Verizon's Femtocell Is Pretty Lame
Today Verizon Wireless is expected to launch its first femtocell product, which will boost cell phone reception inside a person’s home and cost $249.99. Despite the fact that there are no monthly fees, Om’s right, the femtocell is a ripoff. But while the press release may tout this as being akin to getting a million-dollar cell site in your home, it’s a seriously neutered one.
The service only supports better voice reception, and while the Verizon release talks about boosting data coverage for email and picture messaging, the femtocell won’t improve EVDO or MediaFLO reception. That means no 3G data in your house (or a potential temptation to drop your Verizon broadband) and no mobile TV, for which subscribers already pay $15 a month. Instead of getting innovative with the femtocell, Verizon’s merely taking voice traffic off its cellular network and routing it over the user’s broadband connection. At least it’s not charging service fees for the privilege like Sprint does.
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And the reason why you’d want mobile TV in your living room next to the big HD flatscreen is?
C’mon, that MediaFLO complaint was a cheap shot…
@ Doug – Verizon has earned their reputation. They are generally very sneaky about prices and random extra charges that appear on your invoice. They are the least customer-friendly company I have ever worked with.
The way I see it there is no benefit to using the VZW device. You pay extra money for the chance to have good reception in your place. That’s it. There’s no “free calling through the device” or “10,000 free minutes per month while using the device” or “setup the GPS antenna once then throw it back in the box” (okay, that’s just a wish). They are stuck in the same rut as Sony. They are unable/unwilling to remotely cannibalize their other businesses to help innovate and move product. Because of their wide swath of businesses there is too much crippling about products/services offerings.
Doug, we don’t have a TV in every room, but I bet my husband might want to check in on the game while in the bedroom and a teenager without a television in their room might want to check for a fast clip of network television that can’t be found on their laptop. Is it a huge deal? No. But the point is you’re paying $250 for better voice coverage i nthe house, when today’s mobile phone offers so much more.
Stacey ,
My comment from Om’s post
I would add more , in few years , Verizon might open the 3G on this device , if you happened to be a Verizon FIOS customer !!!!.
And then the government gets in , to find ways to tax this thing toooo.
But first here is my repeat of the comment from Om’s earlier post.
”
Folks and Om,
You should understand that it costs billions of dollars to build or strengthen a cell network.
With this option , say a half a million of the existing 30 million something verizon customers buy this one , that will be 125 millions revenue for verizon. They do not have to fix the network , still make some revenues plus increase the coverage.
On why Sprint or Verizon are not letting 3G on this device ??? ,,, its because the ISPs ( Comcast, VERIZON :-) , ATTT :-) and Time Warners of the world) might complain about their bandwidth being used by the cell companies.
I am fine with a one time payment option as long as THE THING WORKS ( both voice and 3G services ).
“
I think its remarkable, they think it’s a good idea ! You can just hear the execs now;
The Man :”Wow, I’ve got it, why don’t we sell some devices to our customers that will allow them to have signal in their house ?”
Voice of Reason:”I think we are supposed to include a signal with our subscription plan, sir ??!”
The Man:”Nonsense, your getting confused with the talk time minutes, no one said anything about getting a signal”
“That means no 3G data in your house (or a potential temptation to drop your Verizon broadband)”
Not sure what you mean by this. If Verizon’s femto cell were to carry 3G traffic, you would still need a broadband connection to do the backhaul. What am I missing?
“That means no 3G data in your house (or a potential temptation to drop your Verizon broadband)”
Uhhhhhhhh, you know that Verizon and I’m sure other carriers cap bandwidth at 5gb a month for their 3G offerings?
How in the world could someone ever drop their Verizon broadband unless they do the absolute bare minimum?
It’s a beta, folks. They put it out with a $250 price tag, which limits it to the few customers who are loyal to VZW, use mostly voice and SMS, and have poor in-home coverage – a number likely to be somewhere less than 100k, and clearly not starting with an “M”. They work out the kinks of femto fulfillment, management, and support. Then in a year or so they roll out a 3G — or more likely 4G — femtocell at a very attractive price point (I’d make it $50, personally), and really get the benefits of RAN and backhaul offload.
Kar, I do know that and even explain that in the post, so looking at it, I’m not sure what I meant.