The world is running out of IPv4 address space to allocate. Whilst some could be reallocated from the original large blocks issued in the early days, this could cause problems in the size of routing tables in the core internet routers. Will this lead to an opportunity to replace domestic customer equipment with IPv6 capable products that could include femtocell technology too?

Potential femtocell users have been saying they don’t want open access to their femtocells. The main concern is around paying extra for broadband internet usage which might arise from unknown visitors making extensive use of your equipment. Other issues include reduced performance of your broadband in the home, which would be shared with these visitors and affect any other computers, laptops and other connected devices. Some users may also have security concerns, although with all femtocell traffic being securely tunnelled back to the network operator this is an unlikely eventuallity.

This requires a whitelist to be maintained for each femtocell (not individual users) must be easily updated to add/remove/change phone numbers on demand.