Cell phone booster??

[Hal]

What brand and model is anyone using?

I have very spotty AT&T LTE and 4G service at my shop. Varies from two bars to "No Service" without moving the phone more than a few steps. No difference if I go outside.

Twenty-five years ago when I got my first phone, I had three bars all over the lot, every time they "upgrade" the service I lose some quality. I am afraid that when they go to 5G, I will be shut down completely.

The shop is nowhere near any of my other buildings, so no internet or Wi-Fi, and I'm not about to spend another $1200 a year for another fiber optic connection.

I have been looking at Weeboost, and Hiboost models, anybody got any recommendations, preferably something that will accommodate 5G when it arrives.

 

[NWOhioChevyGuy]

I have tried 3 or 4 over the years & none of them performed as advertised complete waste of money.

Only time I ever had one that worked was back when you could plug an external antenna physically into your phone. Boy I think those days would be nice most of the time. A Cell PHONE (& only a Phone)

 

[nafterclifen]

It's been my experience that cell phone boosters can only boost the existing signal. Which means if you're starting out with poor/weak signal, the booster will boost poor/weak signal and it'll be useless.

 

[tez929rr]

I had a cheap one I bought on eBay that lasted a couple of years. I recently replaced it with this one which seems much higher quality and works perfectly. My situation is a 30 by 80 steel building. Without the booster you walk in the door and cell signal completely drops out..

Booster

 

[racecougar]

I installed this one a couple months ago. Didn't even bother to aim the thing, just zip screwed it to one of the downspouts on the shop. Reception inside my steel-sheeted building went from zero bars to two bars, and I have no trouble streaming music or videos now. I'm sure I could improve it if I spent time aiming it, but I have no reason to bother.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZXLK8Z7/?tag=atomicindus08-20

As said above though, you have to have reception outside the building for this to be worthwhile. It isn't going to generate a signal out of nothing.

 

[bbbarracuda]

I’ve used weboost for a few years. Pretty pricey, but does work for me on ATT
Going from 1 or 2 bars inside to full strength, and no service in basement to 2 bars.
As service upgrades (lte to 4G to 5G) you will have to replace the amp. Whatever is above 5G will require something else probably.
There’s a website somewhere ( I can’t find it right now)
That shows locations of nearby cell sites, so you can aim outside antenna properly. That’s important.

 

[Augus7us]

I have a signal booster in my shop that was cheap and works great. However like others have pointed out this is more to get a signal through my shop which acts as a faraday cage. Outside the shop the signal is fine.

If your signal is **** outside than I doubt those signal boosters will do much. Might be some type of signal amplifier out there but I’ve never had the need to check.

 

[charbar]

Ive had a WeBoost in my shop for probably 7 years now. Works great. It was a cheaper priced refurbished unit right from WeBoost's website.

Signal around my shop is 'meh' at best, and you would get a "No Service" message as soon as you walked in the shop. My outside antenna is mounted on a pole that reaches probably 5 feet above the peak of my roof, pointed in the general direction of a few different providers towers. Worked just fine when I was US Cellular and works just as good now that Im Verizon. Those are about the only providers in my area other than Viero, which is small peas.

 

[couch67]

another WeBoost fan - buddy has one that he brings to camp. Without it, there's essentially no signal. Antenna is on a tower about 10 feet above roof peak. Brings it to 3-4 bars inside. While I prefer no cell signal in camp, this does allow some of the guys to get away for longer than they could without keeping an eye on work.

 

[SteveCh]

Our Verizon service was so poor that a technician on the phone offered to credit us half the price of a booster. We went to Best Buy and bought a pricey one [probably Weboost but not sure.] It did zero for us. Fortunately BB had a one-month trial thing with full money back. Never tried another one. Useless.

 

[duneslider]

I have used Weboost a lot and think it is great. You have to have some sort of signal to amplify though. If you can get the antenna up high it generally will get a better signal and then rebroadcast that signal.

 

[oldmxracer]

I am in to hear about this, just minutes ago was about to order one online! AT&T 4G LTE I have to walk out the door just a bit to not have it break up or to send a picture in a text. My old 3G flip phone worked great with no problem. This darn smart phone kind of *****!

 

[ycgoat]

You may want to check around and see if any other carriers have better cell coverage in your area, or elon musks wifi at $145/ month

 

[walta]

Seems to me your money would be better spent extending the home Internet connection to your out building and use the phones WIFI calling option.

Wireless bridge should work up to 500 yards with a line of site or lay a private fiber connection between the two buildings.

Building-to-Building Bridge

60 GHz PtP link using 802.11ad with 5 GHz radio for backup. Ideal for high-throughput connectivity with a range of up to 500 m. 1.7+ Gbps bi-directional Plug and Play 60 GHz Bridge with 5 GHz Radio Redundancy, UniFi Application Management, and range of up to 500 m UniFi® Building-to-Building...

store.ui.com

Walta

 

[Big Bad Dad]

Yeah, I have the same problem with these "upgrades". My company notified me that my old reliable 3G phone was getting phased out, so I would need to replace it with a new 4G compatible. Even giving credit toward the purchase of a new phone. I bought the new, latest. greatest, Samsung Galaxy, and I could not even use it at my home, or most of the county in which I live. Traded it in for a cheaper Motorola, and now I can use the phone outside, and in about half of my house..... And that is only because my son showed me that it was necessary to connect it to the WIFI on our internet. I hate it when the old "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" wisdom gets ignored.

