Federal Wi-Net bill proposes a femtocell and WiFi hotspot in every federal building
Here's one way to fix the spectrum crunch : set up wireless base stations and WiFi hotspots in every single one of the 9,000 buildings currently owned and operated by the US General Services Administration.
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: access, accessibility, act, engadget, entry, federal, femtocell, hardly-require, hotspot, made-mandatory, proposal, spectrum-crunch, stations, usa
T-Mobile G2 WiFi calling and tethering update begins rolling out today?
Get ready G2 owners because it looks like an OTA update will begin distribution on November 3rd (yes, that's today) to flip the switch on WiFi tethering and T-Mobile's WiFi Calling for Android feature.
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: femtocell, flip-the-switch, mobile, Ota, software-update, tethering-while, very-beneficial, wifi, wifi tethering, words
Sprint’s new Airave shipping to customers who ‘qualify’
FierceWireless got the lowdown on the new Airvana-built Airave femtocell that Sprint is shipping, and it turns out there's a good reason why stores we called hadn't heard of it: the carrier's only shipping it to people who pass the test. What test, you ask
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: airave, airvana, customer, engadget, femtocell, good-reason, lowdown, mobile, result, situation, sprint
Sprint’s 3G-capable Airave from Airvana starts shipping
Corporate-owned Sprint stores that we've called don't seem to know what we're talking about, but at least one reader has managed to get Sprint telesales to ship him one of its long-rumored upgraded Airaves from Airvana that supports EV-DO (the original model sported 1xRTT only for data). Our tipster tells us this bad boy will run up to six simultaneous calls -- up from the old Samsung's three -- and although the femtocell supports a VoIP landline connection, Sprint is telling folks that it's not available for use just yet. The jury's still out on whether this looks better than the outgoing model -- but hey, you can always shove it in a corner where no one will notice it; in the short term, the bigger concern will probably be finding a store willing and able to sell it to you
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: boy, corporate-owned, engadget-mobile, femtocell, in the wild, landline, mobile, model, outgoing, result, sprint, telling-folks
MagicJack announces software for completely free internet-to-phone calls, places femtocell on hold
For $40 (plus $20 per year), MagicJack's USB VoIP dongle will let you make free unlimited telephone-to-telephone calls, but this week the company's announced MagicTalk, a piece of software for internet-connected phones and computers that will wave even those upfront costs. The Associated Press tracked down one of our favorite ruthless salesmen , MagicJack CEO Dan Borislow, who described a service much like Google Voice and Skype, number portability and all -- except it adds the whole allowing-free-calls-to-regular-ol-telephones bit by charging the companies that carry incoming calls
Categories: Android, BlackBerry, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: announced-last, BlackBerry, Carrier, dan borislow, femtocell, google-voice, incoming, ios, iphone, nettalk, salesmen, skype
Updated Verizon Network Extender gets FCC blessing
Sprint got FCC approval for an EV-DO-capable version of its Airave femtocell back in April -- and now, it's Verizon's turn.
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: capable, connections, fcc, femtocell, model-should, sorts, sourced, verizon-wireless, vzw
AT&T 3G MicroCell available in some unlaunched markets, if you try hard enough
I've personally been following the launch of AT&T's 3G MicroCell very, very closely; I moved last year into a box surrounded on three sides by foot-thick cement (not much of an exaggeration) in which only Verizon's and T-Mobile's signals were able to penetrate without assistance -- and in my position, it's a non-negotiable requirement that I be able to use devices from all four US nationals. Since the announcement a few weeks back that the MicroCell would be going national , I've been practically bombarding my Chicago-area stores with calls, looking for a hint of detail on when they might be available here; they've already launched in New York City, so AT&T clearly isn't concerned about using them in densely-packed urban areas. This weekend I called four stores, and here's what I got: Store 1: "We're supposed to have them in a couple of weeks." Store 2: "We'll have them on May 6." Store 3: "We have them in stock
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: 3gmicrocell, entry, femtocell, launch, micro, mobile, until-the-10th, words
Vodafone’s Sure Signal femtocells see a couple days of outage
Wireless customers around the globe with femtocells securely stowed in their homes might start to take five bars of signal strength for granted, but there are still plenty of gotchas; your internet service could go down, for example, taking your phone with it -- and it turns out that your carrier can inadvertently bring it to its knees on occasion, too. It looks like a whole lot of Vodafone's Sure Signal-branded units in the UK have been acting up the past couple days due to network registration issues; new and existing Sure Signal customers alike have been affected, turning homes back into the barren, 3G-less wastelands they were before the device existed. Most (if not all) of the Sure Signals are now back in action, but considering that the outage lasted a lot longer than a few brief moments, let's hope that the Voda techs behind the scenes learned a lesson or two in the process.
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: engadget-mobile, entry, femtocell, homes, lesson-or-two, mobile, outage, result, signal-branded, signal-strength, sure signal, suresignal, vodafone
Sprint Airave gets remixed by Airvana, has VoIP landline and EV-DO support
The Samsung-sourced femtocell that Sprint and Verizon have been offering (as the Airave and Wireless Network Extender , respectively) is all well and good, but it's got one fatal flaw: unlike AT&T's aptly-named 3G MicroCell , they don't have support for 3G data -- they're compatible with 1x only. Verizon's fixing that later this year with an updated model from Samsung , but thanks to a fresh FCC filing, it looks like Sprint will be taking a different route by roping in Airvana for the Airave's successor.
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: airave, airvana, breaking-news, breakingnews, different-route, femtocell, frequently-one, interesting, network, samsung-sourced, sprint-airave, voip
AT&T 3G MicroCell starting nationwide roll-out in mid-April
Unless you've been in one of a few key test markets, you've been pretty much out of luck boosting your AT&T signal in the comfortable confines of your home since the 3G MicroCell first launched -- until now.
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: 149-99-before, 3g microcell, 3gmicrocell, breakingnews, ctia 2010, device-itself, femtocell, first-launched, luck-boosting, micro, microcell, should-expect