DOESN’T MAKE SENSE: How can a cell booster work without a delay?

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It doesn’t seem possible.

When you put in a cellular signal booster, your phone works better. Data speeds increase. Calls get clearer. Everything you want your phone to do, it just does better. But there’s something kind of weird about a cell booster. When you put one in, it just… works. It works so well you would forget it’s even there.

A little bit about how a cell booster works

A cellular signal booster has three parts. The outdoor antenna communicates with the cell tower. The indoor antenna communicates with your devices. In the middle is a very smart amplifier that makes sure it’s all happening right.

There’s a lot of signal processing going on. The amplifier is dealing with multiple input and output signals and keeping them all straight.

And that brings us to the real question, which is… how it’s possible to do this instantly. You don’t notice any lag when you use a cell booster, and yet there’s a lot going on. It just doesn’t seem like it could actually work.

Here’s the little secret

There’s a limit to the tiniest amount of time that a person can actually understand. It’s somewhere about 1/30th of a second. If you can have two things happen less than 1/30th of a second apart, they seem like they are happening at the same time. I can give you an example right now.

When you press a key on your keyboard, a letter pops up on the screen. It probably takes about 100,000 instructions to various parts of your computer to make that happen. The signal has to be received. It has to be understood. It has to be passed to the operating system which then combines it with whatever type style, font, and size you’re currently using. Then the individual dots on the screen are drawn one by one.

Your computer can handle several billion instructions every second. So, it’s able to do this all in under 1/30 of a second. It does it quite well actually. The letter pops up on your screen. It happens so fast that it seems instant.

The exact same idea applies to cell phone boosters. They can process signals so fast that it takes less than 1/30 of a second. That’s pretty impressive, right? If nothing else it explains why cell boosters are a little on the expensive side.

Get the cell booster you need

Now you know the real story. You know that cell boosters aren’t some sort of black magic. They’re just really fast and reliable computers. They’re nothing to be afraid of. So, why not shop the great selection of cellular signal boosters at Solid Signal? If you don’t know which booster is right for you, we can help! Call our 100% US-based call center at 888-233-7563 and you’ll get a certified technician who can help you choose the right booster. It doesn’t matter if you need a booster for 50 square feet or 500,000 square feet. We have the perfect booster solution for you!

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.