There are several types of competing technology for the small cell. Here are some direct competitors from the mobile network operator.

Dual mode Wi-Fi phones

Many smartphones (such as the iPhone, Blackberry and Google Android) have WiFi receivers built in. These automatically seek out and use WiFi where it is available, often providing a faster, more responsive data service than the outdoor mobile network. This can work well when visiting the same places (home, work, cafe etc.), but often requires entering a password for each new location. Battery consumption is much higher when using WiFi, resulting in much shorter battery life than a 3G femtocell.

Some smartphones can also use Voice over IP (VoIP) applications such as Skype, Truphone or Fring to make voice calls using WiFi. These applications may not integrate with the phone's built in address book, operate using a different phone number or identity or handle voicemail or messages differently when out of WiFi range.

Some operators actively encourage their smartphone customers to use WiFi where possible. Sprint mandate that all their new smartphone models have WiFi capability, and ATT Wireless provide free access to over 20,000 WiFi hotspots in public areas. This offloads large amounts of data traffic from their mobile network, improving performance for those who need it most.

UMA dual-mode phones

A special type of WiFi capable phone uses the UMA (Unlicenced Mobile Access) standard to operate seamlessly with the mobile phone system, effectively extending the same service over WiFi with the same phone number, text messaging, voicemail and other services.

• T-Mobile, US
• Orange Unik, France and other countries
• Telecom Italia
• Telia Denmark
• Saunalahti, Finland

Improved microcellular coverage and capacity

If the service provided by the operator is adequate to meet customers needs, then they may not feel it necessary to install their own complex equipment and risk faults and errors. With many users happy to use only voice and text, there is considerable capacity within the existing mobile networks except in particularly dense tower blocks or remote rural areas.

The real benefit to the user comes where mobile data is used, and where the lower costs of providing this via the mobile network can be passed back to the end user.

3G technology has a roadmap with continuous improvements, including HSPA+ that could be deployed as a software upgrade to existing 3G networks. However, new handsets would be required to take full advantage of the improvements.

3G at lower frequencies such as 850Mhz or 900Mhz

Part of the reason that 3G does not operate well indoors is that the global frequency allocated is around 2100MHz. Some countries, notably Australia, have deployed 3G systems at 850MHz (which is close to the 900MHz 2G GSM frequency commonly used). As a result, much longer distances can be reached in rural areas (claimed broadband service of 2Mbit/s at a distance of 120km using an ourdoor antenna), whilst inbuilding penetration is much improved in urban areas.

LTE (Long Term Evolution)

This is yet another radio interface, based on OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing), which is also used by WiMax. Trial equipment is already demonstrating data rates in excess of 100Mbit/s, and commercial services have proven 40Mb/s and higher. Early uses are likely to be providing broadband data services in rural areas and relieving areas of high data demand. Data dongles for mobile broadband data are some of the first devices available, but a wider range of handsets is likely to become available in the next few years.

As LTE rollout continues around the world, there is growing interest and demand for small LTE cells. In some Far Eastern countries, such as Japan and Korea, network operators have clearly stated their enthusiasm to introduce these as early as possible.

Next, who are the primary manufacturers of small cells?

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