Well, it works, I can make calls in my home and both mobile phones have been registered - although it took a couple of calls to get that sorted out. And I never received my confirmation SMS...
But there is one very worrying development. When my femtocell is on, my WiFi network does not work properly. The signal becomes very weak and I can't always get on the Internet. This is resolved by unplugging the femtocell...
So what's at fault here? My WiFi network, or the femtocell? I did assume the two would not interfere with one another but this is too much of a coincidence to ignore. What can I do? I have no control over where they are located as the broadband router has to be connected to both...
Total Telecom provides news and analysis for global telecom professionals. This blog brings together the obscure and the interesting from our editorial and commercial teams.
Friday, 30 October 2009
Friday, 23 October 2009
Trialling femtocells
I've just started trialling a femtocell in my home. It's the Access Gateway from Vodafone UK. So far, it's great. Although I live in central London the mobile reception in my home is appalling. Now, after having registered my mobile number with the gateway, I get a strong signal indoors and all being well will never miss a mobile call or text again!
Trialling the femtocell, and thinking about how it can be used, certainly brings into perspective the conundrum faced by mobile operators with the femtocell business model. It is great for coverage indoors if like me you suffer from poor access to the macro network. But other than that, if you already have WiFi, why would you need a femtocell for anything else? Even my mobile broadband service would be no use to me if my fixed connection went down as I need the fixed broadband for the femtocell backhaul...
Home networking perhaps? Offloading traffic? Hard to see it at the moment. But an all-singing, all-dancing router with WiFi, cellular, and home networking support- now you're talking.
While installing my femtocell I also tested my broadband speed: 11 Mbps on the downlink! Way to go, Virgin Media! Shame the uplink is still below 1 Mbps though.
Trialling the femtocell, and thinking about how it can be used, certainly brings into perspective the conundrum faced by mobile operators with the femtocell business model. It is great for coverage indoors if like me you suffer from poor access to the macro network. But other than that, if you already have WiFi, why would you need a femtocell for anything else? Even my mobile broadband service would be no use to me if my fixed connection went down as I need the fixed broadband for the femtocell backhaul...
Home networking perhaps? Offloading traffic? Hard to see it at the moment. But an all-singing, all-dancing router with WiFi, cellular, and home networking support- now you're talking.
While installing my femtocell I also tested my broadband speed: 11 Mbps on the downlink! Way to go, Virgin Media! Shame the uplink is still below 1 Mbps though.
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Joost UK enters liquidation
The U.K. arm of online video service Joost announced on Wednesday it has gone into liquidation.
"The company had failed to sustain a significant share of the Internet video industry and was unable to address this effectively through a re-positioning of its services," said Joost UK in a brief statement emailed to Total Telecom.
In what could be other signs of its protracted demise, the struggling P2P video firm announced in July it was retreating from the consumer market and would instead focus on providing white label solutions to enable media companies to publish their own Internet video content.
The reorganisation also saw the replacement of CEO Mike Volpi with Matt Zelesko, Joost's senior vice president of engineering.
Although Wednesday's announcement concerns one Joost subsidiary, the company launched by Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis has recently become embroiled in a wider dispute with its ex-CEO.
In September Volpi was removed as chairman and became the subject to an internal investigation.
A week later it emerged that Joost, along with another Zennstrom and Friis company, Joltid, was suing him for breach of fiduciary duty by allegedly using confidential information to strike a deal with eBay to sell its 65% stake in Skype to a group of private investors.
"The company had failed to sustain a significant share of the Internet video industry and was unable to address this effectively through a re-positioning of its services," said Joost UK in a brief statement emailed to Total Telecom.
In what could be other signs of its protracted demise, the struggling P2P video firm announced in July it was retreating from the consumer market and would instead focus on providing white label solutions to enable media companies to publish their own Internet video content.
The reorganisation also saw the replacement of CEO Mike Volpi with Matt Zelesko, Joost's senior vice president of engineering.
