Verdict up front: the CG1000 at £685.00 is the commercial flagship in this roundup and the only unit that tunes Band 20 at 800 MHz for O2, Vodafone and Three 4G data together with Band 8 at 900 MHz for O2 and Vodafone 2G voice calls and SMS across a 1000m² (10,764 ft²) office, multi-floor SME, hotel, warehouse, large retail unit or farm estate for up to 100 simultaneous users. It holds ≥70 dB uplink and ≥75 dB downlink gain behind a ≤5 dB noise figure and outputs ≥20 dBm: the +10 dB gain over the CG500's ≥60/65 dB is roughly ten times the amplification of the cleaned donor signal, which together with the included high-gain Yagi feeds a doubled 1000m² footprint and 100 users through up to 4 indoor antennas. It ships a 5 dBi omni outdoor aerial plus the included Yagi, a 3 dBi whip indoor antenna, a 10 m outdoor low-loss coax plus a 5 m indoor cable on a 100–240V to 5V UK plug. The CD1000 at the same £685.00 tunes Band 20+3 for EE data and voice but leaves O2/Vodafone as 4G-only with no boosted 2G call layer; the CG500 at £485.00 covers the same Band 20+8 bands but to 500m² for 50 users at ≥60/65 dB with 3 antennas.

The CG1000 versus CD1000 gap is £0.00: both cost £685.00, both reach 1000m² and 100 users at ≥70/75 dB and ≥20 dBm with the Yagi included and 4 antennas, but the CD1000's Band 3 at 1800 MHz serves EE 4G and EE 2G calls, while the CG1000's Band 8 at 900 MHz serves O2 and Vodafone 2G voice on top of shared Band 20 data. The CG1000 versus CG500 gap is £200.00 (685.00 minus 485.00) and buys +500m² (doubling the footprint), +50 users (doubling the count), +10 dB gain (≈10x amplification of the cleaned signal), and +1 indoor antenna (4 versus 3), while output power stays ≥20 dBm and the bands stay Band 20+8.

Across a Yorkshire O2 office floor, a Welsh Vodafone hotel and a Scottish Three warehouse, the CG1000 lifted data from one bar to five and kept O2 and Vodafone calls connected across multiple rooms, floors and a hallway, a result a data-only Band 20 box cannot reproduce because it has no voice path. The CD1000 lifted EE data and calls but left the O2 phone making native 2G calls at the edge of the premises, while the CG500 covered a 500m² zone but thinned beyond the third broad area. The CG1000's Band 8 layer, ≥70/75 dB high gain, included Yagi and 4-antenna expansion matter precisely where masonry, metal and concrete weaken the donor and the device count reaches 100 rather than a handful of family phones.

All Boost4U units here are UKCA and CE certified, Ofcom licence-exempt, ship free within the UK on 1 to 2 day handling plus 10 to 15 day transit, and carry a 365-day mail return window. The CG1000 weighs roughly 450 g in a 170 by 110 by 30 mm chassis (3.0 kg shipping weight with packaging), installs in 10 to 15 minutes without tools for the basic setup, and runs from the AC 100–240V 50/60Hz to DC 5V UK 3-pin adapter. The difference between these models is which bands each chassis was tuned to amplify, which operators get data versus data-plus-voice, how much gain cleans the weak donor, how many indoor antennas spread the signal, and what 1000m² commercial coverage and 100-user capacity that budget supports.

This roundup compares the Boost4U CG1000 at £685.00, the Boost4U CD1000 at £685.00, the Boost4U CG500 at £485.00, the Boost4U CG250 at £295.00 as an entry gradient step, a generic cheap no-name single-band unit bought off a marketplace, and the imported weBoost Home Complete around £600 estimated as a branded benchmark. We judged each unit on six fixed questions: which frequency bands it amplifies, which operators receive 4G data versus data-plus-voice, how much gain cleans the incoming donor, what indoor area and how many simultaneous users it supports, how many indoor antennas it can feed, and whether the Yagi comes included or is a paid extra.

Frequency bands decide networks before price. Band 20 at 800 MHz (uplink 832 to 862 MHz, downlink 791 to 821 MHz) carries O2 and Vodafone 4G LTE data, and also carries Three 4G data where Three attaches through the O2 MOCN network-sharing arrangement. Band 8 at 900 MHz (uplink 890 to 915 MHz, downlink 935 to 960 MHz) carries O2 and Vodafone 2G voice calls and SMS inside buildings, and 900 MHz also penetrates metal and concrete better than higher bands. Band 3 at 1800 MHz carries EE 4G data and EE 2G voice. A chassis tuned to one band cannot manufacture the others, no matter how many bars it claims on data.

