The future is femto - [comms femtocells]

Home basestations: fact or fiction? While their neighbours campaign against cellular masts going up near their homes, consumers will soon be able to buy a basestation of their very own. Operators are lining up to launch home basestations next year as a way of providing better access to their wireless networks indoors. One type of home basestation is already on the market in the form of Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) technology. This relies on the user's phone supporting voice calls over either Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. It's not a cellular basestation, but a Wi-Fi router with software to handle voice calls and pass the packets on to the mobile operator's network. Many operators are backing a more ambitious plan: putting the guts of a cellular basestation into a small box that the user plugs into a broadband Internet connection. This is the femtocell, named for the progression from large outdoor 'macrocell basestations through to picocells, which were designed to provide cellular coverage in shops and offices.