Cell Phone & WeBoost

ChuckT · Oct 1, 2020

We have so-so cell signal. The reviews on Amazon for boosters mention that the boosted signal is good if you're right on top of the indoor repeater and drop off dramaticly as you move away. WTF!!? I was thinking about getting a booster, not I'm not so sure. Can anybody accurately describe what your results are?
FWIW we are in north central Florida and right on the fringe (4 mike's away?) of more than one tower.

Alan W. · Oct 1, 2020

Our signal was terrible. We had to stand in a window and hope to get enough signal to make a call.
I bought a Wilson booster to try and help. There is a sharp drop off when you move further from the indoor antenna. I am about 15 feet from the antenna now as I write this and have 3 bars of LTE signal.
Without the booster I would have no signal in the same location.
With the booster my phone data is faster than using the Hugesnet wifi.
Also we found that our signal is stronger if the directional antenna is not aimed directly at the closest cell tower.
Is it a perfect answer. No. But it is far better than what we had.

ChuckT · Oct 1, 2020

Thanks! Any idea why you need to have the antenna off the direct line to the cell tower?

ChuckT · Oct 1, 2020

We are in the middle of 3 towers and get only one bar inside. And later in the day, mid afternoon, 0 signal.
On top of that our ISP - Spectrum - will drop Internet signal during the day as well. Makes me (almost!) wish for the return of Southern Bell.

Alan W. · Oct 1, 2020

We live in a valley with no direct line of sight for the tower. Thats the only thing I can think of that maybe causes this.
My son is in the process of setting up a 4g wifi in our detached garage. He bought a cheap directional antenna and attached it directly to his router. He can download and watch videos easily on this set up.
Once he gets it completely set up and it proves to be consistent the Hughsnet will be gone.

polo1665 · Oct 1, 2020

I'll second a recommendation for WeBoost. Same situation that you have. Had to stand in certain places to get reception. Towers aren't too far away, but due to location of house we had very poor reception. WeBoost antenna solved our issue. Certainly not cheap, but effective.

We ended up going this route due to our poor landline service. DSL through Frontier was our only ISP option (other than HughesNet). Our phone lines were crap and we constantly lost service, sometimes for weeks at a time. Now we can keep a hotspot in the house and use our Verizon plan to cover internet in the house.

kenmbz · Oct 1, 2020

T mobile gave us a booster when we complained. They just told us that if we move/end contract we have to give it back or get charge around $200.
It works ok and it is in 2 parts- one is a receiver we have by the window, the other we put a few rooms away, everything between the two works when the receiver has signal. Sometimes we see the cell tower drop and everything goes dead, but mostly it allows us 4G speeds and calls within the range of the two boxes.

geblackwell · Oct 1, 2020

I have Sprint and they gave me a booster. Did not work as I wanted, so returned it and now use wifi calling.

newbury · Oct 1, 2020

For all you posters please post model numbers and dBm. Those things can get darn expensive and bars are only relative..

SWMBO bought a Wilson about a decade ago. Didn't do diddly. Had similar problems of having to stand in a certain place and whistle Dixie, would only get 1 bar at the best, until this spring, got no bars, -120 dBm or worse in the house. So in March, 2020 I finally bought a weBoost 474120R (refurb) from Walmart for $90. Now in the living room I get -110 dBm where I sit and up to -90 dBm where SWMBO sits and uses her phone.

Fantastic improvement. Lot more crank calls also. Doesn't cover a big area.