A Cell Tower In Every Home
The makers of MagicJack, the company that brought plug-and-play voice over ip to the old folks, is about to release a cheap (about $40) plug-and-play femtocell!
This femtocell, which is a cellular base station, is tiny and will hijack the signal from any cell phone within 3000 square feet.
(Just like the MagicJack, the customer plugs it into the usb port of any computer with internet access. All calls are routed through YMAX Voice Network, which owns the MagicJack. This time there’s no need for connecting a conventional phone or obtaining a separate VOIP phone number.)
For home users, this means free (20 dollars/year) phone calls on their existing mobile phones and perfect reception.
Nobody is thinking about the practical uses outside of the consumer. Every large building, every grocery store, every Department of Transportation tunnel should work on ways to adapt femtocell technology to their environment. Mobile voice communication is far beyond the point of ubiquity and customers notice when their phones hit zero bars.
I feel like a nerd for getting excited about this, but imagine running your own cell access point with a 40 dollar piece of hardware. In the past 50 years phone phreaking has never been so legal and innovative.
