Whenever Steve Stasiukonis’ next-door neighbors want to make cellphone calls, they walk to a spot near his garage door – the only place on their Syracuse, N.Y., street with good reception.
Stasiukonis’ secret: He installed a $500 signal-enhancing device on his garage after getting fed up with dropped calls and poor reception at home. The device, which combines an outdoor antenna with a repeater, picks up weak signals and amplifies them.
“As soon as I installed it, I saw my signal go from zero to full bars,” says Stasiukonis, who was frustrated by the inability to receive business calls on his cellphone. He says his Verizon Wireless phone works well, except in his own neighborhood. Verizon says it investigates problems and does its best to fix them.
With dead zones remaining a problem despite heavy investments by the cellular industry, some Americans are taking matters into their own hands. They are turning to a growing number of new products designed to amplify and improve reception. The products were initially designed for the commercial market. Shopping-mall and office-building owners first spent tens of thousands of dollars on equipment to eliminate dead zones. Now, small electronics companies are rolling out consumer versions of these antennas and amplifiers that minimize building and vehicle-interference and boost weak signals.
The consumer versions of these fixes range in price from $50 for an antenna to several thousand dollars for a system that boosts coverage for an entire home. But prices are starting to come down dramatically. Spotwave Wireless Inc. of Ottawa sells an antenna and repeater for $995. In October, a similar device sold for $3,500.
Industrywide figures on sales of these products are hard to come by. One maker, Wilson Electronics Inc. of St. George, Utah, says its sales have doubled from a year ago, to 46,000 amplifiers and antennas a month. Alternativewireless.com, a San Antonio, Texas, online retailer, reports its sales have quintupled in the past four years. Most are sold directly by manufacturers or online dealers such as wpsantennas.com. The products are generally not carried by big-name electronics stores.
Stasiukonis searched the Internet for a year and spent about $600 on products that he now considers junk. He got the best results by setting up an outside antenna that connects to an indoor amplifier, he says.
Consumers should buy products approved by the Federal Communications Commission that are made by established manufacturers, recommends Lance Wilson, an analyst with market watcher ABI Research in Oyster Bay, N.Y. He recommends that buyers inquire about return policies before purchasing. Buyers also should closely follow installation instructions and, if necessary, hire a professional for advice or installation.
Verizon says residential equipment also must be “properly integrated” into the network to avoid causing interference for others.
