Cell phones forum: Does anyone know if the Antenna Boosters work?

No they do not. Not only are they a waste of money, but if you have to take your phone in for servicing, your cell phone provider will tell you why they aren't a good idea!

Sorry - been there, done that - durn it!

To everyone that says you get nothing for nothing. That's not entirely true. When you put aluminum foil on a tv antenna it get better reception and the foil is not using any current or anything...

The ones for phones DO WORK, but you won't notice any difference in areas that have medium to strong signal strength.

I have worked in cellular retail and have tried a few of these. I found that the more professionally packaged ones do work - I went from cutting in and out of calls in a friend's basement to a full two bars of signal.

One of the problems with this is that if you get one that will actually work, it slightly amplifies the harmful electromagnetic frequency (EMF) that the cell phone already produces.

Most people aren't aware that using a cell phone, in general, without a funtioning EMF harmonizer can cause extreme and debilatating health problems. There was a recent lawsuit in the US where a man sued a cellular company and won, because in his wife's autopsy they discovered that the large tumor in her head was in the shape of the phone/antenna.

I would recommend against anything that is going to boost the reception of your cell before purchasing a working EMF harmonizer. Your phone even produces these harmful EMFs when it is in standby.

This is the link for the product I've purchased:

http://www.femone.com/Product_Biotron.aspx

There is plenty of info about the dangers of EMFs if you run a search online.

Hopefully no one is dumb enough to believe that a sticker will either improve reception, or as above somehow protect your brain from being fried. 'EMF harmonizer' lol. That site must be aimed at particularly dumb women.

Parhaps I can sell you some snake oil to solve all your mobile phone problems.

If you are particularly dumb perhaps you need to waste your money on one of these too http://www.envirohealthtech.com/emf_harmonizer.htm

Congratulations to whoever is selling a piece of wire for $195

(Im an electronic engineering graduate and specialised in radio frequency amplifiers)

The one scientific paper that purported to show it turned out to be fraudulent. And as others have said, the antenna boosters are overpriced ripoffs.
-- Dave K.

stand on 1 foot and spin like a figure skater saying can you hear me now. Send money to me instead if you want I'll put it to better use than the crook selling that junk.

In some analog only markets, cell phone antenna boosters were marginally helpful.

Antenna boosters do just about nothing in digital service (about 98% of the US' cell service is now digital) and are the precise reasons carriers have never carried or supported them. Well, that, and the problem with some boosters permanently damaging the antenna, the RF board, the battery and other components of the phone to an even more unusable condition.

In short, maybe you should look at a different provider rather than a booster. Take a look at different carrier's coverage in your area.

They are absolutely and totally useless. How can something behind your battery that doesn't touch the antenna affect reception in any way??? It's only meant for dummies who want to fork over 10 bucks only to find they've been ripped off.

I know some of you think you know everything but you dont...I have a motorola v180 I have a samsung p107 and everyone in my family has one, including my mother. I tell you they work because I COULDNOT USE MY CELL PHONE IN MY HOUSE BEFORE< PERIOD. THE PHONE WOULD RING ONE TIME AND THEN THE CALL WOULD DROP. but now that i have 2 boosters on my phone I have the best reception,I don't have to go outside to talk on the phone and worry about dropping calls. If you have a bad battery the booster will not work though. Or if your cell phone battery is not in the best of shape they will not work either. In any event I think that they do work because my whole family would not be with out them. Sometimes you can have a bad phone or a bad phone battery that is actually causing you to drop calls in that case their is no point in getting a phone booster...I am upgrading my samsung p107 in December and the first thing i am going to do is buy a couple boosters for my phone. I would highly recomend them because they work for everyone I know. The only place where I have heard of them not working is forums online, like this one. but people will say anything online, even if they never tried them. I dont sell these things, i just buy them and they work for me...I don't know why their is so many forums with everyone asking do they work or not... You know everyone has different opinions some people will say yes and some will say no, you have 2 easy choices, 1 try them, you dont have to worry about spending much money on them if they don't work and 2 dont try them. simple as that...Dont keep asking if they work or not, you know their is only 2 answers. Cell phone boosters are inexpensive anyway you can but them for 50 cent each to 3 dollars each...watch out for these places trying to charge 10-20 dollars for one, because you can get it for less than that...To me its worth that price but why pay more for something when you can get it for less

Anyone can make their own "antenna booster" that is the same "quality" as the ones sold in the stores.

