Vodafone promises to end not-spots with second pass at femtocell launch

Vodafone has said that it can 'absolutely guarantee' an end to the misery of patchy mobile broadband and mobile phone reception with its Sure Signal box - a signal booster which piggybacks onto your home broadband connection to improve weak mobile coverage.

The Sure Signal box relies on femtocell technology, and is basically a miniature mobile phone mast which connects to Vodafone's network via your broadband connection, and uses that to provide 3G coverage over a small area, such as within a home. Vodafone is taking a second pass at launching its in-home signal boosting product, which was trialled last year under the name Vodafone Access Gateway. Last year's effort provoked a somewhat lukewarm response to the concept of femtocell signal boosters, with many customers balking at shelling out £160 to improve patchy network coverage, and some of those who did stump up the cash being sorely disappointed by the results.

However, Vodafone now believes that all its femtocell teething problems have been solved, as it has now reduced the device to £50, and is making big promises about its performance. Guy Laurence, the chief executive of Vodafone in Britain, said: “Customers tell us it is life changing. If they live or work in a basement for example, the only way they may be able to get consistent mobile coverage could be with a Vodafone Sure Signal.”

All very well, but if you live in an area where you could reasonably expect to get network coverage (i.e. not a basement), then you might still think twice about paying £50 for Vodafone to use your broadband connection to improve their signal.