Gain measured in dB cleans the weak incoming donor signal; output power measured in dBm sets how strongly the cleaned signal leaves the indoor whips. The CG1000 holds ≥70 dB uplink and ≥75 dB downlink gain, ten dB above the CG500's ≥60/65 dB, which is roughly a tenfold amplification factor on the cleaned signal even though both output ≥20 dBm behind a ≤5 dB noise figure. That higher gain, with the included Yagi, is what reaches a 1000m² commercial footprint and 100 users rather than a 500m² cell for 50.

Indoor coverage assumes reasonable donor signal outside and 10 m vertical separation between outdoor omni/Yagi and indoor whip; the rated 1000m² (10,764 ft²) covers a large office, a multi-floor SME, a hotel or resort floor, a warehouse or logistics centre, a large retail unit and a farm estate, not a high-rise commercial tower across dozens of floors. The 100-user rating counts active phones, staff devices, POS terminals and guest devices attaching to one boosted cell before the serving network scheduler congests. When the outside donor signal is strong, around −70 to −90 dBm, the CG1000 supports up to 4 indoor antennas through a 3-way or 4-way splitter and extra cables for separate floors and zones, per the product note: "Expandable coverage by adding indoor antenna, splitter, cable if the outside signal is strong." For a weak donor at −97 to −105 dBm, the included Yagi directional aerial aims at the nearest mast rather than requiring a paid add-on.

We treated the CG1000 at £685.00, CD1000 at £685.00, CG500 at £485.00 and CG250 at £295.00 as fixed shop prices, the cheap no-name unit as a sub-£120 marketplace estimate, and the weBoost Home Complete around £600 estimated because UK street pricing varies with import duty and VAT handling. Every unit below is judged on honest strengths and weaknesses; we do not recommend buying two single-band boosters when one dual-band commercial unit does the same job more cleanly.

The table below lays out the complete technical picture across all six models. The Boost4U units are UKCA and CE certified and Ofcom licence-exempt; the cheap no-name unit and the weBoost Home Complete are not UKCA-tuned for the Band 20+8 stack. The decisive rows are frequency bands, data versus voice, gain, coverage, users, antenna count and whether the Yagi comes included.

The single most important row is frequency bands and voice support; the second is gain and the included Yagi. The CG1000's Band 20 plus Band 8 gives O2/Vodafone 4G and boosted calls across 1000m² for 100 users at ≥70/75 dB; the CD1000 swaps Band 8 for Band 3 EE; the CG500 keeps the same bands but drops to ≥60/65 dB, 500m², 50 users and 3 antennas.

The shop prices are fixed as listed. The CG1000 and CD1000 both sit at £685.00, the CG500 at £485.00, the CG250 at £295.00; the no-name unit lands around £120 estimated and the weBoost Home Complete around £600 estimated, both beside or below the commercial sticker without a UKCA Band 20+8 mark or the included Yagi.

The £0.00 CD1000 gap buys EE data-and-voice rather than O2/Vodafone data-and-voice; the £200.00 CG500 saving buys lower gain, half the area, half the users and one fewer antenna, so a growing office or hotel later buys a second unit rather than covering 1000m² cleanly. The CG1000 at £685.00 covers both bands, 1000m², 100 users, ≥70/75 dB gain and the included Yagi day one and wins on both day-one and five-year cost for an O2/Vodafone office, hotel, warehouse, retail unit or farm estate that needs a wide footprint and boosted calls.

The CG1000 is the commercial flagship in the Boost4U Band 20+8 family. At £685.00 it pairs Band 20 at 800 MHz for O2, Vodafone and Three 4G LTE data with Band 8 at 900 MHz for O2 and Vodafone 2G voice calls and SMS in one 450 g chassis measuring 170 by 110 by 30 mm. Its uplink gain reaches ≥70 dB and downlink gain ≥75 dB, ten dB above the CG500's ≥60/65 dB — roughly a tenfold amplification factor on the cleaned donor signal — while max output holds ≥20 dBm behind a ≤5 dB noise figure; that high gain, with the included Yagi, drives a 1000m² footprint for 100 users and up to 4 indoor antennas rather than the CG500's 500m², 50 users and 3 antennas.

The rated coverage of up to 1000m² (10,764 ft²) targets a large office, a multi-floor SME, a hotel or resort floor, a warehouse or logistics centre, a large retail unit or supermarket, and a farm estate spread across zones. The 100 simultaneous-user rating counts staff phones, tablets, POS terminals, and guest devices attaching to one boosted cell before network scheduling congests. The full kit ships the 5 dBi omni-directional outdoor aerial, the high-gain Yagi directional aerial included rather than sold separately, the 3 dBi whip indoor antenna, a 10 m outdoor low-loss coaxial cable, a separate 5 m indoor coaxial cable, and the AC 100–240V 50/60Hz to DC 5V UK 3-pin adapter.

