Showing posts with label Rural Coverage. Show all posts

Cellcom Outage Update: How to Stay Connected

Cellcom is a regional wireless provider serving approximately 300,000 customers primarily in northeastern Wisconsin, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and parts of Minnesota. As a subsidiary of Nsight, Cellcom is committed to serving rural communities and providing reliable network services, though infrastructure limitations can sometimes impact network redundancy.

Yes, major cellular service providers such as Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint (now part of T-Mobile) offer coverage in Alaska, although the extent of coverage can vary depending on the carrier and specific location within the state. Here are some important points to consider regarding cell coverage in Alaska:

United States Map of Cell Phone Coverage Complaints

Which State Get The Most Cell Phone Coverage Complaints?

Yellowstone National Park, located primarily in Wyoming but extending into Montana and Idaho, is a vast and geographically diverse wilderness area known for its natural wonders, geysers, and wildlife. However, due to its remote location and rugged terrain, cellular coverage in Yellowstone National Park can be limited or unreliable. Here's some information regarding cell coverage in Yellowstone National Park:

You're absolutely right! Checking your coverage before leaving for vacation is a good idea to ensure you have reliable network connectivity at your destination. Here are a few steps you can follow to check your coverage:

Visit your mobile network provider's website: Go to the website of your mobile network provider and look for a coverage map or a section dedicated to checking coverage. Many providers have online tools that allow you to enter your location or destination and view the available coverage.

Use coverage map tools: There are independent websites and apps that provide coverage maps for various mobile network providers. These tools can help you determine the expected coverage quality and strength in your destination area.

Contact your network provider: If you're unable to find the necessary information online or want to confirm specific details, consider contacting your mobile network provider's customer service. They can provide insights on coverage, signal strength, and any potential roaming charges or restrictions that may apply.

By checking your coverage beforehand, you can be better prepared for any potential connectivity needs during your vacation.

It is amazing how many people are searching to see if they might have cell phone coverage in areas they are vacationing this summer. If you are headed to the lake, mountains, or desert it is probably a good idea to see if your destination has cell phone reception. We see daily searches on Deadcellzones.com for locations like Yosemite, Tahoe, Lake Powell, Aspen.

We launched a new map recently that will show you cell phone towers in the area as well. We recommend that you check this map side by side with our dead zones complaint map. This should give you an idea of who has coverage in the area or NOT.

Stuck in Dead Zone During an Emergency - Dial 112

The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. See Wikipedia for further details.

If you find yourself in a dead zone during an emergency and are unable to connect to your regular emergency services number, such as 911 (in the United States) or 999 (in the United Kingdom), you can try dialing 112.

112 is an emergency number that is widely recognized and can be dialed in many countries, including the United States, Canada, and most European countries. Dialing 112 can potentially connect you to emergency services even when you have no network coverage or are in an area with a weak signal.

When you dial 112, your call is routed to the local emergency services in the country you are in. It is important to note that while 112 is generally available in many countries, it's always advisable to familiarize yourself with the emergency contact numbers specific to the region you are in, as there may be country-specific emergency numbers in addition to 112.

Additionally, in some cases, your mobile phone might be able to connect to another available network in the area, even if your primary carrier has poor coverage. It can be helpful to enable the "carrier selection" or "network selection" feature in your phone settings to allow it to connect to alternative networks in case of emergency.

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T-Mobile Service Plans and Coverage Review

