The hottest new accessory in the Hamptons this summer isn’t from Hermes or Loro Piana.
It’s a clunky cell phone signal booster that exasperated Hamptonites are installing in their cars to improve their reception in the infamous dead zone.
“There’s better cell service in Bangladesh than here,” one Sag Harbor resident complained to The Post.
The devices, made by companies like weBoost, Wilson Amplifiers and Cel-Fi, sell for around $500. They have long been popular with truckers on long cross-country trips or adventurers traversing the Rocky Mountains. But now they are in vogue with a more stylish crowd.
But there’s a catch: the devices are big and ugly.
They have not one but three parts.
There’s a 7.5-inch antenna — which can extend more than three feet — that has to be attached to the outside of the car near the center of the roof.
The wire from that antenna is then fed into the car—either by awkwardly inserting it through the window and twisting it or by drilling a small cut in the roof of the car—where it connects to a booster box that’s a little bigger than a iPhone and usually rests on the back seat or on the floor.
The box connects to a small internal antenna that can be mounted or rested on the car’s dash. It works best if it’s 18 to 36 inches from where the cell phone is being used (and hopefully growing).
Boosters can technically be installed by the car owner, but many choose to pay a mechanic several hundred dollars to do it.
The hard decision can be worth it. Wilson Amplifiers claims its amplifiers boost signal strength “up to 32 times”.
Hamptonites are finding themselves torn between having the best cell phone service and keeping their luxury cars in pristine condition.
“It’s not going with a Ferrari,” sniffed one vintage car collector, who keeps eight cars at his home in Southampton. He is planning to order a booster, but will only attach it to one of his more “practical” cars like a 1977 Ford Bronco, he said.
A middle aged one A Bridgehampton resident told The Post that he has purchased three cell phone boosters but has yet to install them in his cars — which range from off-road vehicles like Jeeps and a Land Rover Defender to premium sports cars well.
He has trouble getting past the need to punch holes in the roofs of his cars.
“Everyone in the world is looking for an alternative [to the bad cell service out here] but this is a commitment”, he said.
Cell phone reception in the Hamptons has long been a problem, especially during the busy months when townspeople and their iPhones show up en masse on the weekends, temporarily tripling or even quadrupling the population in some areas.
Over the years, numerous Suffolk County towns, including East Hampton and Southampton, have sought to expand their wireless and Internet infrastructure. But mobile telecommunications companies seeking to build new cell towers or deploy additional microwave antennas have faced opposition from groups such as Citizens for 5G Awareness. They claim that radio frequency causes health problems.
Some residents also worry that proximity to a tower could lower their property values or result in ice or debris falling on their home.
“Terrible service is a direct result of NIMBYism and now residents are paying the price,” the Sag Harbor resident said.
Year-round population growth from the east has exacerbated the problem. The full-time population in East Hampton County grew 32% from April 2011 to 2021, while the number of residents in Southampton grew 22% during the same time period, according to U.S. Census data.
Cell towers that have been approved for activation in East Hampton and Sagaponack are facing lawsuits from residents, and it’s unclear if and when they will go live.
Residents are fed up.
“It’s a big security issue as more and more homes cut land lines and the problem gets worse with [the growing] the number of visitors,” said a year-round resident of Noyac, Southampton.
“People are so desperate,” the Sag Harbor source added.[that] people are willing to put an ugly extension on their car for nothing.”
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Image Source : nypost.com