BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Sprint Nextel Corp is trying to overcome a wireless phone bugaboo -- poor signal quality inside buildings, especially homes -- with a device that boosts wireless signals indoors and directs the calls over the Internet.

The Airave, which Sprint will begin selling Monday in its stores in parts of Denver, Colorado, and Indianapolis, Indiana, increases cell reception over an area of about 5,000 square feet and can manage up to three calls at once. The Airave hooks into the customer's existing broadband connection, sending unlimited calls through the Internet instead of over Sprint's wireless network.

Once the customer leaves the device's range, calls automatically switch back to the wireless network.

The Airave retails for 49.99 U.S. dollars, although Sprint will offer initial rebates to lower the price, and users pay a monthly charge of 15 dollars for individuals and 30 dollars for families. Sprint intends to expand sales of the devices to the rest of the two initial test markets by the end of the year and launch it nationwide next year.

It's the second such in-home service coming out this year, following the June release of a system offered by Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile USA that sends calls through a Wi-Fi router. That system requires specially equipped phones, while Airave works with any Sprint cellular phone. It does not work with Nextel-branded phones, the company said.

Ajit Bhatia, director of product management for Sprint Nextel, said the Airave solves call quality problems for subscribers, a key reason they give when dropping service.

"Customer satisfaction is directly correlated with coverage satisfaction," Bhatia said.

Besides saving the customer from using their wireless minutes, the device also will reduce the amount of traffic on the mobile network, potentially improving signal quality in the immediate area and reducing the amount of new cell towers and other infrastructure Sprint will have to build to handle future growth.

(Agencies)