Rural cell reception boost

Ran in the western Dakotas this week.

The good:
There *probably* are spots where I can now make calls, where it was impossible before. The ability to place calls is quite consistent: the same valley causes lost call every time, calls re-connect at the same spot every time.

The bad:
There are *definitely* spots (see above) where it is impossible to make calls. Nebraska state roads had no service for perhaps an hour, before the Wilson. Anxious to test NE again.

The ugly:
I cannot rely on the signal meter (number of bars of coverage) on the phone. In the spots where calls will not connect (5-10 miles at a timer), the phone shows full coverage of 5 bars, with "D" designation (for digital network signal, I assume). Unplug the Wilson, remove phone from cradle, & only 1 bar shows. For anyone considering such a purchase, make certain you place a lot of calls while testing the booster. Do not assume that full coverage as indicated on your phone means you can place a call.

Regarding the "ugly" point: in speaking with an OTR Wilson user, he was surprised to hear of my disappointment & feels it's an issue with my carrier/tower. He & I both are Alltel/Verizon users. He runs more east of the Mississippi.

Somewhere I saw a Wilson detractor (perhaps in an old thread on this site) who complained that a weak amplified signal will provide no benefit. I would tend to agree, as it seems this is what I'm experiencing. In my estimation, the phone sees the signal coming from booster/cradle as strong enough to place a call, so it tries. However, after timing out & auto-redialing, the call will fail.

In one rural town of a few hundred on an Indian reservation, I apparently had full signal, while in the cab with booster on & in the cradle. While parked (booster on, in cradle), only about 1 of every 5 attempts would connect. The successful connections were all on a roaming tower, indicated by yellow triangle on phone. Turning off booster, removing from cradle, walking around town resulted in 1-2 bars of coverage & the same spotty coverage. Another driver on Verizon had similar spotty coverage from his truck, parked next to mine.

The installation instructions state the external (mirror frame-mounted) antenna must be so far (8 ft?) from the cradle (wireless connection). If too close, the antennas will cause oscillation, resulting in red light from the booster. AFAIK, I haven't had any red lights, tho the booster is on the floor, under the passenger seat. With the cradle mounted mid-dash, I'd guess the 2 antennas are 4-5 ft apart. I have no high mounted rack on outside of sleeper, only a rack ~ 2 ft above frame rails. There's a small hole in sleeper top, at the rear passenger side. Too small to mount the big antenna, doubt it's strong enough to handle the weight & wind resistance. Mounting on top of roof would put the antenna higher than the trailer, I'd think. (CB antenna bends going through the shop door).

Considering slight adjustment of external antenna- tho options are quite limited, it seems.

Will keep you posted & checking replies on weekends.

Joe

 

Likely, yes. For $120/mo, I can get the same included minutes as now. No in-network, night & weekend minutes, which are in the thousands per month for me. http://www.globalstarusa.com/en/airtime/voicepricing/

To get the same number of minutes as I now use, the Freedom 4000 would be close enough. It's $500 more per month than I now pay.

 

Since last post several weeks ago, I've moved to a different truck & run into TX & back north. I also used the booster for a few days in a pickup truck, mounting antenna on mirror.

Some of the spots in NE that were completely dead ("No Service") without the Wilson now show a signal. I did not make non-stop calls, to test whether there was adequate signal to actually connect. (Recall that I've observed many times the Wilson adding bars to signal meter, only to be unable to make a call with 3+ bars).

In both trucks, the booster light turns red occasionally, indicating (per manual) that the external antenna is too close to the internal antenna (cradle in cab). Instructions say to mount external on headache rack, more than 8' away. I've not been able to do this: company trucks without headache racks.

I conclude that the Wilson does provide some benefit. Some spots I was previously unable to make any connection, I now can occasionally connect. Spots that were iffy are now solid. To get even more improvement, mount external antenna more than 8' from the dashboard (or wherever your cradle is). Cell phone battery life is better when using the booster. Running a cradle & antenna only-with no booster inline- improves signal some. As the booster is much more $$ than the antenna & cradle, I'd suggest budget-conscious operators forgo the booster & heed the antenna spacing of more than 8'. If you find, as I have, that this provides some benefit, but you still have dead spots, then add a booster. IIRC, an early post in this thread has links/details on the package & contents.

JoeB