Coverage: T-Mobile's coverage can be spotty in a few areas around the United States and Mexico, but not as bad as most people proclaim it to be. Their features and flexibility far outweigh the lack of connectivity in most areas and provide the most valuable data plans. If you don't have coverage in many areas simply make calls through T-Mobile's WiFi android app on some smartphones. This is huge so you don't if you make a lot of calls indoors in remote places. If you live in a major metropolitan area it is likely you will have comparable coverage to AT&T and Verizon 3G in most areas. One benefit of being a smaller carrier means you are likely competing against fewer customers for network capacity. T-Mobile now has the best 4G (HSPA+) coverage and its great to be a customer with fewer people competing for coverage on the HSPA+ network. The difference between 3G and 4G LTE is not that significant in my opinion if you are not downloading the video. Nevada and some of the mountain states are some notable dead zones in their coverage network and even Northern California and Oregon have quite a few miles where service is not available. T-Mobile has network coverage in every state except Alaska, reception in rural areas can be spotty. Also, as with all carriers, the reception will vary due to location. International coverage is available in more than 187 countries. Their website does have a nice feature that allows you to check coverage areas by inputting your zip code and overlaps nicely with dead zones reported on our map on the right. If you travel a lot, they do have international service options, but it will cost you as roaming charges do apply.

Plans: T-Mobile leads these carriers in free minutes and value now offering unlimited plans without long term contracts. Prepaid cards are affordable if you only want a short term plan. For the money, they offer the freest minutes of any plan and likely the most value depending on where you live. T-Mobile offers more plans that are typically less expensive, particularly for Internet access, text, and multimedia messaging services. They offer several plans including business plans, pre-paid, family, and individual plans. They do offer free phones subsidized phones, including camera phones, but if you want to choose a different phone than the one they offer you will have to pay for it.

Other features

Unlimited data plans still exist for some customers grandfathered.
Offers unlimited calling plans without long term contracts is a great selling point
As a GSM carrier and a subsidiary of Germany's Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile has extensive international roaming and thousands of Wi-Fi hotspots in the United States and Europe.
Of the major carriers, T-Mobile received the highest customer service rating by J.D. Power and Associates for several consecutive years.
T-Mobile is the only major carrier not to offer push-to-talk services.
We recommended you monitor your text messaging usage closely and get on an unlimited plan so you don't get charged the outrageous .25 cents per message if you go over.
Has 4G Coverage now in most cities.
5G LTE plans will come soon but 4G HSPA+ is plenty fast.
T-Mobile has an Android phone with unlimited data plans. We highly recommend it!
T-Mobile & Sprint merged but they are keeping separate business brand units similar to when they purchased MetroPCS.

Finding the best best cell phone coverage just got easier by comparing cell phone coverage reports from other customers. Which wireless carrier has the worst cell phone coverage?

Other Reviews:

Feedback is always welcome. Please submit your comments below.

@TMobileHelp Twitter Chatter

Tweets about @Tmobilehelp

Where is AT&T Expanding Mobile Coverage?

What does this really mean? Are they filling coverage gaps in areas where they previously claimed to have coverage on their maps? Are they expanding network capacity to provide better data? Are they putting up new cell phone towers, adding wifi or allowing customers to finally use femtocells?

Every day carriers are sending out press releases claiming to expand their mobile coverage in areas throughout the state. Here is a great example of a press release that is just a waste of time, resources, money and effort. AT&T Expands Mobile Broadband Coverage in York County. This press release is trying to convey a message to their customers explaining that they are adding six cell phone tower sites in the state of New York using High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA). Do they really need to do a National press release explaining this to their 87 million customers and frustrated iPhone users? This is a complete waste of time resources, money and just hype that is press release noise.

I have a suggestion for you AT&T. Why don't you provide more transparency about where you are expanding coverage on a daily basis on a beautiful coverage map like we do on our dead zones coverage maps (below)? Is it because you want the press and consumer advocacy groups like Deadcellzones.com to be as confused as possible when tracking your coverage claims and expansion? Your press hype is "off the charts" and your lack of clarity of where you are expanding coverage is too confusing for any AT&T customer to understand the value of your daily regional press releases.

Providing a map of where you are expanding coverage would allow customers, employees, service providers, consumers groups and cell phone tower operators to understand where you have invested your resources to improve capacity and connectivity. Your AT&T maps are completely worthless to the average consumer now that dropped calls and data congestion are more common than it was ten years ago in 2000. Your senior management team needs to wake up and stop be paranoid about your competition because your lack of clarity and transparency is appalling.

