Optus's femtocell device, the Home Zone. When plugged in to a broadband connection, it creates a 3G network. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied
OPTUS has launched a new product to fix mobile phone blackspots in the home, but says that won't stop it working to improve its overall coverage.
The telco's 3G Home Zone is the first major push for femtocell technology in Australia. The idea is that you plug the device into your broadband modem or router, and it creates a 3G network covering the house.
"No mobile network can guarantee great mobile coverage throughout a home if you have thick sandstone walls, upstairs, downstairs," said Optus consumer marketing director Gavin Williams.
"The Home Zone allows you to have dedicated personalised coverage ? 5 bar coverage in your home."
The device costs an extra $5 per month on a 24-month plan for customers on certain plans, and users can nominate up to 12 people to access the network it generates.
In global terms femtocell technology is relatively old, but Australia has been slow to adopt it.
Vodafone has experimented with the technology in the past, but had problems securing the networks.
Two years ago when Vodafone UK released the "Sure Signal" femtocell, hackers discovered a security flaw that allowed people to listen in to phone calls made on the network.
Mr Williams said Optus was confident that wouldn't happen with the Home Zone.
"Optus is comfortable that the device is secure," he said.
"There's been a number of generations of devices that have developed security over the years, so we?re comfortable it?s a secure service."
Another criticism often made of femtocell technology is that it forces customers to shoulder the cost of fixing blackspots, instead of telcos.
Mr Williams said that while the femtocell device solved mobile phone reception problems in the home, it was not an alternative to fixing poor coverage areas.
"Over the next year we're deploying 700 base stations across Australia and in the past three years or so we've invested $1.6 billion in infrastructure and installed 660 odd base stations," he said.
Telecommunications analyst Foad Fadaghi told news.com.au Australians should be aware that any femtocells sold now may need upgrades in the future.
"The terms of the deal are 24 months, and over the course of the next 24 months most of the carriers will be launching LTE or next generation 4G networks," he said.
"Consumers have to be conscious that they might need to upgrade these devices down the track as well, think about that in the context of going into 24 month contracts."
Mr Fadaghi said he didn't foresee any device upgrades being problematic for users, however another thing to consider was how much internet traffic the Home Zone consumed.
"There will be some costs associated with data traffic over the home network," he said.
"Even a light user is supposed to use approximately one gig of data.
?What would be ideal for Optus would be to provide that (data) unmetered to its customers, particularly its broadband customers.
"At this stage they haven?t decided to do that."
Mr Williams said individuals needed to take their individual data usage into account and that compared to many broadband deals the femtocell didn't use a huge amount of data.
"It really does depend on individual circumstances," he said.
"In my case I?ve got an allowance on my service of 500GB and I?ve never gone anywhere near that.
"Really, there is no additional expense in my case. Individuals will have to take account of their unique circumstances.?
