Boy Genius Report (source) says it best in Watch worker climb over 1,700 feet to fix a broadcast TV tower, no safety harness:

“What’s taller than the Sears tower and lets you watch ESPN, MTV, and CNBC? A 1,700 foot tall broadcast antenna of course. What happens when something needs to be fixed, though? Not only does someone have to climb the tower, but because of some incomprehensible reason — it would slow the worker down — no safety devices are used. Check out this unbelievable video — we had a couple panic attacks just watching it.”

The video is a fascinating glimpse on the work day of some who maintain the infrastructure on which we all rely. There also is an incongruity between the matter of act tone of the video and this high wire act without safety equipment. And did I mention lightning? I was laughing hard, but nervously.

Meet the Femtocell Family told you about my newest addition, the Airave on the left. Well, it’s a rough family. That guy is already out, replaced by the Airave on the right. What’s the difference? A lot.

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We’ve talked before about the femtocell. A femtocell is  a small cellular base station which connects to your cell phone service provider’s network via your home’s broadband connection (thus bypassing a weak over the air signal) and broadcasts a strong signal through your home. Very cool for us, since we live in the hills, where the over the air signal is relatively weak regardless of the carrier, but we have an excellent broadband (cable) connection.

A femtocell is specific to a carrier. Not a problem if your family has only one carrier. Due to my gadget addiction, we don’t. We have AT&T (my Dell Streak and my wife’s venerable BlackBerry Bold), Verizon (my Droid Incredible) and Sprint (my HTC Evo 4G).

So, from left to right, the Verizon Wireless Network Extender, the AT&T 3G MicroCell and the newest addition, the Sprint Airave. No T-Mobile … my gadget addiction supporting the economy only goes so far

The femtocells make a big difference, as in full bars vs. one (at best) bar. And they provide coverage throughout our 2 story, 3000+ square foot house.

Of course, this better coverage comes at a price … literally. The carriers sell their femtocells for around $100. Doesn’t seem fair, as the carriers are using your broadband connection to make up for their bad coverage. Seems they should pay you. But they don’t. So it’s either pay them or go without I guess.

Finally, AT&T is deploying a femtocell nationwide. The AT&T marketing folks call it a MicroCell. But it’s a femtocell.

The nationwide rollout begins in mid-April and should be complete within a few months. So for those like me who have lousy AT&T coverage at home but a good broadband connection, I can now pay for the privilege of having a good AT&T voice and data connection. For how much and other details, read on.

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I purchased the Verizon Wireless Network Extender almost one year ago (1/25/09). This device is a femtocell. A femtocell is a small cellular base station which connects to your cell phone service provider’s network via your home’s broadband connection and broadcasts a strong signal through your home. Since the femtocell connects via the Internet rather than over the airwaves, the weakness of your over the air signal doesn’t matter. Important to someone like me who lives in the hills with a weak cell phone signal but a good (T1) broadband connection.

The shortfall in VZW’s network extender is data is only at 1x speed; no travelling down the EVDO data fast lane. But there’s hope. Engadget Mobile reports on Samsung’s forthcoming femtocell, which offers 1X and EV-DO service simultaneously. It also supports 8 concurrent connections – an increase from the current 4. Coming Q2. Unknown whether VZW will offer an upgrade path from its current network extender.

In the meantime, where’s AT&T’s promised femtocell? Or T-Mobile now that it’s ending its @Home service.

This quarter (it is January 1) the HTC HD2, with its 4.3” capacitive screen, will be supporting US 3GSM frequencies! And much sooner, indeed only 4 days from now, Google likely will be announcing the Nexus One, with a 3.7” AMOLED and capacitive screen.

So you’d think I’d be steadying my hand shaking in anticipation of moving my seldom-used AT&T voice/data SIM to one of these bad boys? Uh … no.

Both of these super phones will be supporting T-Mobile’s 3GSM frequencies, not AT&T’s. You can still use these phones on AT&T’s network. But for data, you’ll be limited to EDGE; no 3GSM. Sort of like getting a Ferrari, but you can only drive it to the local supermarket. Why buy an expensive super phone when it only will limp along the information super highway?

US 3GSM love going to T-Mobile and not AT&T isn’t new. The most recent example is the Nokia N900.

I’ve carped about this before: HTC HD2 – Which US 3G Bands? Enough carping. What to do?

One option is to rejoin T-Mobile.  I moved because their voice coverage sucked. However, that was some years ago. Maybe things have changed? T-Mobile’s voice/data coverage map indicates good coverage both where I live and where I work. Though I’ve learned to take carrier coverage maps with the proverbial grain of salt.

Another option is to buy unlocked a variant heading to another carrier in the Americas, perhaps South America, that happens to have the same 3GSM frequencies as AT&T. This may be a long shot for the HD2 … perhaps even more so for the Nexus One.

I think I will check with T-Mobile users where I live and work and see how they like their voice and data coverage.

[Picture credit]

We’ve discussed MiFi several time before. Slightly larger than a credit card, MiFi creates a WiFi hotspot. However, traditional WiFi hotspots usually are connected to an existing, wired Internet connection. The MiFi isn’t. Instead, it connects over the air to a cellular provider (Verizon in my case).

A 3G USB (or ExpressCard) modem also can connect over the air to your cellular provider. But unlike the 3G USB modem, you can share your MiFi connection with up to 4 other users. I haven’t had occasion to use this sharing feature yet. But it may come in handy when my wife and I take our next vacation. Sharing may also be handy in other scenarios (e.g., on the road with co-workers).

Windows 7 was expected to support “Virtual WiFi”, which would enable similar sharing of the WiFi card in your laptop. But it didn’t. Not out of the box anyway. However, Windows 7 apparently does support Virtual WiFi – if you know how to write code to access the Windows 7 API.

An outfit called Connectify apparently knows how. It’s written a program, which it offers as a public beta, that enables sharing your Wifi connection (or apparently any internet connection for that matter).

To use the program, your WiFi card needs to be compatible. If yours currently isn’t on the list, maybe it soon will be. Of course, you still need to be willing to share.

[via unwired]

Archos 5 makes a capable client computer shows that you can use this Android OS 5” device to remotely access Windows OS computers. This article gave me the idea of using my Viliv x70 (or S5) to remotely access servers for which I’m responsible.

On the Viliv devices, I can use Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) native to the Windows OS since each has a Windows OS (7 and XP respectively). The Archos 5, having a non-Windows (Android) OS, uses other software. But the result is the same.

What’s neat (to a geek like me anyway) is that I can carry around a small device which, when I’m at the Pleasure Palace working outside of the office, I can use to remotely troubleshoot and solve server problems. No trouble getting a connection. If WiFi isn’t available, the X70 has built-in 3G (as does the S5). Or I can use my own WiFi, my Verizon MiFi. In geek-speak, woot!

AT&T 3G MicroCell Femtocell (Updated) told you only 1 week ago that, after seeming eons, AT&T has finally deployed its femtocell, which it calls a 3G MicroCell. I don’t care if AT&T calls it a power toaster; I want it now! But alas, AT&T first is deploying it on a trial basis in Charlotte and Raleigh, NC.

AT&T 3G MicroCell unboxing and impressions is the first in-depth report I’ve seen. Based on this initial report, it’s a winner.

Us poor slobs who don’t live in NC and endure AT&T’s network still have to wait. But maybe not for long. Reports (including from the rep today at the local AT&T store FWIW) are that the 3G MicroCell will be deployed more widely by the end of this year. Bring it on!