How Do You Extend Your Wireless Connection?

ganjadude writes "So I am moving to a location where the cell signal is very poor (I don't get signal inside my house), and I have been looking at wireless extenders such as the ones that Sprint and Verizon have. I am brought down by the cost (Sprint charges monthly, Verizon $250 up front, AT&T.... well they are AT&T). Being that this is Slashdot, and a lot of us live in basements (I kid!), I assume that some of the crowd has had this issue in the past. What have you done, or what alternatives are available to someone in such a situation?"

Comments

Ask to speak to the Retentions Dept.

[LurkerXXX]

The phone companies do charge upfront/monthly fees for those micro-cells, but when pushed, they will often reduce or wave the charges for them to retain a phone customer. You might call your provider (be it Sprint, Verizon, etc) and talk to the retentions department.

Re:Wifi

[BobPaul]

Don't have T-Mobile, but when they released it, it was included in all T-Mobile plans and any calls you START on wifi (even if you transition to cellular mid call) are free, while any calls you START on cellular (even if you go home and transition to wifi mid call) count against your minutes.

So... when you're driving home, hang up and call back, but if you're leaving the house, keep talking.

Bluetooth landline phones???

[Em Ellel]

This may not work in every case - but if you have SOME reception in the house (as in the basement lack of coverage example) I saw something in the store the other day that I thought was a cool idea. Some of the current landline cordless phone systems now support being bluetooth clients. Basically you leave your cell phone next to the base (where you presumably have reception), and use any of the system's phones to answer or place calls.

-Em