We live in a hilly area and have very spotty coverage. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's shit, and I'm tired of the dropped calls, and having to go outside in the backyard to make a phone call sometimes. I'm in Ontario Canada with Bell and have 4g/lte coverage (that's the extent of my knowledge). Other carriers don't work here either, and Bell seems to be the only one that works in our little holler at the house. They all work out in the back yard, but the house is a complete dead zone for anything except Bell. I'm completely braindead when it comes to technology and don't want to start chucking 100's of dollars at the problem buying things that don't work, or is wrong for our coverage area. I found this site https://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel...78.568056&zoom=12&type=Roadmap&layers=a&pid=0 and can see the towers around us, and all the info pertaining to them, but don't really know what it all means and what I should look for when selecting a booster. Do these things actually work? Any technical details I should pay attention to before ordering one? Thanks.
I used to work summers in Western SD and had the same issues that you describe where I parked my 5th wheel. I could go outside to a certain spot and use my phone but move 5 feet and the call was dropped. I picked up a Wilson signal booster and put the antenna in the window and it solved my issues. I used it for two summers and when I went back the third year they had built a new tower and I no longer needed the booster. The only thing I remember when buying was that I had different options by carrier and also they checked to make sure my phone would switch to the available signal. I think my phone was 4G at the time but 3G was the primary signal in the area so I had to make sure of the settings on my phone when I was there allowed it to receive 3 G as well. It has been a few years and my memory is not what it used to be but I remember it solved my issues and I know it was a Wilson booster because my wife was cleaning out our camper file the other day as we have a new to us toy hauler and the paperwork for the booster got tossed as we no longer have it.
They are carrier dependent so ask your carrier if they have any they sell or recxomend. Are if they have a 'store' go there and ask. Failing that do some heavy googling to make sure the one you get works with their signal. Basically the outside antenna will pick up the cell signal and amplify/retransmit it so your phone will have better signal. It should pretty simple to set up once you know what ones work with your goofy Candadian cell service... Edit. These say they work with Bell Mobility cell in Canadia. Good luck https://www.waveform.com/collections/bell
I assume you’re using a smahtphone? Might I offer an alternative. Instead of a cell booster specifically, install a wireless access point outside. Use Wi-Fi calling on the phone. This might be a better alternative because it supports much broader use cases, will tie into your current home network, the technology is carrier independent, and should be cheaper and more widely available. If your internet is hardwired the signal quality should also be much better than whatever you get from your rural cell carrier. I like Ubiquiti stuff, though I’m not a networking professional by any stretch just a gifted amateur.
Our internet is a 4G/LTE hub (same carrier), and suffers the same problems sometimes, although the phones seem affected by it more. I've had a deposit down for starlink since feb 2021, but I'm due for service in mid 2022 (got bumped from late 2021 a few weeks back ) the site says. I know a few people around who have it and it's a game changer. The other options around here are a line of sight wisp or explorenet..... the line of sight works great for the neighbors, but I'd need a large tower to reach service, due to the hills and trees. I don't have a spare $3k laying around to erect an 80-100ft tower. I have a very large hill at the back of my property and I tried to get a cell tower installed when we moved in, but the ski hill to the south of me was a better location. Unfortunately there is ANOTHER hill in between that tower and my house lol. The final nail in the coffin was having to stand out in the backyard today talking to our insurance broker in the cold because the call kept dropping while on the couch. I just snapped. FFS I live in a 1st world country in 2021 and can't even make a GD cell call from the comfort of my own house. Neighbors all around me don't have a problem, it's the very specific location of our house in relation to the towers. It actually never used to be this bad, I think they've changed something on one of the towers despite being told everything is the same. It's got worse in the last 2 years, and bell says it must be a problem on our end.....Out at the barn, out in the backyard, even in the driveway it's great. The kids treehouse even has better reception than my couch. I've done a bunch of googling, but most have mixed reviews whether they work on not, and I honestly didn't know if these things in general were just a gimmick snake oil product designed to peel hundreds out of my wallet. Thanks for the Site Dan, It gave me some more ammo to google and figure out the right one. Long day and I'm too braindead right now, but will try and figure it out and order one tomorrow. This isn't something I want to throw a bunch of money at to try and figure out. I did that enough with racing .
