The Samsung-sourced femtocell that Sprint and Verizon have been offering (as the Airave and Wireless Network Extender, respectively) is all well and good, but it's got one fatal flaw: unlike AT&T's aptly-named 3G MicroCell, it doesn't have support for 3G data -- it's compatible with CDMA 1x alone. Verizon's fixing that later this year with an updated model from Samsung, but thanks to a fresh FCC filing, it looks like Sprint will be taking a different route by roping in Airvana for the Airave's successor.
You CAN NOT take the AIRAVE outside U.S., the AIRAVE is only supported in the continental U.S., Hawaii, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands. Alaska is not supported.
The AIRAVE requires a router that supports VPN pass-through. Most routers support this functionality; however, if you are unsure of the router’s capabilities, refer to the router’s user manual or other documentation.
AIRAVE is compatible with Sprint CDMA phones, including the CDMA portion of PowerSource phones. It does not support iDEN, Boost Mobile services, or Nextel Direct Connect services.
Sprint AIRAVE currently supports three simultaneous active callers.
You can use all the voice functions and text messaging that you currently enjoy with your Sprint phone work when using the AIRAVE.
Posted 2010-09-10 and updated on Sep 30, 2010 10:27pm by noel