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 President and Head of Product Area Radio at Ericsson, says: “This is a major technological breakthrough. Ericsson’s Femto Cell Solution enables mobile operators to compete on the fixed access market, offering price-competitive, innovative and secure services to their customers.”

You will have to wait a little while longer to use the …

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 Linksys (not Apple) and mobile phones that utilize a more traditional 3G technology which has a much broader coverage area.

The Femto cells are basically home base stations, much like a WiFi base station, which are connected to a broadband internet service. Instead of being hotspots for WiFi connections, Femto cells …