Cell Phone Booster

Nomad

So far in my 9-months of travel I've had really good cell coverage including LTE data - 95% of the time even in the desert boondocks and northwestern ND. But, I ran into bad coverage on the eastern edge of MT and along the northwest half of SD so decided to pop for a weBoost amplifier.
The model I thought would work the best was the weBoost Drive 4G-M (Amazon-$295) which you can mount under your car seat and it boosts up to four devices - don't have to cradle your phone to the device - seems to be the most popular with the RV/Motorhome crowd. Thought, slick, mount it in there, works while I'm out/about and not hooked up and when I return, park close to the T@B and should work from there also. Wrong - the antenna inside the vehicle has a range of only 3 ft.
So, returned that and got the weBoost Drive 4G-S (Amazon $149) cradle model. Will have to move it from TV to T@B and back but so be it, it's relatively small. Am not able to see if it works yet as I'm in solid coverage area - heading west again shortly so should get a good idea once I get back out in no-man's land.

Note: I like to touch/feel things before I buy so hardly ever (mostly never) order from Amazon. Bought these at BestBuy for the same price. For those that don't know, at some of the big box stores, they will price-match Amazon. Advantage, you get to touch it and in this case, exchange it - no wait.

mickietucs

Do let us know how that other one works. It's something that's on my list before I head out full time and will be in western states my first year. I did not know Best Buy will match Amazon. Many times I think about buying something locally but Amazon usually beats those prices - you make a good point about exchanging quickly. Looking forward to your critique of the weBoost Drive 4G-S.

Nomad

Ya, I think Target does it also. That first unit was marked $150 higher in BBY, I called a clerk over and asked if they could match, he checked the Amazon price I had on my phone and immediately said he would - no arguing or negatiation involved.

Another thing most don't realize is that a lot of manufacturers have minimum advertised pricing (MAP) tied to their coop advertising funds so if retailers want to tap those funds to help with their Sunday supplement costs, they can't state a lower price than MAP and the manufacturers consider the little price sticker in the store next to the product advertising. That tag actually just states the most you will pay. To find out what you'll actually have to pay, you need a clerk to scan the code or go through checkout where you'll get an instant cash rebate. Crazy but that's how it works for products from any mfg that has MAP contracts.

twocutes

I'm also interested in your experience with the weBoost Drive 4G-S.  I know that dead spot in MT/ND well!

jkjenn

These boosters won't give you service where there is none, but should boost your connection. I have noticed a faster connection, even when it's showing just a couple of bars.

Nomad

Jenn - Yep, aware of that...per our previous discussions. Just hoping I can turn a 1bar weak signal into something usable.

jkjenn

PXLated said:

Jenn - Yep, aware of that...per our previous discussions. Just hoping I can turn a 1bar weak signal into something usable.

Yeah, should inserted the quote from Beth about the ND/MT dead spot. `

twocutes

PX - any updates?

Nomad

Not much of one, have only used for two brief moments, not long enough to tell wether I got a boost or had just entered fringe coverage territory again. Do know one thing, the cradle gets surprisingly hot on the back.

jkjenn

PXLated said: Do know one thing, the cradle gets surprisingly hot on the back.

In was surprised to read this was normal, and OK. Can't remember, where, though.

Nomad

Good to know Jenn - Was going to call them about it but hadn't gotten around to it yet.
FYI - Since our Jeeps have composite roofs we can't attach the magnetic antenna where they recommend - centered on roof away from windows and other antennas. That leaves the lower body and hood - will have to experiment once I get further west and weak signals.

jkjenn

PXLated said:

Good to know Jenn - Was going to call them about it but hadn't gotten around to it yet.
FYI - Since our Jeeps have composite roofs we can't attach the magnetic antenna where they recommend - centered on roof away from windows and other antennas. That leaves the lower body and hood - will have to experiment once I get further west and weak signals.

I picked up an in-car antenna as well as a window mount antenna. I thought I would mount the in-car antenna in the car and the window mount would stay in the trailer.

