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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DanD who wrote (61789)	4/1/2007 12:50:01 PM
From: slacker711	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 197336

Aren't you trading wireless reliability for VOIP like reliability? How good is VOIP reliability? I still hesitate to go with a VOIP system because my internet, DSL or CABLE, still goes down pretty regularly. Good point about the dependance on your broadband reliability. I think I see this as a solution for those who have some coverage at home, but it is hit or miss or requires you to be in a particular part of the house. My sister falls into that category while living in a densely populated neighborhood in Chicago. In this situation, if your broadband connection goes down, you would fall back to your normal cell tower. You are right though, broadband reliability will be a limiting factor in the takeup of femtocells. I agree its a great product, and could be huge in a few years, but competition from WiFi enabled cell phones could also have an impact by then too. I see femtocells as possibly putting a large dent into WiFi enabled handset sales. The operators seem more likely to subsidize a femtocell than a WiFi enabled handset which can be easily ported to another operator or worse, be used in combination with something like Skype to enable free calls. This is really going to depend on the operators though. The wireless operators with fixed line operations are unlikely to want to push the use of femtocells....while Sprint and T-Mobile might bring new cheaper voice plans. I can imagine that flat-rate home calling plans might be an option that would be attractive. Slacker