OTTAWA - Some buildings and vehicles seem to eat cellphone signals. Calls are dropped, voices are fuzzy and you find yourself leaning in odd positions against windows hoping to get a clear signal.

Spotwave Wireless Inc. of Ottawa is launching itself today with a $3-million financing round and technology it says will solve the problem of signal-eating spaces.

Spotwave's product is a two-part piece of equipment -- one installed inside the offending building or vehicle and the second part outside -- that gives cellphone users clear "always on" wireless service in the trickiest spots.

Shane Young, Spotwave's chief executive, said the company will use the $3-million to conduct beta tests and get the first version of its product ready for sales next fall. "We have been working closely with the carriers in Canada and U.S. to prove to them this product can do what we say it can do," he said.

"The first round will get us past the market validation phase, and help us sign on customers willing to buy into the technology."

A second financing round of $10-$15-million is planned for the fall. Ottawa-based Venture Coaches and Primaxis Technology Ventures of Toronto led the first round.

Spotwave's product uses a smart antenna to lock onto the radio signals on cellphone frequencies and amplify them -- preventing the fuzzy reception and dropped calls users often get in buildings, vehicles or in rural areas.

"It can take a signal and amplifies it into a 5,000 square foot radius. So for a home or small office in rural areas it's a fabulous device to have," said Colin Harkes, Bell Mobility's manager of network operations in the Ottawa region. "If I had an important customer complaining about our network in a rural area I would suggest Spotwave as a solution."

Mr. Harkes watched a demonstration in a building where it was impossible to make or receive a cellphone call. "Then they turned the thing on and suddenly, boom, we're in a back office in a building 20 kilometres from a [tower] site, and two of us are making telephone calls. And the good thing from Bell Mobility's point of view is that it doesn't seem to have any impact on our network, which a lot of products do."

Spotwave was founded by Mr. Young, Paul Simpson and David Bongfeldt, all telecommunications veterans who had worked on designing mobile antennas. The idea came after Mr. Simpson won a free cellphone. He was frustrated it didn't work at his home. That frustration led to him teaming up with Mr. Bongfeldt and Mr. Young to design a product that would automatically and continually give reliable cellphone coverage when placed in trouble spots of a cellular network.

They founded DPS Wireless a year ago, and renamed it Spotwave to better reflect its product vision. Spotwave employs 26 people. The first version of Spotwave's product will retail for about US$2,500 and will be available in the fall.