FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

1. Which power amplifier should I choose?
2. Which amplifiers work for all wireless carriers in my home and office?
3. How much separation do I need between the outside and inside antennas?
4. Which indoor antenna is right for me?
5. Which outdoor antenna should I choose?
6. How can I tell if the power amplifier system is working?
7. What if the power amplifier system give me no signal improvement?
8. How much area can the power amplifier system cover?
9. What's the difference between GSM, CDMA, TDMA, EVDO, UMTS and HSPA(+)?

• Visit our cell phone test mode web page to learn how to set your cell phone into test mode. (For reference only. Use at your own risk.)
• Calculate the coverage area based on signal strength, distance and power amplifier

19dB: Direct-connect power booster for car, truck and RV. You can also use it at home. It has adequate range when using air cards for laptops and even ATMs.
40dB: Wireless power repeater (attach no cable to cell phone!) for car, truck and small area.
70dB for Sprint WiMax:CM2500W 70dB 4G WiMax Signal Booster Repeater Amplifier for Sprint WiMax Network.
Dual Band 65dBi for all: EFlex65-P-KIT Wireless Flexible Cellphone Signal Power Repeater 65dBi KIT System for area up to 6000 sq.ft.
Tri-Band 65dBi 2G, 3G + Verizon 4G LTE:Tri-Flex-V-KIT Tri-Band 65dB Wireless Power Repeater KIT for 2G, 3G and Verizon 4G for area up to 6000 sq.ft.
5-Band 65dBi for all: CM-FUSION-5-KIT Wireless 5-Band Power Repeater KIT for ALL 2G, 3G and 4G LTE for area up to 10,000 sq.ft.
5-Band 80dBi for all:FORCE-5 (CM5000-80) 2G, 3G, 4G 5-Bands Large Building 80dB Cell Phone Power Amplifier for area up to 80,000 sq.ft.

Dual Band 19dB Power Booster is the direct-connect amplifier for all wireless carriers (not for Nextel iDEN).
Wirless Dual Band 40dB, 55db, 65dB CM2020 power repeaters are wireless solutions for all wireless carriers (not for Nextel iDEN).

Separation distance is measured as a imaginary straight line between two antennas because signals travel through the air in a straight line.

• The length of cables does not measure separation distance.
• The length of cables add-up should be at least 20% more than separation distance.
• For the sytem to work properly, the separation distance must be followed to avoid interference between the two antennas.

If you want the signal to spread around a big room, the indoor dome antennas, such as CM222W, CM223 and CM224 will be more efficient. If you have a small office and need to use the cell phone at your desk and chair, you may get better signal reception with the Indoor Wall Panel Antenna CM248W because it is a directional antenna with bigger gain.

Depends on the location of your home or office building. If your place is located in a mountain or hill valley; or if your place is surrounded by big tall trees; or if your place is in a city area surrounded by high buildings; you should get the Outdoor Full Band (698 – 2700MHz) Fiberglass Antenna CM288W.

If your building is located in a flat plain terrain, you should get Outdoor Fiberglass Antenna CM100L or CM100s. These two outdoor fiberglass antennas are for marine vessels as well.

You can always wait for two minutes and check if the cell phone signal bars have been increased. You can even make a call and the voice quality should be improved.

The more precise way to check is to put your cell phone in test mode. The test mode will show the total dB gain in numbers. Only when your cellphone is set in test mode, you see the signal improvement. It's common for 1900MHz that RSSI value will improve a lot.

Disclaimer:
The given informational description here is for reference ONLY. Neither warranty nor guarantee is implied on the accuracy of the information. Use them at your own risk.

Please call Tech Support toll free 888-365-MATE (888-365-6283). We will walk you through the installation steps. The most important is to know how much separation is needed to properly install your power repeater amplifier system. Some systems require 50-ft separation between indoor antenna and outdoor antenna. Others may need only 20-ft of separation. This depends on the dB gain of the power repeater amplifier.

In general, power repeater amplifier systems can cover indoor area up to a maximum value limited by the dB gain and original signal strength. Separation distance is required between indoor and outdoor antennas.

• 70dBi for Sprint WiMax:CM2500W 70dB 4G WiMax Signal Booster Repeater Amplifier for Sprint WiMax Network.
• Dual Band 65dBi: EFlex65-P-KIT Wireless Flexible Cellphone Signal Power Repeater 65dBi KIT System for area up to 6000 sq.ft.
• Tri-Band 65dBi 2G, 3G + Verizon 4G LTE:Tri-Flex-V-KIT Tri-Band 65dB Wireless Power Repeater KIT for 2G, 3G and Verizon 4G for area up to 6000 sq.ft.
• 5-Band 65dBi for all: CM-FUSION-5-KIT Wireless 5-Band Power Repeater KIT for ALL 2G, 3G and 4G LTE for area up to 10,000 sq.ft.
• 5-Band 80dBi for all:FORCE-5 (CM5000-80) 2G, 3G, 4G 5-Bands Large Building 80dB Cell Phone Power Amplifier for area up to 80,000 sq.ft.

GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is a standard set developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe technologies for second generation (2G) digital cellular networks. The GSM standard is more improved after the development of third generation (3G) UMTS standard developed by the 3GPP.

CDMA (Code division multiple access) is a channel access method used by various radio communication technologies. It should not be confused with the mobile phone standards called cdma One, CDMA2000 (the 3G evolution of cdmaOne) and WCDMA (the 3G standard used by GSM carriers), which are often referred to as simply CDMA, and use CDMA as an underlying channel access method.

TDMA (Time division multiple access) is a channel access method for shared medium networks. It allows several users to share the same frequency channel by dividing the signal into different time slots. The users transmit in rapid succession, one after the other, each using its own time slot. This allows multiple stations to share the same transmission medium (e.g. radio frequency channel) while using only a part of its channel capacity. TDMA is used in the digital 2G cellular systems 2G cellular systems such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Personal Digital Cellular (PDC) and iDEN standard for cellular phones.

EVDO (Evolution-Data Optimized or Evolution-Data Only) is a telecommunications standard for the wireless transmission of data through radio signals, typically for broadband Internet access. It uses multiplexing techniques including code division multiple access (CDMA) as well as time division multiplexing (TDM) to maximize both individual users' throughput and the overall system throughput. It has been adopted by many mobile phone service providers around the world – particularly those previously employing CDMA networks. EVDO was designed as an evolution of the CDA2000 standard that would support high data rates and could be deployed alongside a wireless carrier's voice services.

UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) is a third generation mobile cellular technology for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the International Telecommunication Union IMT-2000 standard set and compares with the CDMA2000 standard set for networks based on the competing cdmaOne technology. UMTS employs Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA) radio access technology to offer greater spectral efficiency and bandwidth to mobile network operators. UMTS specifies a complete network system, covering the radio access network (UMTS Terrestial Radio Access Network, or UTRAN), the core network (Mobile Application Part, or MAP) and the authentication of users via SIM cards. The technology described in UMTS is sometimes also referred to as Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access (FOMA) or 3GSM.

HSPA+, or Evolved High-Speed Packet Access, is a technical standard for wireless, broadband telecommunication. HSPA+ enhances the widely used WCDMA based 3G networks with higher speeds for the end user that are comparable to the newer LTE networks. HSPA+ was first defined in the technical standard 3GPP release 7 and expanded further in later releases.
HSPA+ provides an evolution of High Speed Packet Access High Speed Packet Access provides data rates up to 168 Megabits per second (Mbit/s) to the mobile device and 22 Mbit/s from the mobile device.