Patent ID: 8655349

Claim:
A method for operating a femto-cell base station, the femto-cell base station being configured to provide coverage to a User Equipment by connecting the User Equipment to a core telecommunications network using a first frequency belonging to a first radio access technology, the femto-cell base station having a fixed network interface for establishing a fixed network connection to said core telecommunications network, and a wireless network interface for establishing a cellular wireless network connection to said core telecommunications network, the method comprising the steps of: detecting that said fixed network connection is not operative, and, in response to such failure: scanning frequencies to find a second radio access technology available to the wireless network interface, said second radio access technology being different than the first radio access technology; if there is any frequency available in said second radio access technology suitable to be used, establishing a data connection in said second radio access technology as the cellular wireless network connection; and if there is no frequency available in said second radio access technology, disconnecting the femto-cell base station from the User Equipment and assigning the first frequency in the first radio access technology to the cellular wireless network connection.