Nomad

Where do you put all the stuff you keep accumulating? ;-)

jkjenn

PXLated said:

Where do you put all the stuff you keep accumulating? ;-)

Ha! The car mount antenna, actually sticks to your seat. The window mount fits nicely above the valence.

I actually have reduced more than I have added this year. I am making use of the tongue box for the BAL and the empty 12v battery box to store other supplies, that will allow me to reduce from two big Rubbermaid containers to one. I also eliminated the rolltop table I carried since I never used it. I picked up a Lifetime table but will only take it when I need to work, I think.

Lisa33

I have two of the earlier model of the 4G-M (when the weBoost was simply Wilson Electronics).  One is in the trailer and the other in the car.  I found that if you keep the adhesive backing covered on the "Hershey Bar" antenna and hold it directly to your phone or tablet, it works very well.  So much so, that I bought that second one for inside the trailer.  I found them to be a great investment if you spend any length of time in more remote areas.  As Jenn said, you need to have some signal (as little as one intermittent bar).  

Nomad

Yep, no signal will still get you no signal.
Lisa - does yours get real warm?

jkjenn

Here is one thread on the heat issue.

Forum poster:

"Just received a reply from Wilson Electronics technical group that this is normal.  According to the technician that answered my enquiry to them, the antenna base is also the heat sink for the booster so the harder the booster is working, the warmer the antenna base will get."

From a Wilson tech

"The new Sleek 4G units take substantially more more power and thus generate more heat.  As the Sleek is a plastic unitit doesn't have anywhere for the heat to go.  We use the metal antenna connector, and the inner copper center conductor, as the heat sink for the amplifier.  However, this alone is not enough to gather all the generated heat, which is the reason you may notice the Sleek warm to the touch."

Lisa33

Yes, mine do get warm, too.

Nomad

Jenn - Have you tried yours with that internal antenna the sticks to your seat?
Reason I ask is that the first unit I bought that permenately mounts under the seat had an antenna that stuck to the seat but it didn't "receive" the cell signal from the tower, the external roof mount antenna did that. The seat antenna would then rebroadcast the signal to the cell phone (similar to a wifi router) with a 3' range. If you unhooked the external antenna, there was nothing to rebroadcast.

jkjenn

PXLated said:

Jenn - Have you tried yours with that internal antenna the sticks to your seat?
Reason I ask is that the first unit I bought that permenately mounts under the seat had an antenna that stuck to the seat but it didn't "receive" the cell signal from the tower, the external roof mount antenna did that. The seat antenna would then rebroadcast the signal to the cell phone (similar to a wifi router) with a 3' range. If you unhooked the external antenna, there was nothing to rebroadcast.

I confess I have not and I wondered about this. Mounting for me isn't quite songbird since I have the roof rack. I hope to have some time to mess with this over the weekend.

Nomad

If it's the same internal seat antenna that I had, I doubt it'll work but let us know and if it does, how well.

Nomad

Side Note: In the very limited time I had a weak signal and had the iPhone in the cradle, I noticed it was also boosting my iPad sitting next to it. I presume this is because the iPad has a larger antenna and always gets a better signal than my iPhone so is picking up the boost without being in the cradle.

Mercator

Does anyone use a satellite phone for travelling in areas of poor cell phone coverage?  I use another device - SPOT - when sailing out of cell phone range on Lake Ontario.  It sends GPS coordinates to friends and relatives as well as preprogrammed  messages, such as, "I'm OK", or "Send Help".

Nomad

I'm not aware of anyone mentioning satellite here.

Nomad

Still haven't had a long enough stretch of low coverage to test this thing.

Nomad

Update - First a couple of general cellphone observations...

1) The number of bars your phone is showing does not necessarily represent the ability to make a call. It's the tower signal strength. The towers have big powerful antennas, your cellphone does not. The more bars the better chance you have but not necessarily gonna happen. Also, you could have a good bars but the cell tower has limited capacity.
2) There seems to be a lag in what's shown. I've noticed this when scouting sites at a campground/campsite. Have a great signal at site xyz, get unhooked, set up and the signal is gone. Noticed the same cruising the outback this week. You almost have to stop and let it settle in to know for sure. The amount of time it takes to settle in seems to vary also. It must not be constantly polling the tower.

