Wilson Electronics Urges Consumers, Businesses and Government Agencies to Support Ease of Use Standards for Cellular Signa

Wilson maintains current boosters should be allowed to remain in place as long as they function properly. The company also advocates for simple registration before activation process for consumers.

ST. GEORGE, Utah--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Wilson Electronics (www.WilsonElectronics.com), manufacturer of North America’s top-selling line of cellular signal boosters, is urging its customers and all signal booster advocates to speak out against a proposal by some cellular service providers that would force replacement of all signal boosters currently in operation, and also possibly create an onerous registration process for the end-user.

Several large service providers and their industry lobby have asked the Federal Communications Commission to require that all current users of boosters be forced to scrap existing devices—even boosters that already incorporate protections that will prevent interference on the carriers’ networks—and replace them with boosters compliant with new standards the FCC is expected to issue.

Wilson strongly opposes this required replacement proposal by the cellular carriers, and believes that legacy boosters—those currently installed—should be grandfathered under new FCC booster standards. Additionally, Wilson is in favor of keeping any booster registration process—if it is deemed necessary—as simple as possible so it does not negatively affect consumers or compromise resellers’ customer data.

“For the last ten years we have designed and sold signal booster installations for NASA, the Border Patrol, most branches of the U.S. military, the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, Fortune 100 companies and even hospital operating rooms,” said Jeff Brackenridge, owner of UnwiredSignal.com, a Wilson Electronics retailer in Dallas, Texas. “Wilson Electronics' signal boosters don't interfere with cell phone towers and we've sold tens of thousands of them - from large, complex installations to homes and vacation cabins. We’ve had no complaints from the service providers or the FCC.”

Wilson’s Chief Operating Officer, Joe Banos, agrees with UnwiredSignal.com that the proposal to replace boosters is unnecessary and would be an enormous expense.

“Requiring the replacement of existing boosters would force consumers, businesses and more than 1,000 government agencies to spend millions of dollars on new equipment, and to throw away older boosters that continue to function perfectly,” said Joe Banos, COO at Wilson Electronics. “This proposal from some of the cellular providers is part of a continuing effort to make new booster standards issued by the FCC expensive to implement and onerous for consumers. Wilson supports keeping the transition to the new, tighter standards for boosters as easy as possible for the end-user.”

The carriers’ proposal comes as Wilson and service provider Verizon Wireless have agreed on new stricter technical specifications for consumer cellular boosters. The two companies recently filed a joint letter with the FCC urging commissioners to adopt stricter specifications. T-Mobile was the only carrier in favor of grandfathering existing boosters under the new proposal.

Boosters meeting these higher design standards would allow users to enjoy reliable cellular service in weak signal areas while protecting cellular providers’ networks from interference, which can be caused by poorly designed boosters.

Wilson maintains that forcing consumers to scrap existing boosters based on the very low probability that they may cause interference is unnecessary and not in the public interest.

“There are hundreds of thousands of ‘legacy’ boosters in use today which will never cause any interference on a cell site,” Banos said. “We believe legacy boosters should be replaced only in the rare event they actually cause interference to a cell site. It has long been our company policy to do exactly that.”

The FCC continues to accept public comments on cellular signal boosters until Aug. 24, 2011. We urge all who oppose onerous restrictions on these devices to contact the FCC to make their opinions known.

Click the link below and scroll down near the bottom of the page to enter your comment telling the FCC that legacy boosters should be grandfathered under any new standards as long as they continue to function properly. Also, the registration process before operation of a booster should be kept simple and non-invasive, if needed at all.

http://www.fcc.gov/rulemaking/10-4

About Wilson Electronics, Inc.

Wilson Electronics, Inc., a leader in the wireless communications industry for more than 40 years, designs and manufactures a wide variety of cell phone signal boosters, antennas and related components that significantly improve cellular communication in mobile, indoor, and machine-to-machine (M2M) applications. All Wilson products are engineered, assembled and tested in the company's U.S.-based headquarters. Wilson boosters fully comply with FCC regulations for cellular devices and are FCC type accepted and Industry Canada certificated. Wilson Electronics has developed and patented a variety of technologies for protecting cell sites by preventing network interference. For more information, visit www.wilsonelectronics.com.

CONTACT:

Wilson Electronics
Jonathan Bacon, 435-673-5021
cell: 801-660-7820
jbacon@wilsonelectronics.com
or
Snapp Conner PR
Clay Blackham, 801-432-2177
cell: 801-440-5040
clay@snappconner.com

KEYWORDS:   United States  North America  Utah

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:   Technology  Hardware  Audio/Video  Telecommunications  Mobile/Wireless

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