 

[Metal-Marc]

I had no cell service inside the house and outside the house. I installed a Uniden cell phone booster a few years ago with a yagi antenna up about 20ft in the attic pointed to a nearby cell tower at ±2 miles. The signal in my living room hovers around -105 dBm, which translates to three bars on my cell phone. It works great.

I'm using this app to track the available signal in and around the house.

Network Cell Info & Wifi - Apps on Google Play

The mobile and WiFi signal monitoring tool for 5G, LTE+ and more.

play.google.com

 

[mepstein]

We have terrible cell service at our house. About 10 years ago we purchased a verizon network extender. It sends our cell calls over the internet. It works great. It was $250 to purchase.

 

[Paco Pena]

I'd look at another carrier as they may have a better signal in your area. My phone is almost useless at the cottage while the wifes has 5 bars. Telus vs Rogers.

Paco

 

[Snapped-off]

I'm using this one linked below with Verizon. Make sure you get one that amplifies the bands your provider uses. It's mounted up on our antenna tower. Went from no signal in the house to 2 bars, which is good enough.

We used to have excellent 3g coverage, but since 4g/5g rolled out its been terrible.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GXDCK9S/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[texanbok]

I have a signal booster in my shop that was cheap and works great. However like others have pointed out this is more to get a signal through my shop which acts as a faraday cage. Outside the shop the signal is fine.

If your signal is **** outside than I doubt those signal boosters will do much. Might be some type of signal amplifier out there but I’ve never had the need to check.

Hi, Just wanted to point out that no outside signal does not mean you’re out of luck … we used a grid parabolic antenna that pulled in signal from 18 miles away…paired it with a celfi go x and had amazing coverage

 

[texanbok]

I installed this one a couple months ago. Didn't even bother to aim the thing, just zip screwed it to one of the downspouts on the shop. Reception inside my steel-sheeted building went from zero bars to two bars, and I have no trouble streaming music or videos now. I'm sure I could improve it if I spent time aiming it, but I have no reason to bother.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZXLK8Z7/?tag=atomicindus08-20

As said above though, you have to have reception outside the building for this to be worthwhile. It isn't going to generate a signal out of nothing.

I Posted the same info below , but have to disagree. We had zero signal outside according to our phones … we put in celfi go-x…strongest booster on the market and took the grid parabolic option which they claim up to 20 miles in perfect conditions …ie direct line of sight …we were about 13 miles from tower . we now get 2-3 bars consistently….

Nextivity CEL-FI GO X G32 Smart Signal Booster

Smart signal booster with G32 platform for residential and small business use. Intelligently enhances 4G/5G LTE without network interference. Setup support available.

www.signalboosters.com

 

[juddspaintballs]

I have tried 3 or 4 over the years & none of them performed as advertised complete waste of money.

Only time I ever had one that worked was back when you could plug an external antenna physically into your phone. Boy I think those days would be nice most of the time. A Cell PHONE (& only a Phone)

Same. I've had the $1300 Weboost system with a directional antenna and the carrier-specific bandwidth. I had the $1000 Wilson Electronics with the directional antenna as well. Both of them basically didn't help at all. Both of them died within a year of owning them and I didn't even notice because the signal was so poor, even with them running. I've had cheaper systems that "worked" just as well. Honestly, the best one I used (and it still didn't help much) was a SureCall Fusion4Home with an omni-directional antenna. It's been going 3 years and still functioning...and maybe doing a little bit of good in the house.

 

[paranoid56]

i would look into extending your home internet to the shop an beam it over vs booster. I have a booster in my truck and it works great for what it is. its a single band booster.
for a real commercial setup you are looking at 5k+

 

[My Old Tools]

What is your signal from the roof?

 

[racecougar]

I Posted the same info below , but have to disagree. We had zero signal outside according to our phones … we put in celfi go-x…strongest booster on the market and took the grid parabolic option which they claim up to 20 miles in perfect conditions …ie direct line of sight …we were about 13 miles from tower . we now get 2-3 bars consistently….

Nextivity CEL-FI GO X G32 Smart Signal Booster

Smart signal booster with G32 platform for residential and small business use. Intelligently enhances 4G/5G LTE without network interference. Setup support available.

www.signalboosters.com

Disagree all you like, but you're comparing a system that cost 10x what mine does.

 

[juddspaintballs]

I Posted the same info below , but have to disagree. We had zero signal outside according to our phones … we put in celfi go-x…strongest booster on the market and took the grid parabolic option which they claim up to 20 miles in perfect conditions …ie direct line of sight …we were about 13 miles from tower . we now get 2-3 bars consistently….

Nextivity CEL-FI GO X G32 Smart Signal Booster

Smart signal booster with G32 platform for residential and small business use. Intelligently enhances 4G/5G LTE without network interference. Setup support available.

www.signalboosters.com

I had that one as well. Aiming it at the tower about 5 miles away didn't give me any better service than I already had. I actually had this one mounted on a flag pole and I could turn it based on the day (weather, foliage, etc.) to change the signal a little bit between different towers, but it never worked well enough to mess with.

 

[My Old Tools]

We had a Wilson with a directional on the last house. It worked well. House had the foil backed decking on the roof and 5 walls between the tower and the living area. Mounted the antenna on the end with the tower and ran coax to the living area. Set the amp and indoor antenna on top of the built in entertainment center. Make sure the two antennas aren't pointing at each other as that will setup a feedback loop and shutdown the amp.

 

[Sumboodie]

Wilson has worked well for me. Now called WeedBoost.

 

[Rockable]

I have had Weboost for several years and it works well in my metal building. Before I got it, I had to go outside to take or make a call.

 

[flyingblind]

https://www.wilsonamplifiers.com/t-mobile-cell-phone-signal-boosters