Do antenna boosters work?

[Andy Sjostrom]

<a href="http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/pscam/">http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/pscam/</a><br /><br />That is the critical question asked by Pocket PC Magic and out they go to find out! The really fun part of the article is: "The only way we could get the reception to ever change was to move closer or farther to the towers, now if the "antenna boosters" are only sold (and to be used) closer to the towers, then perhaps we can see them working."<br /><br />... which essentially means: no, antenna boosters "as seen on TV", do not work!

[apeguero]

I had bought one of those stupid things last year to find that out. The worst thing though was actually bringing it back for a refund and getting a chuckle from the customer service rep. Oh well, at least I got my money back 8)

[Wes Salmon]

Dude, I was with you until you started dissing the Flexihose! That thing is pure genius!

[pre]

First it helps to understand what your "Signal Strength Bars" are showing you. In my experiance most cellular phones will display receive signal strength (which is what you are measuring) in the range of about a -50dBm to -116dBm. The "Bars" reference something like -70dBm to -116dbm. Each bar shows like 10dBm. Even if you see a 3dB increase in receive signal strength, if it doesn't happen right at the crossover point for the next bar, your display doesn't change. So you may not see an improvement even with a product that does actually work. These antenna bosters are marketing cr..p. I been in the cellular industry since 1984 and tested many products like this and most of them do nothing.

The other thing to remember is that you also have to transmit a signal to complete the communications loop. Many times in weak signal areas it is your transmit power that is to low. Your signal strength meter does not reflect your transmit power.

Cellular and wireless in general is a very complex technology. Way to many details to write a book about here.

If you're in a car and want to improve your service use a handsfree kit that has an external antenna port, or get one of the little "Hersy Kiss" mag mount antennas for th outside of your car.

[sponge]

Doesn't the FlexiHose have a risk for cancer if you drink from it?

[David C]

Yeah, those thing work...... in your head that is... :wink:

Those things are like placebo pills. That's why people keep buying them.