Although Wednesday's announcement concerns one Joost subsidiary, the company launched by Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis has recently become embroiled in a wider dispute with its ex-CEO.
In September Volpi was removed as chairman and became the subject to an internal investigation.
A week later it emerged that Joost, along with another Zennstrom and Friis company, Joltid, was suing him for breach of fiduciary duty by allegedly using confidential information to strike a deal with eBay to sell its 65% stake in Skype to a group of private investors.
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Viennese whirl
I'm in Vienna at the moment, hearing about Telekom Austria's strategy for both its fixed and mobile units. It's interesting how much more subdued the company has become since Boris Nemsic left - but that's not just because Nemsic left of course. The company has been forced to sooth ruffled shareholder feathers over its expansion strategy - investors accused the operator of empire building, according to CFO Hans Tschuden. Now the focus is on cash flow, dividends and shareholder value. The mini mobile empire is to be retained, but there are no plans to expand it further. No wonder Nemsic left really - it must have become a very dull place for him. Instead he has gone to stir things up at Russian mobile operator Vimpelcom!
Saturday, 10 October 2009
World Vendor Awards Launched
Total Telecom have launched the World Vendor Awards - recognising excellence and innovation amongst telecom hardware and software vendors.
Initial response suggests this could very quickly become as significant as the World CommunicationAwards - which are now in their 11th year - so don't miss out, check out the categories today at www.worldvendorawards.com
Monday, 5 October 2009
It's quiet on the Geneva front...
Unaccustomed as I am to finding a spare seat in the press room on day 1 of Telecom World in Geneva...
Well, yes, as predicted it's quiet here. But that's not to say it's not been worth coming. I think a lot of the exhibitors will be pretty fed up if traffic doesn't increase in the next few days, but the Forum is well attended and there are plenty of people to meet from a media point of view. But as one media rep just said, the ITU should probably now forget about the exhibition part and just have it as a Forum, because it's a good platform for debate at a pretty high level.
The ITU is already advertising Telecom World 2011 - apparently it will be the 40th anniversary of Telecom World. I hope the ITU learns from this year's event and cuts its cloth accordingly, though.
The great thing is that all the events and exhibitors have been squeezed into halls 1-4, and as anyone familiar with the Palexpo will know, that means much less walking than normal!
Who mentioned tumbleweed...?
Well, yes, as predicted it's quiet here. But that's not to say it's not been worth coming. I think a lot of the exhibitors will be pretty fed up if traffic doesn't increase in the next few days, but the Forum is well attended and there are plenty of people to meet from a media point of view. But as one media rep just said, the ITU should probably now forget about the exhibition part and just have it as a Forum, because it's a good platform for debate at a pretty high level.
The ITU is already advertising Telecom World 2011 - apparently it will be the 40th anniversary of Telecom World. I hope the ITU learns from this year's event and cuts its cloth accordingly, though.
The great thing is that all the events and exhibitors have been squeezed into halls 1-4, and as anyone familiar with the Palexpo will know, that means much less walking than normal!
Who mentioned tumbleweed...?
Thursday, 1 October 2009
India to hit half a billion mobile subs this year
India's telecoms minister Andimuthu Raja predicts that the country will hit 500 million mobile subscribers during 2009.
Raja made the comments on Thursday at an industry conference, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
The country's previous target saw it reaching the half-billion mark in 2010.
According to the latest figures from the TRAI, India's total mobile customer base stood at 456.74 million at the end of August, with over 15 million new subscribers having been added during that month.
If it maintains that level of customer addition, India should break the 500 million barrier in November.
Raja made the comments on Thursday at an industry conference, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
The country's previous target saw it reaching the half-billion mark in 2010.
According to the latest figures from the TRAI, India's total mobile customer base stood at 456.74 million at the end of August, with over 15 million new subscribers having been added during that month.
If it maintains that level of customer addition, India should break the 500 million barrier in November.
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