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Where is Verizon Expanding Mobile Coverage?

Where is T-Mobile Expanding Coverage?

Where is MetroPCS Expanding Coverage?

AT&T Dropped Calls
Where is AT&T Fixing Outdoor Reception?
Identifying Dropped Call Locations
AT&T Service Plans and Coverage Review

CA Highway 74 T-Mobile Cell Phone Coverage

Despite what the map says there is no T-Mobile cell phone coverage in this area of Highway 74.

N.D. Access Pipeline Protesters Claim "Cell Networks Are Jammed"

Dakota Access Pipeline Protesters Claim Poor Cell Phone Coverage Here

North Dakota Access Pipeline protesters believe local and State authorities have jammed cellphone coverage during an operation to force activists from a camp they had set up on private land. However, authorities dispute that, saying the spotty nature of cellphone coverage in the remote area is to blame. More Info.

According to the Deadcellzones.com map of North Dakota there have not been many cell phone coverage complaints in the area submitted to the map. However, this could be due to the fact that not a lot of people live or commute in this area. We anticipate after writing this article that coverage complaints will likely be submitted. Check back soon for an update.

More than 140 people were arrested Thursday during a standoff over a camp set up at the site of a planned pipeline in North Dakota. About 200 activists supporting the Standing Sioux Tribe moved onto the site last weekend, setting up teepees and tents and saying the land is rightfully theirs under a more than century-old treaty, according to CBS affiliate KXMB. More Info

There are also reports that the State cut off water access to Native Americans protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline. The state supplied two supplemental water tanks as part of ongoing support for tribal protests against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, but those tanks were removed after they were determined to be at a secondary site outside the state's jurisdiction. More Info

Where is the Dakota Access Pipeline Protest? Here is a map.

Map of Dakota Access Pipeline Protest Location & Pipeline

Can Drones Help Cell Phone Dead Zones?

Verizon Communications is testing the deployment of large-scale drones to provide mobile connectivity in emergency situations when the land-based cellular network has been damaged. But the carrier hopes the trials will also entice corporate customers who may want to use the connected drones for new business applications. Read more.

AT&T suggested in a blog post that it may consider using drones to provide better cell coverage at major public events like music festivals and sporting events. It is notoriously difficult for cellular carriers to provide adequate coverage to such large gatherings: cell towers often get overloaded with voice and data traffic during these events. So carriers normally bring in trucks loaded with equipment that helps extend cellular coverage to large gatherings. Read more.

How WiFi Offloading Affects Cellular Leases

Cellular 4G LTE vs WiFi

To cope with the exponential increase in data demand since the introduction of the Smartphone, many wireless carriers have been trying a variety of solutions to help meet the needs of their customers. In some cases, these service providers find themselves with a troubling choice: they can either offload their cellular traffic to public, unlicensed WiFi networks or risk losing customers to their competitors. It is understandable that most would choose the former, but the increasingly widespread practice of WiFi offloading has many cell site owners concerned about the implications. Could this offloading practice take business from cellular providers and site owners, or worse– render them obsolete?

Experts think not. In fact, the practice of WiFi offloading isn’t nearly the threat to cellular service that it might seem at first glance. While there are certainly issues with this practice that will require a bit of patience, flexibility, and extra preparedness from cell site owners and renters, there are still several challenges in the wireless industry that make cellular service a necessity. In fact, issues particular to WiFi capability not only ensure cellular services’ secure position in the wireless data industry, but could also prove a boon to savvier investors.

Meeting Hotspot Requirements

No matter their size, any given WiFi access point will have limitations in both service radius and number of users that can be supported at once. Hence, the growing demand for WiFi hotspots, and the access points available at each, has many wireless carriers scrambling to develop new cellular sites and improve those already in existence. This means more investment opportunities for cell site owners and renters alike.

Even with their best efforts, there are still significant gaps to be found in WiFi coverage, particularly in more rural areas. As a result, customers continue to utilize cellular coverage as a more reliable option. Since WiFi planning and development often take several years to process and implement, cell tower owners in these areas are particularly secure from any threats that could be posed by WiFi offloading.

