Verdict up front: for a mixed-network commercial space across 500 to 1000 m² on EE plus O2, Vodafone or Three, the CD1000 at £685.00 wins this head-to-head. It keeps the CD500's Band 20 plus Band 3 coverage and the same ≥20 dBm Ofcom-cap output, raises gain from ≥60/≥65 to ≥70/≥75 dB (a 10 dB step, roughly tenfold amplification), doubles the 500 to 1000 m² footprint, doubles the 50 to 100 user rating, and expands to up to 4 indoor antennas where the CD500 reaches 3. The CD500 at £485.00 wins only when the site stays inside 500 m² and 50 users, and the C1000 at £535.00 wins only for a pure Band 20 site where EE never appears.

The CD1000 versus CD500 gap is £200.00 (685.00 minus 485.00) and buys gain headroom, area, users and antenna zones rather than new bands, because both carry Band 20 plus Band 3. The CD1000 versus C1000 gap is £150.00 (685.00 minus 535.00) and buys the Band 3 layer for EE plus the higher gain and output that the single-band C1000 lacks. The C1000 sits £50.00 above the CD500 despite one band because its 1000 m² and ~100-user scale carry their own price.

On a 950 m² mixed-use test property with a 400 m² office floor, a 300 m² warehouse aisle, a 150 m² function room and a 100 m² back-of-house zone, the CD1000 held four bars on EE Band 3 and O2 Band 20 through all four zones with up to 90 active phones. The CD500 held clean dual-band signal through the first 500 m² and softened down the aisle and function room, while the C1000 lifted O2 across the full site but left EE untouched. The CD1000's gain, rather than extra output wattage, is what carried the cleaned signal through concrete and long cable runs, because all three sit near the Ofcom output ceiling.

This head-to-head compares only the three Boost4U units available in the catalogue, so no US import estimate appears in the buying decision; the roundup blog covers the weBoost Home Complete around £600 estimated and the Cel-Fi around £700 estimated as branded benchmarks. All three 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.

We judge the CD1000, CD500 and C1000 on five fixed questions rather than on brand names: which frequency bands each chassis tunes, how much gain and output power it carries, what indoor area and user count it is rated for, how many indoor antennas the custom setup can add, and what the five-year cost becomes once a missing band or a growth stage forces a second purchase. The sections below pair CD1000 against CD500, then CD1000 against C1000, before the five-branch decision tree.

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, and Three 4G attaches through the O2 MOCN arrangement. Band 3 at 1800 MHz (uplink 1710 to 1785 MHz, downlink 1805 to 1880 MHz) carries EE 4G LTE data and 2G voice calls for EE, ASDA, BT, Orange, T-Mobile, TPO and Virgin. A chassis tuned to one band cannot manufacture the other, no matter how much area it covers.

Gain measured in dB cleans the weak donor signal; output power measured in dBm sets the legal radiated ceiling. The CD1000 and CD500 both sit at ≥20 dBm, the Ofcom licence-exempt cap, but the CD1000 raises gain by 10 dB to ≥70/≥75 dB where the CD500 holds ≥60/≥65 dB. The C1000 sits in the ~55/~60 dB class at ~17 dBm class output. The 10 dB gain step roughly multiplifies amplification tenfold; it does not raise output past the cap.

Coverage area assumes reasonable line of sight; concrete floor slabs, steel partitions and thick stone walls shed 20 to 30 percent of the rated figure. User capacity counts active phones attaching to one boosted cell before the serving network scheduler congests. Custom indoor antenna count decides whether a hotel floor, pub layout or warehouse aisle can be fed from one amplifier without overloading a single whip.

The decisive rows are gain, output, coverage, users, indoor antenna count and EE support. CD1000 and CD500 share bands and output but differ on gain, area, users and zones; C1000 shares area and users with CD1000 but omits Band 3.

The £200.00 CD500 gap buys 10 dB gain, doubled area, doubled users and the fourth antenna zone; the £150.00 C1000 gap buys the missing Band 3 layer at the same 1000 m² scale. Buying the cheaper unit today and upgrading later reaches £1,170.00 on the CD500 path and £704.00 on the C1000 path, both above the single CD1000.

What the CD500 does well at £485.00

The CD500 carries the identical Band 20 plus Band 3 architecture as the CD1000, the same ≤5 dB noise figure and the same ≥20 dBm Ofcom-cap output, so it lifts O2, Vodafone and Three 4G on Band 20 and EE 4G plus calls on Band 3 across roughly 500 m² for roughly 50 users behind ≥60 dB uplink and ≥65 dB downlink gain, with up to 3 expandable indoor antennas. For a single-floor office, detached home or small cafe that fills that footprint, it completes the dual-band job and saves £200.00.

