Amplifiers - 4G LTE + cell (Sprint & T-Mobile)

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
geodrake

geodrake

Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Dec 15, 2007
Posts
5,720
Location
Kansas City
We do a lot of campground hosting, frequently in fairly remote areas, never with WiFi availability.  We were utilizing Verizon's 3G air card until I lost the darn thing (why do they make them so small).  Now we are on Verizon's 4G LTE.  I use a Sprint cell phone, DW has T-Mobile.

I'm considering installing an amplifier and external antenna as many place we host have poor cellular reception.  I always erect a 20 ft flag pole and could easily mount an antenna on it. 

Looking at options on the web site at the 3G Store it appeared that they do not support 4G LTE.  I called and talked to a tech who said nobody has a booster that supports cell phones and 4G LTE at this time......... claims Wilson is working on one.

Q1) What experience have folks had with boosters?  Are they worth messing with or are they just smoke & mirrors.  I talked to a RVer in a campground a few years ago who had one and thought the improvement was minimal.

Q2)  Does anybody know of one that will handle Sprint & T-Mobile cell phones and 4G LTE?

 
 
We recently added a booster.  It has made a big difference when we are in marginal areas (like right now).  Without it, we got everything
from no signal to 3 bars 3G.  A couple of days ago, Dan moved the inside antenna (if that's the right name) to a spot within view of our cell
phones.  No more dropped calls.

Sorry if my message formatting is strange.  The reply box isn't word wrapping.

Jeannine
 
George,
We have a booster set up at home with a Trucker Antenna on the roof and a panel type xmitting antenna inside. Its well worth the investment there (we live(d) in death valley as far as phone service). I'd guess it averages two bars improvement within eight feet of the panel.
Ernie
 
GeoDrake,

Wilson Electronics will be releasing a 3G/4G amplifier soon.  Give them a call 800-204-4104.  Wilson's mag mount antenna (#301103) on our MH roof improves BOTH the 3G and the 4G signal from Verizon.

JerryF
 
Note that giving you more bars on the cell phone isn't a good indicator.  There's a local transmitter on the booster a few feet away so that's what you are seeing.
 
Oh, agreed.  The signal is very likely to be significantly better.  Unless, of course, you're just out of range or down in a valley in a shadow of the nearby cell towers.
 
I just bought the Wilson Marine Cell Antenna, 4 ft extension, and Marine mount from solid signal and the Wilson amp.  It makes a big difference.  I am on an extended network with between zero ans one bar on a good day.  Lots of dropped calls.  Now no dropped calls and good very good signal.  Now I just have to get the antenna mounted permanently!  Have it set up temp now.  Anyone have good recommendations for drilling an rv roof.  I have 2004 Itasca Sundancer with EPDM roof.  I have silicone sealent, dicor self leveling.  I procedure would be great with pictures or anything mounted to a roof?
 
O.K you hams:  If the specs state a 43db gain and assuming (ya, I know) double the power is 3db, would you end up with a signal 14 times stronger (43/3=14)?
 
Since decibels are logarithmic, a 43db gain would be 2^14 times, or 16384.
 
No. Assuming they ARE accurate (43 dB gain is a LOT- not many antennas could do that), it's a lot more than that -- 2^14, or 16,384 times the power. Remember that EACH 3 dB is double the previous amount, so 6 dB is four times, etc.

Big question: 43 dB gain compared to what?
 
Jeannine said:
Sorry if my message formatting is strange.  The reply box isn't word wrapping.

Jeannine
Click to expand...

There was a thread about this issue a few weeks ago and the thing that fixed it was clearing your browsers cache. Give it a try.
 
BTW:  I just finished a chat with a rep at Wilson.  He said they are working on a 4G LTE repeater but do not expect it to be on the market prior to the end of the year, quoting FCC, etc.
 
We don't want to be accused of giving inaccurate information.  A 42db gain would be 16,384.  43db would be somewhat more.  Feel free to get out the log tables and compute it :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 964 (members: 33, guests: 931)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,917
Posts
1,387,467
Members
137,673
Latest member
7199michael
Back
Top Bottom