AT&T is testing technology to improve cell phone signal strength in subscribers' homes, and plans to make it available in a trial market next year.

The country's largest wireless carrier is testing so-called "femtocells" in employees' homes, and is looking at a city-sized test with customers in the second quarter of 2009.

Femtocells are small boxes that beam low-power wireless signals to cell phones and relay them back to the carrier through the subscriber's high-speed Internet connection. They are, in essence, miniature cellular towers for the home.

"We're really excited about this," said John Stankey, Chief Executive of AT&T's Operations Division. "I don't know how you compete in the voice space with someone who has a pristine voice connection in the home through a femtocell."

Competitor Sprint launched femtocells under the Airave brand last year in a few markets, and made them available nationally this summer. Verizon Wireless has said it is looking at femtocells. T-Mobile has chosen a different route, selling some phones that can connect calls over Wi-Fi routers.

AT&T is looking at femtocells that provide full cellular broadband 3G speeds. Sprint's femtocells are currently for voice and low-speed data connections.

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