February 18th, 2006
Poor Cell Reception? Get Your Own Tower
By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
Actually, it’s not a cell tower but an amplifying antenna. In fact, it reminds me a lot of an antenna I have hooked to my wireless router to increase signal strength in my house. Developed by SignalWide, there will soon be a range of solutions to increase your cellular signal strength.
It consists (much like the wi-fi antenna I mentioned) of a base station, antenna, and power adapter. There is a single-user version (the ClickitBase) which requires physical connection to the phone, and other versions (DriveBase - 5 users, LiveBase - 8 users, WorkBase - 68 users) that are wireless.
We Say: This sounds pretty interesting. It looks like the DriveBase, LiveBase and WorkBase used to have different names (CarBase, HomeBase and OfficeBase, respectively) based on the website and some sell sheets (available here). This page indicates that ClickitBase and DriveBase will be available in April. No ETA for LiveBase or WorkBase yet. I have a friend that no matter what type of cellphone he uses, seems to have horrible reception (sometimes I think he’s one of those people can’t interact well with tech). This might be a product for him.
aj says:
Neat idea, but according to http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/02/17/signalwide_cellphone_tower/:
“$229 for the one-user version to $999 for the 68 user mode”
“In the one-user version called the ClickitBase, the phone must be physically connected to the unit with a small cable that hooks into the external antenna port of your phone.”
The one-user version is priced right, but the need to physically connect to the unit is seriously uncool. Maybe this is the company’s way of strongly encouraging a more expensive unit?
February 18th, 2006 at 9:17 am
Michael Santo says:
At that price it’s a heck of a lot less interesting.
February 18th, 2006 at 9:33 am
Jeremy says:
Eh, the 5-user version only needs 12-volt supply, finding an wall wart AC adaptor for that would not be difficult, and you get a decent dB boost.
February 20th, 2006 at 7:36 pm
Josh says:
Or you could just order a da4000sbr for $395 that doesn’t have any user # limitations.
February 21st, 2006 at 6:15 am