From being a luxury dating back in the seventies, mobile phones (cellular phones to some) have become a necessity at a time when communication seemed man’s top gadget in his day to day transactions.

The problem however lies when the phone is rendered as useless because you can neither make or receive any call nor send or get text messages because of poor reception in places that is commonly known as "dead spot". A dead spot is a place where signal goes haywire.

Frustrating is perhaps the best word to describe when we just can’t make any call or send a message via short messaging system, no matter how we get to position ourselves or the phone itself.

What causes dead spots?

Weak signal can sometimes be attributed to the mobile phone unit itself. There are instances and places where even the best hand-held devices can’t seem to work because the area in itself is a "dead spot".

There are, however, areas where difficult reception is caused by just poor or weak signal, thus causing telephone conversations to be "choppy", blurred or at times missing calls. It also causes delay in sending and receiving text messages.

Among the places where signal is at "zero" or just too weak are the basements, inside an elevator car, in a valley, in an enclosed facility, remote areas, among other places where there are so many barriers.

False promises

There have been a number of suggestions as to how to cope up with the problem on poor reception signal. There have also been a lot of wise guesses as to why it is happening. Other than the network provider itself (network providers usually put up a cell site to boost signal in a given area), none of them seemed to be able to provide real and long-term solution to it.

In one instance, a private entity came out with the idea of "wonder stickers" which they claim would help enhance signal when put on the phone. These "wonder stickers" however failed to impress the market as there isn’t much that it did to improve reception.

Excited over new promises

"Wonder stickers" eventually went down the drain as consumers eventually realized buying one of these would just be a waste of money.

Now comes Vodafone, which claims to have tried and tested their "wonder box" as capable of enhancing mobile phone signals even in areas considered as dead spot. Known as "Access Gateway", their new device seemed more like of a small box, which could be used as one’s mobile phone mast.

Getting started

How does one use it? Simple. Plug it in using the broadband port and check your mobile phone signal. You’ll be amazed with what it does, regardless of where you may be. What makes this gadget amazing is that it is very handy and compatible even with any mobile phone. Accessing 3G phones is also amazingly easy.

Its marketing portfolio also claims that using the "Access Gateway" also allows long battery life for your mobile phone units. This wonder device, which promises to be the ultimate solution to the perennial problem on reception even in black or dead spots, is already in the market. GP