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 affixing to their cars to improve their reception in the notorious dead zone. “There is better cell service in Bangladesh than here,” one Sag Harbor resident complained to The Post.
The devices, made by companies such as weBoost, Wilson Amplifiers and Cel-Fi, sell for around $500. They have long been popular with truck drivers on long-haul cross country trips or adventurers traversing the Rocky Mountains. But now they’re in vogue with a more posh crowd.
But, there’s a hitch: The gadgets are bulky and ugly. They have not one but three parts. There’s a 7.
5-inch antenna — which can be extended more than three feet — that must be affixed to the outside of the car near the center of the roof. The wire from that antenna is then threaded into the car — either by awkwardly putting it through the window and rolling it up or by drilling a small incision into the roof of the car — where it is connected to a booster box that’s slightly bigger than an iPhone and typically rests on the back seat or floor. The box connects to a small internal antenna that can be mounted to or rest upon a car’s dash.
It works best if it’s 18 to 36 inches from where the cell phone being used (and hopefully boosted) is. The boosters can technically be installed by a car’s owner, but many opt to pay a mechanic a few hundred dollars do it. The awkward setup can be worth it.
Wilson Amplifiers claims its boosters increase signal strength by “up to 32 times.” Hamptonites are finding themselves torn between having better cell service and keeping their luxury autos pristine. “It’s not going on the Ferrari,” sniffed a vintage auto collector who keeps eight cars at his Southampton home.
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. One middle-aged Bridgehampton resident told The Post that he’s purchased three cell phone boosters but has yet to install them on his cars — which run the gamut from off-road vehicles such as Jeeps and a Land Rover Defender to vintage sports cars. He’s having trouble getting past the need to drill holes in his cars’ rooftops.
“Everyone in the world is looking for an alternative [to the bad cell service out here] but this is a commitment,” he said. Cell reception in the Hamptons has long been an issue, especially during the busy months when city folks and their iPhones come up for the weekends en masse, 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 infrastructure and internet.
But mobile telecom companies seeking to build new cell towers or deploy additional microwave antennas have been met with pushback by groups such as Citizens for 5G Awareness. They claim radio frequency causes health problems. Some residents also worry that proximity to a tower could reduce their property values or result in ice or debris falling on their home.
“The terrible service is the direct result of NIMBYism and now residents are paying the price,” the Sag Harbor resident said. The growing year-round population out east has exacerbated the problem. The full-time population in East Hampton county increased 32% from April 2011 to 2021, while the number of residents in Southampton increased 22% over the same time period, according to US 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 be put into operation. Residents are fed up. “It’s a huge safety issue as more and more homes cut land lines and the problem is exacerbated with [the growing] number of visitors,” said a year-round resident of Noyac, in Southampton.
“People are so desperate,” the Sag Harbor source added “[that] the most vain people are willing to put an ugly extension on their car.”.
