Our good friend and colleague, Jim Calloway, entered a blog post about his “discovery” of a shared wireless data connection. Jim apparently has a Sprint data plan and was all excited about the mobile hotspot device that they offered. This technology has existed for a couple of years now, but we thought that it would be appropriate to mention some of the wireless capabilities that exist today.
First off, there are the femtocell devices, which extend the cellular voice network to those areas where the cell towers can’t reach. Essentially, they are mini cell towers to allow voice access in remote and desolate areas. We have had personal experience where our Verizon network wasn’t available at the lake house of Sharon’s parents in N.H. We connect up a Verizon femtocell device to our Internet connection and we can have up to 5 Verizon phones access the cellular network. The other cellular vendors have similar equipment to “extend” their cellular coverage to any place that has an Internet connection. Effectively, this looks to the phone as a mini cellular tower. Cost of these devices is around $200 to $300 and this offers a great way to have cellular voice access while in a fringe coverage area. Perhaps if every AT&T customer plugged in a femtocell, there would be acceptable coverage for the iPhone.
The other option is to extend the data coverage. This is the type of device that Jim spoke about in his blog post. You buy a WiFi (also known as MiFi) hot spot device that connects to your cellular provider’s data network and shares up to 5 WiFi connected devices. They share this data “cell” by creating a WiFi hotspot that uses an EVDO, 3G or 4G broadband data connection to the network, depending on the carrier. These WiFi deices typically cost $300 plus and share the subscriber’s wireless data connection. Check out the carrier’s promotions and you may be able to get the hardware for free.
These devices and services are a cost effective alternative to dedicated services, but may not be for everybody. Thanks Jim for reminding us that we can share our cellular voice and data connections if we elect to do so. It just takes another piece of hardware and a few more bucks.
- John and Mike
(703)359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com
