Using a Cellphone in a Basement?

Nimsoft asks: "I recently moved into a basement flat and as a result I get no cellphone coverage in there. This is incredibly frustrating as my cell provider is so much cheaper than landline offerings I rely on my cell as my primary means of telecommunications. I can pick up a signal the second I step out of my front door and friends on other networks can sometimes pick up a weak signal within my flat. What would the geek solution (must be cheap!) to this issue be? Would attaching a larger antenna to my phone work, or can I hack together some sort of repeater and put an antenna outside somewhere?" While thousands of offers of repeaters and signal boosters are only as far away as the nearest Google search, what recommendations or experiences would you care to share on the subject?

Comments

Re:Bluetooth headset

[Badfysh]

Well Bluetooth is good for 10 metres, or 32 feet which is twice the size of my front room. He wasn't very clear but it might be that he can get a signal if the phone is actually on the windowsill, this has worked for me. Bluetooth should work fine, his problem is he can't get a signal from *outside* to his phone, but a signal from phone to headset within the same area should be ok. Also, cell phone frequencies are much different to bluetooth so the same conditions don't apply. While I'm posting, I was thinking he doesn't actually need a headset, he could use a USB bluetooth dongle on his PC and use the mic and speakers.