Cell phone booster systems

Larry N. said:

A 3dB change is doubling or halving, so -112 dB is such an extremely low signal that you may have "no service" in spite of there actually being a very weak signal. On the other hand, if yours actually had service, then there was a signal difference between the two units (not unusual).

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Oh. I guess I was not clear in my post.

What I meant was that a display that says "no service" does not actually have to mean that there is no signal at all - only that the signal strength may be so low that dependable connections can not be expected. I was not even complaining, only showing that it is more helpful to have a dB display than the standard signal strength display as you generally would have more information as to what is actually going on.

I was sure thinking about this thread a lot during the past week.  We took the RV up to the NC mountains.  ZERO reception in all of the CG's where we stopped.  Un-plugging a bit is good form time to time, but this came to almost be a problem.

In hind site, i wish that i would have crawled up on the roof a few times just for sampling sake and checked the signal db up high, just to see if it was no signal, or just no usable reception.... down low on the ground, the db thing told me nothing..... just no reception.

You don't need to get up there, a long pole and a baggie will do for testing. At Tarryall res. I had to walk to the middle of the road, put the phone on a pole over my head to see if it beeped. If it did I would bring it down to see the text, (all it would get) type a reply and put it back up until it beeped again. I would repeat depending on if I were expecting a reply and how quickly.

Hi Brad, I have not perfected my "elevated antenna" yet but this may give you some ideas.
http://jdfinley.com/cellular-data-antenna/

I use an older Wilson Sleek which makes a significant difference with the short little omni antenna (that comes with it) stuck out the window.  I haven't spent a lot of time on the "elevated antenna" because I haven't needed it in a while.  Not an expert yet but I suspect RF signal loss in the cable may be the big hurdle.

Here is a post I made about a month ago regarding an extendable antenna mast for a cellular antenna (for WiFi).  This may give you some ideas.

http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,95425.msg860577.html#msg860577

NY_Dutch said:

I had a WeBoost 4G-M that did an adequate job most of the time. Now I have the new MaxAmp RV Mobile amplifier/repeater from Maximum Signal, and it really outshines the WeBoost. Pretty much as long as it gets at least a sniff of a signal, we get good data speeds. The MaxAmp also gives us good signals the entire length of our 34' coach, instead of just within the 3'-4' range of the WeBoost inside "Hershey Bar" antenna.

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I have spent some time in reviewing and researching numerous (mobile) cell phone boosters and all have issues with interior transmit/receive range of having to be with a few inches or to a max of a couple feet from the interior antenna.  I really find this to be a killer as I want to be able to be able to use the booster when sitting in the cab or sitting at the dining table.  Unless I take a "home" unit and only use it when "parked".  Are you still satisfied with the MaxAmp system? And it does provide the necessary field of coverage inside your coach? Do you have any info on the db loss as you move from 5ft away to 15ft to 20ft away from interior antenna?

decaturbob said:

I have spent some time in reviewing and researching numerous (mobile) cell phone boosters and all have issues with interior transmit/receive range of having to be with a few inches or to a max of a couple feet from the interior antenna.  I really find this to be a killer as I want to be able to be able to use the booster when sitting in the cab or sitting at the dining table.  Unless I take a "home" unit and only use it when "parked".  Are you still satisfied with the MaxAmp system? And it does provide the necessary field of coverage inside your coach? Do you have any info on the db loss as you move from 5ft away to 15ft to 20ft away from interior antenna?

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The inside coverage with our Max Amp RV indoor antenna is excellent. We see no more than a 1dB fall off at the back wall of our motorhome, the farthest point from the antenna at about 18 feet. We also get a very usable signal out to about 10 feet on the passenger side of the coach that allows us to sit outside under the awning and still use our phones in poor cell service areas. I haven't checked signal levels outside, but I'm sure the wall and intervening cabinetry are attenuating the signal somewhat more out there.

thanks Dutch...I can tell you the bulk of the cell boosters aren't worth the cost if my cellphone has  to be inches away from the crappy inside antenna

decaturbob said:

thanks Dutch...I can tell you the bulk of the cell boosters aren't worth the cost if my cellphone has  to be inches away from the crappy inside antenna

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That's one of the primary reasons I was interested in the Max Amp RV in the first place. Now that I have one, I'm even more impressed by it's ability to sniff out signals at significantly lower levels than other amps.

