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Internal
Antenna Signal Booster
Do
they really work
I have
wondered that question to myself ever since I have seen
all those commercials recently ran on television making
claims such as "adding a four foot antenna to your phone"
and getting signal inside tunnels and indoor areas. This
page was created to show all of my fact findings on the
internal antenna and its functionality with cellular phones.
Hopefully, these tests can help you decipher if the internal
antenna actually helps increase cell phone reception and
signal strength. I have conducted many objective tests
on my own with internal antenna, as well as hane other
people in other geographic areas do the same. People are
always looking for ways to increase their cell phone's
signal strength, so volunteers were easy to find. This
is due to the inconsideration of cellular providers that
start building out and advertising their service before
they are properly ramped up to handle their users with
good cell phones reception. They are to blame, and we
the consumer are stuck with finding alternet ways of improving
and increasing the signal that should have been present
at that time we signed our 1 year contracts!
I used several phones for my tests including the Nokia
8200,6100,8800 and the Nokia 3300 series phones. I have
also had other volunteer testers using phones from Samsung,Ericsson,Motorola,
Qualcomm and Audiovox to just name few. Teaters used phones
working with both TDMA and CDMA digital technology,as
well as the older Analog Phones with providers such as
Verizon and AT&T. The new popular GSM 900 phones (SIM
Card technology) and PCS phones were also included in
the tests.
Geographic areas covered by testers include: various states
in the US from the East Coast,West Coast and the Midwestern
states. I have also communicated with users from Greece,Germany,Brazil
(South America) and Australia.
Preparation: I purchased the internal antenna from a few
retailers at local stores and online on the internet.
I found that all of the internet antennas were identical,with
the minor exception of a few which the device was the
same, but with a little variation in the retail packaging.
we (testers) also made logs of signal strength with various
phones without the internal antenna signal boosters installed
over a period of time and until a pattern of consistency
was found. This is how we established the basis of our
correlation and comparison tests.
TEST I- Internal Antenna in low signal indoor areas:
CONTROL ENVIRONMENT- various indoor concrete buildings
with no windows within 35 feet of the cellular phone unit.
Criteria for these experimental Locations include low
or null signal without the internal antenna installed.
Tests conducted for indoor functionality of the internal
antenna spanned over a period of time of no less than
a couple of months. The rationale for the time frame is
because cellular sites of various service providers may
be overlosded at different times of the day and different
days of the week. The few month time frame also rules
out the possibility of a cell site being down or under
maintenance.
RESULTS- To our surprise,we found that the internal
antenna helped most of the phones gain roughly one bar
signal strength. In certain cases where the concrete area
was underground,the antenna did not noticeably increase
the cellular phone's signal. In metropolitan areas such
as Downtown Los Angeles,San Francisco and New York, the
internal antenna not only increased the signal strength,but
actually heleped older analog phones reduce static to
the point where the testers say they can carry on a conversation
without having to repeat themselves to the other party.
They reported that this was not possible before the internal
antenna was installed. Consistency is the key factor in
TEST I. There were times when certain cell sites were
down,and lack of signal affected everyone with the same
cellular carrier, regaedless if they had the internal
antenna installed or not.
CONCLUSION- The manufactures of the internal antenna
signal boosters claim that their product will help increase
cell phone signal in tunnels and indoor areas. We find
that to be true, although saying tha "it is like adding
a four foot antenna" may be a stretch. We also found that
analog cellular phones also had a significant reducation
in static (static and cross-talk is not a factor for digital
wireless phones). To that,we can also validate their claim.
TEST II- Internal Antenna - graphical
representation of test results:
TEST EQUIPMENT- For this, we consulted an Electrical
Engineer from the University of Illinois. He basically
tested the antenna for frequency strength and interference.He
tested various cellular phones before and after the installation
of the internal antenna. The test result were then averaged
out over a period of time. Those results were then merged
and averaged out between cellular phone models and different
cellular providers. This would give a more general and
unbiased conclusion on the effectiveness of the internal
antenna.
The results were then put into graphical representation
for interpretation. The chart has been simplified and
the jargon is put in Layman's terms. But as you can see
in the above graph,as the signal coverage of the provider
grew weaker, the internal antenna helped sustain higher
signal strength as the load increased. The vertical field
of the graph represents approximately the lower two (2)
bars of signal strength on a cell phone. Our TEST I results
seem to be pretty consistent with TEST II,as we have said
that the internal antenna booster increased roughly one
(1) bar of signal strength,although not in absolutely
all areas.
SUMMARY
The ultimate question remains: Does the internal antenna
signal booster actually work? Our conclusion from various
testimonials and test results would say yes. But the exaggerated
claims made by the manufacturers must be taken with a
grain of salt. it did almost everything it said it would,just
not to the degree that one would have expected if you
were to go on their advertising alone.
After speaking with the Electrical Engineer,we figured
that this device in concept would work,so we were not
too surprised that we found positive results. By channeling
stray waves to the cell phone's own antenna would actually
help increase signal.
Is it worth buying and using? Let's just put it this way.
After we have installed the internal antenna in our cell
phones,we will not take it off anymore. We figure it is
worth the money, Particularly if you are in a low signal
area a lot of the time and that little extra mile will
make the difference between a bearable conversation and
a completely dropped call.
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