Is this online celebrity product a "black technology" or a "black" customer? ——Survey on the effectiveness of mobile phone signal enhancement stickers
Xinhua News Agency, Hangzhou, November 3rd. Question: Is this online celebrity product a "black technology" or a "black" customer?
——Survey on the effectiveness of mobile phone signal enhancement stickers
Xinhua News Agency reporters Zhang Xuan and Cui Li
Just stick a metal patch on the "effective position" on the back of the phone, and the signal can be changed from 1 grid to 3 grids, so that there is no delay in playing games and refreshing videos... Recently a Hangzhou consumer Mr. Cheng told reporters , I was fooled by the "mobile phone signal enhancement sticker".
For a period of time, "enhancement stickers" that claim to be able to "enhance cell phone signals in all scenarios" have been selling well.
Is this small sticker a "black technology" or a "black" customer?
A reporter from Xinhua News Agency conducted an investigation.
Merchants call "full scene" enhanced signal commodity hot-selling network
The signal in underground garages is poor, the game network is unstable, and the signal in high-rise office buildings is up and down. The reporter found that there are mobile phone signal enhancement stickers on many well-known e-commerce platforms, claiming to meet the needs of mobile phone users to improve their signals.
The price of such commodities ranges from RMB 3 to RMB 70. Some merchants have sold more than 1,000 orders per month, and some merchants have sold more than 100,000 orders.
The product description pictures shown by the customer service of many merchants to reporters all have words such as "hot sale at home and abroad".
Related businesses claim that this type of enhanced stickers can intelligently amplify signals, which can be fully applied in basements, villas, mountainous areas, rural areas and other places, and the signals of various operators can be greatly improved.
Some businesses also told reporters that several mobile phone signal enhancement stickers have functions such as improving mobile phone performance, reducing radiation levels, and extending battery life, and provide "certificates" in related product manuals.
Currently, there are many brands of signal enhancement stickers on e-commerce platforms, but reporters found that most of them are informal products.
The reporter found through the Tianyan Check App that the production and sales scope of many brand manufacturers did not include enhancement stickers, and the packaging of multiple brand enhancement stickers purchased by the reporter did not see a product certificate, and the merchants could not provide it.
“From time to time, you can see recommendations in Douyin and WeChat groups.” Many consumers said that they purchased enhanced stickers due to online recommendations, but found that the effect did not match the promotion.
Some consumers commented that "there is no effect at all, or the signal is very poor. Think carefully about how the enhanced sticker can read mobile phone information without a chip, and how can you modify the system settings and optimize the network."
Expert test: The principle is not established. Laboratory scenario: No obvious enhancement
The reporter asked the platform merchant about the effect and principle of the sticker, and the customer service replied: "As long as the back cover of the mobile phone is not glass, it can be enhanced, and the signal can generally be enhanced to 3 grids after being pasted." "The principle is that the sticker (chip) can increase the phone's wavelength."
Is this statement credible?
Li Jinxin, a professor at the School of Electronic Information of Hangzhou Dianzi University, showed reporters the results of field experiments on mobile phone signal enhancement stickers in the Zhejiang Welik Communication Laboratory.
Li Jinxin said that from the perspective of material and structure, the current most advanced signal enhancement sticker claimed by the merchant is a plastic sheet coated with an aluminum film, and a layer of material similar to magnetic ink is printed on the aluminum film.
Regarding the statement that "the principle of the enhancement sticker is to increase the receiving range of the signal by lengthening the wavelength of the signal received by the built-in antenna of the mobile phone," Li Jinxin said: "This does not work in principle."
He told reporters that firstly the wavelength cannot be "stretched" in real life; secondly, amplifying anything requires energy, and the sticker is a "passive antenna" and cannot provide energy for effective signal amplification.
So is it true that the sticker can amplify the signal through resonance?
Li Jinxin said that different mobile phone models and operators cause different mobile phone signal frequencies. To achieve resonance, it must be the same frequency as the corresponding mobile phone signal. Currently, even if a sticker can produce some kind of resonance, it cannot be compatible with all mobile phones. Frequency, it is impossible to realize the "full scene" application claimed by the merchant.
According to experts, the unit representing the signal strength of a mobile phone is dBm. As the signal strength of a mobile phone is generally small, dBm is generally a negative number.
The reporter saw in the laboratory scene that the mobile phone is fixed in a position. When the mobile phone has no sticker, its signal strength value floats up and down -81dBm; when the mobile phone has a sticker, its signal strength value floats between -85dBm and -79dBm.
"The larger the value of signal strength dBm, the better the signal. In the experimental scenario, the fluctuation range of the test change is within the range of plus or minus 3dB. In the laboratory scenario test, the sticker has almost no ability to enhance the signal." Senior Engineer, Zhejiang Welik Communication Co., Ltd. Lu Xiaoliang said.
"We have also tested in fast-moving subways, open spaces, elevators, etc. The result is that after the enhancement stickers are posted, the mobile phone signal does not increase but decreases." Lu Xiaoliang said, if the mobile phone signal enhancement stickers are really "black technology" As a result, mid-to-high-end mobile phones have built in this solution for a long time, so consumers don't have to pay for it.
Why "pseudo-technology" products frequently become Internet celebrities
"Quantum" medical devices that can "cure all diseases", "graphene" warm clothing that can "repair skin sagging", "artifact" anti-blue light products to prevent myopia, and Internet celebrities that "can reduce blood sugar by 70%" "desugar" "Electric rice cooker"... The reporter found that in recent years, many products under the guise of "black technology" have cheated consumers on the market.
Experts say that there are many "accomplices" in the popularity of fake high-tech products.
Online "pseudo science popularization" misleads consumers.
"The signal enhancement is only related to the signal strength received by the mobile terminal." Li Jinxin said that many people have misunderstandings about the communication rate. The download rate will be faster if the signal is strong, but it is not absolute.
Data download depends not only on the network, but also on the server that outputs the data and the number of users.
"It is a false proposition to say that the signal enhancement stickers on the Internet can increase the download rate." Li Jinxin said.
The reporter found that many Douyin accounts have posted "pseudo-science" videos that promote such information, and some of them have obvious signs of advertising.
Some online merchants take advantage of the mentality of "low cost and cheap price, consumers buy them and use them as they are useful, and if they are useless, there will be no too much loss."
Some online e-commerce platforms have failed to consolidate the main responsibility, and there are still loopholes in the inspection and testing of relevant business qualifications and product certificates.
For some products that have been repeatedly exposed and processed by the media and market regulators, some platforms have not completely cleaned up.
Yang Jianhua, president of the Zhejiang Provincial Sociological Association, said that some current "fake technology" products use the public's health, convenience and other needs to fabricate functions and boast effects, and ordinary people often lack the ability to judge the authenticity.
He suggested that the market supervision, internet information and other departments should cooperate to increase the supervision of false advertisements of "fake technology" products. In particular, we should seriously clean up false advertising information that appears in the form of "pseudo science popularization" on online videos and social platforms.
In addition, the regulatory authorities should maintain a high pressure on the main responsibility of the network platform and urge them to conduct effective self-inspection and self-inspection.
Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association of the Chinese Law Society, stated that in accordance with the Consumer Rights Protection Law, business operators should provide consumers with information about the quality, performance, and use of goods or services, which should be true and comprehensive. Make false or misleading publicity.
Misleading and deceiving consumers by playing concepts and blogging sales in the name of "pseudo-technology" is likely to constitute fraud.
Once fraud is constituted, consumers can demand compensation of 3 times the purchase price.