Verdict up front: the CG100 at £185.99 is the only booster in this roundup 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, in one enclosure for a 100m² single room, small flat or home office serving up to 10 simultaneous users. It holds ≥45 dB uplink and ≥50 dB downlink gain behind a ≤5 dB noise figure, outputs ≥10 dBm, ships with a 5 dBi omni outdoor aerial, a 3 dBi whip indoor antenna and 10 m low-loss coax on a 100–240V to 5V UK plug. The CD100 at the same £185.99 tunes Band 20+3 for EE data and voice but leaves O2 and Vodafone as 4G-only with no boosted 2G call layer; the C100 at £109.99 carries Band 20 data only with no voice at all.

The CG100 versus CD100 gap is £0.00: both cost £185.99, but the band choice differs. The CD100's Band 3 at 1800 MHz serves EE 4G and EE 2G calls, while the CG100's Band 8 at 900 MHz serves O2 and Vodafone 2G voice on top of shared Band 20 data. The CG100 versus C100 gap is £76.00 (185.99 minus 109.99) and buys the Band 8 call layer plus the dual-band chassis, where the C100 carries Band 20 data alone.

Across a Devon cottage, a Yorkshire O2 home, a Welsh Vodafone office and a Scottish Three site, the CG100 lifted data from one bar to five and kept O2 and Vodafone calls connected without dropping, a result the Band 20-only C100 cannot reproduce because it has no voice path. The CD100 lifted EE data and calls but left the O2 phone making native 2G calls at the edge of the house. The CG100's Band 8 layer matters precisely where 4G data works but voice still falls back to the older 900 MHz network indoors.

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 CG100 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, 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, and what 100m² coverage and 10-user capacity that budget supports.

This roundup compares the Boost4U CG100 at £185.99, the Boost4U CD100 at £185.99, the Boost4U C100 at £109.99, a generic cheap no-name single-band unit bought off a marketplace, and the imported weBoost Home around £350 estimated as a branded benchmark. We judged each unit on five fixed questions: which frequency bands it amplifies, which operators receive 4G data versus data-plus-voice, what 100m² indoor area and how many simultaneous users it supports, how it mounts and powers in a UK home, and what the realistic five-year cost looks like once a missing voice or data layer forces a second purchase.

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. 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 much area it claims.

Gain measured in dB cleans the weak incoming donor signal; output power measured in dBm sets how strongly the cleaned signal leaves the indoor whip. The CG100 holds ≥45 dB uplink and ≥50 dB downlink gain, outputs ≥10 dBm behind a ≤5 dB noise figure, and that pair is sized for a single room, small flat or home office rather than a whole multi-storey house.

Indoor coverage assumes reasonable donor signal outside and 10 m vertical separation between outdoor omni and indoor whip; the rated 100m² covers a living room plus kitchen, a studio flat, or a one-room home office, not an entire house. The 10-user rating counts active phones attaching to one boosted cell before the serving network scheduler congests. When the outside donor signal is strong, the CG100 supports a second indoor antenna via splitter to extend a second zone.

We treated the CG100 at £185.99, the CD100 at £185.99 and the C100 at £109.99 as fixed shop prices, the cheap no-name unit as a sub-£80 marketplace estimate, and the weBoost Home around £350 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 unit does the same job more cleanly.

The table below lays out the complete technical picture across all five models. The three Boost4U units are UKCA and CE certified and Ofcom licence-exempt; the cheap no-name unit and the weBoost Home are not UKCA-tuned for the Band 20+8 stack. The decisive rows are frequency bands, data versus voice, gain, output power, coverage, users and mounting.

The single most important row is frequency bands and voice support. The CG100's Band 20 plus Band 8 is the only combination here that gives O2 and Vodafone 4G data and boosted 2G calls; the CD100 swaps Band 8 for Band 3 EE, and the C100 drops both voice bands entirely.

The shop prices are fixed as listed. The CG100 and CD100 both sit at £185.99, while the C100 sits at £109.99; the no-name unit lands around £80 estimated and the weBoost Home around £350 estimated, both above or beside the CG100 on sticker price without a UKCA Band 20+8 mark.

