This press release was delivered to me email inbox. I think it was a great idea. I have lived where the cell phone reception was terrible, no matter which carrier you used (the towers for VZW and Alltel were right next to each other).
The details on the personal cell tower:
1X CDMA2000 service covering 5,000 sq ft.
Provides active service (phone calls) to 3 phones
Provides 1 special channel just for 911 calls (open to all Verizon phones)
The device costs $249.99 with no monthly reoccurring fee.
The device can be configured to Open Access (on by default) allowing any cell phone to access your portal or restricted allowing only the phone numbers you want to access it (up to 50 different phones). The device doesn't support any EVDO service or EVDO Location based services.
There is a GPS chip in the extender to allow Verizon Wireless to know where the extender is. This is for E911, but mostly so that the extender only works in Verizon's service area (not a Verizon rule, a licensing rule...aka FCC).
I thought about this news for a few days and then I discovered that AT&T is releasing a similar device. The problem for people like me, it can only be used in an AT&T native service area (again a FCC rule). I would consider the AT&T extender because it works only with 3G phone...ala Apple iPhone...since I would use my phone mostly at home or in Sioux Falls.
If there wasn't a territory rule for having these devices, I would have a mobile AT&T tower in my car so that I could have an iPhone. I have Redwood Wireless mobile Broadband (www.redwoodwireless.com) that covers Sioux Falls with 1 MB down speed with truly unlimited access.
There are femtocells on the market, each servicing a different service provider:
Sprint Airave - costs $100 (equipment) + $5/month for use.
Verizon Network Extender - $250 (equipment) - no monthly fee.
T-Mobile - requires a wifi enabled phone - ~$100* (equipment) + $10/month - *equipment may be optional
AT&T - coming soon - The cost and monthly charge is not known at this time.
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