When comparing our antennas to those sold by other companies you should ask yourself a few important questions:

::   What is the "db gain" of the antenna?

If you do not see a gain figure for an antenna then it has a ZERO gain.

All of the "Drive Time" antenna kits sold by others have a ZERO gain.  

Gain is very important since this will directly affect the performance of your antenna.  An antenna with a 3-db gain will Double the effective radiated power of your signal.  A 6-db gain antenna will Quadruple the effective radiated power of your antenna.

::   What kind of cable is provided with the antenna?

ALL cables are like a leaky pipe.  Your signal will be attenuated (reduced) depending upon the type of cable, the length of the cable and the frequency that you are using.  Ideally you want a cable with ZERO signal loss, but this does not exist.  All of the "Drive Time" antenna kits use RG-174 cables.  This cable is used because it is very inexpensive and because it is very thin it can be directly connected to an antenna adapter to fit the phone.  However, the main drawback is that it exhibits TWICE the signal loss per foot than an RG-58 cable.  All our antennas use a RG-58 type cable.  

::  "Drive Time" kits, The Bottom Line

This kit combines a ZERO db gain antenna with a high loss cable.  The net effect is worse performance than if you had stayed with your phones internal antenna.  Any increase in performance that you observe is solely based on the increased signal that is available on the outside of your vehicle.  If you were to place your phone in that same spot that the mobile antenna was mounted, you will observe an even higher signal strength.  The only way to get real signal improvement is to use an antenna that has a High gain figure coupled with low loss cable.  Regardless of the type of cable used, the cable should always be made as short as practically possible.

For further information see:

http://www.strongsignals.net/access/content/co-ax.html