More living room clutter

Here's my plea: stop making yet more boxes that clutter up my living room.

In the days of carbon neutrality and sustainability goals, why are companies finding yet more boxes to manufacture that merely serve to gather dust in the corner of my living room?

I'm talking specifically about Femtocells, but this plea is applicable to lots of one-trick gadgets out there. I don't get it. My WiFi router can do the same thing, all the operator needs to do is put a bit of magic in the mobile network and the handset then me, the lowly little consumer, gets the improved indoor coverage as promised by a Femtocell, but doesn't have to add to the clutter of the living room.

I've always thought this - it's just another piece of pricey equipment for operators to subsidize in order to solve a network issue they caused because they didn't think things through in the first place. But most people who have a 3G phone contract have a wireless network at home. Dunno about you, but I'm seeing a pattern here.

Yet while equipment manufacturers are still touting Femtocells the lowly consumer is never asked what would actually fit best with their lives. It's a common problem where that focus group of one thinks it knows what average Joe wants; when people so caught up in their own industries really think they understand the general consumer. Please, ask us first what we'd prefer before cluttering our lives with these one trick pony gadgets.