In order to use femtocell, you must have a broadband service like T1, DSL or Cable. An example is Sprint’s AIRAVE™ service. A Sprint customer buys the AIRAVE™ base station, connects it to their broadband router and a mini cell tower is created inside the home or office. Verizon and AT&T offer similiar femtocell solutions with varying prices.
The femtocell solution does have it’s limitations. Since a broadband service is required, using it to improve the signal to their cellular data cards makes little sense. If you live in rural areas where DSL or Cable is not available, femtocell won’t be an option.
Femtocell service is offered only in limited areas so even if you do have broadband service you might not be able to use femtocell. A single femtocell device will only work with a single carrier. A Sprint AIRAVE™, for example, won’t help the Verizon phones in the home. The number of user that can use the a femtocell device at one time may also be limited. For example Sprint has a 3 user limit.
Check with your carrier for more information.