A significant number of users continue to report poor mobile coverage in their homes. There will always be areas which are uneconomic for mobile operator to reach. They range from rural areas hidden by geographic features including dense forestation, hills to buildings constructed from stone and concrete. Modern building materials, such as reflective glass coatings on windows, reduce the signal levels inside buildings which also contribute to poor service.

This situation has worsened with the migration from 2G to 3G, which in many countries operates at a higher frequenecy (2100MHz rather than 900MHz), and thus has shorter range. It also reduces the quality of the radio link and therefore the peak data rates achieveable.

Several poor coverage technical solutions are available

There are several options open to residential customers to solve poor coverage problems:

Install a signal booster, also known as a signal repeater. Some models are actively supported by network operators, such as the Cel-Fi described here.
Use Voice over Wi-Fi through one of UMA (Univeral Mobile Access), a downloaded App from your operator or a 3rd party, or the more recent Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWiFi) solution which sits alongside 4G. UMA technology, although it works, hasn't been very widely deployed and is on the wane. T-Mobile USA and France Telecom were the strongest supporters. Read an overview of UMA technology and our interview France Telecom's marketing manager. There are many Apps available which provide Voice and Text messaging over Wi-Fi, some are operator branded and tie in closely with your existing cellphone number and services. Others, such as Skype and Viber, are completely independent. The newer VoWi-Fi promises to be more seamlessly integrated with smartphone operation and menus, building on the new IMS based Voice services for VoLTE.
Install a residential small cell (formerly known as a femtocell), bought from one of the mobile networks such as AT&T, Sprint or Vodafone

A signal booster will require some signal reception outside. Wi-Fi or small cells require broadband internet (cable or wireline). I understand residential femtocells are not compatible with satellite broadband.

Benefits of the residential small cell

After years of product maturity, residential small cells - first commercially available in 2007 - have become cheaper, simpler and more sleek. Installation involves connecting to mains power and a broadband internet router/modem, using a standard Ethernet cable. These products automatically configure themselves, scanning to determine the best frequency and power level to use, updating with new software, and are compatible with almost all 3G phones and broadband routers.

Residential small cells are sold by the mobile network operators, usually for a one-off price in the range of $50 to $100. Sometimes they are given away free of charge to higher value customers and/or those who may leave the network for poor coverage reasons. A few operators offer special rates for calls made using the residential small cell, otherwise standard tariffs apply.

All mobile services available outside the home are also available inside, including text, voicemail and internet. Access may be restricted to a "white list" of known users (which can be updated via a webpage) or left open for all visitors to have free use.

A potential downside is that each residential small cell is locked to a single host mobile network. All users in the home who want to use it would have to share the same network operator. If existing contracts need to expire, or where "Mates Rates" are used to call/text others in the same social or business group, then this could be inconvenient. However, the small cell will not interfere with other mobile networks because it operates on a different frequency.

Almost all residential small cells are based on 3G technology, and are deployed in areas where the vast majority of users now have 3G capable phones.

View a list of current mobile network operators offering residential small cell/femtocells to their customers.

The graphic below (courtesy of Ubiquisys) illustrates how the residential small cell operates.

ZoneGate

Vodafone Sure Signal stock shortages highlight what a residential femtocell is really worth

Written by David Chambers.

Published on05 March 2013

sure-signal-out-of-stock Vodafone UK ran out of supplies of their latest Sure Signal femtocell last week – their latest 3rd generation model is sometimes called a femtoplug because it resembles a mains electrical plug. Their online shop posted a "currently unavailable" status on the product, and shops with stock found they were being quickly snapped up or redirected elsewhere.

This led to rumours on the Vodafone forum that the service itself might be discontinued, with one customer being told by customer services that "we've had a top level instruction saying NO more Sure Signal devices are to be supplied". In practice, this was simply a case that there weren't any available in stock at that time.

This week, the online store is back to normal and accepting orders – presumably fresh supplies have been delivered and stocks replenished.

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3G residential femtocells

Written by David Chambers.

Published on11 November 2008

ALU-9361-Residential-Femtocell-250px The most common type of femtocell is based on 3rd Generation UMTS mobile phone system, which evolved from GSM. This 3G system has been enhanced to include high speed broadband data (called HSPA) at rates of 21Mbps and beyond. A typical 3G residential femtocell is shown on the left.

3G femtocells like this are compatible with operators such as T-Mobile and AT&T in the US, SoftBank in Japan and most mobile operators in the rest of the world. It is this wide adoption of the GSM family of standards (well over 90% of all mobile phones are GSM capable) that makes this the most attractive market for vendors. It also enhances the coverage and capacity of the latest mobile phones in more contained locations.

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