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Sprint's Airave Femtocell Now Available Across the U.S.

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I pay Sprint $5/month?

asmithmd1

Jul 29, 2008, 11:28 AM
Ok, let me get this straight. I buy a piece of equipment and attach it to my internet connection so that my cell phone works better. Sprint gets the benefit of my not trying up their expensive spectrum and for this privilege I now have to pay Sprint an additional $5/month AND the minutes still count against plan unless I pay another fee?

This is the kind of thinking that is driving Sprint out of business. Anyone want to bet how long until they are bankrupt or acquired? I say Verizon acquires Sprint within 2 years.
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PoisonEye

Jul 29, 2008, 11:57 AM
You're still tying up Sprint's spectrum. How else would it work with any current Sprint phone?? I could see Sprint giving these things away and comping the monthly fee to save customers whose only complain is poor service at home. It wouldn't make sense to give them away to just anyone though.

As for Verizon acquiring Sprint...I think the FCC disagrees with you.
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asmithmd1

Jul 29, 2008, 12:19 PM
You are right, I am using Sprint's spectrum inside my home or office. But their tower antenna is free to service someone else - oops I mean TowerCo's antenna.

So what is Sprint's core value now that they just lease towers? They just turned themselves into the world's biggest MVNO
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PoisonEye

Jul 29, 2008, 12:27 PM
You should read more about that transaction. Sprint still owns the antennas, coax, radios, etc. They just no longer own the real estate and the tower structure itself. Do you think they own every apartment building they are on in a downtown metro area? They lease the roof space. It's really no big deal to sell towers (ATT and VZW don't own very many at this point, if any). BTW, when you see a tower with 5 antenna arrays on it, who do you think owns that? Either the carrier whose antennas are at the top, or a company like TowerCo. Every other carrier is just leasing the space.

Sprint (CDMA) really has no capacity concerns, so freeing up a few calls here and there really isn't the purpose of this. I do agree that the $5/mo is silly...if you...
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JeffdaBeat

Jul 29, 2008, 12:37 PM
I think one thing that also needs to be considered is that no cell phone company says that your phone will work indoors or around very large buildings. It's just gotten to the point where service is good enough to get through buildings, but never has that been something that Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile guarentee with their service. So, yes, a person should have to pay extra to have something that is not promised by a provider.
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oreba

Jul 29, 2008, 4:28 PM
I think you guys are misunderstaning..

The advantages of femtocells are the following
1) Offload traffic from the network
2) Better value proposition for the consumer as they are using their own backhaul (broadband connection) for making calls, which should be not considered as part of your monthly minutes plan.

If Sprint is asking $5 bucks/monthh and still deducting minutes from your current plan, it would clearly be a downfall for them..

My 2 cents,

Oreba
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SprintTechMN

Jul 30, 2008, 9:18 AM
In responce to #2.
It's not really doing a whole lot to "remove" traffic from the network. Just off of the next closest tower. Most of the transaction that happens during a call is over IP. The tower is just your connection to the netowrk.
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colincampbell

Jul 29, 2008, 12:40 PM
While I agree that the Airave should be offered as a value-add for the customer as Sprint's frequency range has a greater difficulty penetrating dense foliage areas or operating indoors when compared to AT&T or Verizon, but let's face it, all carriers have coverage problems indoors.

When you consider the cost of installing in house repeater, and the rate of change in the wireless industry, $5/mo is a much cheaper alternative.
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PoisonEye

Jul 29, 2008, 12:48 PM
Yeah, but I'd like it if it was more like getting a cable modem for high speed internet. Either buy it for $100 or pay $5 a month to rent it. You should have to pay, but maybe less. Like I said before though, I could see Sprint giving these away and waiving the monthly fee in order to save customers whose only complaint is poor coverage at home. If that's the case, then they are doing the right thing by making others pay a bit more. It prevents people from getting one just because they want 5 bars rather than 2.
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xjittianx

Jul 29, 2008, 3:08 PM
colincampbell said:
While I agree that the Airave should be offered as a value-add for the customer as Sprint's frequency range has a greater difficulty penetrating dense foliage areas or operating indoors when compared to AT&T or Verizon, but let's face it, all carriers have coverage problems indoors.


Of course besides with T-Mobile with your high speed internet. I'm actually surprized no one has brought it up yet.

When you consider the cost of installing in house repeater, and the rate of change in the wireless industry, $5/mo is a much cheaper alternative.


T-Mobile has had their hotspot@home out for almost a year now, which essentially is the same thing as the airave but ...
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DenSprintMan

Jul 29, 2008, 2:52 PM
I actually think this keeps Sprint in business because it allows people to keep service in locations that would otherwise not have service. Just think about having great service in locations that would not normally have service or have limited service. In the mountains or in remote areas that don't have many cell phone providers.

Also, you have to understand that the Airave works with EVERY CDMA Sprint phone that we have. That's AWESOME!!!!
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asmithmd1

Jul 29, 2008, 3:03 PM
I agree, I think it is a cool piece of technology. And I agree it would be cool to be able to bring Sprint service to a remote area where I already pay for high speed internet. What I object to is paying Sprint rent (twice! - once for the minutes and $5 extra per month) for the privilege of using a piece of equipment I bought from them and connected to my backhaul.

