Because cellular reception at my house has always been pretty poor, and because I frequently go to where it's even worse, I have always had external antennas for my cellular telephones:
- A large, no-compromise, "trucker" antenna designed for maximum efficiency (and maximum potential for poking someone's eye out; look at those ground plane spikes!).
- A smaller--safer and easier to carry around--plastic antenna.
My phones have always had co-axial antenna ports hidden behind little rubber "navels". However, my new iPhone 4S lacks this feature, and in fact doesn't even have an internal antenna (which is usually a metallic/foil thingy against the inside of the case).
Wilson is selling an inductive adapter for our iPhones, and I have bought one.
Although they do specifically mention iPhones 4 and 4S, I am skeptical. My understanding is that the internal antenna of a cellular telephone is usually a thin metal (foil) thing; this "passive" antenna connector would cover that antenna and capture its signal, sending it up a coaxial cable to the external antenna. There would be considerable inefficiency in this scheme, but in theory the very much greater efficiency of the big antenna (compared to the original internal "patch") would offset the loss.
iPhone does not have that internal "patch" antenna; instead, its metal frame is the antenna, which means that the adapter would have no hope of "covering" any significant part of it; intimate association (close adjacency) is needed for this to work.
Despite my doubts, I bought it anyway; it was not expensive, and if it helps even a little while I am out camping in the woods or driving between cities, such help might occasionally be welcome. I am actually rather skeptical. Wilson does apparently know antennas in general, but I fear that they don't quite understand this situation.
(Note that this is entirely passive; there is no (powered) amplification. Wilson's amplified system is the Sleek.)
I hope my skepticism is misplaced. We'll see.
Update: Now that my camping tow vehicle is an actual truck, I expect to permanently mount the trucker antenna on it. The smaller external antenna will go into my gadget bag.
Mark_
26 May 2012
