Cell Signal Boosters

[N80]

Anyone have experience with a cell phone signal booster? The cell phone reception at my cabin (Verizon) has gotten worse over the last 5 years. Texts arrive hours late. Calls dropped. Internet access almost zero. We can go outside about 20 feet from the cabin and get good enough reception.

So I'm looking at these folks:

Cell Phone Signal Boosters | Wilson Amplifiers

Just wondering if anyone else has had good/bad experience with this type of device. I understand that if there is "No Service" that a signal booster won't help.

Edit: A "booster" that uses the internet will not work for me. The cabin has no cable, no phone lines, no satellite service, etc.

 

[davesl708]

The booster will help with your phone around the cabin but not help with the dropped signals or delays in getting messages. That is Verizon servers not handling the data timely.

I would put a call into Verizon. The cell tower owner may have issues degrading Verizon's signal. Verizon does not own the tower you are getting your signal from but they can check the quality of the signal and maybe get it boosted to improve your reception.
As to going outside and getting better reception that may be obstructions on your property blocking the signal.

 

[tcartwri]

Have been thinking about putting one in the house...

 

[Budweiser John]

I have the same problem, poor to no cell reception in the work shop but for $350 I'll just step outside.
Usually have to pee anyway so multitask.

 

[N80]

We have discussed this with Verizon. They are no help. They are also the only ones who have any service at all where I am located. They looked at a detailed service map and said we are right on the border.

The cabin is a log cabin (8" thick logs) and the roof is metal on top of OSB sheathing. So that might contribute.

 

[oosik]

Ha,ha - that's good BW John. I've always had poor cell phone reception here at the house. I have no land line either. I just try to remember to turn the cell phone on in the evening for 5 minutes to see if I have any messages worth returning.

 

[k0ua]

To answer your question, yes I believe a booster with an outside antenna will solve your problem based on what you have related about the construction of the cabin and the fact that there is signal outside. And yes the Wilson has a pretty good reputation. You might even could get by with a passive system of two antenna's hooked together with a short piece of good low loss coax. Especially if the outside antenna is a fairly large yagi pointed at the cell tower.

 

[LD1]

Metal sucks. Hard to get service in an all metal building, but being at the edge of service, I am sure just the metal roof is of no help.

A friend has a cell booster, but dont know what brand/model it is. But he now gets full reception in his all metal building and really loves it. Only issue....and dont know if this is all brands....if he is on the phone in the shop running the signal through the booster and decides to step outside, it will drop the call. Even though he has full service both inside and outside now, for whatever reason when the signal stops coming from the booster and reverts back to the tower, the call drops.

I was going to put a booster in but prior to doing so verizon just built a tower 1/2 mile from me. So now I get full 4g bars anywhere in the shop. But still cannot talk on the phone in the shop. Must be something different about 4g and whatever is used to carry the voice signal. If I attempt to make a call in the shop, 4g light goes out and bars drop to nil.

 

[k0ua]

We used to have very poor service here, and then a new tower was built by verizon, and I have at least 3 bars now in the basement. It really solved our problems.

 

[wrangler6831]

We use that brand at work and I also have one for home. I highly recommend them. the only issue you have to watch for is getting the antenna's (inside and outside) to close together. If you do the booster recognizes this and reduces power or will shut off. The newer booster reduce power automatically but some of the cheaper models you have to adjust a potentiometer to lower the output and most come as complete kits so you don't need to but additional antennas or cable,

 

[RandyT]

Had a deputy sheriff dropping off his leaf blower for repair Monday, and was bragging up the new laptop computer in the squad car, and then it wouldn't connect to the network because he didn't have service sitting in my driveway. Service provider was Verizon.

 

[k0ua]

Had a deputy sheriff dropping off his leaf blower for repair Monday, and was bragging up the new laptop computer in the squad car, and then it wouldn't connect to the network because he didn't have service sitting in my driveway. Service provider was Verizon.

Verizon has the best service in my area, but yesterday I was at a clients house, and the signal was so spotty I was having difficulty getting web pages to load. Of course it was a creek bottom residence with hills all around.

 

[N80]

I have the same problem, poor to no cell reception in the work shop but for $350 I'll just step outside.
Usually have to pee anyway so multitask.

Sometimes I feel like Oliver on green acres. When I'm on call on the weekend while I'm down at the cabin and get a call at 2:00 a.m. and have to get up out of bed and walk into the yard when its 18 degrees outside to get reception. At least I don't have to climb a telephone poll.:laughing:

 

[N80]

Especially if the outside antenna is a fairly large yagi pointed at the cell tower.

"yagi" ?

 

[k0ua]

"yagi" ?

Yes, yagi-uda type of antenna. Named after the inventors. One type of directional beam antenna

Yagi-Uda antenna - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The antenna was invented in 1926 by Shintaro Uda of Tohoku Imperial University, Japan, with a lesser role played by his colleague Hidetsugu Yagi.
However the "Yagi" name has become more familiar with the name of Uda often omitted. This appears to have been due to Yagi filing a patent on the idea in Japan without Uda's name in it, and later transferring the patent to the Marconi Company in the UK.
Yagi antennas were first widely used during World War II in radar systems by the British, US and Germans. After the war they saw extensive development as home television antennas.

Looks like poor Uda, got the short end of the notoriety stick.

 

[k0ua]

Here is an example of a yagi

Amazon.com: New 17MHz-21MHz AWS WCDMA 3G Directional External Outdoor Yagi Antenna for Mobile cell phone signal Booster Repeater Amplifier: Cell Phones & Accessories

 

[k0ua]

My point about the passive system idea was that with simply a couple of these antennas coupled with a piece of low loss coax cable like some LMR 400 with N connectors on each end you might be able to get enough signal into the cabin without using any electronics at all. This is a simple passive antenna concept. It can work, and I suspect that it might work well in your situation because of the construction of your house. You would need a mounting mast outside and would need to experiment to find the best tower direction to point the outside antenna. Then mount the inside antenna to point to where you want to operate the handheld phone. With the antenna shown you would have 24 db gain minus the loss from the coax and its connections. Which would be several DB depending on coax length. (DB=decibels, a logarithmic way of measuring RF power)

 

[downsizingnow48]

I have a Wilson booster on a pole about 6 ft above the roof aimed at a tower about 5 miles away through trees. It improved reception from essentially nothing to always workable. Not great but workable. I paired that with a Cradlepoint router and wireless modem to provide Internet in the house. That also is working ok.

 

[davesl708]

I have a Wilson booster on a pole about 6 ft above the roof aimed at a tower about 5 miles away through trees. It improved reception from essentially nothing to always workable. Not great but workable. I paired that with a Cradlepoint router and wireless modem to provide Internet in the house. That also is working ok.

It's strange. I have a tower 1/4 mile away and the signal strength changes constantly during the day. From 2 bars to 5. Verizon.

 

[newbury]

My BIL bought one of the Wilson car kits years ago and raved about it. He's a rural doctor and was constantly getting dropped calls on his drives, which the Wilson fixed.

SWMBO bought one several years ago, but cell phone reception seems to have gotten better where she used to need it.