Finding coverage in black spots

By Dan Simmons Reporter, BBC Click

One word we hate on Click is the word solution. When it comes to spinning technology stories we often find companies have practically made up the problem which their kit is supposed to solve.

But this is not the case with the femtocell which promises a perfect phone reception from wherever you are.

Femtocells free up the mobile network by routing calls over the net

Something amazing is about to happen: the mobile industry is on the verge of admitting its flashy 3G phones do not work as well as they would like.

This is why one of the inventors of the femtocell is sitting pretty, he was inspired by bad mobile phone reception in his home.

Will Franks, co-founder and CTO of Ubiquisys said: "Basically it was frustration from having no mobile phone coverage in my house except by my kitchen window.

"So to make a call I have to stand by my kitchen window or go outside, come rain, snow, or sun if I'm lucky, I'm outside in the garden making my phone calls."

3G in the home

The femtocell is like erecting your own mast in your living room.

First off, you will need to have a broadband connection at home, any connection speed will do. Then plug in the femtocell to your router and away you go.

You do not even need to leave your PC on.

The phone uses its 3G signal to reach the box, which sends your voice over the internet to your operator, who patches it through to the person you are calling as per usual.

When their voice hits your box it gets converted into a 3G signal inside your four walls, thus avoiding any nasty drop outs.

Useful, as around one in four mobile calls are made from home.

Up to four registered handsets can connect simultaneously to each femtocell which provides a more reliable data stream.

It only works with 3G handsets because the signals used by GRPS phones are different and often do not have the coverage problems experienced by 3G users.

Auto downloads

"It basically takes the cost to zero of data in the home for mobiles," said Mr Franks.

"So the idea of the service is that when you come home, automatically as you walk in the door, you'll get a couple of hours of TV loaded to your phone.

"So as soon as you leave home and you're on the tube or train, on your way to work, you've got a couple of hours of TV that you can watch."

The phone operators love the idea of us using our own broadband to get the call to them as it frees up their network.

They also think we would prefer to use our mobiles rather than our PCs or battery-draining wi-fi phones for internet calling.

It will help mobile operators head-off competition from Voip services like Skype.

So you may not be surprised to learn that some US and European operators plan to give you this box next year as part of your new mobile phone call plan.

It will come with free or cheap calls from home as part of the deal. Welcome to the Home Zone.