NY_Dutch said:

That's one of the primary reasons I was interested in the Max Amp RV in the first place. Now that I have one, I'm even more impressed by it's ability to sniff out signals at significantly lower levels than other amps.

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Dutch, I found an external antenna I like, the weboost 4G-OTR Cellular Antenna Truck Edition,,but I have no idea if this and the Max Amp are compatible.  I like this antenna as I can make it work well with the extendable antenna system I have going off the rear ladder as I can have the upper half of the antenna just above my roof line while traveling and then extend it up 10ft above my roof line when parked pretty easily.  I have emails to Max Amp and waiting to hear back from them. 

Maximum Signal gives you a choice of a magnetic mount or a trucker clamp mount with the Max-Amp RV. Both antennas have similar gain characteristics, and both have been FCC approved for use with the Max-Amp.

You do not need to drill into your roof to mount a magnetic antenna on a metal ground plane. Get a 12" x 12" piece of thin steel material (a cookie baking pan works well) and use Eternbond to tape all four sides down to the roof. Run wire down refrigerator vent....no holes and no,leaks

rbertalotto said:

You do not need to drill into your roof to mount a magnetic antenna on a metal ground plane. Get a 12" x 12" piece of thin steel material (a cookie baking pan works well) and use Eternbond to tape all four sides down to the roof. Run wire down refrigerator vent....no holes and no,leaks

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Yep, that's pretty close to what I did. I used a 12" x 18" piece of 18 gauge scrap I had laying around, and stuck it to the roof with 3M double sided trim tape and Dicor lap sealant around the edges. I also have a mag antenna ground plane plate on top of the rear A/C shroud, but that one is just screwed in place with the edges sealed.

There is an article on my RV web site about my Cell Phone Booster install and the performance I saw.

http://rvbprecision.com/rv-projects

rbertalotto said:

There is an article on my RV web site about my Cell Phone Booster install and the performance I saw.

http://rvbprecision.com/rv-projects

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Our first cell booster was a WeBoost Drive 4G-M that was loaned to me by a friend that had taken ill before he could install it. We used it successfully enough in many locations, but we found the 3-4 foot range of the inside "Hershey Bar" antenna very limiting for use with our multiple cell devices. When the Max Amp RV became available, I bought one and installed it in place of the 4G-M. On our first trip with it, we quickly noticed that we were getting reliable Verizon 3G and 4G signals in locations in the Adirondack mountains that had always been cell dead or unreliably weak for us, even with the 4G-M. We were also quite pleased to find that the Max Amp omni-directional inside antenna was providing us with good repeater signals throughout our motorhome, and even in the under awning area so we could use our cell devices while sitting outside. The Max Amp does cost a bit more, but we've not been sorry about spending the extra money for it.

NY_Dutch said:

Our first cell booster was a WeBoost Drive 4G-M that was loaned to me by a friend that had taken ill before he could install it. We used it successfully enough in many locations, but we found the 3-4 foot range of the inside "Hershey Bar" antenna very limiting for use with our multiple cell devices. When the Max Amp RV became available, I bought one and installed it in place of the 4G-M. On our first trip with it, we quickly noticed that we were getting reliable Verizon 3G and 4G signals in locations in the Adirondack mountains that had always been cell dead or unreliably weak for us, even with the 4G-M. We were also quite pleased to find that the Max Amp omni-directional inside antenna was providing us with good repeater signals throughout our motorhome, and even in the under awning area so we could use our cell devices while sitting outside. The Max Amp does cost a bit more, but we've not been sorry about spending the extra money for it.