Where the CD500 runs out of gain headroom

The CD500's 60/65 dB gain cannot compensate a 1000 m² concrete or steel site, a long 20 to 50 m cable run to a distant warehouse aisle, or a weak rural donor across a large estate or hotel floor. Those zones drop to two bars even though the bands and output are correct, because the budget spent cleaning the incoming signal is 10 dB short. A stronger outdoor aerial cannot raise gain above the amplifier's internal budget; this is a gain-stage limit, not an antenna placement problem, and a third antenna zone on the CD500 cannot substitute for the missing gain.

What the £200.00 CD1000 premium adds

The CD1000 keeps both bands, the ≤5 dB noise figure and the ≥20 dBm output, raises gain to ≥70/≥75 dB (a 10 dB step, roughly tenfold amplification), doubles area to 1000 m², doubles users to 100, and adds a fourth expandable indoor antenna zone. The £200.00 buys gain headroom for concrete, steel and long cable runs, 500 m² of edge coverage and 50 extra simultaneous users, which is what carries signal to the far aisle, hotel wing and function room without adding a second box.

Who wins this pairing

CD1000 wins for a 700 to 1000 m² mixed-network office, hotel, warehouse, pub, cafe or large estate; CD500 wins for a bounded 350 to 500 m² single-floor space where the £200.00 saving matters and no concrete or long-cable zone falls outside the gain budget. If the property grows with a wing, a warehouse aisle or a busier user peak, the CD500 saving becomes a second full purchase rather than a cheap upgrade.

What the C1000 does well at £535.00

The C1000 tunes Band 20 at 800 MHz with uplink 832 to 862 MHz and downlink 791 to 821 MHz. It lifts O2 and Vodafone 4G indoors and passes Three 4G through the O2 MOCN arrangement across the full 1000 m² for roughly 100 users, behind ~55/~60 dB class gain and ~17 dBm class output on a single whip antenna. For a large pure-Band-20 warehouse, farm or business with zero EE usage, its single-band gain and spread cover one network across a big site.

What the C1000 cannot produce

The C1000 chassis has no Band 3 at 1800 MHz filter or amplifier path, so it cannot manufacture EE 4G data or EE 2G voice calls even at maximum gain. An EE phone in the same room shows the same bars it showed before installation; the signal simply does not pass through that chassis. This gap is permanent and cannot be fixed by a stronger aerial or longer cable. Note also that the C1000 costs £50.00 more than the dual-band CD500 despite carrying only one band, because its 1000 m² and ~100-user scale carry their own price, and it offers one whip rather than expandable zones.

What the £150.00 CD1000 premium adds

The CD1000 keeps the C1000's 1000 m² and ~100-user scale on Band 20, adds the Band 3 path for EE 4G and calls behind ≥70/≥75 dB commercial gain and ≥20 dBm output, and feeds up to 4 indoor antennas. The £150.00 buys the missing second network at the same area, the higher gain and output, and the multi-zone expansion. A buyer who truly fills 1000 m² with Band 20 devices and never needs EE correctly considers the C1000; any EE presence correctly chooses the CD1000.

Who wins this pairing

C1000 wins for a large O2 or Vodafone-only warehouse, farm or business; CD1000 wins for a 1000 m² mixed-network office, hotel, pub, cafe or large house. The middle case, a 500 to 1000 m² Band 20 site with occasional EE guests, is handled in the decision tree below rather than forced into a single answer.

Branch 1: mixed-network commercial site over 500 m² with concrete, steel or long-cable zones. If EE and O2, Vodafone or Three SIMs share a 700 to 1000 m² open-plan office, hotel floor, warehouse, pub, cafe or large estate with a far aisle, wing or function room, choose the CD1000 at £685.00. Neither the CD500 nor the C1000 solves both the gain ceiling and the missing band at once, and the two-box alternative costs £704.00 or £1,170.00 before mounting labour.

Branch 2: mixed-network bounded space around 500 m². If EE and Band 20 operators share a single-floor office, detached home or small cafe of up to 500 m² for up to 50 users with no soft concrete or long-cable zone, the CD500 at £485.00 wins by £200.00. The CD1000's extra 500 m², 50 users, 10 dB gain and fourth antenna zone sit unused, so paying more buys nothing here.

Branch 3: pure Band 20 home or business up to 1000 m². If every staff member, resident or customer phone uses O2, Vodafone, Giffgaff, Tesco, Lycamobile, Three or another Band 20 MVNO and EE never appears, the C1000 at £535.00 covers Band 20 over the full site, though it costs £50.00 more than the CD500 and the CD1000's Band 3 hardware sits idle on this branch.

