# Cell phone signal booster?



## kroppe (May 7, 2000)

Has anyone installed a cell phone signal booster in their home? I searched the site and found one topic, but not much specific detail was posted. 

In most parts of my house, I have from three to five bars. In my basement, where my home office is, I have one or two bars. Call quality and reliability is very poor there. I want to install a booster so I get good reception in the basement. 

I have looked at the website of wilsonelectronics.com and gtwantennas.com and the products offered look straightforward, but I would like to hear some feedback. 

Thanks for any input.


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## Rasputin (Jan 13, 2009)

kroppe said:


> Has anyone installed a cell phone signal booster in their home? I searched the site and found one topic, but not much specific detail was posted.
> 
> In most parts of my house, I have from three to five bars. In my basement, where my home office is, I have one or two bars. Call quality and reliability is very poor there. I want to install a booster so I get good reception in the basement.
> 
> ...


 
I have one that I use in my vehicles. At the cabin I typically have no signal, using the booster usually gets me a signal, might only be a bar or two, but the phone usually works. The model I have also comes in a 110 volt version. SO, yes, they work, but not great.


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## Trophy Specialist (Nov 30, 2001)

I have a Zboost and I highly recommend that product. The Zboost comes with an antenna, coax cable and a booster unit. My office is in my basement and I have the Zboost antenna up on my roof and the booster next to my land line phone base unit in my office. The Zboost amplifies the signal in about a 20 foot radius without any wires going to the cell phone. Since I don't have any high speed internet alternatives where I live out in the sticks, I rely on my cell phone with tethering for internet service. The Zboost works great for both voice and data giving me five bars close by the unit. My land line phone has bluetooth capability so the Zboost sends my amplified cell signal though my cell phone and then those calls are picked up by my land line blue tooth ready phone system where it broadcasts it to the other four handheld units in my house and workshop. It works so well, I'm even considering getting rid of my land line completely. I also use the Zboost at my U.P. cabin where cell signals are one bar at best. I had to put an antenna 20' above my roof there, but I can get decent signals for voice and data 99% of the time (when the weather is not real bad).


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## kroppe (May 7, 2000)

Thanks for the input guys. TS did you order the zboost online or was it somewhere like Best Buy, etc.? The Best Buy near me had no boosters in stock.


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## Trophy Specialist (Nov 30, 2001)

kroppe said:


> Thanks for the input guys. TS did you order the zboost online or was it somewhere like Best Buy, etc.? The Best Buy near me had no boosters in stock.


Amazon.com

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Extenders-YX545-Dual-Band-Booster/dp/B003VOW5WI/ref=pd_cp_cps_0"]Amazon.com: Wireless Extenders zBoost YX545 SOHO Dual-Band Cell Phone Signal Booster for Home and Office (White, North America and Canada): Cell Phones & [email protected]@[email protected]@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/[email protected]@[email protected]@31dC-7MrPLL[/ame]

I've had it for three years with no problems. The only problem you may run into is that some of the cell phone companies are planning to change their frequency of their signals which will render these boosters obsolete when that happens. You'll have to buy another one then to stay compatible.


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## So-hooked (Jun 16, 2009)

Thanks for the info TS, we have the same problem thru out our house.


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## NittanyDoug (May 30, 2006)

We put in a Wilson booster at the house up north. I have Verizon and could get a call out most times. Data was sketchy but a text message usually worked. Others have AT&T and they had no signal. After the antenna/booster I have great reception for calls and data. The AT&T customers have ok reception but much improved over no signal. The AT&T tower they pull from for data is in TC where the Verizon tower is much closer. 

Outdoor Hub mobile, the outdoor information engine


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## PLUMMER47 (Dec 9, 2006)

There is a website with some very inexpensive components that sells this, my FNL uses it for his work @ Ford while working from home. Without a booster he was less than 15 at his best spot in Mancelona. Now inside at the worst spots he's over 75 signal strength. I will ask to see what site he picked his stuff up from. He did start off using the wilson equipment, which helped but he's tripled signal strength with the new stuff.


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## hunt-r (Jul 2, 2008)

Ive got a Wilson repeater (booster) with an external Yagi antenna and have not realized any significant increase in signal strength. Maybe gained about a bar. The Yagi antenna is mounted to the outside of my house on the highest gable end and pointed in the direction of the nearest Verizon tower.
I live in Oxford about 4 miles from the high school but, still cant get DSL or cable. We rely solely on our Verizon wireless hotspot for our internet
Plummer47, I would be very interested in any info you can share about your FNLs system?


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## kroppe (May 7, 2000)

I ordered the Wilson 800/1900 DB Pro unit with the omnidirectional antenna from Amazon. We will see how it works. If it works, we will drop our land line. Will post an update when I get it installed next week.


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## kroppe (May 7, 2000)

Did a smoke test tonight with a Wilson DB Pro 62 dB signal booster. The goal was to improve cell coverage in my basement office to levels where I can reliably place and receive calls. 

Without the booster, I had 1-2 bars of reception in the basement, and calls were unreliable. After the booster, I had 5 bars of reception. I placed a call, and it connected immediately. The cell phone (iPhone 4) was about 6-8 feet from the indoor antenna. Very satisfactory test in my view. My daughter's phone experienced the same improvement of reception.

The outdoor antenna was hand held about 8 feet above the ground. Outdoors, I have about 4 bars of reception. I think the key with these boosters is that you need to have a signal to boost. In my case, there is a good signal to start with, just nothing where I want it (in the basement). 

Tomorrow I will try installing the outdoor antenna in its permanent home on the eave of the house, and run the coax into the house. That should be a real pain.


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## Trophy Specialist (Nov 30, 2001)

kroppe said:


> Did a smoke test tonight with a Wilson DB Pro 62 dB signal booster. The goal was to improve cell coverage in my basement office to levels where I can reliably place and receive calls.
> 
> Without the booster, I had 1-2 bars of reception in the basement, and calls were unreliable. After the booster, I had 5 bars of reception. I placed a call, and it connected immediately. The cell phone (iPhone 4) was about 6-8 feet from the indoor antenna. Very satisfactory test in my view. My daughter's phone experienced the same improvement of reception.
> 
> ...


I know a couple people that have Wilson boosters for their automobiles and they both like them a lot. The key though is antenna location. The higher the better and keeping nearby trees out of the path of the signal, especially evergreens, also helps a lot. Cutting down a big balsam tree by my deer camp really helped my signal there.


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## kroppe (May 7, 2000)

Yup, antenna placement and having a signal to start with are important. I installed the outdoor antenna at the level of the gutters, re-using a post/mast originally installed for a satellite dish. Ran the cables inside the house, hooked up the booster and now I have 5 bars of signal in the basement. I'm going to try a few different transmitter locations until I find the location that gives the best overall performance. So far I am a satisfied customer.


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## garybail (Aug 23, 2004)

not sure how true it is but i read FCC was going to ban the use of boosters due to interference at the tower interfering with other signals


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## Jefferson846 (Feb 4, 2012)

I got a booster from Sprint and it is awesome. It hooks up to the Internet. It was worth it!


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