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Dutch,
I received the MaxAmp mobile RV system about a week ago and testing it with my house and gotta say its been looking good.  I mounted my telescoping mast and y directly outside my house on a garden shed and routed the antenna cable into my basement.  My basement area has poor cell service where 4g/LTE signal is between range -117 to-121db.  I mounted the magnetic base interior antenna on the bottom of my heat supply duct about center in my mancave space. I have approx 24ft of horz separation of the antennas....(and 15ft vertically.)  I fired the maxamp booster and the signal went to a range -90 to -104 within a 6ft radius of the interior antenna...so i'm pretty happy with that. The data dl/ul speed improvement wasn't as great but that maybe impacted more with the phone I have as its a T-Mobile LG3 that I am running on the ATT network and not all the bands are available to me with this phone.  But there was an improvement in data flow...with no booster, I was getting .35/mbs download and with the booster I am getting 1/mbs upload.....of course when I go upstairs from basement I get 10/mbs with no booster.

I won't get to mounting the system to my RV until we get to arizona in March as its really to cold here now to do it.  I still need to figure our the cable routing but don't see a big problem.

That's great to see, Bob! I'm sure you'll be equally pleased with the performance in your RV as well. Where we are right now, we have good Verizon and AT&T signals, but next month we'll be heading south and passing through some areas that have always been weak or non-existent cell wise for us without an amplifier. We fully expect the Max Amp will keep us connected, just as it did in some notoriously poor signal areas in NC and TN in September.

One thing I found out quickly when we tested T-Mobile service for a couple of months, was that band 12 coverage was mandatory for a good, or even any, 4G/LTE signal in some areas. Band 12 seems to be what T-M has used for much of their recent build out. We also found that our T-M service seemed to be subject more to tower congestion than either Verizon or AT&T, suggesting more limited backbone connections. All in all, we opted to drop T-M in favor of our Verizon and AT&T hotspot services.

NY_Dutch said:

That's great to see, Bob! I'm sure you'll be equally pleased with the performance in your RV as well. Where we are right now, we have good Verizon and AT&T signals, but next month we'll be heading south and passing through some areas that have always been weak or non-existent cell wise for us without an amplifier. We fully expect the Max Amp will keep us connected, just as it did in some notoriously poor signal areas in NC and TN in September.

One thing I found out quickly when we tested T-Mobile service for a couple of months, was that band 12 coverage was mandatory for a good, or even any, 4G/LTE signal in some areas. Band 12 seems to be what T-M has used for much of their recent build out. We also found that our T-M service seemed to be subject more to tower congestion than either Verizon or AT&T, suggesting more limited backbone connections. All in all, we opted to drop T-M in favor of our Verizon and AT&T hotspot services.

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We have ATT plan but ported our TMO phones over to ATT, I suspect both phone radios don't have ALL the ATT bands available at least on the data side....we will play it by ear once we hit the road in February

decaturbob said:

We have ATT plan but ported our TMO phones over to ATT, I suspect both phone radios don't have ALL the ATT bands available at least on the data side....we will play it by ear once we hit the road in February

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Ok, with ATT the 4G/LTE bands are 2,4,5, & 17, where TMO uses 2,4, & 12, so yep, I think it unlikely your TMO phones will cover all the ATT bands. As long as you get good service where you travel though, that's all that counts.

NY_Dutch said:

Ok, with ATT the 4G/LTE bands are 2,4,5, & 17, where TMO uses 2,4, & 12, so yep, I think it unlikely your TMO phones will cover all the ATT bands. As long as you get good service where you travel though, that's all that counts.

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thats my opinion too at this time...I think sometime next year I'll get an ATT badge phone off of Swappa and retire my LG3 thats been awesome workhorse.  I have greater hopes with the wifi repeater system I should have this week where I can grab weak wifi,. especially xfinity hotspot ones.  I just wish I had another month of warm weather here to get everything on my RV....