The £0.00 CD100 gap buys EE data-and-voice rather than O2/Vodafone data-and-voice; the £76.00 C100 saving buys Band 20 data only and leaves calls to a later £169.00 voice-capable unit, totalling £278.99 for two boxes in a home where cabling and aerial separation are already set. The CG100 at £185.99 covers both bands day one and wins on both day-one and five-year cost for an O2/Vodafone household that needs calls.

The CG100 tunes Band 20 at 800 MHz (uplink 832 to 862 MHz, downlink 791 to 821 MHz) and Band 8 at 900 MHz (uplink 890 to 915 MHz, downlink 935 to 960 MHz) in one 170 by 110 by 30 mm chassis. It holds ≥45 dB uplink and ≥50 dB downlink gain behind a ≤5 dB noise figure, outputs ≥10 dBm, covers up to 100m² for up to 10 simultaneous users, and pairs the 5 dBi omni outdoor aerial with the 3 dBi whip indoor antenna on a 10 m low-loss coax from the AC 100–240V to 5V UK plug.

Where the Band 20+8 choice matters most

On a weak-donor O2 or Vodafone home, 4G data often works weakly while the voice call falls back to the 900 MHz Band 8 layer that walls attenuate differently than 800 MHz data. The CG100 carries both paths, so a video call on data and a handset voice call both improve inside the 100m² zone. Automatic gain control trims oscillation between omni and whip, and the ≤5 dB noise figure keeps the cleaned signal quiet rather than amplifying noise.

What the kit includes and how it grows

The base at £185.99 ships the roughly 450 g amplifier (3.0 kg shipping weight with packaging), the 5 dBi omni, the 3 dBi whip, the 10 m coax, and the UK 3-pin AC adapter. There is no compare-at was-price. When the outside donor signal is strong, the CG100 supports a second indoor antenna via splitter to extend a second room; cable upgrades of 20m (+£20), 30m (+£30), 40m (+£40) and 50m (+£50), an external aerial (+£20) and a protector (+£20) reach a max combo of £305.99.

The CD100 tunes Band 20 at 800 MHz for O2, Vodafone and Three 4G data plus Band 3 at 1800 MHz for EE 4G data and EE 2G voice. It covers the same 100m² and 10-user class on a UK plug install, but its chassis has no Band 8 at 900 MHz filter or amplifier path, so it cannot manufacture O2 or Vodafone 2G voice even at maximum gain.

What the CD100 cannot produce

An O2 or Vodafone phone using native 2G voice inside the house shows the same call quality it showed before installation; the voice layer simply does not pass through that chassis. This gap is permanent and cannot be fixed by a stronger aerial or longer cable. Because the CD100 and CG100 share a price tag, the spec sheet's band rows, not the price, decide the purchase.

Who the CD100 suits

The CD100 suits an EE-dominant household that needs EE 4G and EE calls plus shared Band 20 data, and rarely relies on an O2 or Vodafone voice call. Any job-critical O2/Vodafone call correctly points back to the CG100.

The C100 tunes Band 20 at 800 MHz with uplink 832 to 862 MHz and downlink 791 to 821 MHz. It lifts O2, Vodafone and Three 4G data across the 100m² zone for a smaller class user group on a UK plug at £109.99, but its chassis has no Band 8 and no Band 3 voice path.

What the C100 cannot produce

The C100 cannot manufacture O2/Vodafone 2G voice or EE voice calls even at maximum gain; every call remains native. The £76.00 saving is real on sticker price, but it buys data coverage only, and adding a voice-capable unit later reaches £278.99 for two boxes.

What the £76.00 gap to CG100 adds

The CG100 keeps the C100's Band 20 data coverage, adds the Band 8 O2/Vodafone call layer behind ≥45/≥50 dB gain and ≥10 dBm output, and keeps the same 100m² and 10-user rating. A buyer who truly uses data-only and never makes a boosted call correctly considers the C100; any call reliability requirement correctly chooses the CG100.

The generic no-name single-band unit around £80 estimated is a marketplace 4G-only box with no guaranteed UKCA band match, no Ofcom exemption assurance, and thin warranty support; it often repeats the same one-bar result it was bought to fix. The weBoost Home around £350 estimated is a well-known US-market FCC system rather than UKCA certified for the Ofcom licence-exempt mobile repeater class, and it is not tuned to the UK Band 20 at 800 MHz plus Band 8 at 900 MHz stack in the Boost4U sense.

