Sprint Nextel Corp. customers can get better wireless coverage in their homes or offices with the Sprint AIRAVE by Samsung, to launch Aug. 17. The product is the first commercially available femtocell, a mini cell tower that works with any Sprint phone and a broadband Internet connection, Sprint (NYSE: S) and Samsung Telecommunications America LLC said in a Wednesday release. The devices, which will be available at Sprint stores nationwide for $99.99, create a licensed signal to improve wireless coverage as much as 5,000 square feet. http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2008/07/28/daily30.html This is awesome, to bad they charge you for using it. 4.99 a month and if you don't want to use your minutes, it cost another 10.00 dollars a month or 20.00 for families.
Pricing dose not seem bad at all, cheaper then having a landline. If I do move back to SoCal I will have to try this. Sprint's signal inside my uncle's house is barely usable.
I have already seen a couple of early reviews and so far so good. I might just pick one of these up myself in the near future so that I can get better incoming call reliability because of my NID border situation.
Sneaky Sneaky. Lol. Like budney said, since you got an awesome deal. we'll be waiting for your review on it. I was a little skeptical on how it will work because its made by samsung and people always complain about their phones.
Well I got an order confirm email from Sprint today, but UPS dosent even have that info yet. I am hoping to have it by the end of the week. And, I will HAPPILY write a review, as I have been waiting for this damn thing to come out for years.
Does anyone know if a call could be handed off between two Airaves? One of these things won't cover my house so would Sprint let me have 2 and would it make any sense to do that or should I get one and just stay in the rooms it covers? Out of curiosity would Sprint MVNO's be able to use the Airave? Would a phone from another carrier be able to roam on it? Finally, Yankees - You are month to month I assume? Thanks
Awesome, if your review is good and you like it, I might just switch over. Don't know about this, they might, but it could interfere with each other I would think. With letting other people roam, once again, maybe, I really haven't found any reviews or features. But, based on that they have the plans on it, I would think so because you can use it without having to get those plans they have. I'll try and look for some info about it.
Ok let me know what you find out. I'm looking around too. Either way I still want to get an Airave so at least I could get reliable coverage in part of my house. The repeater I have works well enough, but I can't wait to give that up and switch to the Airave.
From what I understand, MVNOs like Virgin mobile will be able to use the airave for Voice calls only, not for data. I'm not sure how having 2 airaves in the same range will work, if at all. However, I inquired about getting 2 of them, but Sprint would only provide me with 1 for free, not 2. And no, I was not month to month, I had a couple of months left in my contract.
Well thanks for the reply. My coverage at home is pathetic, but I do have a repeater. I would happily get rid of that if I could get the Airave. I wouldn't mind paying for the unit, but I think paying a monthly fee to Sprint for using my own cable connection and power to fix their lack of coverage is an insult. Would retentions not care about retaining me since I'm on SERO? I guess it doesn't hurt to call and ask, I would just like to have an idea what to expect.
This sounds great for people that have Sprint. Does anybody know if AT&T is coming out with something like this? AT&T's coverage at my house is almost useless and I have a repeater set up, but it doesn't really work for some reason. I have a lot of issues with it.
Yep. I spent about 20 minutes on the phone with Sprint just now, but my Airave is on the way free of charge. It sounded like the rep was setting me up for unlimited calling when using the Airave, also free of charge. I was surprised by that, since I thought I would be given the most basic Airave plan.
Well, I recieved my airave in the mail today! Set up was fairly simple, and I am currently up and running. I will do some more testing throughout the day, and then write up a full review.