Interference

On the other side of the coin, more population-dense areas are facing an over-saturation of data access points in WiFi hotspots. This overload of competing access points creates interference between WiFi carriers, which diminishes both security and quality of user experience. In these scenarios, cellular service provides an access point with greater security and protection from interference, enhancing the user experience on all points.

As a result, a large percentage of users continue to rely on cellular coverage even in thriving WiFi hotspots. Those owning or renting cell towers in these areas may do well to upgrade their sites to keep up with evolving WiFi technology, but maintaining the quality of cellular technology on the site will also be crucial to the property’s value.

Meeting the Demands of High Call Volumes

Along with its limitations in terms of radius and user capacity, WiFi also faces challenges in terms of high call volumes. Most WiFi access points can only handle 15 calls simultaneously, and this number decreases in areas of high interference. As long as people continue making voice calls, the need for reliable cellular towers will remain constant. This is especially true in areas that experience higher call volumes, such as neighborhoods rich in multifamily housing and city business districts.

Ensuring Seamless Connectivity

Currently, most WiFi access points require users to sign in at least once to be able to use the network. This inconvenience is strongly felt by those in transit, in the midst of a conference, or for those handling time-sensitive matters over the network. As such, most users opt for cellular service for hassle-free access to their data network. While steps are being taken to make WiFi access a smoother process for users, it will require protocol development and technological updates that will take several years to implement. The process will also require additional partnership and cooperation with cellular service providers, creating a potential benefaction for cell tower owners.

Maintaining Continued Security in a Changing Industry

With WiFi service providers facing challenges that only cellular providers can overcome, cell tower owners can take assurance that their property is certain to maintain its value in the years to come. However, there are steps that cell site owners and renters can take to not only ensure this security’s longevity but to increase property value in the interim. By practicing savviness and adaptability, cell site owners can ensure the continued worth of their investment for many years to come. The consultants at Lease Advisors are prepared for such contingencies and are ready to help cell tower owners make the most of the changing times. By offering their expertise and insight, they can help turn this potentially worrying trend into a long-lasting advantage for you and your investment.

Do Dropped Calls Cause More Traffic Accidents?

Is There a Correlation of Poor Cell Phone Coverage Leading to More Traffic Accidents?

We are interested to know if anyone has information to share on where traffic accidents frequently occur. We would like to publish this data on a map for a study. We would like to find out if there is a correlation of distracted drivers either dropping a call or losing a call completing and traffic accidents. A new report from the National Safety Council suggests that cell phones play a more frequent role in car crashes than is typically reported. I would imagine dangerous intersections would be able to correlate some accidents where drivers have been distracted.

10 Reasons Why The FCC is a Joke

1) FCC evaluates competition locally and not Nationally. Are they stuck in the '90's?
2) FCC is funded by Verizon, AT&T & Comcast, and not taxpayers.
3) No transparency & FCC complaints go into a mysterious black hole

4) FCC thinks rural carriers have a fair competition with National carriers.
5) FCC violated our trademark and tried to replicate our dead zones service.
6) FCC trusts AT&T lies and propaganda.
7) It takes 10 years for FCC to force Verizon & AT&T to roam for regional carriers
8) FCC tried to ban cell phone signal boosters at the request of carriers
9) FCC refuses to acknowledge consumers getting screwed and our data.

10) FCC Staffers leaving to become a lobbyist for telecom companies.

Why The FCC is One Big Puppet Show

10 Reasons Why the FCC is a Joke

Despite the enforcement "lip service" you hearing from FCC Chairman Genachowski and Commissioners in the media about net neutrality or the big merger, the FCC is not working for you the consumer and are simply puppets of the carriers. Here are two very important reasons why it's a failed organizational structure. #1) The FCC refuses to publicly acknowledge or regulate the difference between actual vs theoretical cellular/broadband coverage and therefore cannot accurately enforce competition. #2) 99% of their $500M of annual funding for 1,900 employees does not come from the taxpayers and comes directly from fees paid by the carriers themselves.

