New FCC rules for Cellular amplification equipment

[Gordon Spencer]

The FCC finally released the new rules regarding cellular amplifiers. Here They are

http://wireless.fcc.gov/signal-boosters/index.html

Things are going to get fun !!!

 

[David Wolfson]

Indeed! Curious to read the full text of 13-21, but couldn't find it on-line. There are a number of obvious questions like how spec-complaint legacy boosters get a label and how do you register a booster with a carrier when they're a bundler like Millenicom (?), etc.

Reminds me of the "good old days" before the breakup of the Bell Telephone monopoly, when it was illegal to DIY wire a phone extension in your house. The reasons they had were, of course, that unauthorized extensions degraded service and posed a hazard. Technology fixed any problems easily and it's no longer an issue, if it ever was. Same here. Have ill-behaved boosters ever posed a serious problem that couldn't be handled by technology at the cell tower?

 

[Gordon Spencer]

Indeed! Curious to read the full text of 13-21, but couldn't find it on-line. There are a number of obvious questions like how spec-complaint legacy boosters get a label and how do you register a booster with a carrier when they're a bundler like Millenicom (?), etc.

Reminds me of the "good old days" before the breakup of the Bell Telephone monopoly, when it was illegal to DIY wire a phone extension in your house. The reasons they had were, of course, that unauthorized extensions degraded service and posed a hazard. Technology fixed any problems easily and it's no longer an issue, if it ever was. Same here. Have ill-behaved boosters ever posed a serious problem that couldn't be handled by technology at the cell tower?

There are bad amplifiers out there that have caused 2 or 3 towers to crash at once . This has been worked on by the Carriers and the FCC for 4 years till it came to this . Our engineers have always worked with the carriers to make sure our equipment was carrier approved . Our competitors , not so much . Especially these off shore competitors from China . We are very excited as our new equipment has already passed with the major carriers . We cannot wait to get our Final FCC approval's ( very soon we hope ) and get it out there as the carriers claim we are light years ahead of everyone else.

 

[Gordon Spencer]

If your your unit is performing well and not interfering with any local networks . And no one comes knocking on your door , you can gamble and just continue as you are . Who knows how they are going to handle enforcement . They have a year to figure that out . The enforcement really does not start till March 1 2014 from what I have read.
Look under Manufacturers and you will see all the features the FCC expects to be built in to every amplifier . Rumor is they are releasing exact numbers to the manufacturers on March 1 . This has been brewing since November 2009 when they formed the committee to study all the issues with cellular amplifier . There are a lot of bad ones out there that totally screwed up networks and harm cellular other users . They then invited public comments for over 2 years . The bigger cellular amplifier companies spent millions of dollars on Lawyers and lobbyists to try and limit how far these new rules would go .
Ultimately the carriers really had the final input as they pay the government billions and billions of dollars at auction to use the specific frequencies and asked for a lot more control over said frequencies.
There is a lot of bad products out there , like all the offshore stuff people buy and Ebay and other sources . Ultimately the fail safes that are going to required in new amplifier will eliminate bad installations and such as the units are supposed to now shut themselves down when causing any problems to the frequencies
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