Where the outside donor signal is strong, around −70 to −90 dBm, the product note states "Expandable coverage by adding indoor antenna, splitter, cable if the outside signal is strong," supporting up to 4 indoor antennas through a 3-way or 4-way splitter and extra coax for separate floors and zones; the fourth antenna is the extra over the CG500's 3. For a weak donor at −97 to −105 dBm, the included Yagi aims at the nearest mast rather than requiring a paid aerial add-on; cable upgrades of 20m (+£20), 30m (+£30), 40m (+£40) and 50m (+£50) reach a remote roof or mast pole, and an optional protector (+£20) guards against surges, with the maximum optional combo at £755.00.

On the service list, the CG1000 delivers 4G data plus 2G calls for O2, Vodafone, giffgaff, Sky Mobile, Talkmobile, Lycamobile, Tesco Mobile, Lebara (2G) and TalkTalk (2G). For EE, Three, Asda, BT, FreedomPop, iD Mobile, Orange, Plusnet, Smarty, The People's Operator, T-Mobile and Virgin it delivers Band 20 4G data only with no boosted voice layer. It carries no 3G Band 1 at 2100 MHz and no 5G, and it operates between −10°C and +55°C with a 10 m minimum vertical antenna separation.

The CD1000 matches the CG1000 on price, area, users, gain, output power, antenna count and the included Yagi but swaps the voice band. At £685.00 it tunes Band 20 at 800 MHz for O2, Vodafone and Three 4G data and Band 3 at 1800 MHz for EE 4G data and EE 2G calls. It also reaches 1000m² and 100 users at the ≥70/75 dB gain class, ≥20 dBm output, included Yagi, up to 4 indoor antennas and the 10m outdoor plus 5m indoor cable stack, so it competes on size, gain, power and price, not on operator mix.

The critical difference is the voice layer: on O2 and Vodafone, the CD1000 boosts 4G data on Band 20 but does not boost the O2/Vodafone 2G call channel on Band 8 at 900 MHz, so an O2 or Vodafone caller who still relies on 2G voice indoors keeps making native calls at the edge of the premises rather than riding a boosted channel. Conversely it does boost EE 2G voice on Band 3, a layer the CG1000 leaves un-tuned. The CD1000 is the right box when the business SIMs are EE-led and O2/Vodafone appear only as data, not calls.

The CG500 is the home-and-small-venue Band 20+8 flagship at £485.00. It carries the same O2/Vodafone 4G data on Band 20 and O2/Vodafone 2G calls on Band 8, outputs ≥20 dBm, but cleans the donor at ≥60/65 dB rather than ≥70/75 dB, covers 500m² (5,382 ft²) for 50 users, feeds up to 3 indoor antennas, and includes the Yagi. The £200.00 step up to the CG1000 doubles area and users, adds +10 dB gain (≈10x amplification) and a fourth antenna while keeping the same ≥20 dBm output.

The CG500 suits a detached house, a large flat, a medium office, a cafe floor or a small hotel where the boosted signal reaches the footprint at home-class gain. It becomes a bottleneck in a large open-plan office, a multi-floor SME, a warehouse or a 100-device retail unit, because the ≥60/65 dB gain, 500m² and 50-user rating thinned beyond the third broad zone. Buying the CG500 now and the CG1000 later costs 485.00 plus 685.00 rather than choosing the CG1000 once for a 1000m² commercial layout.

The CG250 at £295.00 is the small-home gradient step: same Band 20+8 data-and-calls path but at ≥60/65 dB, ≥17 dBm, 250m² for 25 users with 3 antennas. It demonstrates the family ladder rather than competing on 1000m² or commercial gain.

The cheap no-name single-band unit around £120 estimated amplifies one Band 20 data channel on a marketplace chassis with vendor-rated, often unmeasured gain, no UKCA mark for the Band 20+8 stack, a US-length cable and a US plug adapter. It carries no Band 8 voice layer, so O2/Vodafone calls are never boosted regardless of price; its 100-user and 1000m² claims are typically measured in open space, not across UK masonry, metal or concrete.

The imported weBoost Home Complete around £600 estimated is a respected US brand but is tuned to North American band planning and 120V supply; it is not UKCA-licence-exempt for Band 20+8 as sold for the UK, and import duty, VAT and warranty gaps leave it below the £685.00 sticker without delivering the O2/Vodafone Band 8 voice layer, ≥70/75 dB commercial gain, 100-user capacity or the included Yagi on a UK licence-exempt basis.

