Whilst the mobile phone companies have erected a large number of telephone masts it appears that there are never enough. At PC Support Group, Edinburgh one of our sites has a less than perfect signal resulting in the occasional lost call or worse still a conversation where it sounds like you are in a wind tunnel.
A thoughtful Idea
We recently came across an ingenious device from Vodafone called Sure Signal that makes use of your broadband connection to provide another route for calls. Being at the cutting edge of technology (and getting fed up with the poor quality being experienced with our mobile signal) we recently purchased a Sure Signal device for £50.
The Setup Process
Dispatch was within 2 days and once we had the shiny new box it was powered up and connected to the Network Switch. The next stage was to register the device and add any mobile numbers. Vodafone let themselves down here by providing instructions that do not work!
After a few phone calls (with long waiting times) it was established that the wrong instructions had been sent. 24 hours later the device was activated, a few lights flashed for an hour and it then went live. We now have a perfect 3G signal throughout the office.
Having said all that we have heard some reports of people having problems with this device and not getting great support from Vodaphone so there may be some teething problems.
Conclusion
The technology works (or at least it did for us), the price is reasonable and, aside from the minor glitch with the documentation, the actual sign-up process was fairly painless. As far as we know Vodafone are the only company to produce such a device but I would expect the other major networks to follow suit in due course. Worth the money if your mobile signal is below par. Perhaps buy on a sale or return basis just in case you have the problems some others have?
