$100 femtocells to be sold by AT&T?
Yep, we're mandating that this one be filed in the rumor folder for now, but according to a report from ThinkPanmure, AT&T Mobility is planning to move up to 7 million femtocells acquired from UK-based ip.access. As the story goes, AT&T inked a contract with the aforesaid firm for up to half a billion dollars in femtocells over five years, and it's supposedly aiming to sell each to end users for "as little as $100." As expected, spokespeople for AT&T and ip.access weren't around / didn't care to comment on the matter, but a dame from the former did admit that it was "examining the potential benefits of femtocells through lab tests and planned to conduct a trial later this year." Of course, AT&T wouldn't be the first US carrier to offer the boxes, but it's not like Sprint's $49.99 Airave set any sales records or anything when it launched late last year.














Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ahow628 @ Apr 25th 2008 3:00AM
Trust me, its hard to break sales records when the Airave is only in Denver, Indy, and Nashville test markets. Note to Sprint: I need the Airave in Seattle!!!
spankdog42 @ Apr 25th 2008 10:48AM
Ahow628 is punk rocker.
Wayne Schulz @ Apr 25th 2008 5:30AM
During an April 22 chat with Jerry Adriano, Sprint VP Customer Experience:
Craig T asked: One other question... How soon can we get our hands on AIRAVE. I'm ready to drop my home office line the second this product gets released in my area (Northern NJ).
Jerry Adriano : We plan to launch AIRAVE in the second half of the year. I don't have a firm launch date to share right now.
Link:
http://www.buzzaboutwireless.com/cms/index.php?option=com_moderatedchat&chatid=13
NuShrike @ Apr 25th 2008 4:50PM
Would be nice if these things supported 3G (do they?), and then got dropped into every Starbucks signed with at&t. How's that for a 3G deployment?
Dan Butterfield @ Apr 25th 2008 5:57PM
http://idannyb.wordpress.com/2008/04/25/iphone-reception-on-steroids-femtocells/
It’s not too much of a stretch to imagine 7,000 Starbucks locations with new femtocells that beam out Wi-Fi, 3G (HSPA in the U.S.) and Wi-Max. Oh, by the way, Apple and Starbucks are getting along nicely too. “AT&T will soon extend the benefits of Wi-Fi at Starbucks to its wireless customers.”
Jamar @ Apr 25th 2008 10:36PM
Will this be restricted to inside the US too? Pretty much the only reason I would want one is so that I don't have to pay a crapload of money when I'm out in, say, China.
Frederick Rothe III @ Apr 26th 2008 10:17AM
What on earth are femtocells? I talked to the Starbuck's manager to their "barista" in the Bronx and he said they won't be online with at&t wi-fi until may because they have to get all new equipment. I know for a fact that at&t is 3G in NYC and Albany and should be nationwide in a few months (keep fingers crossed!!).