With a Brother label maker, you can buy the 24mm tape with gold letters on a clear background, and print a series of geodesic shapes on it. PRESTO!

Will it work? Not any less than the ones you buy in the stores. If anyone bought one and thinks that it actually does help your reception; Give me a call, I have some magic beans I can sell you.

Cell phone boosters really do work, in contrary to what some may think. It basically depends on what kind of phone that you have. I purchaced mine online at cellphoneshop.net for ony 50 cent each. I have 2 on my phone right now and so does my mom. I also purchaced an antenna form their too. It has an extender for better reception. I honestly can say it has improved my reception by about 50%....Before I couldn't even use the phone in my house, I had 0 bars and now I have 3-4 always. It is so easy to buy from online quick and simple. You just type in your model phone and start shopping. All phones are different so it might not work for yours but I seriously thimk it will. It's worth the price to give it a shot anyway. I bought an antenna and 4 cell phone boosters for only 3.00 and it works...some other companies charger 5-10 dollars for cell phone boosters, honestly no difference at all, same product their just charging more. Look around and see what you can find. You wont find a fake if you buy from an authorized cell phone shop....I dont know any stores that sell them so i have to shop online and i havn't had any problems yet. If you want more reception you dont have much choice but to buy a different antenna, purchace a cell phone booster, buy a new phone or sign up with a different cell phone carrier. Verizon Wireless is the best. t mobile, cingular and sprint doesn't have as much coverage area as Verizon...you rarely here someone complaing about reception with them. I hope my advice helped you.

I had no luck with passive stick-on antennas.
My previous solution was to plug-in external antenna
while at home and put the cellphone into a holder
while operating over speakerphone or bluetooth headset.
The problem is the antenna connection will become flakely
after repeated usage and eventually wear out.
Unfortunately, I then ended up with a Samsung cellphone with
no external antenna connector and the internal antenna has
no way to physically accessed.
I took cheapy automotive magnetic antenna and set it up in
a window to receive a better signal. Then I had to design,
through trial and error, an inductive way of linking the RF
signal to the inside Samsung antenna. I was able to get reliable
connections with 3-4 bars over 1-2 bars with this setup as long
as the cellphone sets in the holder leaning against the homemade
inductor. Each cellphone internal antenna is different so I had to
find the sweatspot which ended up being at the bottom of this
particular phone ( samsung SGH-A437 ). The inductor/antenna coupler
was a 10 inch piece of solid copper telephone wire stuck between Duct tape and simply run back and forth like a sinewave pattern...
the duct tape keeps it in position and the bottom 1/4 of the phone simply lays against this flat antenna coupler.
It works just fine. Im not selling anything and not saying this will work for everyone, but lots of cellphones have compromized internal antennas and getting any signal boost ( TX and RX) can make a lot of
difference in the low power multiband phones used today.
You can also use a coffee can antenna to receive an even stronger signal and do the same thing... that also works if youre in a fringe area. The whole trick is how to couple to the internal antenna and your mileage will vary and require experimentation on your end.
Good luck.
Ken

The thing is you need to have a good signal in your attic to be able for it to work. You also need to mount the base unit 15' above the floor and 15' away from the external antenna - anything closer than this will cause it to have a feedback loop meaning they'll be picking up each other's signal - which is bad.
I tried this
http://www.repeaterstore.com/products/repeaterkits/wi-ex/zboost-dual-band.html
It worked fine for me. I had 2 to 3 bars of service before and now I have 5.
Goodluck on your quest to buy and install one.