REVIEW DATE: 08/21/02

REVIEWER: David Kroll

Intro:

     Today I'm breaking away from the usual, which I like to do actually, and bringing you a sort of different review. Now many, if not all of us, have seen all those commercial advertisements for these so called "Cell Phone Antenna Boosters", not many people actually know if they work. And that is what this short review will reveal with my personal experience with this. While this is sort of an off topic review, enjoy it as you will. There maybe more kinds of these things coming... And guess what? If you really want, even after reading the review, you can enter the contest to win one of these things...

The Goods:

     Below you can see the packaging, which is really a re-sealable plastic bag. You'd figure that it would be shrink wrapped or something... At least it's not in a sandwich bag or anything...

 

The front of the package.	A scan of the back with instructions.

     I'm not going to disclose where this came from. Personally, I didn't buy it. Nor would I really. But I was just as curious having one in my hand, to actually test it out.

Idiocy:
 

     Well, if you click on the thumbnail for the scan of the back of the package, you can see that it has a "18 month lift span." I do certainly hope that that is after you install it, because this thing has no born on date like my beer. :)

Installing and Testing:

     Err, taking the booster out of the package, and installing it is pretty self explanatory. So I guess we'll "jump to conclusions". More accurately, testing conclusions. Go Office Space! :)
 

Signal before installing.	It's in there, see? See me sorta?	Wow, look Ma, no difference!

Testing Conclusion:

     As you can see this thing didn't do diddly squat. 4 out of 5 signal bars each time. So that lady in the elevator, shaking her head yes, that the cell phone with the booster is working, is full of crap also. Make sure you peep around at the related links. Especially the "Terms". If I were to summarize that page, you are pretty much screwed. No warranty, and if you read it carefully, well, they had a great legal department don't you think?

Pros:

• Cheap. Search on eBay, and you can get one or two for around a buck now.

• Didn't harm anything... I guess.

• It's a pretty looking... STICKER!

Cons:

• Didn't do a thing for me. No better signal, or helped with any static reduction.

• Just another gimmick, that someone, not you, is probably getting rich doing.

• Only an 18 month lift span. I wonder what the life span is though?

Summary:

     Our area here is small. Our cell phones constantly cut out due to lack of service areas and adequate towers here in the Upper Peninsula of MI. I would have hoped that a cell phone antenna booster would help in that aspect, but I guess not here. Maybe it works better in rural or suburban areas.