to provide decent service in the first place! While you might find this entire concept a little difficult to digest, remember we're talking about the only service provider who thinks it's reasonable to punish customers for using more of their service than they planned (read "overage" charges?).

For those who don't know what a femtocell is, it's a home-based cellular base station that connects to your broadband Internet connection. When you get within range of your home base station, the cellular network hands off calls to your mobile network number to an Internet-connected controller that delivers them in a stream of packets over your broadband Internet connection. The idea is essentially the same as Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA), the technology that T-Mobile uses for their [email protected] service. The difference is that UMA uses Wi-Fi for the in-home wireless connection (also connected to your broadband Internet connection), where a femtocell uses cellular technology.

In a further acknowledgement that sub-par service is all we should reasonably expect from the cellular carriers, the Office of Management and Budget recently turned down a request from the FCC, which would have required that cellular carriers provide 8 hours of uninterrupted power at every cellular base station. I had a front row seat for the power blackout that blanketed the Northeast in August 2003. The one image I recall is a TV shot of 50-people lined up to use the one working payphone. The cellular networks went down because there was no power protection at the base stations, and the other public communication option has all but disappeared.

In the meantime, CTIA, the Wireless Association, tells us on their web site that more than 8% of US households have "cut the cord" and disposed of their landline telephones. Well I guess they're grist for the mill.

Maybe we should be looking at this a different way: I'm a customer-- if your service is deficient, fix it. I know all about the difficulties of indoor signal penetration, but I'm paying a premium price for a service you're telling me isn't up to par. Your plan is to charge me for a femtocell, and grab a free ride on my broadband Internet connection. Wow, you're not going to charge me for the calls that get carried over my own Internet connection--this must be my lucky day! Of course, if there's a power failure, my broadband Internet connection is dead, your cell tower is dead, and I have no service.

The depressing thing is that the cellular carriers used to be the leading edge in communications. They addressed the problem of wireless network capacity with cellular and then digital cellular technologies, and provided millions of people the benefit of mobile communications; for people in the developing world, they provided their first access to voice communications.

It seems that the cellular industry has gone from being the pioneer to just another unimaginative, entrenched oligopoly. They subsist on outdated business plans, a parochial view of technology, and expect their customers to pay to address their deficiencies. Are we lucky or what?If you're an AT&T customer, they will now be willing to charge you for the privilege of using your own broadband Internet connection to address the deficiencies of their wireless network coverage. Yeah, that's right--the femtocell works over your Internet connection.