Personal Femtocell Takes Off For iPhone
A personal femtocell – called an attocell – will let users make calls abroad without roaming, says Keith Day of Ubiquisys
Of course Internet connections can be pricey abroad however, but there is already pressure to bring roaming charges down, including a demand from the EC that they should be abolished, so Ubiquisys may be addressing a vanishing problem.
Also many users are quite happy to use a mobile Skype client on their mobile handset whilst abroad to make calls, but Day feels that this personal cellular base station does give international travellers another option, because the attocell can use the phone’s voicemail, SMS, number recognition, and contact list.
“That is a big convenience factor here,” Day said.
“This is a new option and is quite exciting,” said Day. “It is another extension of what Ubiquisys calls intelligent cell technology, i.e. putting cells down where you couldn’t in the past.”
Back in June 2009 for example, Ubiquisys launched a 16 user business femtocell, geared towards the business market.
Size Matters
“The idea of the universal mobile touted in the early days of the mobile phone was that you could pretty much use your mobile phone wherever you are and always in touch. This is another step in that direction,” said Day.
Although technology provider Picochip demonstrated a 3G cellular basestation on a USB dongle at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas – which sounds similar to Ubiquisys’ attocell, Day said the product does not include any Picochip components.
“They (Picocell) were showing just how small femtocells can go. With our attocell however, we have shown a small femotcell but with small range. The key difference is that this comes with intelligence, as the intelligence is software derived,” said Day.
Day said that Ubiquisys’ attocell has a bigger footprint than an iPhone, and weight wise is not much different from a mobile phone. “When it gets modified for final production, it is likely to be a lot smaller,” said Day.
“It costs us to produce the same amount as a standard household femtocell, which is below the $100 mark (£63),” said Day, although he could give no idea of how much it will cost when mobile operators begin selling it.