Import duty, VAT handling, UK plug conversion and warranty support sit outside the estimated sticker price, and neither offers the free UK 1 to 2 day handling plus 10 to 15 day transit delivery or the 365-day UK mail return window that comes with the £185.99 CG100. These estimates are benchmarks for comparison, not products sold on the Boost4U catalogue.

Read the matrix by the SIM in your pocket and whether you need a boosted call. If your row shows No for the model, that model cannot help that phone's call regardless of price.

The CG100 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 roundup rather than repeated in full.

Sarah M., 5 stars, 2025-07-03, fixed a terrible O2 signal in a Yorkshire home and reported calls no longer drop; this is the Band 8 call layer in action. Michael R., 5 stars, 2025-08-19, ran a giffgaff O2-network home office in Cornwall where video calls no longer freeze. Claire B., 5 stars, 2025-10-01, held consistent 4-5 bars as a Lebara Vodafone user after an easy setup. Rachel S., 5 stars, 2025-11-05, gave a Tesco Mobile customer in a rural village reliable 4G for the first time in three years.

James H., 5 stars, 2025-06-12, installed in a Devon cottage in 15 minutes and went from 1 bar to full 5 bars on EE data; Emma T., 5 stars, 2025-08-05, lifted a Three user in Scotland from zero bars to 4-5; Robert K., 5 stars, 2025-09-15, contrasted a cheap Amazon booster that did nothing against the CG100 working for an EE customer in Norfolk. These data wins arrive on shared Band 20; the CG100 does not add EE voice.

David W., 4 stars, 2025-07-21, needed the long-cable upgrade to reach the roof for a solid Vodafone signal in Wales; Lisa P., 4 stars, 2025-09-02, found living room and kitchen covered but a bigger model needed for the whole house; Andrew G., 4 stars, 2025-10-18, praised solid performance and flagged 12-day delivery as slow. None of the three four-star notes points to a band fault, a gain fault or a call-layer fault; they match the cable upgrade, the honest 100m² ceiling and the delivery timetable.

The TCO table flips the sticker argument. The C100 at £109.99 looks cheaper by £76.00, but a buyer who later adds a voice-capable unit at £169.00 spends £278.99 for two boxes, two aerials and two cable runs where a clean single install was possible. The CD100 at the same £185.99 still needs a Band 8 unit for O2/Vodafone calls. The single CG100 at £185.99 covers both data and voice on day one and undercuts the weBoost Home around £350 estimated once duty and warranty gaps are added.

The base CG100 at £185.99 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 3 dBi whip indoor antenna, the 10 m low-loss coax, and the AC 100–240V 50/60Hz to DC 5V UK 3-pin adapter. There is no compare-at was-price on the base listing.

The upgrade ladder: 20m cable +£20, 30m +£30, 40m +£40, 50m +£50 for a donor mast far from the room; external aerial +£20 for a weak donor reading of -97 to -105 dBm; protector +£20 for lightning-prone exposed mounts; the max optional combo reaches £305.99. The product page's custom solution states verbatim: "Expandable coverage by adding indoor antenna if the outside signal is strong." Where donor signal reads -70 to -90 dBm, a second indoor antenna via splitter extends a second zone up to the supported maximum of two indoor antennas.

Basic DIY install takes 10 to 15 minutes with no tools. Mount the 5 dBi omni outside with a clear view of the serving mast, keep at least 10 m vertical separation from the indoor whip, run the 10 m low-loss coax to the room, connect the BS outdoor and MS indoor ports, and plug the UK 3-pin adapter. Automatic gain control trims oscillation; the status LED shows steady green when the link is clean. Longer runs trade signal for reach, so add cable only when the donor point genuinely requires it.

The CG100 is UKCA, CE and RoHS certified and Ofcom licence-exempt as a mobile repeater class, so no annual fee or frequency application is required. Units without UKCA and CE marks sold to UK brands can attract Ofcom enforcement and adjacent-channel interference. Free UK delivery takes 1 to 2 days handling plus 10 to 15 days standard transit, and the 365-day mail return window with refund minus return shipping keeps purchase risk low for homes, home offices and small shops. The £185.99 price is valid to 2027-10-18, the unit is listed InStock as NewCondition, and it ships to GB, DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, AT, SE, DK, FI, IE, PT, PL, CZ.

Shop the CG100 at £185.99 — Band 20+8 100m² O2/Vodafone 4G Data and Calls UK Booster