Crank up the Wi-Fi, bring in the femtocells

AT&T says it now has more than 20,000 Wi-Fi hotspots around the country in places like Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, McDonald's, hotels and airports. The Wi-Fi service is free for iPhone customers, as well as for those who have certain other smartphones. The use of Wi-Fi helps ease cellular network traffic, and is being encouraged by several wireless carriers now.


With increasing network congestion and data demands, wireless carriers are now welcoming, even encouraging, customers’ use of Wi-Fi on their smartphones. Some are also employing devices known as femtocells, which can boost cell coverage at home as well as take some pressure off networks.

AT&T, whose network is the most dramatically affected by its legion of iPhone users, has been testing femtocells in some cities, and may announce a femtocell service for its customers this week at the Las Vegas gathering of CTIA, the wireless trade industry association.

The nation's four largest cellular carriers — Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile — are planning to upgrade their networks to 4G, or fourth-generation, wireless which will handle larger amounts of data, such as video downloads or streaming music, more fluidly. But 4G networks will not be built out nationwide for at least a few years, and improvements are still being made to 3G, or third-generation, networks.
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