Singal Booster (1 Viewer)

[Dick7Access]

Is this a scam?

SignalTech

SignalTech

signaltechbooster.com

 

[The_Doc_Man]

(A) Signal boosters (a.k.a. Wi-Fi repeaters and Wi-Fi extenders) in general are good for larger homes. They are quite real and even AT&T offers one. The FCC does in fact put limits on the range of unlicensed radio transmitters and in our house, a booster that acts as a relay device would probably help me with devices downstairs in our rear party room. I'm considering getting one. However, ...

(B) There is a specific claim in the linked ad that sounds suspicious, claiming that they can block the ISP from doing something to throttle you because of having one of these devices. THAT is the part that is very suspicious. Offhand, I don't know how such a thing would work and the story that goes with it makes no sense, because repair guys would NOT want to give you something that would reduce their income on service calls. It sounds like it might be an ordinary signal booster. If the ISP wants to throttle the router from doing something, it will be in the programming of the router and nothing that an external wireless device could do would prevent that for all possible routers from all possible ISPs. It is a seriously expansive and bogus-sounding claim.

(C) People DO see the symptoms described in the article. I do, certainly, in some rooms in the house. It is POSSIBLE that the reason you see bad connections and slowdowns is because you have a high degree of re-transmission errors due to having a weaker signal in some parts of the house that are farther away from the Wi-Fi hot spot. The slowdowns are not because of the protocols or router actions; they are due to the Wi-Fi having to repeat messages in order to get a correct message packet through.

 

[Dick7Access]

(A) Signal boosters (a.k.a. Wi-Fi repeaters and Wi-Fi extenders) in general are good for larger homes. They are quite real and even AT&T offers one. The FCC does in fact put limits on the range of unlicensed radio transmitters and in our house, a booster that acts as a relay device would probably help me with devices downstairs in our rear party room. I'm considering getting one. However, ...

(B) There is a specific claim in the linked ad that sounds suspicious, claiming that they can block the ISP from doing something to throttle you because of having one of these devices. THAT is the part that is very suspicious. Offhand, I don't know how such a thing would work and the story that goes with it makes no sense, because repair guys would NOT want to give you something that would reduce their income on service calls. It sounds like it might be an ordinary signal booster. If the ISP wants to throttle the router from doing something, it will be in the programming of the router and nothing that an external wireless device could do would prevent that for all possible routers from all possible ISPs. It is a seriously expansive and bogus-sounding claim.

(C) People DO see the symptoms described in the article. I do, certainly, in some rooms in the house. It is POSSIBLE that the reason you see bad connections and slowdowns is because you have a high degree of re-transmission errors due to having a weaker signal in some parts of the house that are farther away from the Wi-Fi hot spot. The slowdowns are not because of the protocols or router actions; they are due to the Wi-Fi having to repeat messages in order to get a correct message packet through.

That was my thoughts Doc. I don't have trouble reaching signal from my MiFi. It sits 28 inches from my computer, and I don't use my computer in any other room. My probable is that Verizon gives me unlimited data, but after a certain time they slow me down. I just bought a new computer to get a solid state hard drive, but until the the 12th of the month I can download Quicken, TeamViewer and a couple of other apps because its so slow it just sits there until it says can't download.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

The only thing I can see is that you must have what is called "metered" service. This is a side effect of the repeal of Net Neutrality. One of the few things Trump instigated that I absolutely don't like.