Forced to use cellular internet too? Ouch. Do you have an outdoor antenna for the LTE modem? I looked at them in curiosity, there are a bunch of different types but they seem to range from $80-200. The cellular boosters in the link were $400-3000+. I’d guess the cheaper ones are dogcrap, and will still require a good outdoor antenna. Mid 2022 is only 6 months away, if you can improve your LTE signal as a stopgap and go the WAP route you’ll be able to reuse the equipment when you get Starlink. Assuming it doesn’t get delayed again. You can also reuse the LTE equipment later if you want cellular backup for your internet. It’s cost effective to maintain cellular backup in the US, not sure about the great white north. Another big factor is that support and configuration assistance for the cell phone booster stuff is likely to be non-existent from both the carrier and manufacturer. Whereas you’ll find tons of help online for optimally configuring an external LTE antenna and home networking.
I had exactly your problem for about six months until I ran my own fiber line to a neighbor's house who has cable service. Get this, or a differently-sized one based on the coverage area you want: https://www.amazon.com/weBoost-MultiRoom-470144-Booster-Carriers/dp/B07VG9ZZMV?ref_=ast_sto_dp Like the others have mentioned, contact them to verify that they'll work with Bell's frequencies. However, they most likely do and if you order through Amazon Prime you could always just return it if it doesn't work. Whatever you get, make sure it comes with a directional antenna for the cell-tower side. These things are basically just bidirectional amplifiers, and the antenna choice on each end (cell tower/house) will have a dramatic effect on their installed performance. You want a unidirectional antenna pointing at the cell tower, and then probably either a panel or omnidirectional antenna for the house. Antennas can be imagined a bit like lamps: Unidirectional antennas form tight beams where signal strength ("brightness") lasts a very long distance, panel antennas cover broad cones where strength falls off more quickly, and omnidirectional antennas are effectively lanterns which cover everything around them but only for a short distance.
No external antennae for the Modem. It gets pretty decent enough reception hanging in the front window. Me sitting 10' away on the couch with a phone however..... Maintaining the LTE modem is not very cost effective for a backup. It's expensive, I think it's a minimum $60/month. I might keep it for a month or 2 just in case, but as soon as an alternative is proven I'm blasting it to pieces . I have unlimited data on my phone (but they don't offer it on the hub) and can hotspot if it really comes to it, but again, back to the cell phone signal problem. It's really intermittent. I just made another call sitting on the couch and it was fine, no issues. I haven't tried my phone sim card in the modem yet. The mob run cell providers in Canada probably prevent that from working somehow.......It's very different up here compared to you guys.....Such a racket. I WAS late 2021 for delivery of starlink, then got bumped to mid2022. By mid 2022 I expect to get bumped to late 2022..... It's the running joke in our family, that we'll be running on fusion power before getting a dishy lol I do have a neighbor a couple hundred feet away with a large tower, and talked with them years ago about hanging a receiver for p2p, and running some wires across the road.....not all country neighbors are friendly.... I try and get along with everyone, but some people just make it difficult. I'm in an area where everybody hates each other, and hates you for being friendly with other people, It's pretty damn childish.....Oh well, we're all far enough apart that it doesn't really affect me.
Just say you’re fucking sorry already, and offer up a plate of poutine. You’ll soon be cousins again.
I'm not sure he's worth wasting poutine on. . The last straw with him was when I drilled some post holes for a gate for him when I had the auger on the tractor. He told me it was a 16' gate, so I sunk the holes accordingly. After cementing the poles in, he got around to hanging his 14' gate.....then came over to chew me out. I told him it wasn't my fault he couldn't read a tape measure . He did pay a skunky old case of Labatts blue for drilling the holes even though I told him I didn't want anything (before the measuring error was discovered) but we haven't spoke in the 5 years since. I still wave when I see him out in the yard, but rarely get one back. His wife just scowls at me. Oh well.... not my problem.