One of the biggest arguments in the AT&T and T-Mobile merger is that there is sufficient wireless competition and rural coverage and therefore the merger of two large carriers should be allowed. We would argue this is totally false and we can provide thousands of consumer-reported examples of where consumers can only get one carrier and sometimes 0 in certain cases. Competition isn't fair on a regional basis and must be carefully audited by the FCC before allowing the merger to go through. However, the FCC can't do this because they lack the resources to do it and continue to ignore the dead zone data we generate. This is a huge failure on the part of the Government and will come back and bite all consumers if this continues.

DeadCellZones.com has reached out to the FCC for help numerous times over the last decade and asked them to take our consumer-reported dead zone data for free. However, the FCC would rather "try" and generate their own data to mask the problems so they don't piss off their carrier constituencies. So what did the FCC do? They responded by launching their own FCC "Dead Zones" reporting website a 10 years later which has failed miserably. However, their dead zone reporting tool was "designed to fail" because the FCC doesn't really want to know the truth or regulate the wireless carriers' false coverage claims.

Folks it gets even weirder with some questions that were asked of us by FCC executives. They asked us "why we have created dead zone the maps"? My answer is always because its the right thing to do by showing the deficiencies of a Government agency that doesn't really work on the consumer's behalf to regulate. It was the aha moment for me to show there is way too much corruption between the FCC and the companies they regulate. We won't stop what we are doing until the Government and the carriers themselves acknowledge why and what we are doing is good for consumers. A little like "David vs Goliath".

The FCC is a "Government-regulated entity" that is funded by the companies they are supposed to be regulating and not the taxpayers. Its a huge corrupt game the public does not understand and the financial media ignores. The FCC has 1,900 employees and is supposed to act as an "independent agency" of the US government with an approximate budget of $466 million which is funded by measly $1 million in taxpayer appropriations and the rest in regulatory fees paid by the largest US telecom companies: AT&T (NYSE: T), Verizon (NYSE: VZ), T-Mobile (NYSE: DTEGY), Sprint (NYSE: S), Cox, Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), TimeWarner (NYSE: TWX), Cablevision (NYSE: CVC), etc. The mission of every employee at the FCC is to write policy but does that really regulate if no one does anything or takes action? Does this sound like an independent agency or a puppet agency with 99% of its' revenue coming from the companies it regulates?

AT&T is claiming this based on theoretical coverage maps not actual coverage that real customers try and receive. The reason Deadcellzones.com was started almost 12 years ago was that carriers were being dishonest about where they were providing coverage. In this decade coverage and speeds have expanded a lot but the same problem still exists. No entity is auditing the coverage maps and the actual coverage that the carriers claim to provide. This lack of oversight only hurts the smaller consumer who lives out in the middle of Iowa or Kansas in rural America.

Related Stories:
Rural Wireless Customers Have Fewer Choices
Wireless Consumers Are Getting Screwed

FCC: Leap, Cellular South, Cellular One, Cellular South, Cincinnati Bell

Rural regional carriers are worried about being able to compete and need the FCC to intervene in order to protect competition. Fast forward to the minute 3 in this video and listen to Mignon Clyburn who is FCC Democratic commissioner. The commissioner is concerned that there are areas that cover 10 million people that cover 2 or fewer carriers in some areas. Concerned carriers include: US Cellular (NYSE: USM), Leap Wireless (NYSE: LEAP), Cellular One, Cellular South and Cincinnati Bell Wireless (NYSE: CBB), who combined have about 60% of T-Mobile USA’s customer base. Carriers also want better inter carrier compensation and universal service reform to help bring down costs for consumers. FCC also sees VoIP as a viable technology that should be more competitive with current voice technology.

Verizon Forced to Allow Roaming by FCC

Verizon Learning to Share Its' Network & Allow Roaming

The Federal Communications Commission approved a data roaming rule today that would allow consumers to access the Internet from their smartphones anywhere in the nation even if their carrier doesn’t have coverage in an area. The new rule requires that carriers with cell phone coverage allow other carriers to offer roaming services to their customers assuming.