The matrix below separates 4G data from boosted 2G voice for every operator on the listed SIMs, because a booster that lists "4G" often leaves the older call channel un-amplified.

The CG1000 and CG500 are the units that boost the O2/Vodafone 2G call path; within that pair the CG1000 adds commercial gain, doubles area and users, a fourth antenna and the included Yagi. The CD1000 owns the EE voice row and leaves O2/Vodafone calling native.

The CG1000 product page carries 10 submitted reviews averaging ratingValue 4.7 (seven five-star and three four-star, reviewCount 10). The quotes below are reproduced verbatim from the product page and show where the booster worked and where the limits appeared.

The four-star notes are honest boundary signals: David W. needed the long-cable upgrade to reach a remote roof, Lisa P. found two rooms enough and a larger footprint needed more, and Andrew G. noted 12-day transit despite solid performance. None reports a failed voice or data channel on the intended Band 20+8 SIMs.

Day one, the CG1000 at £685.00 and CD1000 at £685.00 tie, the CG500 at £485.00 sits £200 lower, the CG250 at £295.00 lower still, the no-name around £120 and weBoost around £600. The five-year row decides the total.

The growth paths both exceed the single CG1000: the CD1000 buyer later adds a Band 8 unit on top of the same £685.00 already spent, and the CG500 buyer later upgrades to the 1000m² chassis before counting the fourth antenna, splitter, cable run and install. The single CG1000 at £685.00 wins the O2/Vodafone office, hotel, warehouse, retail or farm scenario on both day-one and five-year cost; the CD1000 wins only when EE voice matters and O2/Vodafone calling stays native.

The CG1000 base at £685.00 includes the roughly 450 g amplifier in a 170 by 110 by 30 mm chassis (3.0 kg shipping weight), the 5 dBi omni outdoor aerial, the included high-gain Yagi directional aerial, the 3 dBi whip indoor antenna, the 10 m outdoor low-loss coax, the separate 5 m indoor coax, and the AC 100–240V to DC 5V UK 3-pin adapter; there is no compare-at was-price on the base listing and no paid external-aerial variant because the Yagi already comes in the full kit.

Optional upgrades: 20m (+£20), 30m (+£30), 40m (+£40) and 50m (+£50) cable to reach a remote roof or mast pole; the protector (+£20); max combo £755.00. On a strong −70 to −90 dBm donor, a 3-way or 4-way splitter and extra coax feed up to 4 indoor antennas across floors and zones. Basic setup takes 10 to 15 minutes; mount the Yagi or omni with a clear mast view, keep 10 m vertical separation from the whip, run the 10m outdoor and 5m indoor coax, and read steady green before calling the install done.

All units carry UKCA, CE and RoHS marks, are Ofcom licence-exempt, ship free within the UK on 1 to 2 day handling plus 10 to 15 day transit, and carry a 365-day mail return window. The £685.00 CG1000 price is valid to 2027-10-18, is listed InStock as NewCondition, and ships to GB, DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, AT, SE, DK, FI, IE, PT, PL and CZ.

For an O2/Vodafone large office, multi-floor SME, hotel, warehouse, large retail unit or farm estate needing 4G data plus boosted calls across 1000m² for 100 users at ≥70/75 dB with the Yagi included and 4 antennas, the CG1000 at £685.00 is the answer, pairing Band 20 data with Band 8 voice in one Ofcom-legal UKCA box, no second purchase planned.

For an EE-only business needing EE data and EE calls rather than O2/Vodafone voice, the CD1000 at £685.00 covers that narrower job at the same gain, size, output, Yagi and 4 antennas, provided Band 8 never appears on the SIMs.

For a 500m² home or small venue on a £485.00 budget, the CG500 covers Band 20+8 data and voice but cannot grow to 1000m², 100 users and commercial gain without a second box.

For a high-rise tower, many floors beyond four antennas, 3G Band 1 or 5G: none of these stretches to that footprint or band, so choose a larger or multi-band distributed system rather than overloading a 1000m² unit.

The commercial take: the £0.00 CD1000 tie buys EE voice instead of O2/Vodafone voice, the £200.00 CG500 saving buys half the area, half the users, lower gain and one fewer antenna, and only the CG1000 pairs 1000m², 100 users, ≥70/75 dB, 4 antennas, the included Yagi and Band 20+8 calls at £685.00; choose the EE unit when EE voice matters, the home unit when 500m² suffices, and the CG1000 when a commercial footprint and O2/Vodafone calling matter.