What to ask before you buy a femtocell

Introduction

Femtocells are all the rage.   These tiny cellular radios promise to improve in-building cellular coverage and are primarily targeted at the home user.  However, some vendors are now building enterprise femtocells.  Should you consider femtocell deployment in order to improve your cellular coverage?  This article identifies the key questions you should ask before you buy a [...]

My wicked bad Verizon adventure

I normally focus my blog entries on wireless and mobility issues, but today I must digress and tell you about my wicked bad Verizon adventure. For those of you who are not from the greater Boston area, the word “wicked” is local vernacular for “very”, as in, “The new Star Trek movie was wicked good!”

My sad story begins on Wednesday when business associates began asking me, “Hey Paul, did you leave the Burton Group?” Apparently, when they dialed my business number Verizon no longer rang my phone, but instead, rang a phone at Caldwell Banker. Sure enough, when I dialed my number, I was connected to a very nice lady at Caldwell Banker (Roxanne) who had been receiving all of my phone calls. To my great surprise, Roxanne was very sympathetic and offered to refer all incoming callers to my mobile phone number. How many people would take the time to do that? Continue reading My wicked bad Verizon adventure

Let’s be clear about Clearwire

Clearwire recently announced the completion of the Sprint Nextel transaction and the formation of the new Clearwire Corporation.  In addition, they received $3.2 Billion from Comcast, Intel, Time Warner Cable, Google and Bright House Networks. As expected, their conference call emphasized all the positive aspects of the deal.  Namely, they own lots of spectrum, they are building an all-IP network that is “open”, and will use fourth generation (4G) mobile WiMAX technology (IEEE 802.16e).  I’d love to see a nationwide 4G mobile network, but let’s be clear about some of the challenges facing Clearwire. Continue reading Let’s be clear about Clearwire