I have terrible cellular coverage in my neighborhood. The city continues to block the installation of adequate cell towers even though nearby communities like Alamo have installed ones that REALLY look like trees.

Here’s one photographed by WC Biker:

Femtocells could be the answer to my problem. As Technology Review reports, cellular carriers see these devices as a means to lower costs by transferring data and voice traffic off their network.

“Similar in concept to the Wi-Fi routers that many people use to blanket their homes with wireless Internet access, these little boxes instead provide a network for carrying the voice and high-speed data services of mobile phones. They’re designed to give bandwidth-hungry cell-phone subscribers the strongest possible connections at home. But by keeping those customers off the main mobile network and using home broadband connections to transfer data, they could wind up saving the phone companies money, too.”

Right now, as the article points out, there is little value in the technology for users. Even though one of these suckers would give me the cellular signal strength I desire, the cost is prohibitive. The equipment costs around $300, though with subsidies, some carriers are looking to get them in consumers hands for close to $50. I suppose at this price I could justify the removal of my $20/month land-line costs in place of a femtocell. It still doesn’t seem completely baked, however.

Speaking of half-baked, here’s an idea: Google partners with a carrier to subsidize the cost of femtocells. Each femtocell is bundled with their GrandCentral service (one number for life and online voicemail) and bundled with their GOOG-411 service. Carriers like the reduction of traffic on costly wireless systems, Google gets advertising revenue (and maybe traction on Android?) and the users get enough added value to justify the expense.