As we wait for MoGo’s headset rollout, Sprint rolled out the next generation of cell phone usage in parts of Denver and Indianapolis with little fanfare.

It’s a small cellular base station they’re calling “Sprint Airave” (warning: link launches a talkative video) and it provides service specifically to a customer’s home.

The way it works is fairly simple. The base station is plugged into a broadband Internet connection and works with any Sprint handset. When the subscriber leaves home, a call shifts over to the outside cellular network.

The initial purchase price is US$49.99. So low that many industry analysts postulate that Sprint is subsidizing the expense. The monthly usage rates are similarly priced at $15 for an individual and $30 for a family for unlimited local and nationwide long-distance calls while at home.

The key to the base system is something called a “Femtocell”. The word comes from physics, and means ‘on a small order of size’. The technology has been around a long times to solve the problem of weak cellular signals in homes, which is common in the U.S. but the cost of making them portable was considered prohibitive.

The base stations work not only to extend the functionality of the cell phone the customer already has but also as an alternative to Wi-Fi phones in the home.

Sprint is the first to enter the market with femtocell technology for their domestic customers. The corporation has announced that they will be in wide distribution in 2008.

According to Yahoo!;

“…one  question yet to be answered about femtocells is whether they will interfere with the existing outdoor cellular network. That can only be answered through real-world deployments, analysts say.”

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