Maybe I’m just lucky, but somehow I’ve always managed to have decent cell phone coverage at home.  Wireless carriers work hard to provide good coverage, but the nature of wireless communications makes that a very difficult task.  Over the years, I’ve had many conversations with people who complain that their cell phone works great when they’re out and about, but when they return home, they’re greeted with poor coverage.

For years now, the carriers have been installing equipment that I’ve always called “micro cells” into large commercial buildings, due to the fact that the frequencies used for mobile phones aren’t great at penetrating building materials like steel and concrete.  These micro cells are essentially small indoor cell towers, and help to improve signal strength inside of the building.

Fairly recently, carriers have been offering a device called a “Femtocell” that their customers can install in their homes.  The devices are about the same size as a cable modem or router, and act as a personal cell tower.  Calls are routed back to the wireless carrier over the users home broadband connection.

Unfortunately, these femtocell devices have been aimed at improving voice coverage and not data coverage.  Luckily, that may be changing!  I came across an article on Wired today that speculates (based upon documents files with the FCC) that Sprint is readying a femtocell that will provide 3G data service in addition to voice coverage to users on their network.  If it’s true, this could be great for smarphone users who live in poor coverage areas.