So, how did it do - couldn't tell ya. It was so all over the board. I have an iPad with cell and the iPhone. Generally, the iPad shows more bars (see above) than the iPhone. And, there's bars (voice) and data. Again, the iPad usually gets a better data connection. For instance, the iPhone shows 3G and the iPad shows LTE.
Here's the blow-by-blow...Drove down a country road to check out a photo location. Over the first 20miles, I went from 2-bars/LTE down to 2-bars/3G to 1-bar/nothing. Over the last 10 miles I had no signal. I didn't hook up the booster on the way down but did on my way back. The no signal remained no signal at times, other times it would jump to 1-bar and even 2-bars. Once I got back to where I had some signal, it seemed to add a bar but that would vary also. And, at times the iPad would have a better signal than the boosted iPhone. It was all over the board - kind of frustrating. If I get out where it's a low or no signal for an extended period of time I have no idea if the thing will help or not.

The one thing I do know is the booster gets really, really hot - in fact, you don't want to touch the metal antenna connector or I swear you could get a blister.

Note: I was using the small magnetic antenna that came with the weBoost. A different, larger antenna may get differen results.

jkjenn

PXLated said:

Update - First a couple of general cellphone observations...

1) The number of bars your phone is showing does not necessarily represent the ability to make a call. It's the tower signal strength. The towers have big powerful antennas, your cellphone does not. The more bars the better chance you have but not necessarily gonna happen. Also, you could have a good bars but the cell tower has limited capacity.
2) There seems to be a lag in what's shown. I've noticed this when scouting sites at a campground/campsite. Have a great signal at site xyz, get unhooked, set up and the signal is gone. Noticed the same cruising the outback this week. You almost have to stop and let it settle in to know for sure. The amount of time it takes to settle in seems to vary also. It must not be constantly polling the tower.

So, how did it do - couldn't tell ya. It was so all over the board. I have an iPad with cell and the iPhone. Generally, the iPad shows more bars (see above) than the iPhone. And, there's bars (voice) and data. Again, the iPad usually gets a better data connection. For instance, the iPhone shows 3G and the iPad shows LTE.
Here's the blow-by-blow...Drove down a country road to check out a photo location. Over the first 20miles, I went from 2-bars/LTE down to 2-bars/3G to 1-bar/nothing. Over the last 10 miles I had no signal. I didn't hook up the booster on the way down but did on my way back. The no signal remained no signal at times, other times it would jump to 1-bar and even 2-bars. Once I got back to where I had some signal, it seemed to add a bar but that would vary also. And, at times the iPad would have a better signal than the boosted iPhone. It was all over the board - kind of frustrating. If I get out where it's a low or no signal for an extended period of time I have no idea if the thing will help or not.

The one thing I do know is the booster gets really, really hot - in fact, you don't want to touch the metal antenna connector or I swear you could get a blister.

Note: I was using the small magnetic antenna that came with the weBoost. A different, larger antenna may get differen results.

The Technomads recommend tagging to airplane mode and then off again, to reset the cell signal. The device is not constantly searching.

Nomad

I didn't use that method but did turn off and on a couple of times to do that.

jkjenn

I have also read that speed tests are a more reliable method of determining how well a booster is working.

Nomad

Yes, but that tests data not voice.
I've found I often times have great data but can't make or maintain a call. 

Nomad

Ok, another day in a campsite with variable cell signal. On my iPad, it would bounce around from no signal to two bars & LTE data. On the iPhone it'd bounce fro no signal to be one bar, 1x or 3G data. The booster didn't seem to improve the signal. On the iPhone, it'd bump it to two bars (once in awhile three for a brief period), the data would remain the same. Even with more bars, I couldn't actually make a call.

So, so far it's been a bust. I got the feeling it's one of those things you could throw more money at - flag pole, bigger antenna, then a powered antenna, then a multi directional antenna that requires 110, etc - and maybe still not get a good solid, reliable connection.

I stowed mine away - time for others to try and report in.