Vodafone offers service in cellphone blackspots, but there's a catch

SureSignal may also be used in rural areas where mobile coverage does not penetrate. Photo / Filephoto

Vodafone customers struggling to get mobile coverage in their homes will now be able to receive calls and texts, but must foot the connection bill themselves.

Vodafone is about to launch SureSignal, a product which works to eliminate cellphone blackspots in areas where there is no mobile network coverage.

"Mobile signal strength isn't always a case of how near you are to a mobile phone mast," said Vodafone spokesman Matt East.

"It can be affected by the location or type of building you're in - living in a basement, high apartment building or being close to hills and valleys can result in a weaker signal, even in cities with lots of mobile phone masts.

"[With SureSignal] if you live in an area where coverage is not so good, up in a high-rise building or [if you live] half underground, you can get full 3G service in your home," he said.

Up to four phones can operate on SureSignal simultaneously, which uses 1 megabit per second of a broadband connection if four calls are being made.

Vodafone is releasing two SureSignal products, one for home users and the other for small businesses.

The home device has a range of 20m and the business unit 40m.

SureSignal may also be used in rural areas where mobile coverage does not penetrate.

Rather than a stopgap solution while communities wait for the mobile network to be extended in the Government's rural broadband initiative, SureSignal is a complementary product to this, East said.

The catch is the user must buy their broadband connection through Vodafone, and must pay for the SureSignal device themselves if Vodafone's network does not reach them.

The home unit will cost $349 and business device $1034.

Mobiles on other networks such as Telecom will be unable to connect to SureSignal.

SureSignal has been operating in Britain for 18 months.