[Gllug] Anyone used a mobile phone "signal booster"?

[Christopher Hunter]

On Fri, 2010-05-21 at 20:19 +0100, Richard Jones wrote:
> Vodaphone are flogging this one for 50 quid + a monthly fee (not an
> endorsement, just the first one that pops up in Google):
> 
> http://suresignal.vodafone.co.uk/
> 
> Anyone used these?  Do they work?  _How_ do they work?  Are they
> network agnostic?
> 
> Rich.

They sort of work (sometimes).  They allow a number of pre-determined
phones to connect to Vodafone through the interweb.  You pay for the
box, you pay for your mobile phone account, you pay for your 'net
connection....  No wonder the rest of the world are in awe of the mad
prices we pay for communications!

These boxes are called "femtocells", and the ones Vodafone have bought
are the cheapest and nastiest available.  Of course they're locked to
their network, and they haven't any real hope of being "opened".  

I first saw these things several years ago in Japan, in bars and hotels,
where the phone companies supplied them, and the infrastructure to
support them, free to the premises.  The ones in Japan worked pretty
well, and filled in the gaps in coverage caused by shielding by high,
metal-framed buildings.  They also provided coverage where you simply
wouldn't expect it, like in the lifts in hotels!

C.

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