cellphone reception
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AT&T MicroCell brings more bars, but at a cost
Sadly, I'm one of the poor souls who has close to zero cell coverage in my house. It's partly the way my home is constructed, and partly because the city fathers in the area I live in are going real slow about approving new cell towers. The result is that I usually have one bar displayed on my iPhone, but as soon as I try to make a call, that bar disappears and I wind up in cell phone hell. AT&T has an answer, but it is a bit pricey. It's called the AT&T 3G MicroCell. It's not a cellphone repeater, but instead a device that plugs into your router and then gets you voice and data just as if you have a cell tower in your house. It gives me five bars anywhere in the house and yard, which pretty much completely solves my reception issues. [It may not work for you; TJ points out that AT&T doesn't support the MicroCell over satellite connections. –Ed.] We had a runthrough of the MicroCell when guest blogger Murphy Mac put it through its paces in 2009; my take on the device follows here. Read on!
Cellphone signal blocking via transparent window film
Are you yearning for a transparent window film that would block WiFi and cellphone frequencies from passing through it? If you're as paranoid as we are at some yokel sniffing out any kind of popular RF signal that is probably floating out the windows of your office building at this very moment, CPFilms has your answer. The defense department supplier's LLUmar Signal Defense film blocks those pesky radio rays from leaking outside those windows, giving your cellphone conversation peace of mind as well as those Bluetooth sync sessions and WPA-2 WiFi signals (heh). The film's been rolled out at over 200 federal facilities, so breathe a sigh of relief next time you're, you know, transmitting sensitive information in the Department of Treasury.[Via textually.org]
