Ericsson has introduced a "femtocell [1]" hotspot for residential use. The press release (and therefore much of the coverage) about it is pretty obtuse, but it looks like it's a small box with GSM and WCDMA radios, along with a WiFi radio. The idea is that cellular customer would come home and get handed off to the femtocell's cellular radio, which would then hand the call off to the WiFi radio and backhaul the traffic over an ADSL line. It's a carrier product, not a consumer product, but only a quadruple-play carrier would care at all to redistribute traffic that way--and only in indoor areas where cell coverage blanks out. The product (the price of which was not mentioned) will be available for some reason in the middle of this year.
For more information about the Ericsson Femto Cell Solution:
- read this press release [2] from Ericsson
Related Articles:
Femtocells make GSM signal your responsibility, not theirs. Report [1]
Carrier obstacles for femtocell launch. Report [3]
Links:
[1] http://www.dailytechrag.com/story/femtocells-make-gsm-signal-your-responsibility-not-theirs/2007-02-12
[2] http://www.ericsson.com/ericsson/press/releases/20070209-1103860.shtml
[3] http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/spotlight-carrier-obstacles-for-femtocell-launch/2006-10-03