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handsets no need to have an additional Wi-Fi radio unit enabled. Femtocells use only licensed operators' spectrum, which can therefore avoid "foreign" radios. Wi-Fi conversely uses uncontrolled spectrum, which may theoretically make service susceptible to neighboring radio transmissions. In addition, femtocells allow for easier seamless roaming, though some modification is needed to accommodate the different backhaul. Finally, and perhaps the biggest advantage of femtocells, is they are a natural extension of the main cellular network, thus allowing them to support most of the current services provided by the mobile operator. Conversely, Wi-Fi protocol is relatively lenient on quality of service, and therefore enabling multiple services with variable qualities of services may be challenging. Business considerations of choosing one or the others are still up for debate. Who pays for the backhaul of femtocells? What if family or businesses use multiple carriers? What about the issue of net neutrality? What if that backhaul (DSL, cable) gets clogged? So Why Wi-Fi? Fortunately, most Internet-capable user devices now come Wi-Fi capable. Since the main challenge of indoor operation is related to Internet access, the terminal's Wi-Fi can provide for a good ecosystem. Most existing cellular networks are well provisioned for indoor voice service; the cases of non-sufficient coverage for voice service are rather rare, hence the issue of seamless roaming between indoor to outdoor is questionable at best. If voice roaming is not an issue, we can avoid the complexities associated with "voice continuity" between Wi-Fi and cellular, hence the Wi-Fi solution can be further simplified. Dense unplanned radio deployment produces spectral conditions that are very similar to unlicensed spectrum conditions. In the case of femtocells, this could nullify the main benefit of licensed spectrum utilization. Consequently, one may be better off using unlicensed spectrum to begin with. Since Wi-Fi is inherently designed to operate over unlicensed spectrum with high co-channel interference, using Wi-Fi will be substantially less risky. Since Wi-Fi uses unlicensed spectrum that does not exploit the precious operator licensed spectrum, and since the amount of unlicensed spectrum is far greater than the typical operator's licensed spectrum, much more traffic can be served using Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi networks are already deployed all over; almost every residence, office, coffee shop and other public places where Internet access exists have Wi-Fi. Finally, instead of asking subscribers to buy, install and learn to operate a new device (femtocell), indoor service challenges can be solved by a "software only" approach that requires very little (if any) of the subscriber's attention. Shimon Scherzer is co-founder and chief technology officer at WeFi. Rate Article: 0 COMMENTS 2010 Advantage Business Media - All Rights Reserved