Femtocells now outnumber cell towers | Hacker News Reader

Femtocells now outnumber cell towers

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33 pointssinak7 comments

I have two of these with AT&Suck. Skype on my phone works great over WiFi, but I drop a ton of calls using my femtocells (when they even works)...I'm just saying, it's not my Internet connections.

The biggest problem with these units is the server/system they connect to is crap. You buy them for $150 from the AT&Suck store then go home and find out they're not holding up their end of the bargain.

While I understand it's really hard to get new cell towers put up, there's no excuse for rolling out this system to consumers then not backing it up with enough horse power to handle to load.

/Rant...sorry, I guess I was angry about that.

AT&T wants you to pay them $20/month on top of what it costs me to obtain their femtocell and keep it online. For the privilege of "unlimited" use of the femtocell. I'm surprised they don't ask me to pay them every time I use Skype on my phone.

I thought the 20/month was to get calls using the femtocell that don't use your minutes, letting you choose a plan with fewer minutes.

I was able to use the femtocell for free, but had bad luck with it.

Sorry, I was unclear. It is "free" to use it, but all usage still counts against your plan. I don't expect free phone service because I own a femtocell but $20/month for unlimited calls is "fuck you" pricing.

I'm surprised that most carriers don't embrace wifi-based calling the way T-mobile and Ruckus have.

Indeed. T-Mobile's Wi-Fi Calling feature is hands down a better solution than femtocells. Being able to use your phone while in someone's basement always seems to amase people when they see it. Not to mention the ability to "roam for free" while on Wi-Fi overseas.

It would be far better for handsets to just support UMA. I did enjoy this feature on my Blackberry on the Orange UK network. The only thing that's decent about them to be honest.

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