Channelnews : illegal smartphone repeaters targeted

These mobile phone repeaters that cost around $100 are used to increase the signal strength of smartphones by wirelessly replicating and amplifying radio signals, among those selling the

devices are backyard consumer electronics retailers and some telecommunication carriers. Legal versions cost around $1000. The downside is that the devices can hijack radio waves and cause

havoc for infrastructure and services that rely on mobile networks. Illegal mobile repeaters typically sell for under $100, about 10 times cheaper than telco-?approved boosters. The ACMA and

Fair Trading are concerned that the use of unlicensed repeaters – which hijack spectrum licensed to telecommunications carriers Telstra, Optus and Vodafone – could cause substantial

interference to mobile networks and affect emergency call services. Mobile repeaters are fixed transmitting devices sometimes used in mobile networks to regenerate or replicate a mobile

signal in difficult areas; home users sometimes buy them in a bid to improve reception in a big or multi-storey house. They cannot be used in Australia without written authorisation from the

user’s carrier. “Australian consumers face dangers in purchasing unlicensed mobile phone repeaters online, and need to be aware of the activities of unscrupulous Internet- based suppliers,”

said ACMA chairman Chris Chapman. Last month NSW Fair Trading served a cease-and-desist order on the largest Internet supplier of repeaters, Mobile Repeaters Australia (MRA). “Traders like

MRA are keeping consumers in the dark and misinformed,” said Fair Trading commissioner Rod Stowe. “Consumers need to be aware of the dangers of using these poorly made and non-compliant

devices. By selling these second-rate mobile phone repeaters, traders are putting at risk the whole community for the sake of their own financial gain.”