[pmrid (Peter)]

A cautionary tale. If, like me, you live in an area with weak mobile phone signal you may have thought about what you can do to improve it, at least around the home. There are signal boosters (which are totally illegal) and Passive Repeaters. They are heavily regulated by the ACMA. And it has some pretty darned strict rules about what can operate with the 3G and 4G bands. Both Telstra and Optus (which also covers several others like Amaysim, Vodafone etc) each have a single device they may give you permission to use on their mobile network. And they're expensive. ( About A$800-900 for an installation).

Seeking alternatives, I recently did some Google surfing and came up with a couple of companies with names which suggested they were Australian. I won't repeat them here but you'll certainly find them easily enough. I wrote to one of them asking about the legality of their devices for Australian use.

I got a reply from another company but in response to my original inquiry. Clearly they are related entities. That reply said this:

" This statement provides a guarantee that the use of a XXXXX product is completely legal for use in the AU based on the information below.All personal repeaters are legal to own and operate for home or office use.Here is also a copy of legal licence for you to read.

XXXXXX systems, which incorporate interference protection electronics, do not cause harmful interference to the Mobile Provider’s networks and therefore are legal to purchase, install and operate within the AU. XXXXX hereby guarantees this statement. Although highly unlikely, and XXXXXX equipment found to cause interference will be replaced on warranty. "

So I decided to write to the ACMA and ask them specifically about these companies and their guarantee. I got a reply from ACMA saying this:

" The ACMA has had several dealings with XXXXXXXX Australia and XXXXXXXX Australia. They have also been the issue of an investigation and finding from the Office of Fair Trading in NSW.

These devices cannot be connected to any mobile or fixed phone network unless you have written permission form the carrier. The claims on the websites you mention below are not correct. Unless you have written authorisation from your carrier to use the device they cannot be used. "

As a matter of interest, I then decided to see whether these 2 companies actually existed at the addresses given in their advertising. One of them turned out to be a shop-front mail-box service (which you could see using Google Maps Street View). The other was so non-specific (Oxford Street, Sydney) that it was impossible to check.

So be warned folks. There are traps for the unwary.

pETER