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Intro 

The Airave is a femtocell that is being offered by Sprint and its technology partner Samsung. The basic idea is to improve cellular coverage in your home or office. Is that what it does?

Before we dive into our experience with the Airave, let's talk a little about how this bit of magic works. A femtocell is essentially a tiny little cell tower that creates a wireless cell about the size of an average house. It is large enough to cover 5000 square feet. Though the hardware itself is the same size (and appearance) as any garden variety Wi-Fi router, it acts a little bit differently.

When you buy the Airave, it will be configured and set up at a Sprint store so that it will work when you get it home. You'll have to register the main cellular account you'd like it tied to, and you can permit up to three other Sprint wireless lines to access the Airave.

With the Airave up and running, it uses your broadband Internet connection (required) to communicate with Sprint's network. Unlike T-Mobile's HotSpot @Home service, which uses Wi-Fi and a different technology called UMA, the Airave emits standard cellular signals. When in range, your cell phone latches onto the Airave instead of the local cell towers (if there are any), and uses your broadband to pass calls and data to Sprint's network. Calls will be automatically transferred to Sprint's regular cellular network once the cell phone ranges away from the Airave's coverage area.

On the surface, it seems pretty straight forward and simple. But how was the actual experience?

Set Up 

The Airave is small and compact. You'll have no problem finding a spot for it in your office. The review unit I used came pre-configured, so that means I didn't have to set it up at a Sprint store. Every other aspect of my time with it was as any normal consumer would experience.

First, I tested Sprint's signal without the Airave. Using a Samsung Upstage, a Motorola VE20 and a Sanyo Katana Eclipse, I determined that the average amount of coverage provided in my test area (aka, my house) is two bars of service. This is consistent with the findings of every Sprint phone I've ever tested in Morris Country, NJ.

First I tested the signal in every room in my house, including the attic and basement. This chart shows you what I recorded.

After I determined these baseline levels, I conducted some more tests. Standing in my office, I made a voice call with each phone, waited for it to connect, and then walked down stairs, outside and down the street. Once outside, Sprint's signal improved to three bars. It didn't go any higher than that on any of the three test phones. These phones use a mix of EVDO and 1X for data. During this test we noted that call quality of all three calls was about even, though the Motorola VE20 sounded a bit better than the Katana Eclipse and Upstage.

I then performed a similar test surfing the Web. I opened a data connection in my office, and then continued to surf the Web while walking outside and down the street. Though the coverage improved, there was no noticeable improvement in surfing speeds.

After determining our controls, we then went ahead and set up the Airave.

Benchmark  

Setting up the Airave really couldn't be any simpler. Take it out of the box, plug it into a power outlet, plug it into your Internet router, and the Airave takes care of the rest...eventually.

Don't expect to get the Airave up and running in several minutes. That just isn't going to happen. The user manual says that initial configuration may take as long as an hour. For me, it took closer to 90 minutes.

Once the Airave detects a WAN Ethernet signal, it starts communicating with Sprint's network. It also has an internal GPS unit to help locate where on earth it is. It uses all this information to figure out where the closest cell towers are. The Airave regulates itself so that it won't interfere with the existing wireless network that may or may not be surrounding your house.

The Airave I tested took a long time to find the GPS signal, and even longer to go through the configuration process. It's best that you plug it in, and then walk away for a while. At least you don't have to tie it to your computer, or install software or anything else. Just plug it in, and wait. Once all the lights on the front are blue, you're good to go.

Airave  

Results 

With the Airave fully configured and operational, I re-performed each of the calling and surfing tests I did earlier. In my office (and about 6 feet from the Airave) the Upstage had full signal strength. (I couldn't use the other two phones for this part of the testing, since they were not set up by Sprint to be able to access the Airave).

With an active call, I walked all over my house, into each room and checked out the signal strength. In most rooms, it was better than during the control. All the upstairs rooms and the attic enjoyed full strength, or 5 of 6 bars on the UpStage.

The first floor lost a little bit of coverage, but it still averaged out to be 3 or 4 bars per room. The basement presented some challenges, and signal dropped to about two bars there. (Sprint's normal signal level in my basement is usually zero bars or one bar).

In other words, there was a definite signal improvement everywhere in the house. Quite truthfully, I expected that the enhanced coverage would range a bit outside my house, too. But it didn't.

Using the UpStage, I made a call and went for a walk. Samsung and Sprint say the Airave works in a 5000 square foot area, which measures approximately 70 by 70 feet. That area is more than large enough to cover my home. Literally the second I stepped out of my front door, coverage dropped from full strength to two bars. I walked back in and out a few times, each time with the same results. As soon as I left the house, the strong signal from the Airave vanished.

(For comparison sake, it is worth noting that my laptop can detect Wi-Fi signals from my router — which is in the same spot in my house as the Airave — all the way down my street. Also, my house is made of brick.)

As soon as I stepped outside, whether it be my front door or back door, I lost that enhanced coverage almost immediately. This was a bit of a disappointment.

Calls sounded no different when using the Airave compared to my original tests. I heard the same small amount of noises and low level of hiss. Web surfing speeds were not noticeably improved, either. CNN took about 7 seconds to load with the standard Sprint signal, and it took 6 seconds to load with the Airave active. Google consistently loaded in 5 seconds without Airave, and averaged 4.5 seconds with Airave. While this is an improvement, it is pretty much negligible.

Results  

Conclusion 

The Airave does accomplish its marketed claims: It boosts in-home cellular coverage. There's no doubt that the number of bars I saw on the UpStage improved throughout my house with the Airave on. It did not, however, improve the quality of voice calls, nor did it really speed up or improve the mobile browsing experience.

This product is probably most suited to those who have little to no coverage at all in their homes. I've never had problems making phone calls or surfing the Web from my house using Sprint's existing cellular network. If you have no Sprint coverage at all, then the Airave is something you'll definitely get some good usage out of. If you have moderate coverage, however, it isn't worth the extra money you'll need to shell out each month to be able to use it.

Speaking about pricing, the Airave itself costs $99. You'll then have to pay a $5-per-month Enhanced Coverage fee. You can also choose to add single-line unlimited calling for the Airave for $10 per mohth, or multiple lines for $20 per month. This lets you talk as much as you want when you're at home and covered by the Airave's signal.

If you have a family with teenagers, this could be well worth it. For $25 per month, you get unlimited talk time in your house for up to four lines (on top of any existing plan charges, of course).

For a single person, you'd be paying $15 for unlimited calling at home. Compare this to Sprint's $99 Simply Everything plan, and it may be a good deal if you do most of your talking at home.

view article organized across multiple pages

Eric has been covering the mobile telecommunications industry for 17 years at various print and online publications. He studied at Rutgers Newark and University of Kentucky, and has a degree in writing. He likes playing guitar, attending concerts, listening to music, and driving sports cars.

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