Compared with the bulky, land-line phones our parents were used to, we are lucky to have the small, portable, ultra-productive and convenient cell phones that we use today. However, this shift creates a concern for any environmentally-conscious consumer. As technology improves, the life of a telephone has decreased. According to The Environmental Literacy Council, we replace our phones on average every year and a half, which creates a great deal of waste. The ELC also estimates that “forty percent of the lead in [the municipal waste] stream” can be attributed to consumer electronics. This holds obvious dangers to our health and to our environment. The big question here - how do we stay up-to-date with our technology and simultaneously keep a clean social conscience?

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Okay, so maybe reducing won’t be the most appealing option here, as many will be resistant to the idea of less frequently updating their cell. If you’re up to the task, however, and you can handle replacing only every two to three years, you can greatly reduce your impact - that’s half as many cell phones as the average user consumes.Cell Phone Recycling is available in most areas, and is a great, multi-faceted service. Cell phone recycling systems provides cell service to abused adults and children as an emergency-only line and to people awaiting organ transplants as a means of notification of a life saving donation. The reuse doesn’t stop here - cell phone recycling also provides cell phones to people in areas of the world where landlines are unavailable, or are too expensive to be practical.For phones that cannot be refurbished, cell phone recycling centers also use environmentally safe ways to recycle and dispose of these devices.

Buy Green

Apple recently received a solar power patent - could this mean sun-powered Apple products are on the way? Let’s hope so! Solar-powered electronics are a wonderful way to reduce your energy usage, and techies and tree-huggers alike would be satisfied by a green iPhone. While this might stay a fantasy for a while (many claim the design of the iPhone makes it unlikely candidate for solar-powered technology to be practical) other cell phone manufacturers already have environmentally-friendly products on the market. Chinese electronics manufacturer HTW have released their “Light-Energy Mobile Phone” that allows twenty-five minutes of talk time from just forty minutes of solar charging. LG has released the Cyon, which is made of materials not including lead or mercury, in accordance with Europe’s hazardous-waste-eliminating initiative, RoHS. Motorola appears to be joining the party, as well, with a recently passed patent for a screen that doubles as a solar panel. I suspect environmentally-responsible technology will be the next big trend, which means we should see more and more green options, resulting in competitive mainstream-market-level productivity.
(more…)

The wireless industry is expanding every day.  One of the “newest” phenomenon’s is something called a femtocell.  And as this technology may seem like a great solution to enhance telecommunication signal, it may not be the best option for the average homeowner looking to boost their coverage.

According to Wikipedia, a femtocell is a small cellular base station (looks like a modem or router), and is typically designed for use in residential or small business environments and connects to the service provider’s network via broadband (such as DSL or cable).  Femtocells sidestep nearby towers and the spotty coverage they sometimes provide, and ultimately give you better coverage indoors.  For a homeowner, the attractions of a femtocell are improvements to both coverage and capacity.  This is a great technology, although there are two downfalls; it is carrier specific and upon release, will be quite costly.

Femtocell Example

If you are not quite following all of this “femtocell talk,” here is a little breakdown … You are a Sprint customer (since Sprint and T-Mobile seem to be the forerunners with this technology) and you want to have a “femtocell” installed at your house.  You will have a small cellular base station installed and that will increase your service coverage while indoors.  Of course, there is a little catch … Well, as the femtocell does an extremely good job of extending service indoors, once you step outdoors, you most likely will lose your call.  You see, the femtocell connects via broadband whereas your typical “cell signal” is bouncing off your carrier’s tower.  Therefore, when you step outside, you lose that broadband connection and have to reconnect with your carriers signal.  This transition process often results in a dropped call.

Alternative Options to Femtocell

Since technology has progressed so much over the past few decades, we have many alternative options to the femtocell.  Here is an in-depth look at two products that might just beat out the femtocell as far as coverage goes … take a gander.

Wi-Ex YX500-CEL 57dB SOHO Kit       

Like the name?  I thought it was a little confusing myself, but it is one of the best signal boosters/signal extenders on the market.  Moreover, it is very affordable.  The Wi-Ex cell phone signal booster extends the coverage area for single or multiple users in homes and offices.  This extender handles ALL networks so it is not carrier specific, which we like to think is a major plus.  The Wi-Ex YX500-CEL increases your indoor signal coverage up to 3,000 square feet and is very easy-to-install.  The package comes with everything you need — an amplifier with adjustable positioning antenna, power supply, low loss RG6 cable, outdoor rated donor antenna and mounting hardware.  The extender handles all cellular and PCS protocols and includes multiple patent pending technologies to provide low-cost coverage while continually adapting to signals to prevent interference and remain transparent to the wireless network. 

Three reasons why this is a great product:
1)  It isn’t carrier specific, so it will work with all networks
2)  It extends your signal coverage both inside AND outside
3)  It is a low-cost fix to your signal problems — and it definitely does the job

Spotwave Model Z-1900    

Gammoth is introducing new technology to our customers.  Spotwave technology has the ability to extend wireless coverage in areas that typically “stink” at getting good signal.  Try to imagine this … the Spotwave Z-1900 covers “spots” that don’t get signals, meaning you can place these extenders where your signal is typically bad.  The new adaptive technology supports CDMA, GSM, EVDO and UMTS (voice and data) services in North America in the 1900 MHz band (PCS).  The Spotwave Model Z-1900 extends your phones battery life and covers up to 2,500 square feet.  To learn more about this upcoming technology, check out our Web site at www.gammoth.com.

**UPDATE 4-24-08*** AT&T plans to sell up to seven million femtocells from ip.access Ltd., a picocell and femtocell infrastructure vendor in Cambridge, United Kingdom.  AT&T will most likely be able to sell femtocells for $100 each.