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The Holy Grail: FemtoCells At Home integrated into the Home Gateway Moderator Barlow Keener Keener Law Group. Email: bk@keenerlawgroup.com Tel: 617-671-1202. The Holy Grail: FemtoCells At Home integrated into the Home Gateway : . Femtocell: Regulatory Framework.
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The Holy Grail: FemtoCells At Home integrated into the Home Gateway Moderator Barlow Keener Keener Law Group • Email: bk@keenerlawgroup.com • Tel: 617-671-1202
The Holy Grail: FemtoCells At Home integrated into the Home Gateway :
Femtocell: Regulatory Framework FCC – Staffers taking notice but no rulemaking or decisions • 1st Mention of “femtocell” by FCC: Feb 2008 • “2007 Annual Report of Competitive Market Conditions for Commercial Mobile Services” • Discussion of Sprint’s Airave product • Prior mention of picocells for trials in airplanes • FCC Definition VoIP: Does it apply to Femtocell Use? “Interconnected VoIP services” are services that (1) enable real-time, two-way voice communications; (2) require a broadband connection from the user’s location; (3) require IP-compatible customer premises equipment; and (4) permit users to receive calls from and terminate calls to the public switched telephone network. • Femtocell looks like VoIP but CRMS providers are fully regulated
Femtocell Interference: Traveling Towers • Femtocell interference • If the Femtocell is moved into another licensed area, it will cause interference if not “turned off” • Femtocells create holes in the macro tower coverage • Licensed areas are exclusive to the licensed carrier • Nomadic femtocells are the responsibility of the customer’s carrier • Customers, not carriers, control the location of the femtocell • Rogue or nomadic femtocells cells • Femtocell technology provides the opportunity for rogue devices • Picocells, for example, are used on cruise ships • A ”traveling licensed area” – along with the traveling picocell • No regulatory limitations on femtocell devices • Location of towers controlled where customers use the service • Femtocells without location controls can be used anywhere • Interference with rogue femtocells in licensed spectrum
Femtocell: Bubbling Regulatory Reaction FCC – Staffers taking notice but no rulemaking or decisions • “Unauthorized” Booster FCC is working on • CTIA 2007 Booster Complaint: Sudden new action FCC Comments due Feb 22 • Rogue Femtocell interfering with cellco “licensed” spectrum • FCC enforcement in the home? Warrants required. Not likely… • There will be a plethora of femtocell devices – not like a rogue radio station • “Interference” 47 Sec 333: “No person shall willfully or maliciously interfere with or cause interference to any radio communications … licensed…” • “Interference” No real definition. • A condition where a receiver cannot interpret a signal directed at it. • FCC Rules Part 15: (1989) low power devices operate without exclusive license. • Must take any interference that to device way without complaint • Must shut down when interfering with protected license. • Low power in a wide variety of frequency ranges. • 2.4GHz (“WiFi”) 900MHz 1910 to 1930Mhz sandwiching GSM spectrum
Femtocells - 911 Issues • More than 140,000 911 calls made each day from wireless phones • FCC: Any phone near a carrier tower must have 911 access • Applies to femtocells but femtocells are under roofs , move, and not regulated • Applies to all phones that can use the spectrum – not just customers • If femtocell powered up out of the “approved” location or licensed territory area, should 911 calls be required to be made? Yes. • FCC 911 Antenna location regulation • Phase I FCC's Order (94-102) require that carriers to deliver location of cell site • Phase II mandates that carriers must pinpoint a customer's actual location • 2007 FCC 911 NPRM – proposed the idea of a hybrid location requirement • FCC 911 Mandate for carriers to provide 911 even with weak signals – This will mean 911 from all femtocells but location is the problem • Automatic A/B Roaming-Intelligent Retry (with some modifications), Adequate/Strongest Signal, and Selective Retry.
Femtocell Interference: Traveling Towers • Femtocell interference • If the Femtocell is moved into another licensed area, it will cause interference if not “turned off” • Femtocells create holes in the macro tower coverage • Licensed areas are exclusive to the licensed carrier • Nomadic femtocells are the responsibility of the customer’s carrier • Customers, not carriers, control the location of the femtocell • Rogue or nomadic femtocells cells • Femtocell technology provides the opportunity for rogue devices • Picocells, for example, are used on cruise ships • A ”traveling licensed area” – along with the traveling picocell • No regulatory limitations on femtocell devices • Location of towers controlled where customers use the service • Femtocells without location controls can be used anywhere • Interference with rogue femtocells in licensed spectrum
Interference MagicJack FemtoJack
Femtocells: Roaming charge issues • There are 90 small facilities-based cellco’s in the US • Femtocells can be created without GPS or user restrictions • Customers can move their femtocell to other carrier sprectrum • U.S. customer could be charged by a foreign carrier where US customer locks on to foreign Femtocell – Mexico example • Roaming Issues are created • Carrier A customer moves femtocell to Carrier B’s territory • Femtocell is used by customers of Carrier B new territory • Call through femtocell shows up as delivered by Carrier A • Carrier A bills for roaming charges for call originated Carrier B’s territory • Difficult to monitor and detect
Parasitic Use Problems • Carriers will be transmitting calls through unknown internet • VoIP carriers like Vonage have regularly been called “parasitic” • The voice call is carried on unrelated 3rd party’s service • New opportunities for listening and interfering with calls • “Snooping” • User will not know they are on a femtocell • Imagine suddenly: your cell phone calls are being routed to China hackers • Network Neutrality Blocking: Internet providers have blocked VoIP, P2P • Sniffing Deep Packet Inspection: Allows ISPs to see/listen to all traffic • IPSec tunnel provides limited security
The “Big 4” Provider: Business Case #1 Purpose: Femtocell used to solve iPhone data network problem #2 Purpose: Help those with poor in-house coverage #3 The Home Gateway – silence – but this is where the revenue is
The New Cellphone Providers Homegateway Femtocell is the Business Case • Comcast • Clearwire & Sprint • TimeWarner • Cox • WiMax