Access point base station

In telecommunications, a femtocell is a small, low-power cellular base station, typically designed for use in a home or small business. A broader term which is more widespread in the industry is small cell, with femtocell as a subset. It is also called femto AccessPoint(AP). It connects to the service provider’s network via broadband (such as DSL or cable); current designs typically support four to eight simultaneously active mobile phones in a residential setting depending on version number and femtocell hardware, and eight to 16 mobile phones in enterprise settings. A femtocell allows service providers to extend service coverage indoors or at the cell edge, especially where access would otherwise be limited or unavailable. Although much attention is focused on WCDMA, the concept is applicable to all standards, including GSM, CDMA2000, TD-SCDMA, WiMAX and LTE solutions.

Use of femtocells benefits both the mobile operator and the consumer. For a mobile operator, the attractions of a femtocell are improvements to both coverage, especially indoors, and capacity. Coverage is improved because femtocells can fill in the gaps and eliminate loss of signal through buildings. Capacity is improved by a reduction in the number of phones attempting to use the main network cells and by the off-load of traffic through the user's network (via the internet) to the operator's infrastructure. Instead of using the operator's private network (microwave links, etc.), the internet is used. Because 3G networks breath, offloading to femtocells extends a networks physical coverage distance from each tower.

Consumers and small businesses benefit from greatly improved coverage and signal strength since they have a de facto base station inside their premises. As a result of being relatively close to the femtocell, the mobile phone (user equipment) expends significantly less power for communication with it, thus increasing battery life. They may also get better voice quality via (HD voice) depending on a number of factors such as operator/network support, customer contract/price plan, phone and operating system support. Some carriers may also offer more attractive tariffs, for example discounted calls from home.

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