Have you counted how many phone network providers promise unlimited talktime and better reception? Well the latest to join the bandwagon is Sprint.
Sprint Nextel Corp is trying to sell its customers Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s( 005930.SE) Airave boxes - also known as femtocells, with the promise of better reception. These boxes apparently act like tiny cellular towers, so you never have to worry that you might be out of network range. With these boxes, you will literally be carrying your network with you. An added bonus to owning these boxes is that calls made at home would not be charged.
This call from home without paying feature in a way makes your cell phone similar to a landline. Because to avail of this offer, you need to be making calls from home base. The Airave box comes at a cost of $50. For families looking to save up a little on phone bills there is some good news, they can pay an additional monthly fee of $15 - or $30, to make unlimited calls from their cellphone at home.
If all this sounds like a great deal, there is one additional expense to it. You will need to invest in a handset that runs on both cellular and Wi-Fi technology.
So far the service will only be available in Denver and Indianapolis, but expect other carriers to follow suit. If network coverage is really as good as they claim it to be, then we can all expect to own our own little Airave boxes that are compatible with our existent handsets. Is Sprint listening?
