cfat mark iii hotspot - neil hargrave lookout
Living in a remote location no longer means being disconnected from the rest of the world and the opportunities that connection can bring.
After substantial research, support and experience from prior maintenance of the community phone, CfAT Ltd developed an alternative technology solution to enable remote area internet and mobile access. This product is called the CfAT Ltd Mobile Phone Hotspot.
What is the CfAT Ltd Mobile Phone Hotspot?
- The CfAT Ltd Mobile Phone Hotspot is a one-user-at-a-time facility to extend mobile coverage in fringe areas with poor coverage
- The CfAT Ltd Mobile Phone Hotspot consists of a concrete or platform base, a parabolic dish antenna and post, and a pedestal /cradle to hold the phone
- It requires no power, has no moving parts, and therefore requires virtually no maintenance
How does it work?
By aiming the Mobile Phone Hotspot Dish at the nearest or most suitable tower is captures more signal than a phone’s built-in antenna, and focuses this stronger signal down to the cradle top where the phone sits.
The phone can be used in loudspeaker mode, or as a personal hotspot.
The first customer installation of a CfAT Ltd ‘extended range’ mobile phone hotspot was completed on the weekend at the Neil Hargrave Lookout in West MacDonnell National Park. The site, 100km west of Alice Springs between Serpentine Gorge and the Ochre Pits, is a popular stopping point for tourists travelling the recently sealed Inner Mereenie Loop road. Apart from Hermannsburg, this is currently the only spot on the 300km Loop road that offers mobile phone access.
While mobile signals normally require line-of-sight communications, this hotspot uses signals reflected from the nearby ranges to communicate effectively back to the Alice Springs towers.
Thanks to the NT Government Department of Business and Parks and Wildlife Commission NT for their support
