CES 2010: Manufacturers Rush To Integrated Femtocell Technology In Consumer Devices

Who will pay for femtocells, and how much? Revenue models are still emerging. But Vodafone already offers its UK customers two options. For instance, if you live in the UK, you can pay Vodafone £160 to purchase your very own femtocell gadget. Alternately, you can ink an 18-month contract with Vodafone, and you'll get a free femto device, along with a free, carrier-subsidized (and femtocell-compatible) cell phone, Baines said.

For femto compatibility, you'll need a GSM phone no matter where you live. In the wide expanse of turf that constitutes the US, femto-compatible phones will also be enabled with GPS, to let your cellular network know the location of your house.

You'll be able to take your femto with you when you travel. But it probably won't work if you rove outside of the state where you reside, said David I. Swift, senior manager for product marketing at Alcatel-Lucent, one of the manufacturers of home femtocell devices.

Carriers are tending to offer "pretty high-end phones from companies like HTC and Nokia" as part of their femto packages, according to Swift. One mobile carrier is planning to provide a subsidized iPhone, he added.

Prof. Simon Saunders, chairman of the Femtoforum, predicted that pricing on femtocell gadgets will drop to the tune of around 30% per year, much like pricing on Wi-Fi routers before them.

But David Nowicki, VP of marketing and product management for Airvana, said that mobile carriers might start instituting plans that charge extra fees for value-added services, or for smartphone users who make a lot of use of data services.

Panelists also foresaw the day when "femto" will get integrated into Wi-Fi routers, so you won't even need to own a separate femto box.

Mobile carriers will also offer bigger femtos to hotels and other businesses, Swift contended. Hotels might offer greater 3G and 2G reception to guests as a perq, much as hotels now use Wi-Fi services in hopes of gaining a competitive edge.