"Over time, we've learned more and more about what is required in a booster," Matthews said.

CTIA isn't so sure that improvements to boosters have solved the problem.

"We've seen it get worse and worse," said Brian Josef, assistant vice president for regulatory affairs. The group has heard reports from some of its carrier members that even boosters with some of the mitigation features have caused interference problems. It remains to be seen whether a set of regulations can be crafted that will prevent those problems, Josef said.

Both sides in the debate have some legitimate points, but it's important to get some solid figures from an independent source on the extent of the problem, said analyst Jack Gold of J. Gold Associates. He is concerned that the FCC's comments process will only draw out the parties' opposing views. Both sides have vested interests at stake, he said.

While the booster vendors want to sell more products, "Carriers don't want to admit that there's a coverage problem," Gold said. And where the problem really exists, carriers want to persuade customers to solve it with devices supplied by the carrier, such as femtocells.