Following the lead of Verizon and Sprint, AT&T appears poised to "soft launch" a femtocell as early as next week in Atlanta, San Antonio, Seattle, and at least one city in North Carolina.  Following the trial period, a full rollout is expected by the end of the year.  Despite AT&T not having an official comment as of yet, at least one employee is finding it hard to contain his excitement about the new product.  Gerald Turney, an AT&T Retail Connections Manager in Burlington, NC, twittered about an "AT&T 3G Microcell launching soon in a few locations in NC & GA," though the comment has since been removed.  After speaking with several of our AT&T tipsters, I can say that Charlotte will most likely be one of the North Carolina soft launch cities.

With the launch of the femtocell, designed to boost cell phone reception within 5,000 square feet of its vicinity, AT&T would become the third of the four nationwide carriers to offer a signal enhancement solution.  No word as of yet on the cost of the unit, or whether customers will have to pay an added monthly service charge to use the device.

Source: Unstrung