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RockyBB
Premium
join:2005-01-31
Longmont, CO
| I have a Sprint Airave femtocell box
here are my experiences ...
this is for the legacy Sprint CDMA side of the house ... it is not for the legacy Nextel iDEN handsets. I have not tried to force a Verizon CDMA handset to use the box.
it is very simple to install ... plug into electric and IP, takes up to 60 minutes for everything to sync up (mine took 25 minutes). place near a window to make the GPS come right up ... if you don't have a window near your router, they include an extension antenna that I did not have to use.
The GPS is for E911 purposes. It has nothing to do with licensing or regulatory restrictions about "territory."
it is not an unattractive humming box. its about the size of a boxed set of DVDs. it's white, with 4 blue lights. for some reason, you have to install it upright, minimal footprint. one unintended benefit of the box is the "system" light ... you'll know at a glance if your internet is working or not!
you can choose to leave the system open to all comers (I do), or restrict it to only certain handsets. I'm not aware of how to "configure" it, to my knowledge this has to be done on the phone through Airave help desk. there is a limit to the number of simultaneous calls it can handle -- it's either 5 or 10. the whole neighborhood will not be hijacking your broadband. if a handset is on your Sprint account, then any calling minutes used do not increment against your plan allowance. if an unknown neighbor calls through the box, they get the better transmission (using your broadband), but their minutes count against their own allowance. Airave customers can't use too many minutes through the box. the whole ideal of the Airave is to move minutes off the towers onto the internet.
Call detail of calls made through the Airave do not seem to be making it to the invoice. Criminals and marriage cheaters should like that. I have no idea if Sprint retains those call records.
I've not found a way to opt-out of using the box on any individual call. If I'm in range of the box, the call will go through the box. Perhaps Sprint has a * code to do that, but I'm not aware of it and haven't asked.
If your handset uses the older Vision data services (not the EVDO stuff) your internet on the handset will be faster than going through the towers.
You know that you're using the device because it adds a quick double tone after pressing SEND. On the handsets I have, there is no icon on the screen telling me that I'm in range of the Airave.
After I tried it out at my place, I gave it to my step daughter off at school to cut down on her usage minutes -- not even a single complaint (and I would definitely hear about it, too). it does not impact sound quality. no extra latency, either. calls are more stable because you're close to the device.
I'm in the Denver area test market. I have not taken the device to another city outside Denver to see if it would work. When the device first came out, Sprint did a lot of publicity about it. Today, outside their stores, they don't seem to be making any effort at publicizing it.
No, I won't mail you mine to test it outside the Denver area. And no, I can't go to a Sprint store and try to get you one to put on your account -- I did try that for someone, but the box is linked to the subscriber and they're not fulfilling outside Denver and Indy to my knowledge. | |
net1492
join:2005-08-31
Ballwin, MO
| Is there an additional monthly fee associated with having the Airave equipment and service?
Do you use the EVDO data service and if so did you notice any difference in speed?
I wonder if you will be able to get multiple Airave boxes so you can send one or more off to college with your kids. | |
RockyBB
Premium
join:2005-01-31
Longmont, CO
| I have a family share plan, so the Airave costs $30/month and allows free daytime calling from all of those handsets. for those with a single handset subscription, the monthly rate is $15. I was not charged a startup fee, though the published startup fee is $50. The Airave does not support EVDO through the handset ... only the original Vision speed (I thought I said that but looking at it again I wasn't clear). I have not asked the question about multiple Airave boxes on a single account. | |
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