Sprint’s plans for Airave appear to be more ambitious than previously disclosed. Sources have reported that Airave will not only be able to boost signal, but will also use VoIP to offer that capacity. We previously disclosed Airave’s internet connectivity, but VoIP’s involvement in the device was unconfirmed at last report.
It appears Sprint will offer two pricing tiers for Airave. One will be a flat-rate tier of $4.99/month. That service will be using VoIP to boost signal to the home, but at the cost of airtime minutes from your plan. Sprint will also offer an option, similar to T-Mobile’s HotSpot @Home, where unlimited calling will be offered for $15/month ($30 if on a family plan).
Some details are still unclear about Airave. Sprint has tested mobile base stations in the past, so it is likely that Airave will not necessarily require Wi-Fi phones to be used. That would be a good thing, considering Sprint’s existing dual-network phones on PowerSource, which require iDEN and CDMA in the same device. Adding dual-Wi-Fi phones at this time, would likely confuse an already-fragmented Sprint userbase.
