AT&T is following through on its promise of testing residential femtocells, according to an Associated Press report.

The scope of the current test is not known, although a city-sized test is due in the second quarter next year, the wire service said.  Users on AT&T’s own discussion forum appear to desire such a product, which could potentially be part of a broadband wired modem or AT&T’s recently announced HomeManager system.

Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile are the only U.S. wireless carriers that offer currently offer some variant of a home gateway.  Sprint calls its product Airave, while T-Mobile sells the HotSpot@Home device.

However, home gateways have some technical drawbacks.  For example, connecting to emergency services can be a challenge, experts explained this summer. 

The market is also seeing corporate investors.  Cisco Systems acquired ip.access and Google invested in Ubiquisys.