CONSUMER BEWARE:

AMPLIFIERS WITH NO FCC APPROVAL CAN BE DANGEROUS and COSTLY

by Howard Melamed, President CellAntenna Corporation

When you are buying a Signal Booster Amplifier or Building Repeater it is important to know if it is approved by the FCC. There are many companies outside of the United States selling  products to unsuspecting U.S. consumers that are claimed to be FCC approved but are not.  None of these products can be considered safe and must be looked upon as hazardous and a liability to the unsuspecting consumer. 

False claims are being made by companies such as the one in the Caribbean (JD----) or the one in Australia (Power---)  who are selling their product to unsuspecting  Americans. They  claim that their product is FCC approved and is the same as any of our products.  They are not FCC approved, ours are. FCC approval is easy to prove. Just ask for the license number of the device and then go to the FCC website at www.fcc.gov. Search on the number and see if their name pops up or if they are in fact legitimate products.  Every approved FCC amplifier must have on it a label stating the FCC Number. A label saying FCC APPROVED with no number means the amplifier does not have FCC approval and you are being lied to!

Typical boosters that are sold outside the country do not have FCC approval. It is not because they can't apply for one, it is because their products will never meet our safety standards. They do not use the same components as ours nor do they have the same quality control. One such amplifier has been banned in the very country that they are made in. 

When  an electronic product is FCC approved it had to go through an expensive and vigorous testing program to insure that it is safe for the public to use and that it not create any form of interference in the system.  Among some of the extensive tests, is a test for radiation, since cellular communication operates at microwave frequencies. Amplifiers increase signal strength by a factor of 100 to 10000. They add energy to the signal and this energy must be focused only in the antenna systems and not around the unit itself.  Any unit that fails this test will not receive the FCC approval.

Another test involves whether or not the building repeater interferes in any way with other users in the system or whether the repeater interferes on other channels closely placed to the cellular band. These other channels are police and fire rescue frequencies. A non-FCC approved amplifier can prevent emergency organizations from properly communicating. The use of a product causing interference with any of the cellular operators can result in the cellular provider taking legal action against you. Since the cellular band is close to the emergency band, using products that are not FCC approved may cause interference on those vital frequencies that are used by our Firefighters, ambulances, police, and disaster relief agencies.

Since signal boosters and building repeaters generate heat during their use, it is important to have an FCC label as a security against the possibility of a fire being caused by its use. Should that unlikely event happen, and a non-FCC approved amplifier was utilized, then the insurance company can deny the claim citing the use of an unapproved device.

What about CellAntenna Corporation amplifiers and building repeaters? We only sell FCC approved equipment. Each electronic device comes with an FCC number that can be checked with the FCC database. The amplifiers we sell have been through laboratories that have checked for microwave radiation leakage, and frequency interference. They have passed the test.  We also sell our building repeaters to cellular providers in the United States and Canada. 

So be careful in dealing with companies that are not within the reach of our borders that make false claims and promises.   Purchasing any electronic device that is not FCC approved means that you are throwing away your money and maybe harming yourself !