Smoothtalker's Bad Mouthing of Repeater Manufacturers

[Doc Mark]

I've been researching ways to increase my cell phone range in preparation to our summer sojourn to the upper Mid West.

I've read the posts about Digital Antenna, Wilson etc, and was on Smoothtalkers pages when I stumbled upon this missive that is VERY negative about any of the competition. Click here

Anybody else read this and your thoughts? Is this in fact good information or is it a manufacturers way of bad mouthing the competition?

[Doc Mark]

I've been researching ways to increase my cell phone range in preparation to our summer sojourn to the upper Mid West.

I've read the posts about Digital Antenna, Wilson etc, and was on Smoothtalkers pages when I stumbled upon this missive that is VERY negative about any of the competition. Click here

Anybody else read this and your thoughts? Is this in fact good information or is it a manufacturers way of bad mouthing the competition?

[GaryKD]

Hi Mark,
That is quite a reading assignment you gave out. I read the piece as an RVer who owns a 39 FT. motorcoach and travels all over the USA. Chapters 1-6 trys to be educational. I found much of it not to pertain to the environment I use my repeater in. Chapter 7, 8a and 9 for me are false. I feel the author has never been in a motor coach and has no idea how an RVer will use their cell phone.

I will always buy a repeater. The advantage is that there is no wire from the cellphone to the internal antenna. After reading this, it sounds like an info commerical, only negative. The writing is couched in very specific qualifiers that the author is using as an example. For me, and my RV lifestyle, these qualifiers make the writing a moot point. As an RVer look at the qualifiers. An RVer would need to ask if their cell phone use would be the same as the author suggests and this might make the repeater useless. I do not think so.

I have had my repeater for two years and would not travel without it. My real world experience is that the repeater is invaluable.
1. When people can not make a call I tell them to hang around the front of my coach. They then make a call.
2. If you forget all the technical mumbo jumbo, when the repeater is on, I have never been anywhere where I could not make a call. If I turn the repeater off, sometimes I can not make a call. The proof is in the real world use of the product.
3. It is now to a point I just leave the repeater on 100% of the time.
4. At rallies, by the end of the rally people who can not make calls from various locations, at the rally, can always make a call from the vicinity of the front of my coach.
5. 40' is the farthest apart (internal to external antenna) I have seen for the most powerfull repeater (the one I have). This is not difficult to achieve in a large coach. There are repeaters that require less distance between the antennas. FYI, this distance is line of site. When we provide the interrior of a coach and all it's interrior components, attenuation is not a problem.

Throughout my career I taught my organization never to disparage a competitor or their products. Even a known fact was not to be discussed by my managers or staff. We competed on the merrits of the products and service we sold. I hold my vendors to the same standard. This company will never receive my business.

The bottom line is my repeater works as advertised. I would buy the same product again.

[Doc Mark]

Gary - sorry I ruined your Saturday with homework LOL


Thanks for the most valuable information. I had read your posts previously and learned a lot, but I just could not believe what I was reading on their website & I wanted to get some other peoples take on what was said.

I wholeheartedly agree that you never run down a competitor; if your wares do not stand on their own merits, then do something about your wares!