No cell phone signal at home? No problem

TechDadCentral’s humble abode has one major drawback … no cell phone service from any of the major carriers. We’re talking zero bars with the only solution being standing at the end of the driveway and facing facing North.

For those of you with equally challenging cell phone environments, there is a simple solution – install a Femtocell.

The same size as a wireless router, a Femtocell connects to your home network and acts as a “mini cell phone tower” inside your house. During set up, you specify a list of phone numbers that you want the Femtocell to work with. Once activated, when you step inside your home your cell phone connects to this mini-tower and all calls (both send and receive) get routed over your home network. My Femtocell has converted our Dead Zone to four bars.

Femto cells have different brand names as follows:

• AT&T Wireless – Microcell
• Verizon – Network Extender
• Sprint Nextel – Airwave

But they all operate in a similar manner. It takes about 30 minutes to set one up, however, you must attach it to your home network via a wired connection and only 3G or higher cell phones are supported.

The growth of the Femtocell market has led to the formation of an industry consortium, the Femto Forum. Consisting of a group of 77 companies that develop Femtocell technology, the Femto Forum is working hard to influence new standards (such as 4G service and parental browsing controls) as the growth in home mini-cell towers continues. With over 1.5 million Femtocells in use today, the technology is evolving rapidly with new services such as kid tracking and home security on the horizon. To learn more, check out the FAQs.

Ron Remy