Femto cells with big ideas

@ Just a shame...

From 1st July you will be able to buy them from Vodafone!

OK, silly me...

I don't know how MTRs are working here in the UK, but I guess that is the factor that would rather prevent any discounts on voice calls.

Who chose that name?

Why do I always think that a femto cell is connected to the female reproductive system?

Perhaps there's an app here - add a pheromone sniffer, and the femto cell will tell the distaff side when they are at their most fertile. Sensible men will then know to book into a hotel/stay with a mate/their Mum for a few days.

Paris, because it would confuse her completely.

@Will Harris

That's the thing. GPS only works well OUTSIDE. Even thin walls tend to block the singals, so GPS doesn't work indoors.

As for the reason femtocells are regulated, it's because they're radio transmitters, and all radio transmitters above a certain power rating are regulated by law (OFCOM in Britain, the FCC in the USA, similar bureaus elsewhere) to prevent them causing interference (which in the wrong instance can cause catastrophic problems). Femtocells are above the power threshold and transmit in frequencies that CAN interfere with electronics, so there's no avoiding it.

Power Licensing

The biggest deal with femtocells here in the States (Colonies) is that cells tend to latch on to the _strongest_ signal. Some phones have preferential selection for type of network, but very near the femtocells I have seen demonstrated here (within 20-25ft / 7-8m), the femtocell effectively BLOCKS OFF connection to any other signal nearby for cell reception.

That means if you use one in an apartment complex, you will probably have the neighbors' cells on your femtocell, similar to the way they slurp off your wifi now.

This makes is amazingly easy for fraud, etc. because tweaking your own "cell tower" does not reveal the phone number, but does show the ESN or other phone identifier and network ID, which can then be used for man-in-the-middle attacks for using other's network charges or close off cell access completely for those "late night visitors" that don't want to wait for you to leave before stopping by.

All in all, just means that the average Joe will have the same capability as the Feds have had for decades now. All in the greater good, eh?

Location based reminders.

I remember a technology that was great for this, I think they called them Post-it notes or something like that...

What is with all this technology for the sake of technology anyway? This is just another device I don't need that I will have to feed.

Why ??

Industry Expert A : Connect a femto cell to your broadband because mobile coverage is crap.

Industry Expert B : Mobile will fill in the holes in broadband coverage.

Am I the only one who detects a contradiction in the above?

erm...

what can this do that bluetooth/wifi/voip cant?

@Charles 9

"GPS doesn't work indoors."

True. But I'm desperately trying to think of a reason why you'd need bloody GPS or accurate location reporting indoors. I guess Google need "HouseView" so you can find your way to the bog in your mate's new house without having to ask.

Let's face it. Unless they live in a feckin' palace, the last known position of a device whose owner has gone indoors is still accurate to somewhere around the precision of GPS anyway.