Cell Phone Boosters
- Thread starter jviss
- Start date
John,
If you are looking to boost cell service onboard, I can't help. But if you are needing to boost the service at you home, here is a solution that I implemented.
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I found a solution for poor cellphone service. Its a cellphone signal booster that amplifies the mobile signal to and from the nearest cell tower.
We live about 2 miles from the cell tower that provides our signal. This means that we have one bar (on a good day) and we experience dropped calls, missed calls, and failure to originate calls. Our signal level inside the house was about -122 dBm.
So I installed a booster device that uses an outside antenna at the peak of our garage and an inside amplifier and antenna. The outside antenna needed to be aimed correctly and the inside antenna had placement restrictions in relation to the outside antenna.
Bottom line: our mobile signal increased by about 20 dBm and we now have 2-3 bars inside our house. Now out inside signal level is about -100 dBm. So far, no dropped calls or any other bad cellphone behavior.
I bought the amplifier system and the roof mount on Amazon. Less than $150.
If you are looking to boost cell service onboard, I can't help. But if you are needing to boost the service at you home, here is a solution that I implemented.
---------------------------------------------------------------
I found a solution for poor cellphone service. Its a cellphone signal booster that amplifies the mobile signal to and from the nearest cell tower.
We live about 2 miles from the cell tower that provides our signal. This means that we have one bar (on a good day) and we experience dropped calls, missed calls, and failure to originate calls. Our signal level inside the house was about -122 dBm.
So I installed a booster device that uses an outside antenna at the peak of our garage and an inside amplifier and antenna. The outside antenna needed to be aimed correctly and the inside antenna had placement restrictions in relation to the outside antenna.
Bottom line: our mobile signal increased by about 20 dBm and we now have 2-3 bars inside our house. Now out inside signal level is about -100 dBm. So far, no dropped calls or any other bad cellphone behavior.
I bought the amplifier system and the roof mount on Amazon. Less than $150.
Attachments
I have had several for decades. There used to be a dead zone off the coast and in Mexico. They became obsolete as speed and transmission frequencies changes. I have an amazon - purchased one now with a small antenna for reception/transmission from cell towers and a another for local transmission to phones aboard.
I thought cell signal boosters would have gone the way of the dodo bird with the advent of wifi calling.
Make calls using Wi-Fi on iPhone
Sorry @jviss. No experience with boosters on a boat but given the lack of cell service in our cruising grounds I will follow other member’s posts with interest.
Wi-FI calling works great….if you have an internet connection of some kind. But if your cellular device provides your internet, it doesn’t do any good.
My house in Florida has terrible cellular signal. So the only way we can make calls is using wifi calling through our Xfinity cable internet connection.
Greg
Get Starlink, the price for a Gen 3 dish is really low, $299. Then use wifi calling, get all the data you want and can share. Use the roam plan and turn it off during the off season. We using it now. no bars, no problems.
I used the offshore plan that allowed use world wide. With the roam plan, how far off shore can you go? I understood starlink didn't like you getting too far away from land. How have you been using it? Mostly when close to shore? $150 is a lot less expensive than the world coverage plan... It may be perfect for me going forward. But I will still be heading a distance off shore for certain legs.
dj
The offshore limit is not well defined. I was about 3 miles offshore earlier today and it worked. Going to the Bahamas or Bermuda would certainly be offshore. Starlink offers an option for Roam subscribers, $2 a gig of global service. For short jaunts, like Bermuda or Bahamas that is certainly reasonable if you mind your data usage.
Starlink has recently set a 2 month out of country limit on the Roam plan. I hear they have been enforcing it. I hear it is necessary to change the registration address to the new country after 2 months.
Yes, that's why I went with the higher prices plan for global coverage.
The 2$ per gig of global service sounds like an excellent way to go if one isn't gone for many months.
dj
FWIW and depending on your requirements, the new Starlink Mini can be directly powered by 12V, is much smaller and uses approx 1/2 the power the standard version uses. I assume this comes with a hit on speed. Also the plan is $50 for 50Gb. Perfect for coastal sailing in the PNW.
Starlink Mini
Starlink Mini