Comments on: Femtocells or Wi-Fi? That is the Question

By: Who Needs Femtocells If We Have Wi-Fi? – GigaOM

Who Needs Femtocells If We Have Wi-Fi? – GigaOM — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:10:18 +0000

[...] the enterprise side, we’ve seen Wi-Fi take on femtocells and win, and my gut tells me that will happen in the home as well. Using your own wired backhaul to [...]

By: Like Fixed-Mobile Convergence, Femtocells Are on a Road To Nowhere

Like Fixed-Mobile Convergence, Femtocells Are on a Road To Nowhere — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:59:28 +0000

[...] Femtocells or Wi-Fi, That Is the Question. [...]

By: Shaun Hoggan | links for 2008-04-26

Shaun Hoggan | links for 2008-04-26 — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 20:37:47 +0000

[...] Femtocells or Wi-Fi? That is the Question – GigaOM Femtocell frenzy is how one paper described the Mobile World Congress Show in Barcelona last week, but at the Portable Computer and Communications Association meeting held Tuesday and Wednesday in Plano, Texas, the solution to the fixed part of fixed-to-m (tags: wireless Telecom) [...]

By: Ruckus Chases the Enterprise - GigaOM

Ruckus Chases the Enterprise - GigaOM — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:20:34 +0000

[...] tightly. Plus, connectivity is a commodity now — the real value is on features that enhance fixed-to-mobile convergence. Rating: None Thumbs Up Thumbs Down Share/Send Print [...]

By: More Femto vs WiFi at Call the Cloud

More Femto vs WiFi at Call the Cloud — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 02:07:20 +0000

[...] Femtocells or Wi-Fi? That is the Question brings up an angle I hadn’t thought of yet: Enterprises will prefer the WiFi approach because it gives them more power to control quality and security aspects. Looking through the comments on that post, it seems like WiFi might not be as power hungry as we’re led to believe. Maybe that’s disinformation from the Femto guys… FemtoFUD? [...]

By: TT

TT — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:20:18 +0000

While most of the debate has been about handsets, it is worth noting that we collectively are on the edge of the adoption curve. For operators targeting the mass market, ubiquity is a beautiful thing.

While configuring SIP mobile clients and managing multiple networks/WEP keys on a phone is not impossible, my parents will struggle with the idea (not to mention the implementation). The mobile operators could make it very straight forward.

Finally, what's in it for the operators? More minutes at massively reduced margins? or do it or die?

By: Cheap Voice is Still the Killer App - GigaOM

Cheap Voice is Still the Killer App - GigaOM — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:01:18 +0000

[...] boundaries for telco services erode thanks to unlimited wireless pricing plans and potential femtocell deployments, services and service are key. ABI Research Vice President Stuart Carlaw in the report states [...]

By: Shah Ullah

Shah Ullah — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 07:24:17 +0000

Scott - T-Mobile's UMA service really is a great fix to bad reception inside the home. Also, the battery drain really isn't that bad... I'm on UMA probably 75% of the time and I still don't recharge every day.

Markus - From what I understand, WiFi-battery drainage is certainly getting better.

I think the real hurdle before was getting the carriers to enable UMA, now they have every reason to do that so they lower network costs and make the most out of that unlimited plan (given it gets mass adoption). I think the price wars will compress margins to a point such that the unlimited plans no longer just target the high end consumers.

By: Alexander Straub

Alexander Straub — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 23:50:11 +0000

Markus, you must have very old phones and batteries. I am running ((truphone)) all day on my NEW out of the BOX Nokia E51. It is not a particular large phone (small 6mm battery) but I get at least 2 – 3 days standy time being connected on WiFi on the home network, the office or at random places like coffee shops, trainstations, airports or hotels. I believe the first phones and firmwares or dual GSM / WiFi phones from Nokia had low battery times. I believe this is already fixed and will only get better. I am excited to benchmark the new N96 against the N95 8GB and the old N95 and then also benchmark the N95 Firmware 20.0 against N95 Firmware 1.0. Has somebody done the test?

By: Market update for week of 18 Feb 2008 « 3G In The Home

Market update for week of 18 Feb 2008 « 3G In The Home — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 20:42:59 +0000

[...] Nokia & Ericsson also appear to prefer WiFi [...]

By: Scott Rafer

Scott Rafer — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 13:58:20 +0000

I’ve just moved over to a Blackberry Curve and UMA has nicely fixed the fact that TMobile barely works in the house. A week into UMA and a minute after reading the above, it’s now clear that the difference between a femtocell and a Wi-Fi access point is an arbitrary regulatory difference that will not persist.

By: Strata8 - new approach to in-building wireless telephone usage | Mobile and Wireless | TechRepublic.com

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 22:28:41 +0000

[...] 2 – This article in GigaOM seems to echo my feelings that there’s considerably more promise in using Wi-Fi as [...]

By: Nokia Has Doubts About UMA - GigaOM

Nokia Has Doubts About UMA - GigaOM — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:57:19 +0000

[...] Shaw, associate VP of marketing for Kineto Wireless, notes that UMA is also a key component of femtocells, which are currently en vogue in the telco world. Again, there’s no sense of how wide any [...]

By: Shai Berger

Shai Berger — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:41:06 +0000

I’m not rooting for one over the other, but here are a few points to consider…

How well are femtocells going to work in dense housing situations? Consider an apartment building where two neighbors each put a femtocell on opposite sides of the same wall. An RF nightmare. Is this really a good use of spectrum?

Yes, Wifi has the battery drain problem, but I have confidence that 802.11m (or p or w or whatever) can fix that.

Consumers have strong motivation to have wifi routers for other reasons. Their cost has already been driven down by volume.

Femtocells can only succeed with carrier assistance. 3G-over-wifi can succeed either with or without.

A few more points here: http://www.shaiberger.com/?p=45

By: tech-talk.biz » Blog Archive » Back from Barcelona Mobile World Congress

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:59:16 +0000

[...] in one box) that provide indoor 3G/UMTS at home backhauled through broadband (ADSL, fiber, etc). Femto will be used by 3G telcos to sell to the user a better indoor coverage for both voice, data and high [...]

By: Dreaming of Wireless Broadband - GigaOM

Dreaming of Wireless Broadband - GigaOM — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:38:39 +0000

[...] indoors, then cutting the twisted pair may not make sense, but considering the simplicity of femtocells, T-Mobile’s UMA efforts and even voice over Wi-Fi, the landline might finally be ready to [...]