it seems that we have overlooked the basic tenet of radio theory... to hear a communication, you must first catch a radio wave with an antenna...the more multiples of the correct wave length you capture, the more voltage induced into the antenna... and then you can amplify that signal...if I lived in a rural area with sparse cell coverage, one of the external antenna with amplifiers would be a priority option, but most seem to balk on the cost...probably the same people that complain about the cost of a quality firearm...it seems like pretty cheap life insurance to me.... I live in a fairly cell rich environment, and did not loose cell comms until the generators started to run out of fuel in the 05 hurricane season(did not loose the land line)... but decided to "tune" up my cell for this upcoming season..upgraded the cell tower list, and roaming list..if you are a Verizon user *228, press send, and listen for option 2 for the roaming list, then restart...

I suppose an AN/FLR9 in the back yard is out of the question