Vodafone solves its lack of masts
with your broadband connection
I previously covered a Vodafone Femtocell,
but this is its new one, which also goes by exactly the same title as the
previous two models: Sure Signal.
While the previous designs looked very like
routers, this one is a much smaller device, where the power supply has been
integrated so it can be placed directly into a power socket.
What it does, simply put, is provide a
local 3G service for a mobile phone to use, routing the data in and out through
your broadband service, to which it's attached using an Ethernet cable. If it
was as simple as plugging it in, then that would be great, but it's never that
simple with mobile phone companies, is it?
Vodafone
Sure Signal
What you must then do is register the
device online using your Vodafone account page, and finally you must sanction
your actual phones to allow access. You can add up to 32 phones, which is a
pretty big household or a small business.
In use, eight phones can have simultaneous
access, though I've yet to work out how much bandwidth of your broadband that
would consume.
Range is about 30 meters, which should give
you a connection throughout a typical home and around the majority of gardens.
In the Vodafone documentation, it talks about 'tablet' computers, and it's true
that some like the 3G versions of the iPad could use it. If you have broadband,
though, surely you'd use much faster Wi-Fi, wouldn't you?
What's also slightly disappointing is that
if you use this device, you don't get any special deal on calls or data you get
through the service, even though you've provided your own infrastructure,
rather than Vodafone doing it.
In the USA it's been noted that there are
more Femtocells in use than real mobile masts, and because of this, most of the
providers accept a reduced cost (or free) calls when you use your own internet
connections to relay them.
In
use, the reduced size of the Sure Signal doesn't appear to have impacted on
what it can do, and the new Pass-Though power design allows you to reuse the
same socket that the router requires
In use, the reduced size of the Sure Signal
doesn't appear to have impacted on what it can do, and the new Pass-Though
power design allows you to reuse the same socket that the router requires.
However well the Sure Signal works, I'm
drawn to wonder why if you live in an area with poor Vodafone coverage you'd
have a contract with it. I guess you might be blessed with poor general
coverage, and if you can get broadband then this will certainly help. It would
also benefit someone who lives in London but in a basement flat that has little
or no reception.
The UK is still waiting for a
network-unlocked Femtocell to be launched, but in the meantime for Vodafone
customers, this is a viable alternative - even if a good part of the advantage
is for the mobile provider rather than the person paying for this device.
The
UK is still waiting for a network-unlocked Femtocell to be launched, but in the
meantime for Vodafone customers, this is a viable alternative
However, to balance that, it's worth noting
that Vodafone is the only UK mobile operator to publicly offer this type of
equipment, where others only offer it if their customers threaten to end their contracts.
I just hope networks can build on this product in the future.
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Information
§ Price: $160
§ Manufacturer:
Vodafone
§ Website: shop.
vodafone.co.uk/shop/ mobile-accessories/sure-signal
§ Required spec:
Vodafone contract and 3G mobile phone or 3G tablet computer, broadband
connection with a minimum speed of 1MB
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