The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

ip.access opens Oyster femtocell to the world

3G in the home

Ensure Ease of Recovery with Asigra’s Agentless Software

ip.access has launched a consumer-friendly 3G cell, called Oyster, that's designed to be plugged into the internet. Oyster routes normal 3G calls over the customer's broadband connection; supplying all the advantages of a VoIP solution with none of the complexity.

Simplicity of deployment is paramount with applications like this, so users just connect an Ethernet wire to the back of the box, which then configures itself to suit the local radio conditions and connects to the normal cellular network (via a management server, also supplied by ip.access).

The customer's handset connects to the femtocell, and the user makes calls as normal. Up to four simultaneous calls can be routed through the Oyster, which also supports HSDPA data connections.

The idea is that a network operator will offer the Oyster to customers, perhaps locked to one family's handsets, to reduce the load on their network and improve coverage. The box costs less than £150, and the operator might decide to give it away or subsidise the price.

It also negates the need for handsets to be equipped with Wi-Fi, which has never been an ideal network for mobile voice applications. ®

Cloud based data management

More from The Register

1,000 O2 staff chose redundancy over Capita
Betrayal, or just decent terms?
Google launches broadband balloons, radio astronomy frets
A careless Loon could blind the square kilometre array
 breaking news
Pttow! Ofcom kicks hams out of MoD bands
Geet off my land, you, you ... 'secondary user'
 breaking news
Now you can use your phone instead of your wallet at the ATM, too
Blimey, these little paper towels out of the vending machine are really expensive
 breaking news
UK.gov's £530m bumpkin broadband rollout: 'Train crash waiting to happen'
Whitehall whispers of damning watchdog report next month
 breaking news
MySpace zaps millions of teens' tearful rants, causes wave of angst
'Your crappy redesign SUCKS, I wanna read my blogs' screech users
 breaking news
Microsoft Office 365 on iPhone NOW: No, we're not making this up
Word, Excel, Powerpoint for your pocket-stroker
 breaking news
EU signs off on eCall emergency-phone-in-every-car plan
GPS and a mobe in every car - do you suppose the NSA would fancy that?