The Carriers' Not-So-Secret Weapon to Improve Cell Service

Small cells are indeed going to be prevalent in network deployments. Look for them in public venues -- train stations, airports, etc. -- where usage is generally heavy or in places where usage can spike -- like stadiums and sports arenas.

What the carriers are doing is taking a tip from Wi-Fi: broadcast to a smaller area because a cellular channel can only handle a finite number of simultaneous connections (calls or data sessions). So, you can install a macro tower as is done normally and cover 30-40 simultaneous connections in the train station, or several small cells, each able to support 30-40 simultaneous connections to cover the same area.

Backhaul -- connecting the tower or the small cell to the carrier's network remains an issue. Most are moving from T1s to some sort of Ethernet: fiber or microwave. (In fact, some carriers have used microwave for backhaul for quite some time in certain areas.) Ethernet is easier to scale than T1s and provides some cost reductions to the carrier.

All of this costs money, so the best we will see is carriers keeping their prices down rather than actually reducing them. That's what the article mentions as increasing the "bang for the buck." Increase the level of service, but do not increase the cost (much) to the consumer.