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You are here: Home Technology Radio Technologies 3G Femtocells
3G Femtocells
Written by David Chambers   
Tuesday, 11 November 2008 18:25

Zonegate 3g Femtocell The most common type of femtocell is based on 3rd Generation UMTS mobile phone system, which evolved from GSM. This 3G system has been enhanced to include high speed broadband data (called HSPA) at rates up to 21Mbit/s with a roadmap that promises rates of 84Mbit/s.A typical 3G femtocell is shown on the left - this is the Zonegate product from Ubiquisys.

3G femtocells like this are compatible with operators such as T-Mobile and AT&T in the US, SoftBank in Japan and most mobile operators in the rest of the world. It is this wide adoption of the GSM family of standards (over 87% of all mobile phones are GSM capable) that makes this the most attractive market for vendors. It also enhances the coverage and capacity of the latest mobile phones in more contained locations.

As with other femtocells, these units are similar is size and power consumption to a WiFi access point - typically the size of a paperback book and consuming around 5 Watts. They connect to your broadband internet modem, using an Ethernet cable and provide very localised, low power mobile phone service in your home or office. Typical maximum RF power levels are around 50mW, less than many cordless phone systems. They are compatible with any 3G phone or broadband data dongle and can support up to 4 simultaneous voice calls and/or many data sessions.

The limiting factor tends to be more around the capacity of the wireline broadband internet connection (especially the uplink), which is one reason for determining the maximum voice capacity at 4 simultaneous calls.

3G Femtocells have also been incorporated into broadband DSL modems, with vendors such as Netgear and Thomson developing units which combine DSL, Firewall, WiFi, Ethernet Router and 3G Femtocell capabilities in a single box. These are targetted at operators with both fixed and mobile divisions, so they can offer a converged solution at the most cost effective price.

3G Femtocells offer:
  • Up to 4 simultaneous voice calls
  • Shared data capacity of 3.6Mbit/s or 7.2Mbit/s between many mobile broadband data devices
  • Overall lower costs to the network operator than building more outdoor cellsites, which can be passed on to customers
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 24 February 2009 19:31
 
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