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Boosting the Cellular Signal, Inside?

Posted by Cliff on from the can-you-hear-me-now? dept.

Ryan Black asks: "I live in a suburban area where cellular signal strength is not what it should be. I am a Verizon customer, and while they have been courteous in addressing the issue, they have not been able to fix the situation. Is it possible to create a sort of cellular repeater to attach to the roof of my house? The signal outside is acceptable, it just cannot penetrate the walls of the building."

3 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. two solutions by austad · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are a couple of ways you can go about it.

    One way is to buy something called an active repeater. It has an amplifier, and can amplify signals both coming into and exiting the house. Do a search on google for gsm active repeater. I looked into this for one of my remote offices. Cost was around $1500, which is probably more than you want to spend for your house.

    Another option is a passive repeater. Basically just an antenna outside, and another inside. No amplifier. However, I'm not fully sure how well these work. I purchased one which claimed it worked for my frequency, but it didn't do a damn thing. If you do this, make sure you buy from some place that looks reputable. Otherwise, there are antenna sites that tell you how to tune antennas to certain frequencies, and if you wanted to do some research, you could probably build your own.

    In all reality, you could probably build your own active repeater also, and base it on the design of one of those cable tv amps that work with cable modems, they boost both ways. Of course, you'd have to spend like $80 and rip the thing apart and figure out how to change the range that it works in.

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  2. Similar problem. by blues5150 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I use my cell phone as my primary phone. My problem is that the reception inside my house is poor. The signal outside is a lot better. I Googled this cell reception idea a bit. The best site I found was Cell Antenna. The also have another site called Boat Antenna. which specializes in providing signal boosters for boats. The hardware is pretty much the same on both sites.

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  3. Spotwave's SpotCell by mTor · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Spotwave has a product called SpotCell and we use it at a building where I work. We had an absolutely awful cell coverage because our offices are really high up. After they installed one of the SpotCell devices, cell phones actually started to work again.

    Ask them for a demo!

    Check the FAQ... here's a part relevant to your question:

    I work in an office building where my cell phone coverage in certain areas, including my office, is non-existent or spotty at best. How can I improve my coverage?

    The requirement for reliable, always-on cell phone coverage within the office environment is increasing dramatically. It is not unusual to encounter trouble spots within a building where cell phone signals are weak or non-existent. SpotCell provides affordable and clear coverage to those trouble spots. The unit can be easily deployed and provides a coverage range of 15,000 to 50,000 square feet (2,000 to 4,600 square metres). Multiple units can be easily deployed to cover office areas and working locations. SpotCell can be deployed even without access to the roof or outside.