[AusNOG] mobile phones coverages alternative

[Tony]

I've had experience with the Optus femtocells. Once you plug them in they create an IPSec tunnel back to Optus-land somewhere and run the calls over this as VoIP (this is deduced from the port requirements the devices have, didn't go as far as sniffing the traffic to confirm it). It is a VoIP application so if you don't have good Internet connection/bandwidth then your call quality will suffer.

I don't have one handy, but from memory they are extremely limited to the number of devices that can connect to them. Off the top of my head the number is 10 or 12 and you need to register/program each one into the femtocell device. This would mean not very good for any large office space or where you have people coming in from outside and you want them to have coverage (eg. visitors). I'm not sure if you can roam from femtocell to normal cell tower whilst on a call (ie. leave your building and walk up the street), but this MAY have been fixed. It would also make sense that you can't roam from one femtocell to the next if you happen to have several in the building. They are more targeted at SOHO use where you have a couple of static people needing cover at a particular location.

They also require a minimal amount of cell coverage as part ofthe initial setup so that they can work out where they are (from the cell network). I believe there is a manual workaround to bypass this step, it's not easy but maybe the support has gotten better and it's not like pulling teeth to make this happen.

In terms of cost, I think there is just an up front purchase fee for the device and after that it's all good.


Perhaps if you can give some more details of your specific application then people can make more targeted suggestions ?


regards,
Tony.




>________________________________
> From: Jeffrey Sims <jeffy at tehintartubes.net>
>To: Matthew Zobel <matthew.zobel at gmail.com> 
>Cc: "AusNOG at lists.ausnog.net" <AusNOG at lists.ausnog.net> 
>Sent: Wednesday, 29 August 2012 3:28 PM
>Subject: Re: [AusNOG] mobile phones coverages alternative
> 
>
>Optus do femtocell using your data network and stopped charging for them.
>
>
>Telstra smart antenna relies on coverage.
>
>Sent from my iPhone
>
>On 29/08/2012, at 3:09 PM, Matthew Zobel <matthew.zobel at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>Really?  We get femtocells free from Vodafone. 
>>
>>Sent from my iPhone
>>
>>On 29/08/2012, at 3:02 PM, Jake Anderson <yahoo at vapourforge.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>problem is "phone" = gsm network as far as the mobile is concerned
>>>Take a look at "femtocells" some carriers let you put a tiny base
      station in and run it out over VoIP
>>>They of course charge you an assload for the privilege of fixing
      their lack of coverage, both up front and ongoing costs.
>>>
>>>If your big enough you may even be able to encourage the carriers
      to put a micro base station in that'll cover your building and the
      surrounds.
>>>
>>>On 29/08/12 14:35, Qui Le wrote:
>>>
>>> 
>>>>Hi all,
>>>> 
>>>>We work on a site where we do not get mobile signal coverage  from our telcos.
>>>> 
>>>>However we can deploy several  Wi-fi APs throughout the building.
>>>> 
>>>>Is there workable solution where our users can use our Wi-fi Aps to receive and making calls?
>>>> 
>>>>Thanks
>>>>Qui
>>>>...
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>
>
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