Twitter Analytics Audience Demographics for @DeadZones

Here is a snapshot of our Twitter Analytics demographics Notice the carriers AT&T, Verizon, Sprint. T-Mobile, Vodafone. O2, Orange. 

Tell Us Where Vodafone, O2, Three, T-Mobile UK Black Spots Are

UK Black Spots Map Survey

Endemol TV producition is looking for mobile phone users in the UK who experience blackspots and deadzones.  They would like to interview people in the UK suffering from poor reception who use Vodafone, Three, O2 or T-Mobile.  Deadzones.co.uk only has about 100 poor reception areas in the map currently and could use a few more contributors.  Please add pins to the map or email us or comment below if you can help contribute to the story that Endemol is doing.  Are UK mobile phone consumers able to get out of their contracts if they experience poor reception or bad patches in areas where the mobile phone companny promises coverage?

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UK Black Spots
UK Black Spots Map

Mobile Blackspots Map for the UK

We are huge fans of the fact that Vodafone will start advertising femtocells.  It's impressive to see Vodafone stepping up and taking the industry lead educating consumers about the new products to consumers in the UK using the brand Sure Signal.  Vodafone's Sure Signal guarantees you a great 3G signal at home, no matter where you live, and promotes the fact it might be an emergency risk if you are living in a coverage hole.  This is something the U.S. carriers have tried their hardest to ignore.  See their promotions and website above and watch the stories of people from around the UK who have been rescued from their mobile signal problems.  I am quite proud of a carrier finally admitting that they have coverage holes and giving consumers the ability to do something about it.  Kudos to Vodafone UK!

It will remain to be seen if the U.S. carriers still want to "blow smoke" up our asses with their ridiculous commercials touting their great coverage.  AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint & T-Mobile have been dragging their feet for years "testing" femtocells in the U.S. and not educating their customers that they actually exist.  It also amazes me that Vodafone owns 45% of Verizon in the US yet it seems so against Verizon's arrogant culture to admit they actually have coverage problems with their network.  Do you think Verizon's marketing executives who came up with their moronic coverage map promotion commercials are going to be able to keep their jobs or are they going to have to do an "About-Face" (look in opposite direction) if they start selling femtocells in the U.S.?  Hmmm . . . we shall see.

As a result of Vodafone's leadership, Deadzones.co.uk has launched a new "Consumer Generated Mobile Blackspots Map" asking where mobile customers don't have problem areas indoors and outdoors.   Even if Sure Signal can solve the problem indoors at your home or office there are still many bad patch locations around the UK.  We ask for users to contribute pins in our map for 3, O2, Orange, T-Mobile, and Vodafone. Please also see this UK Blackspots Facebook discussion board we started under Vodafone's profile. 

Find this map at Deadzones.co.uk & Deadcellzones.com/uk.html

Femtocells + Google Location Based Advertising

Google femtocells could reach more than 50% of the U.S. population.

Femtocells are emerging as the primary technology that will link the indoor and outdoor cellular networks. These devices improve the quality of service of 3G, 2G and 2.5 networks indoors. Mobile users can enjoy voice and data services from home without having to stand near the window or outdoors. Femtocells are particularly attractive to mobile carriers in the US and even Google we think. Femtocells are emerging as the standard technology that lets wireless phone use in homes and offices become a viable alternative to landline telephones. The ability to leverage the Internet for back-haul makes femtocells an economic force in the marketplace; it brings the industry changes in the way voice is delivered.  US carriers have struggled for years claiming the cost of the femtocells being too high around $100 and keep playing the "waiting game" in order to drive costs lower and see "who jumps first". Some have considered renting out femtocells to users for a long contract period for $2-14 per month, rather than allowing them to buy it outright for $100+.

One perceived barrier to rollout is the need to reduce the cost per unit of the hardware or subsidize it.  We think its simply an excuse because they don't want to open up a "can of worms" admitting to their coverage deficiencies in the US.  Initially it may be that operators provide femtocells to customers as part of a service plan but Google may plans to give it away for free and monetize it through location based advertising.  The US carriers are truly still dumb pipes and are clueless about location based adverting.  This would significantly threaten their paid femtocell business model and it would force AT&T and Verizon into advertising acquisitions in order to catch up.

Ubiquisys, the Google-funded company is providing femtocells to O2 (UK carrier), along with many other trials around the world. It has technology that listens in to the existing GSM and 3G network signals to establish if the licensee is allowed to transmit here. This provides the advantage of allowing network operators to lock the femtocell to one physical location or more, for a small fee.  Google could use femtocell technology to quickly roll out wireless services in the U.S. By deploying a femtocell-like system, in a matter of a year they might be able to reach more than 50% of the U.S. population. Google can deploy femtocells at malls, on city streets (by mounting femtocells on street lamps), and along major highways. Then it might strike roaming agreements with other carriers to offer users wireless service outside the home while it builds out its wireless towers similar to Cox and Comcast. If Google set up the wireless telephone business, they could offer communications free, basing the revenue model on location based advertising. If calls go out to the Internet through the femtocell, they could be handled in the same way that Google Talk works not, and there would be no need for a wireless services provider.

Can Femtocells Fix U.S. Residential Cell Phone Coverage Problems?

A femtocell—originally known as an Access Point Base Station—is a small cellular base station, typically designed for use in residential or small business environments. It connects to the service provider’s network via broadband (such as DSL or cable); current designs typically support 2 to 5 mobile phones in a residential setting. A femtocell allows service providers to extend service coverage indoors, especially where access would otherwise be limited or unavailable. A number of non-U.S. operators have announced intention to have field trials in 2008, including O2, Softbank, TeliaSonera and Vodafone. Most analysts agree that 2008 will primarily be field trials and soft launch, while commercial launch will be commence in 2009. When will the U.S. carriers get their act together and catch up to the rest of the world?