If they had any imagination they would not only let me use it for free but refund me .01/minute of use that goes through it. If they did this tons of people would buy them and set them up in known dead spots. Every restaurant, coffee house, and music venue would suddenly have great Sprint service. Instead Sprint just tries to milk another $5-$10/month from their existing c...
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GravityFails

Jul 29, 2008, 3:11 PM
Just think about the gall required for a company to sell you an extra $100 piece of equipment simply to bring their service on par with the rest of the industry. And then to charge you a monthly fee for the privilege of using it.

No, the OP is right; this is exactly a symptom of Sprint's clueless, hopeless business model. I know the "works with all Sprint phones" thing is supposed to trump T-Mobile's Hotspot@Home wi-fi service, but Hotspot@Home works with any wireless router, plus offers unlimited calling from any wireless hotspot if you sign up for the service. In other words, it doesn't have to be a T-Mobile hotspot.

I've got two T-Mo hotspot phones; one for the house, and one for me, and it works great. Sprint needed to step u...
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jrfdsf

Jul 29, 2008, 4:04 PM
GravityFails said:
Just think about the gall required for a company to sell you an extra $100 piece of equipment simply to bring their service on par with the rest of the industry. And then to charge you a monthly fee for the privilege of using it.


Considering the fact that what Sprint is offering is not in fact a "hotspot" but an indoor repeater that is hundreds of dollars cheaper than comparable indoor solutions offered by companies like Wilson, I'd say it's a good deal.

Dead zones and poor indoor signals are a reality across the board, not just Sprint who is trying to "get their service on par" with everyone else.

Gravity Fails said:
No, the OP is right; this is exactly a symptom
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GravityFails

Jul 29, 2008, 10:39 PM
I'm not trying to be glib, but from your post it doesn't seem like you're familiar with how the Hotspot@home feature works.

Hotspot doesn't require an additional phone to carry around per se; you buy a phone that's UMA-compatible, and it works on both the cell network and UMA networks. You buy one phone, and you're good all over the place, with seamless handoffs between networks.

The Airave's limitations are underscored by the fact that it's a repeater; you have to have a serviceable signal to begin with, and many places simply don't. I live in an area with no Sprint or T-Mobile cell coverage whatsoever, yet I can use T-Mobile as a reliable home phone because of my reliable broadband service, which I'm paying for anyway. So T-Mob...
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SprintTechMN

Jul 30, 2008, 9:33 AM
GravityFails said:Sure, the Airave will have its proponents, but it's not going to be enough for Sprint. Don't worry, I'll save you a seat on the T-Mo bus when you're looking for a new provider next year. 😉


I appreciate my high speed internet access anywhere I go to hop off this buss.
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akidwai

Jul 30, 2008, 9:40 AM
In the spirit of full disclosure, I want everyone to know that I am a Verizon customer so I do not have an ax to grind here.

I would understand it if Sprint was charging $5 per month if one choose not to buy the equipment for $100 outright (I have chosen to rent $5 per month for my cable modem instead of paying $200 upfront and loosing free on site tech service if the modem goes bad which it did 10 months ago -- got a new modem at no cost 10 months ago).

But to pay $100 and then pay monthly $5 does not make sense unless those calls from home on the repeater did not count against your monthly minutes; i.e. pay $5 per month for 'unlimited' calls on your repeater. I would see this 'unlimited' feature as a savy business move to keep curre...
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PoisonEye

Jul 30, 2008, 9:56 AM
"The Airave's limitations are underscored by the fact that it's a repeater; you have to have a serviceable signal to begin with, and many places simply don't."

That is not true. The Airave is a Femtocell. It doesn't require a usable Sprint signal at all, only a high speed internet connection. It generates the CDMA carrier itself. It's basically a Hotspot@Home that you don't need a special phone for. The drawback is that you can't just jump on any wifi that's available...but I didn't think you could do that with Tmobile's offering either.
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BRSprint

Jul 30, 2008, 10:44 AM
I actually think it is you who does not understand how Airave compares to hotspot @home...

The Airave is not a repeater... It actually uses your internet connection to create a signal and converts your voice calls into VOIP, and then transmits them over your connection. That is why the device has a range of 5,000 feet. It is actually the signal footprint that is 5,000 ft, not the distance within a signal it must be to "repeat" it. Therefore the Airave is closer to a "mini"-cell tower than a repeater. Unlike Hotspot @home, the Airave is compatible with ALL Sprint Devices...

The Hotspot@home is nothing more than a wifi-router that only works for cell phones. It requires a specific phone to work, as it is not compatible with all t-mobile ...
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jrfdsf

Jul 30, 2008, 12:09 PM
BRSprint said:
I actually think it is you who does not understand how Airave compares to hotspot @home...

The Airave is not a repeater... It actually uses your internet connection to create a signal and converts your voice calls into VOIP, and then transmits them over your connection. That is why the device has a range of 5,000 feet. It is actually the signal footprint that is 5,000 ft, not the distance within a signal it must be to "repeat" it. Therefore the Airave is closer to a "mini-cell tower than a repeater. Unlike Hotspot @home, the Airave is compatible with ALL Sprint Devices...

The Hotspot@home is nothing more than a wifi-router that only works for cell phones. It requires a specific phone to work, as it is
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