Femtocells are small devices that resemble wireless routers that take cellular signals indoors and route them across the Internet allowing users to get better reception when in their home or office. Most femtocells focus on being able to improve voice call quality and fail to mention benefits provided in data speeds.

Airvana has been showing off its HubBub CDMA femtocell and is focusing on the improvements the device offers on broadband speeds and connectivity indoors rather than voice call quality. The company says that studies have shown that while 36% of voice calls with mobile phones happen inside a user’s home, 45% of data usage happens inside the home.

Verizon Wireless today introduced a femtocell base station designed by Samsung which is for routing Verizon Wireless calls through a customer’s home broadband Internet connection. It is called the Verizon Wireless Network Extender and it retails for around $250.

The Verizon Wireless Network Extender is about the size of a wireless router box or small attache case, said Verizon. It uses femtocell technology to enhance wireless coverage inside homes where location, geography or structural conditions interfere with reception. It provides this enhanced coverage in an area up to 5,000 square feet.

We heard a lot about femtocells last year. A femtocell is a device that allows your cellular phone to connect to the Internet for calls to provide better coverage indoors. So far there have been a few of these femtocells launched.

AT&T has offered details on its first 3G femtocell it is calling the AT&T 3G MicroCell. The MicroCell requires a broadband Internet connection and will support up to 10 3G cell phones in a home or small office. Up to four simultaneous voice or data users are supported at once.

Sprint along with Samsung has released the Airave wireless femto device providing improved in-home cell phone coverage for Sprint customers. The Airave device picks up signals from any of Sprints cell phones (especially if you normally have poor coverage in your home) and transfers them wirelessly to your existing broadband internet connection sending your calls through the web.

The Airave has a couple of really nice features involved including the aforementioned improved signal in your home. Devices like these will work in buildings where the construction materials normally would block out cell phone coverage. Also, with this device Sprint customers can take advantage of making and receiving phone calls nationwide without using any minutes off of their plan.

Ericsson introduced its new Femto Cell Solution on Friday. The new access point will give consumers using GSM and WCDMA phones the ability to make VoIP calls using their mobile phones at home to take advantage of cheaper rates.

The Femto Cell Solution is a personal-sized home access point with WiFi and ADSL compatibility. Ericsson claims that the solution will give operators the opportunity to offer home-zone packages and strengthen its relationship with subscribers and also provide incentives for all users in a household to have the same mobile operator.

Ulf Ewaldsson, Vice …

A recent report by Unstrung Insider shows that 3G home base stations “Femto cells” could pose a market challenge for WiFi VoIP phones in homes and businesses. According to the report, “Ultra-low-cost home base stations that allow wireless users to communicate across any IP access network using a standard mobile handset will challenge WiFi VOIP for dominance in the consumer fixed/mobile convergence (FMC) market. ”

What this report is referring to is a challenge between phones such as the WiFiFone from Samsung, or one of the iPhone’s from …