Cell Phone Boosters

Trucking Electronics, Gadgets and Software Forum
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Cellular - Voice - Data

 

I had one when I first started driving. It would give me extra bars of service but my phone wouldn't work as if it had the service that it said it had and I'd still drop calls. I ended up getting rid of it

 

We used one out in the brush and it work if there was a signal

 

One of the difficult things about using those is that you need a good ground plane to mount the antenna on.
The truck body is mostly plastic/fiberglass, so no good mounting point.

Another problem is trying to pull in and amplify an already weak and degraded signal, and trying to broadcast a stronger signal back to the tower.
The tower has much more power to get to you than the booster has to get back to the tower.

I spent around $500 several years back on one. Money not well spent. I had a heck of a time getting a refund for a device that did nothing.

 

I’ve never used one in a vehicle
But I have the “weboost” home studio “
At my hunting shack and it DOES work .
On the phone it only bumps it from one bar to two bars , but without the booster ot takes about three minutes to send a text message .
And with the booster I can watch YouTube videos .

the other thing I’ve noticed it that before I installed the booster I couldn’t hardly even send text messages , my son was with me and he brought his ipad and he could stream Movies on it .
The antenna on the iPad was so much batter than the one on the cell phone it was amazing .

as always , there are so many variables that it’s hard to say if it will work for
Your situation , and your situation may change every thirty seconds while the vehicle is moving .

but I can tell you it works at my hunting shack .

 

I have a WeBoost in a travel trailer on a lake where without the Booster I get about half a bar on a good day and with the boost I get 3 bars on average. Huge improvement. Cost was about $400 but well worth it. The main thing to keep in mind is that they only work if you get some signal. If you cannot get any signal then the device will most likely fail but if you can get half a bar or better it will make a decent improvement. The entire thing is about 3 *4 inches with a magnetic attachable antenna with about 10 feet of cord. Runs on either 12 volts or 110.

 

I've never used a booster, but several years ago I bought one of those Wilson antennas that mounted on the mirror bar and it made a difference out in remote oilfield locations.

 

Just move your service onto the ATT or Verizon network. I use Xfinity Mobile which provides connection to the Verizon network at about 50% of Verizon costs since they don't charge this fee, and that fee, plus this charge and that other charge. I get the advertised Verizon price, and that's it, no fees.

Howard Forums is the TTR of Cellphone info. IMO, if you travel everywhere you are wasting your money trying to limp along with other networks that are built to do well in the 20 biggest cities and scrimp on connectivity outside of those areas.