Does this mean that Verizon won't be able to charge its exorbitant roaming fees? We do know this is great news for AT&T who will soon be the only GSM carrier and allows them to screw more customers. However, it royally screws Verizon's whole marketing campaign of "More Coverage in More Places". There are many CDMA carriers in the US who will want to roam on their network which is the most extensive. But at what price? So you must ask yourself does the AT&T / T-Mobile merge still make sense in light of this FCC ruling and unfair CDMA & GSM competition?

“The framework the FCC will adopt today will spur investment in mobile broadband and promote competition,” said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. “It will ensure that rural and urban consumers have the ability they expect to use their mobile phones throughout the nation for voice calls or data like e-mail or mobile apps.”

Verizon Wireless immediately opposed the order saying that the FCC doesn’t have the authority to regulate Internet service providers. Rural carriers such as Cellular South have argued that they are at a competitive disadvantage to the national major carriers because they can’t offer users full Internet access in the nation. The rules would require carriers to work out reasonable negotiations for roaming partnerships, and the FCC said it would punish companies that delay deals or “negotiate in bad faith.”

This is a huge step for the FCC who must be congratulated for taking this bold action despite the opposition of the two largest oligopolies U.S. wireless carriers who have lobbied against this. AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile and the threat Verizon poses to the continued wireless competition it is mandatory that the FCC stand up to these companies who are holding us back from innovation and are only worried about paying dividends to shareholders.

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EVDO Advantages Over Satellite & WiFi

EVDO Advantages Over Satellite Internet & WiFi

Always on with seamless roaming assuming coverage
Fully portable
You are your own hotspot and not relying on someone else's internet connection
Goes beyond the 300-ft range from a "hotspot"
Access corporate VPN (virtual private network) get a cellular signal via a secure, encrypted signal
Can provide service outside of cable-modem or DSL areas
Relative low cost with high capacity – allows rich web browsing and application usage.
VOIP compatible with Skype, Google Voice or Magic Jack

How Does EVDO Work

EVO stands for Evolution Data Optimized and works similarly to the way your cell phone operates in that it relies on signal from a wireless tower rather than a physical connection like a phone line or cable. An EVDO modem (often referred to as an "aircard") receives the signal and allows you to connect to the internet -it's as simple as that! EVDO modems come in as a 3G Router. Most 3G EVDO service plan have a 5 gig cap but some do not have any data cap.

Why Use EVDO?

Line of site issues
Data latency
Can't get DSL or broadband at your home or office
Can't get satellite broadband
Gamers and traders people who want fast persistent connections.

Who uses EVDO?

There are countless reasons to use EVDO and we have helped customers get set up for a huge variety of applications! Below are just a few common ways people use EVDO:

Mobile applications: Cars, trucks, RV's, commercial service/fleet vehicles, shuttles, carpool/vanpool, transit (busses, trains, ferries), taxis/limos, private/commercial vessels Portable uses: Mobile work teams, trade shows, conferences, conventions, vacations, commute access, emergency response setup

Fixed-location customers: Backup to cable/DSL/T-1, dial-up alternative, satellite alternative

How does EVDO compare to other technologies?

The best aspect of EVDO (to most users) is the mobility it offers, but EVDO is also FAST! With a good signal, EVDO Rev A averages about 600-1400Kbps download with upload speeds averaging between
500-800Kbps. Here is how it stacks up to other common internet technologies:

EVDO Rev A: 600Kbps - 1,400Kbps Down (with bursts to 3.1Mbps); 500Kbps-800Kbps Up (with bursts to 1.8Mbps)
EVDO Rev 0: 400 - 1000Kbps Down (with bursts to 2.0 Mbps); 50 - 100Kbps Up (with bursts to 144Kbps)
1xRTT: 50Kbps - 100Kbps with bursts up to 144kbps Down/Up
EDGE (2G): 50Kbps - 100Kbps Down/Up
HSPA: 700-1700kbps Down; 500-1200kbps upload
DSL: Varies based on provider. Average appoximately 1500Kbps Down; 128Kbps Up
Cable: Varies based on provider. Average appoximately 1000-5000Kbps Down; 200-800Kbps Up
Satellite: 512Kbps - 1500Kbps Down; 128 - 256Kbps Up
Dial-Up: 56Kbps Down/Up

Femtocells for Rural Customers

It looks like femtocells may soon be used to serve sparsely-populated rural areas that are conventionally thought of as uneconomic to install a cell phone tower. Femtocells can now serve as "instant economical infrastructure" to help emergency services or rural residents who are just fed up getting the run around from their local carrier or cell phone tower companies. Getting the attention of carriers to install new cell phone towers has been the frustration of many wireless customers who live in remote areas. Femtocells can now provide an economic alternative to to ugly and expensive cell phone towers that often require multiple carriers piggybacking upon a new development site.

Roke Manor Research a Siemen's company has developed the world's first 3G Wide Area Coverage Femtocell capability. Using picoChip's technology as the development platform, Roke's reference design has a 40km range which delivers more than 40,000 times the area covered by most other femtocells. It is also the first to support full mobility at speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour, allowing mobile users to travel while connected to the 3G base stations. The femtocell will support up to 12 simultaneous users, with Release 5 HSPA and a software upgrade to Release 6.

Femtocell basestations offer a low cost and low power solution for implementing a WCDMA network. However, they are only suitable for short range communications of around 200m and as such are ideal for home networks. Roke, however, can now offer all the benefits of a femtocall (small size, weight and power consumption) with an enhanced range of up to 40km.

Roke has demonstrated a reference design on a picoChip PC202 platform. The Physical Layer code has been modified to extended the coverage area by 40,000 times whilst maintaining full mobility. In essence, the Roke modifications permit a macrocell performance in terms of range and mobility within a fetmo hardware platform. The modified solution has been tested on-air at ranges up to 25km and vehicle speeds up to 120km/hr.

Benefits of Roke's modified femtocell base-station include:

Small Form Factor
Low Power Consumption
Range up to 40km
Support of 16us Delay Span
Mobility up to 120km/hr
Up to 12 users
IP Connection to Network
Circuit Switched Voice Support

3G & 4G Coverage Parity by 2013

According to industry experts, 4G wireless network coverage will reach parity with its 3G networks in 2013. Parity is referring to when the size of a wireless footprint to match 3Gs current footprint which is about 98% of the population. Some say that 4G could reach 100 million people this year but that seems optimistic. This is expected to increase to 200 million by the end of 2012.

Our speculation is that the industry will try and confuse the consumer as much as possible in order to try and differentiate their services. Sprint uses the term WIMAX, Verizon is going with LTE and who knows what AT&T is going to market. What all consumers need to know is that Wi-Fi is most definitely a competitor and its free. Be a smart consumer and recognize that you may not need data access at high speeds on all parts of the globe so having a huge footprint is not that necessary. 3G was a big step-up from 2G and consumers really noticed the difference. However, will they be able to differentiate 4G from Wifi? I say No!

My speculation is that speed and coverage standards will need to be set in the next few years because the marketing coverage wars are only going to get more intense. Clearwire is still a small company in terms of market share yet they already have a large Wimax (4G) footprint. I am surprised that they haven't partnered with more carriers like T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon who plan on building out their own networks or sticking with Wifi in certain areas. Cable companies like Comcast and Sprint seem the most aggressive about leveraging the huge investment Clearwire has already made.

Related stories
Clearwire Adds "Honest" Coverage Maps
Rural Wireless Carriers Have Better Coverage
Forget 4G Cell Towers, Bring on Femtocells
Femtocells & Wifi - Can't They Just Get Along?

Cellcom Outage Update: How to Stay Connected

What Carriers Have Coverage in Alaska?

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