Vodafone continues to look for new ways to improve its service and is developing femtocells to enhance the connection to our network from inside our customers’ homes or small office locations.
What is a Femtocell?
A femtocell is a low power wireless access point that provides localised 3G coverage. ‘Femto’ means one quadrillionth in the metric measurement system, in the same way that ‘deci’ means a tenth and ‘centi’ means one hundredth. Femtocells do not literally cover an area a quadrillionth of the size of a regular base station, but are essentially very, very small versions of the same thing. They look similar to a wireless internet router and will be straightforward to install in your own home or at your office.
Radio signals inside buildings are sometimes weaker than outside because building construction or walls hinder the radio waves being transmitted to and from the base station. This can sometimes reduce the signal quality, and your handset has to use more power to connect to the base station.
Femtocells can improve coverage by connecting to the Vodafone network using your broadband connection. They then create a local mobile phone signal that allows connection with 3G mobile phones and devices. Typically, several mobile phones will be able to transmit data and calls through one femtocell at the same time.
Benefits
For Vodafone femtocells are a great way to increase our network coverage and capacity without necessarily installing more base stations. They will provide a high quality, high speed signal, giving improved voice calls and faster data downloads when you use your mobile phone inside, enabling you to access the latest services when at home or at the office. What’s more, thanks to the improved connection to the Vodafone network, the phone battery may last longer.
Femtocells and health
Like mobile phones, base stations and WiFi, femtocells use very low level radiofrequency (RF) fields to receive and transmit data. They must comply with the same safety limits for exposure to RF fields that apply to other wireless devices, which are set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).
As with mobile phones, there is no scientific evidence that the very low levels of RF exposure from femtocells can be harmful to health. Find out what the experts say about RF fields and health.
The power output of the RF fields that femtocells use is less than 0.1 watt, similar to other wireless home network equipment, such as a WiFi DSL router. Mobile phones connected to a femtocell will typically operate at a similar power level to other wireless phones used in the home.
What’s more, because femtocells could improve your handset’s connection to the Vodafone network, the handset will use less power and your RF exposure may actually reduce.
For more information visit www.femtoforum.org