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(More customer reviews)Who can resist the idea of more bars? Nobody. Unfortunately, the snake-oil salesmen know this and there are a lot of bogus products out there that boost the seller's bank balance but not your cell phone reception. I was really hoping someone would review this before I bought, but I took the plunge and I'm happy to report that the Cell Ranger does what it says it will do, for the most part. I deducted two stars for the need to really fuss with placement to enjoy its benefits.
If you are looking for a booster that will take a really weak signal and bathe your room in cell reception so you can wander around with the phone in your hand and talk away with no drops, this is not the right product for you. You will need to spend more and get a powerful booster that amplifies both up- and down-stream frequencies. Such devices are costly and not very portable.
But if you want a very portable device that you can take on vacation and use in the car and are willing to keep your phone within a foot or two of the "transmitter," the Cell Ranger turns a weak 1-2 bars into 4-5 with great call quality. I recommend getting the "PORT" model because you can power it with a huge variety of USB power supplies (not included) - basically you need 5 volts at a minimum of 250 ma.
I have tested it with a Gen 1 iPhone and a Moto Razr, both on AT&T. While I realize that "bars" are not accurate measures of actual signal strength, they can at least indicate improvement. With very careful placement of the antenna and transmitter, I saw improvement of 2-4 bars. This was the very first time I've seen maximum bars on both phones at my house. The best results came with the antenna outside my window and mounted on a cookie sheet (as a ground plane). The worst results (no added bars) were caused by having the antenna and transmitter too close and the antenna inside the window (they need 6-10 feet of separation) and/or moving the phone (especially the iPhone) more than a foot away from the transmitter. If you have a Bluetooth headphone, this will make the phone placement problem a non-issue.
Next week I plan to take the Cell Ranger to the Adirondacks, where cell reception is marginal at best, and give it a torture test. If there are dramatic differences in performance there, I'll edit this review.
Here's my edit: The Cell Ranger worked beautifully in the cabin where we stayed. If I prop my iPhone in the window I get one bar, maybe two, but it is not very convenient to talk that way. With the Cell Ranger and a BT headset (so I could leave the phone right next to the amplifier), I got minimum 3 bars and often 4 or 5, with no dropped calls or audio quality problems. With such weak signal, it was not possible to move the phone more than a few inches from the amp without dropping to 1 bar or dropping the call, so again, be aware that this is not a "whole room" solution.
-dan
Click Here to see more reviews about: Cell Ranger USB-Powered Cell Phone Signal Booster
The Cell Ranger PORT is an Intelligent Amplifier that boosts signal strength to your cell phone or laptop air card. Cell Ranger is a next-generation microprocessor-driven system that gives you reliability and performance enhancements not found with 'mesh" stick-on and 'repeater" antenna boosters. The Cell Ranger PORT is easy to install: just place the magnetic antenna near a window (at least 8 feet away) and then plug the unit into your laptop's USB port. After that, Cell Ranger's advanced circuitry does the rest. Whether using the STIX for your car or the PORT for your laptop, you can depend on Cell Ranger for the optimum in communications performance.Cell Ranger equipment supports Auto and Laptop usage across all North American cellular carriers* and all types of cell phones - from the most basic handsets to the latest smartphones.
*The use of radio distribution equipment that enhances, extends or amplifies a wireless signal may be prohibited without the consent of the wireless carrier upon whose network such equipment will be used. You should consult with your carrier before purchasing such equipment to use with that carrier's service.
Click here for more information about Cell Ranger USB-Powered Cell Phone Signal Booster
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