Can you sell or transfer your cell booster?

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Here’s a question that came across our support desk. A customer was selling their RV with a cell phone signal booster installed. They felt this made it more attractive, and they didn’t want to have to take the booster out. Although it was an older booster, it still worked so I agree, it was an upgrade to the purchaser.

They asked us if there was some sort of legal issue with selling a cell booster. After all, it’s a licensed radio device, and unless you’re sure you’re on the right side of the law that might be a problem. For example, there are some sorts of broadcast equipment you can’t sell to unlicensed folks.

The simple answer is…

YES, there’s no legal reason why you can’t sell a cell phone signal booster. It’s true, it’s an FCC licensed broadcasting device. However, it belongs to a class of devices that are intended for unlicensed consumer use. This same class includes routers, phones, and even microwave ovens. Each one of these devices has an FCC license to broadcast on specific frequencies. A cell booster is no different.

The customer, and you, can feel good selling a booster to someone else, especially if you plan on buying an even better one from Solid Signal. There’s no conflict and you won’t get in trouble.

A little bit of background

I rail on the FCC from time to time, it’s true. I don’t always agree with the actions they take or the order in which they do things. I also like to point out that it took Congress nine months to confirm a new head for the commission, and they still haven’t filled the fifth seat that’s been vacant since January 20, 2021. This just makes everyone look bad if you ask me.

But here you find a very good use for the FCC. The FCC has blocked out different parts of the broadcast spectrum for different things. For example, the area from 54-608MHz is for television broadcasting. You can’t broadcast in that range without a very specific (and expensive) license. On the other hand, you’ll find ranges at 900MHz, 2.4GHz, and 5 GHz that pretty much anyone can use anytime they want to, as long as they use a device the FCC’s already approved. There are several other ranges throughout the spectrum like that as well. This sort of broadcasting is expected to be very short-range and so no one broadcast will really interfere with another.

In the middle ground of this whole thing are devices like cell phones that have relatively long range. They’re tightly controlled so that you can use them. If the FCC didn’t really dig into cell phone frequency rules, the whole system wouldn’t work, period.

The reason for this is that there are some kinds of broadcasting that are specially marked for licensed use. If you didn’t have that, then people could just jam police frequencies. People could put up their own TV towers and drown out other ones. It could be a big mess. People could be their own cell operators and potentially poison the whole system.

Should regulations get tighter or looser?

Mark the day, because I think most folks would agree on something here. For the most part, we all agree that the system works pretty well at the moment. Sure there’s room for improvement. There’s always room for improvement. But considering how many millions of licensed devices there are, it works pretty well. Millions? I’m guessing there are probably billions. And each one, even the cell boosters, do their job. They don’t interfere with anything else. It’s pretty amazing when you look at the whole thing from a distance.

Oh, by the way, if you happen to be in the mood for a cell booster, call us or shop SolidSignal.com. Solid Signal has tens of thousands of products to help you out. If you need help choosing one, the number’s 888-233-7563. We’re here during East Coast business hours. We can help you make sense of all of it.

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.