Femtocells are essentially miniaturized base stations on a chip that are designed to
improve cellular coverage in homes, small businesses, and outdoor areas. A femtocell
is a small device that plugs into the location’s router so that the mobile traffic
is transmitted over the customer's wired broadband connection. The main benefit of
femtocells is improved indoor coverage where it is not uncommon for thick walls or
electromechanical interference to disrupt cellular signals. Femtocells can also be used
as a low-cost way for mobile carriers to fill in outdoor coverage gaps where they can
be installed on telephone poles.
Femtocell gear within a customer’s building consists of Access Points (APs) with
integrated antennas. Technicians are not required to set up and install femtocells; they
can be set up by the customer. The customer plugs the femtocell into a router, and then
logs on to the Internet to identify the mobile phone numbers that are allowed to use
the femtocell network. Setup at the carrier is highly automated. The access controller
(gateway) located in the carrier’s data center automatically configures the femtocell
and sends the necessary billing information to the carrier’s billing and maintenance
system.
This automated setup is referred to as zero-touch provisioning. It is a key ingredient
in lowering the cost of adding coverage. In addition, the equipment itself is less
costly than traditional, macrocell sites.
