While some observers say femtocells have yet to prove their value, Kaul points to a combination of other factors: the general economic malaise, which makes the 0 pricetag of an unsubsidized femtocell harder to swallow; the time operators need to get their systems and networks ready for a femtocell deployment and to devise innovative pricing plans; a fear in some quarters that a rapid increase in femtocell numbers would cause interference in the macro network.

It’s hard to blame femtocell’s slow adoption on the economy or getting the services deployed. Many carriers already offer femtocells but they only offer them to customers who call in to complain about coverage issues. And frankly some of the pricing models are just absurd; Verizon’s femtocell pricing plan eats away at your wireless minutes even tough you’re making the wireless call over your own broadband connection. Again, where’s the value?

ABI predicts things could improve slightly in 2010 for the well-hyped technology, but that shipments will still be 40% lower than earlier predictions. That of course means a shake out among smaller femtocell vendors who actually listened to firms like ABI back in 2006 when they declared femtocells would be the hottest thing in telecom since the Hayes compatible.

Link to the original article…

What’s Fido Uno, you ask? Besides probably having one of the coolest entrance pages in internet history – seriously, where else do you see a dog with an afro? I dare you to find a corporate site an afro sporting dog as part of their corporate identity… I might move up to Canada just for the dog mascot alone… c’mon. It’s too cool…

Oh yeah. Fido UNO. Back to the business at hand…

Fido recently launched a Canadian first for the wireless industry with its new service, Fido UNO. Fido UNO works by connecting calls from a specially-enabled handset to a high-speed Internet connection when at home and through the Fido network when on the go. Customers now have the freedom to talk as much as they want on their Fido phone while at home without using up their wireless plan minutes and all the benefits of a mobile when they’re not.

Fido UNO offers plans for $15 / month (unlimited local calling) or $20 / month (unlimited local and Canadian long distance) for wireless calling at home, in addition to the regular wireless voice plan. Existing customers can add the service to a current voice plan with the purchase of a UNO-enabled handset and receive the voice-optimizing wireless router free of charge.

Ok, if you’re in the US, this probably sounds a lot like T-Mobile’s Hotspot@Home, doesn’t it? Well, it is invariably powered by the UMA powered phones that seamlessly switch between cellphone to wireless (VoIP) in order to save on those package minutes. The cool thing, the people on the phone will not know when it happens.

Did I forget to mention that this is the first it was done in Canada? Yep… the company named after a dog, with the coolest afro dog mascot ever (for now) brings this new offering to you… in Canada.

Find out more about Fido UNO right here or if you’re looking for a visual way to learn about it, hit up the YouTube video here.