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Between this site and our sister site Prepaid Reviews, I get a good deal of questions about cellular service. The questions run the gamut from devices to service. But the most frequent query I see is, “What can I do if I don’t get cell reception in my house, but get it right outside my house?” That’s always a tough one, because there are really only two answers. One, deal with it. Two, buy one of those $300 to $500 antennas you mount on the outside of your house. However, over the past year we’ve been seeing femtocell projects. This is a technology that uses your home Internet service to augment cellular service. Sprint has been running trials of it, and it appears Verizon will soon be running their own.

That’s the femtocell router, pretty much the same size as a standard broadband router. When in range, your calls will be routed over your broadband connection. This is an opportunity for carriers to expand their coverage areas without having to build a ton of towers.

Sprint eventually plans to offer the service for $15 per month. The router will cost $50, but word is that’s a subsidized cost. Which means, of course, that you’ll be stuck signing a contract.

There’s small femtocell news appearing routinely on the Internet, so it can be tough to keep up. Surely, though, we’ll stay on top of Sprint’s and Verizon’s developments.

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