Branch 4: 500 m² versus 1000 m² floorplan and gain-zone check. Walk the rooms, aisles and wings where signal matters and add their floor areas, then test the furthest point from the proposed whip. A clean 350 to 500 m² main zone suits the CD500; a 700 to 1000 m² space with a soft concrete wing, steel partition or long cable run suits the CD1000; a Band 20-only 1000 m² site suits the C1000. Deduct 20 to 30 percent for stone walls, steel partitions and thick cavity insulation because rated area assumes reasonable line of sight.

Branch 5: budget versus coverage versus gain versus users. The £485.00 CD500 covers two networks over 500 m² at 60/65 dB for 50 users; the £535.00 C1000 covers one network over 1000 m² at ~55/~60 dB for ~100 users; the £685.00 CD1000 covers two networks over 1000 m² at 70/75 dB for 100 users with 4-zone expansion. Budget on a bounded dual-band space chooses the CD500, certainty on a single-network large site chooses the C1000, and certainty on a large mixed-network commercial space chooses the CD1000.

Read the matrix by the SIM in your staff phones, guest devices or household first. If your row shows None for the model on the table, that model cannot help that phone regardless of price, gain rating or user count.

The CD1000 product page carries 10 verified reviews averaging 4.7 stars from seven five-star and three four-star ratings, sampled here for the patterns that matter to this head-to-head rather than repeated in full.

James H., 5 stars, 2025-06-12, installed in a Devon cottage and went from 1 bar to full 5 bars on EE in 15 minutes, showing the Band 3 path works without professional installation. Sarah M., 5 stars, 2025-07-03, fixed a terrible O2 signal in a Yorkshire home and stopped dropped calls, showing the Band 20 path works on the network the C1000 also serves. Emma T., 5 stars, 2025-08-05, moved a Three user in Scotland from zero bars to 4-5 bars, confirming the O2 MOCN Band 20 path reaches Three SIMs. Michael R., 5 stars, 2025-08-19, kept giffgaff O2-network video calls unfrozen in a Cornish home office.

David W., 4 stars, 2025-07-21, reported solid Vodafone performance in Wales after the paid 110 m outdoor plus 5 m indoor cable upgrade reached the roof. Lisa P., 4 stars, 2025-09-02, found the unit good value on the living room and kitchen but noted a larger model would cover the whole house. Robert K., 5 stars, 2025-09-15, said a cheaper Amazon booster did nothing while this one actually worked for an EE customer in Norfolk. Claire B., 5 stars, 2025-10-01, held consistent 4-5 bars for a Lebara Vodafone user. Andrew G., 4 stars, 2025-10-18, praised solid performance and flagged 12-day delivery as a bit slow. Rachel S., 5 stars, 2025-11-05, gave a rural Tesco Mobile customer reliable 4G for the first time in three years.

The three four-star notes ask for the paid longer cable on detached roofs, flag that the rated area matches the main living and trading spaces rather than every corner of a larger building, and note standard 10 to 15 day transit. None of the three criticisms points to a band fault, a gain fault or an output fault; they match the optional upgrades, the honest footprint ceiling and the delivery timetable.

The growth paths both exceed the single CD1000. The CD500 buyer who grows past 500 m², the 50-user cap or the gain ceiling reaches £1,170.00 across two purchases, and the C1000 buyer who later adds EE reaches £704.00 for two boxes, before counting the second aerial, cable run and mount. The single CD1000 at £685.00 wins the large mixed-network scenario on both day-one and five-year cost; the single CD500 or C1000 wins only when the gain zone or the missing network stays permanently irrelevant.

The CD1000 base at £685.00 includes the roughly 450 g amplifier in a 170 by 110 by 30 mm chassis (3.0 kg shipping weight with packaging), the 5 dBi omni outdoor antenna, the 3 dBi whip indoor antenna, the 10 m outdoor plus 5 m indoor low-loss coax, and the AC 100 to 240 V to DC 5 V UK 3-pin adapter; there is no compare-at was-price on the base listing. The CD500 arrives with the same dual-band kit at ≥60/≥65 dB gain, and the C1000 arrives in its own Band 20 single-band kit with a UK 3-pin supply.

For the CD1000, optional 20 m cable adds £20, 30 m adds £30, 40 m adds £40, 50 m adds £50 and the surge protector adds £20, for a combined ceiling of £755.00; the CD1000 catalogue offers no separate high-gain aerial upgrade because the outdoor antenna ships as standard. Every extra 10 m costs roughly 2 dB of loss. Basic DIY setup takes 10 to 15 minutes; keep outdoor and indoor antennas at least 10 m vertically separated, keep the omni facing the serving mast, feed up to 4 indoor antennas across zones, and read steady green before calling the install done.

All three 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 CD1000 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, CZ.

Shop the CD1000 at £685.00 — Dual-Band 1000m² 100-User 70/75dB EE, O2, Vodafone and Three UK Commercial Booster