Ken’s Take: One of my many hot buttons is awful cell phone coverage. I get spotty reception in some parts of my home; no reception in others. What other product has to be taken outside to work right? Finally, mobile companies are fixing the basics. Now, if they can only get the price down to $29.99.
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Excerpted from Forbes.com, “Verizon offers $250 in-home cell phone booster”, AP, 01.26.09
Verizon Wireless has started selling a book-sized device that boosts cell phone signals within a home for $250, making it easier for people to drop a home phone line and rely solely on wireless.
The Verizon Wireless Network Extender needs to be connected to a broadband Internet line. Then it acts a miniature cellular tower, listening for signals from a subscriber’s cell phone. It covers up to 5,000 square feet, the company said Monday.
Full article:
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/01/26/ap5963881.html?partner=alerts
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January 27, 2009 at 3:15 pm |
Hi Ken,
I agree… my cell phone coverage is terrible in my apartment, and I live in the middle of NYC! I think this trend of fixed-mobile convergence is a very interesting one in the telecom sector. As wireless carriers like Verizon use femtocells like the one you mention in your blog, wireless traffic gets offloaded to fixed networks…and in most cases the cable guys’ networks. Helping the telcos can’t sit well with the cable companies, especially when they are getting additional pressure from IPTV.
This may eventually force the cable companies to offer a wireless service to compete against the telcos. Thus, there investment in Clearwire may become useful?
I write an article about this on our website (http://www.nearearthllc.com/analysis/presentations/vol4.11.3.pdf).
-Kuni