Jan 17

WRITTEN BY: Peter Martin
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 

.                                                                                                                                                                                                      .                                                     We have done a lot of research  on the subject of active mobile phone boosters.  An active repeater looks like the unit shown in the photo and needs an external source of electrical power. We could certainly sell plenty but we believe it would be a very silly decision for us to sell them in Australia. Not only would be compromising our own business but we'd be compromising our customers too. The penalties are significant and Telstra in particular are looking for existing offenders.

So far we haven't heard them getting tough but that could change with the possibility of $250k fines and a couple of years of jail time for anyone who causes Telstra enough problems. The worst case would be someone using an illegal active booster preventing access to emergency services by other users on the network. If loss of life were to result then that's when I would expect that the law would choose to make an example of someone - so please beware!

A passive repeater is just two antennas connected together and is perfectly legal. Although, of course they aren't going to give you mobile coverage right throughout your house they can work over a limited area.

More info: 

http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_2150

  and

http://acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD..PC/pc=PC_1697

 

More discussion on:

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1780925