Recent gripes regarding the iPhone's so-called “grip of death” that covered the antenna and blocked signals may have brought the issue of cellular reception into public focus, but the problem has existed for as long as cellular technology has. What we think of as a broad and comforting blanket of coverage is at best threadbare and at worst, a collection of tatters and patches.
We like to think that our wireless devices have brought the world closer together, but even in the center of our own country it has become a divisive factor. Coverage in rural America is often spotty or nonexistent and while telecoms race to fill in gaps in the major cities on the coasts many are upset that they seem to have ignored this section of the country entirely. Though they may receive the most attention, cell phone users in major cities call still fall victim to service outages. It is humbling to think that the wireless signals modern life depends on, though invisible and intangible, can somehow be fragile. The ease at which cellular transmissions can blocked or disrupted is often hard to comprehend. New Yorkers riding the subway are used to commuting through dead space, but you don't need dozens of feet of concrete overhead to find yourself disconnected from the outside world.
Owners of homes with aluminum siding or metal frames have long reported signal interruption. The metal in these housing components can disrupt the signal and make a house feel more like a technological prison than a home.
So what is the solution? Some find success in upgrading their phone to one with a better transmitter of changing their service provider, but often times the simplest and cheapest solution is to use a cellular signal amplifier. These devices will receive and amplify carriers' signals, turning one bar into 4 like a 3G magic trick. There's no hacking or law-breaking required, all you have to do is put the extender in a place that has reception and then plug it in or attach your phone, depending on the design.
As we become more reliant on wireless communication, we have seen signal amplifiers grow in popularity. It isn't difficult to see them becoming even more integral to our lives as desktop PCs are gradually being replaced by smartphones and netbooks as the way Americans connect to the web. In a decade, we may see them as pre-installed options on cars, advertised enticements for hotels, or even must-have housewarming gifts in rural areas. Even better, as developing nations have forgone wired telephones in place of cheap-to-install cellular networks, cellular amplifiers may help further connect the world the same way the One Laptop Per Child initiative is helping bridge the technological gap in Africa. Hopefully, it won't be long until we will truly be connected to the whole world by the mobile device in our pocket.
