thanks ionstorm - i thought geneven might have meant a femtocell but that's quite far removed from what is being discussed here.

I think in reality though if you can't get signal at home the quickest, cheapest and easiest way to get coverage is a femtocell... i know my carrier offer them for £50 or £5/month which isn't really too bad. Don't think you can 'Bay them yet though due to the difficulties in tunnelling to said carriers network.

Original suggestion is still intriguing though.

Another question - do people know if the GSM antenna has local restrictions placed on it (ala the FM transmitter) or if in anyway the power to it is likely to be able to be amped up over standard? At certain times it would be useful to whack it right up for a short period.