Which cell signal booster?

[boyscout]

We wintered last year with a Wilson WeBoost 4GX RV cell phone booster. It worked well; made a noticeable difference when we needed it to. However the internal antenna has a range of less than a foot so a device used even a few feet away from it doesn't get much benefit.

I'd like to get something stronger, something that can fill at least the interior of our 35-foot trailer with signal WITHOUT creating a lot of performance-robbing oscillation / feedback between the inside and outside antennas.

I want it all; maybe I can't have it. I'd prefer to use an omni external antenna most of the time rather than fussing with aiming a yagi each time we move, but know that will increase chances of oscillation. I'm hoping that a directional flat antenna inside at the back of the trailer - vertically under the external antenna to reduce feedback - will give me the coverage I need. Has to be 4G LTE capable.

What devices are the experienced road warriors using? Am I dreaming hopelessly about my simple antenna placement being feedback-free?

In some early looking I've seen this one... less expensive than the more-powerful Wilson models, but not the track record. Can anyone see problems with it?

https://unidencellular.ca/uniden-u65...it-u65cak.html

Thanks in advance.

[SouthTX]

My experience has been similar to yours so I'll be watching to see how this works out for you.

I've had fairly good results with Uniden radios over the years so I'm glad to see someone besides Wilson in this game. It is a little pricey, though. Wonder if there are any less expensive non-OEM sources?

Also, I didn't spend much time on the webpage, but I didn't see what bands it covers. These days it seems that the carriers are adding a band a month. I use both Tmo and VZN because they have the best coverages in South Texas - I can usually get a good signal with one or the other because they each have some descrete bands.

I tried Wilson's latest and greatest 65db unit and couldn't get it to work well. Went back to my old cradle booster which, in practice, works better than the 65db unit (which didn't work well for me). I also like the cradle because I don't have to string a coax the length of the fiver and I get much better internal range using the phone hotspot.

Please keep us abreast of what you come up with.

Best,

John

[boyscout]

My experience has been similar to yours so I'll be watching to see how this works out for you.

Thanks John, hopefully we'll both get advice from others here.

The Uniden model I linked above with all options I would want costs CDN$930, which is about $100 in your money. ( About US$700.)

Its manual is at the link below; frequency coverage and other specs are listed on pages 26-27.

https://unidencellular.ca/skin/front...UserManual.pdf

A Wilson Amplifier product that I *think* is comparable costs about US$900, but may offer benefits I haven't noticed. From the page linked below you can select "Specifications" to see the band coverage on that one. Since they're expressed slightly differently, I don't know if they are comparable or if one is better than the other.

http://www.wilsonamplifiers.com/webo...er-kit-471104/

Hopefully someone who really knows this stuff will show up to point the way. Thanks again for your reply.

[SouthTX]

There are so many bands in use, now, that I can't keep up with who is using what and where. I imagine it gives the booster manufacturers fits and I don't think any booster covers them all.

I think it was Tmo that just got a big chunk of 600 mhz that is supposed to have greater range and penetration. It has only been deployed in a few places, but should be pretty widespread in a year or so. The last phone I bought I made a point of insuring that it covered that band. It will be interesting to see how long it takes before Wilson includes that band in their boosters. I wouldn't mind just an inductive antenna coupler so I could take advantage of the phones' capabilities and add an antenna.

[boyscout]

@SouthTX, I've found a third device to consider.

https://www.surecall.com

It *seems* (I'm not an expert) that the Uniden device I linked above *may* not support 700Mhz Extended Range Band 12 that the Wilson weBoost and SureCall devices do support. (If someone here has some expertise please jump in.) That's a fairly important band for getting service in more-remote areas.

Unfortunately the SureCall device I've just found is made in distinct U.S. and Canadian versions and that pretty much takes me off their customer list. I need something that works with most carriers on both sides of the border. However if you need only U.S. coverage SureCall may be worth a look for you. Quite a bit less expensive than the Wilson weBoost.

I don't see that any of these are covering the 600mHz bands added last year.

However, unless I'm wrong about the Band 12 coverage it looks like I'm narrowed to the most-expensive :-( of the three, weBoost which will cost me about CDN$1,200. Ouch.

Still hoping for input from those with more knowledge / experience.

[SouthTX]

The more I learn about boosters, the less impressed I am. Seems like their major market target is for fixed installations in fringe cell coverage areas. RV'ers appear to be an afterthought. While I've had pretty good luck with boosters, there have been some notable times when I couldn't improve on a weak signal that I knew was there.

I'm going to look for some sort of inductive antenna coupling that I can connect to a hi-gain antenna so I can take advantage of some of the bands that the boosters don't cover.

BTW, do you follow the internet access section on Escapees? They have some of the best discussions of this subject that I've found.

[boyscout]

The more I learn about boosters, the less impressed I am. Seems like their major market target is for fixed installations in fringe cell coverage areas. RV'ers appear to be an afterthought. While I've had pretty good luck with boosters, there have been some notable times when I couldn't improve on a weak signal that I knew was there.

