AT&T starts selling 'cell tower in a suitcase'

[Marconi]

AT&T starts selling 'cell tower in a suitcase' for DIY wireless network in disaster areas


Peter Svensson, AP Technology Writer, On Monday April 25, 2011, 12:33 am EDT
NEW YORK (AP) -- For the first time, AT&T is selling small, portable cellular antennas that will allow corporate and government customers to provide their own wireless coverage in remote or disaster-struck areas.

Usually, cellphone companies have to restore service after disasters like hurricanes by sending in their own trucks that act like mobile cell towers. But AT&T's new product would let first responders such as police and emergency workers immediately control where they have coverage.

One of AT&T's options is a unit that packs into a suitcase, with a satellite dish carried separately. The unit requires outside power, such as a generator, to work.
The Remote Mobility Zone can handle 14 simultaneous calls, and data at less-than-broadband speeds. Coverage extends up to half a mile from the unit. The "portable cell tower" can also be mounted in a car or truck.

The Remote Mobility Zone's satellite dish makes it independent of broadband service. AT&T also sells smartphones that can talk directly to satellites. The Remote Mobility Zone would be able to be used with any AT&T phone.
The cost of the units will range from $15,000 to $45,000, AT&T said Monday, plus some monthly fees.

Like other carriers, AT&T also sells "femtocells," even smaller cellular antennas that users can place indoors. Connected to broadband service, they provide added coverage inside a home.

[Deborah1962]

OK one obvious question is where the power to operate such a system would come in? If you had no electricity then the obvious of a generator would be out, so, if truck mounted, then battery? I wonder what the pull on it would be and whether or not this unit could be fit with a solar cell and storage battery to operate in severe weather where no electricity exists and it's not safe to use the vehicle? Just a thought.

[49Rhodes]

I know this is an old post, so I apologize if answering this question will be kind of hard. I am curious how this would interfere with signals from cable and TV's using dishes should this be used in the home or outside as on a news truck? Would this device also play havoc on laptops or table top computers? thanks in advance.