Eideard

A technology startup backed by Google has unveiled the world’s first personal base station for international travelers, enabling them to cut roaming fees and make mobile calls like in a home country. Ubiquisys said the timing of devices reaching consumers depended on telecoms operators and it was in talks with several operators.

The telecom network base station, which is plugged into the travelers computer, is slightly larger than a smartphone, and needs an Internet connection…

The new device, called attocell, is designed for use with Apple’s iPhone, but it works also with Google’s Android phones, RIM’s Blackberry and Nokia’s smartphones.

Ubiquisys is one of the top firms in the new market for femtocells — small, low-power indoor base station for 3G mobile phone networks — enabling operators who struggle with network capacity to improve indoor coverage at a much lower cost…

The devices are plugged into a customer’s broadband Internet connection, like a wireless Internet base station, and allow users to make calls or use data services with their regular 3G mobile phones.

Phone service providers generally end up charging you their regular rates – even for home use. Home femtocells are especially useful for folks with mediocre service, insufficient tower coverage. This truly portable device seems like it should be a hit with business travelers.

In fact, there probably is a market for vacationers renting something like this to carry along on holiday.

Technology that improves mobile phone reception indoors is starting to break into the mass market as operators struggling with network congestion have started to distribute these devices for free.

A femtocell is a small, low-power indoor base station for 3G mobile phone networks, enabling operators who struggle with network capacity to improve indoor coverage at a much lower cost than the alternative of adding more large mobile phone towers.

The emerging femtocell market has so far remained a small business partly due to the high costs of technology, but this year the wholesale price has dropped below $100, enabling operators to give them away for free.

Google-backed Ubiquisys — one of the top firms in the new market — told Reuters it expects millions of femtocells using its technology to be sold next year, compared with 2010 volumes in hundreds of thousands…

“There have been some launches since summer and a few operators have started giving them away free to customers, like AT&T in some cities,” he said…

In addition to Ubiquisys, major technology firms like Cisco , Samsung Electronics, Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei make femtocells.

The devices are plugged into a customer’s broadband Internet connection, like a wireless Internet base station, and allow users to make calls or use data services with their regular 3G mobile phones.

With near $100 smartphones starting to hit the stores, and use of video on phones starting to proliferate, most telecoms operators around the world are struggling with network capacity.

Fearful of losing customers, only a few have publicly admitted to the problem of keeping pace with data traffic, but 63 percent are experiencing difficulties, a global survey of 30 operators by telecoms software firm Amdocs showed last week.

I’m not holding my breath; but, I guess I will call T-Mobile to see if I can wangle something like this out of them.

We haven’t had a landline in years. Mostly we use Skype. But, our T-Mobile cheapo Samsung phones are what we carry for use away from a computer or iPad around Lot 4.