I'm going to look for some sort of inductive antenna coupling that I can connect to a hi-gain antenna so I can take advantage of some of the bands that the boosters don't cover.

BTW, do you follow the internet access section on Escapees? They have some of the best discussions of this subject that I've found.

I look forward to hearing of your explorations on the inductive antenna.

We had great success with the weBoost RV device, but were perhaps not straining it as much as you do. Probably our greatest "strain" was at Big Cypress RV Park, fairly remote in the northern Everglades, where we had zero signal inside and a very-shaky one-bar signal outside on T-Mobile. The booster gave us 2-3 bars and reliable clear service.

However we had to go in and sit at the desk to get it! The internal range of that device is very limited; less than a foot from the internal antenna. That's why I'm on the hunt. If we can get similar performance but with full-trailer coverage (and maybe a bonus of some coverage nearby outside it) then it will meet our needs. Apparently not yours?

I had never bumped into the Escapees site, thanks. A thread there quickly bumped to the RV Mobile Internet site which I've visited before, but they are putting much of the useful information behind a US$75 subscription fee. I'll return to Escapees for more looking, and hope for some advice here at the usually-attractive price.

[SouthTX]

I look forward to hearing of your explorations on the inductive antenna.

We had great success with the weBoost RV device, but were perhaps not straining it as much as you do. Probably our greatest "strain" was at Big Cypress RV Park, fairly remote in the northern Everglades, where we had zero signal inside and a very-shaky one-bar signal outside on T-Mobile. The booster gave us 2-3 bars and reliable clear service.

However we had to go in and sit at the desk to get it! The internal range of that device is very limited; less than a foot from the internal antenna. That's why I'm on the hunt. If we can get similar performance but with full-trailer coverage (and maybe a bonus of some coverage nearby outside it) then it will meet our needs. Apparently not yours?

I had never bumped into the Escapees site, thanks. A thread there quickly bumped to the RV Mobile Internet site which I've visited before, but they are putting much of the useful information behind a US$75 subscription fee. I'll return to Escapees for more looking, and hope for some advice here at the usually-attractive price.

That's one of the things I like about my cradle booster. I can put a phone or hotspot on it and the hotspot covers the entire RV.

A couple of months ago, we were camped at the Padre Island National Seashore and there was little to no detectable signal on our phones. One of my neighbors had the 4GX booster on a 25 or 30 foot mast and he wasn't getting any more bars than my Sleek cradle with a directional antenna five feet above the roof. We may have been on different towers or any number of things could have been different, but that got me thinking that there may be more to it than just booster power. Kind of reminds me of back in the '70's when it was cool to have a linear amp on a CB radio.

Boosters are good and have given me a useable signal many times, but I'm not convinced that they are the only answer.

I really haven't even started the search for a bare antenna system, but I have added a VZN phone to my existing Tmo and it is kind of interesting to compare signal strength in various locations. FWIW, Tmo's coverage seems to be every bit as good as VZN in South Texas, but I've found several locations where it is one or the other. I used to run Project Fi which used both Tmo and Sprint and I was surprised to find Sprint to be the best signal in some locations. It is going to be interesting to start comparing strength of the various bands.

Glad you found the Escapees. There's a wealth of knowledge on that site. Some of the guys over there are beyond the typical full-timer, its like they've made a career of living in an RV. [G] I figure if I have to go to the extreems to get an internet signal or whatever, I'll just go somewhere else - that's why RV's have wheels.

[boyscout]

That's one of the things I like about my cradle booster. I can put a phone or hotspot on it and the hotspot covers the entire RV.

We did use hotspot a lot. Apparently a whole lot, since we burned through the 10Gb allowance in about fifteen days and then were throttled back to crawl speed. (We weren't streaming movies or music, but our business frequently involves large document files.) So I took a different package from T-Mobile that gave us "unlimited" hotspot (actually about 50Gb per month IIRC) but that added something like $75 or $100/month to the bill. That would pay for a better booster within a year.

Kind of reminds me of back in the '70's when it was cool to have a linear amp on a CB radio.

I dunno about "cool" :-) but I think they're still out there. I saw a CB antenna for sale in a truck stop that boasted it could handle 5,000 watts! (The legal power is 4 watts.)

Glad you found the Escapees. There's a wealth of knowledge on that site. Some of the guys over there are beyond the typical full-timer, its like they've made a career of living in an RV. [G] I figure if I have to go to the extreems to get an internet signal or whatever, I'll just go somewhere else - that's why RV's have wheels.

There are probably worse ways to make a living. But sometimes we just have to have reasonable-speed internet and moving somewhere else (other than just taking the truck to Starbucks or McDonalds) isn't a viable option; have to get something done. So we'll both continue our paths and come back here to chat about it. Good luck.

Can't understand why we're alone here. Maybe everyone else knows the secrets we're trying to uncover!

[pilotpip]

I just searched and stumbled upon this conversation. My carrier (ATT) doesn't have good service on my deer hunting lease and I've been looking for a solution. Based on what I've found here, I might be better off doing a pay-as-you-go phone from US Cellular because I know they get good reception on the property. Those boosters are significantly pricier than I was expecting.