Cell Signal Booster April 16, 2024, 11:14:53 am We have T-Mobile which provides us excellent service in most urban areas but not so elsewhere. We’d really like to have cell service more often while traveling.However, despite considerable reading I can’t decide if cell boosters are actually reliable. Some have said they’re only helpful occasionally and then it’s necessary to place the cell phone next to the booster. If we installed a signal booster and it wasn’t all that effective… well I’d not be a happy camper especially when considering the time, effort and expense. I’m hopeful that the technology has improved since the last time I started down this road. Any suggestions are more than appreciated.
Re: Cell Signal Booster Reply #1 – April 16, 2024, 11:52:16 am Cellular antennas and boosters do work but there are times when you may find a strong signal with little bandwidth, common in tourist areas and campgrounds where the local cell network cannot handle the surges in weekend or holiday traffic, this can be frustrating.The systems consist of either an exterior omnidirectional or a directional antenna, connected by coax cable to an interior amplifier.Directional cellular antenna | FlickrThe phone must be near or on top of the interior antenna. A quality system is not cheap.https://www.weboost.com/boosters/vehicle-If you want a highly dependable connection to the outside world, a Starlink or satellite phone might be a better choice.Larry 1 Likes
Re: Cell Signal Booster Reply #2 – April 16, 2024, 11:54:30 am Was about to get a booster installed in spring of 2022 when StarLink became available for RV use.The equipment cost is roughly the same, per month cost is significant for StarLink at $150 a month (but you can pause service when not in use)I like camping well away from civilization, where not even a booster will help (can’t boost what’s not there) So StarLink is great for that, not just at the remote campground, or if you run into issues on remote roads. East of the Rockies, I’ve had to deploy StarLink twice in three weeks so far, so I just use cell data when available (laziness, don’t want to set up the dish, though it takes at most 2-3 minutes)If you can stomach the cost of StarLink, there is no contest compared to cell boosters.
Re: Cell Signal Booster Reply #3 – April 16, 2024, 12:03:18 pm Another think to think about if you're planning on spending a lot on a cell booster - cell technology changes and your booster can be rendered obsolete. I still have a 3G booster I bought when we started RVing. As most know, most cell coverage is 4g or 5g now. Starlink is the way.If you want to stick with cellular, consider Verizon (or a MVNO like totalwireless) or ATT. T-mobile is not a good choice for remote areas. Rich
Re: Cell Signal Booster Reply #4 – April 16, 2024, 04:02:28 pm As I mentioned, I am grateful for all of this information and guidance. This feedback confirms what I had been reading but I was hopeful there were alternatives that I hadn’t considered. The cost of some of the suggestions are more than we want to spend on a solution. So this project is back at the bottom of our long term list for now.
Re: Cell Signal Booster Reply #5 – April 16, 2024, 05:37:47 pm I installed the Weboost about 3 or 4 years ago. I have T-Mobile. There have been times where it made the difference between the cell being useless to useful. There have been times when there just wasn't enough signal (no signal) and it didn't help. Maybe getting a directional antenna would help, but we are not on the road enough for it to be a concern at this time. I would buy it again, I installed it myself. Starlink is too costly for the amount of times we would use it, although we could replace our $100 a month Hughsnet that we have at the house and use it at home and away. With Starlink though you could have too many trees, which many of our camping spots has a lot of trees unlike the places we see others camp. I look for trees for shade.
Re: Cell Signal Booster Reply #6 – April 16, 2024, 05:46:34 pm Quote from: StevenJill - April 16, 2024, 05:37:47 pm With Starlink though you could have too many trees, which many of our camping spots has a lot of trees unlike the places we see others camp. I look for trees for shade. Starlink cables are available up to 150' long, this should be enough to get the antenna out of the shade.Larry 1 Likes
Re: Cell Signal Booster Reply #7 – April 16, 2024, 06:36:37 pm Ed, the folks at Technomadia are a great source for all things connectivity. Give their site a try: Technomadia - Technology Enabled Nomads — Jon&Loni 1 Likes
Re: Cell Signal Booster Reply #8 – April 16, 2024, 06:57:44 pm If I may .... there are two maybe three parts to a cell signal analysis. Frankly, the most important and most looked over is the cell phone and its maker. Without getting too too very deep in the weeds any cell phone will work when there is a strong signal. The issue is when the signal is weak and there are lots of folks trying to get it. AND (this is going to be a surprise, all actors in this space lie about the issues and blame the other) most of the time its the cell phone that's the problem. Cheap cell phones and by this I mean anyone under the top flagship phones are not any good at picking out/up weak signals. IMHO it's best to get one of the flagship cells either Apple, Google, or Samsung, and avoid all the cell boosters and whatnot. glen
Re: Cell Signal Booster Reply #9 – April 17, 2024, 12:19:32 pm On our last rig we had a "Trucker" antenna (omni-directional) mounted on the roof and a little directional antenna that we would stick up on the window. I can't find the specifics on that little antenna but it was great. It was recommended by Technomadia (see Jon's post above). The thing is you gotta have a signal for these things to work. They will boost a signal but can't find one if your phone doesn't register one. Anyhow, we don't have any boosters in the LD. Instead, we have two providers: Verizon and T-Mobile. Between the two we can almost always get a connection. We use Visible (Verizon) and Tello (T-Mobile). Verizon and T-Mobile own these companies. The only difference is the price is waaaaaaay less and the data is truly unlimited. Stream all you want. The customer service is limited for both but we didn't get much before anyhow!jor
Re: Cell Signal Booster Reply #10 – April 21, 2024, 07:13:35 pm QuoteWe use Visible (Verizon) and Tello (T-Mobile). Verizon and T-Mobile own these companies. The only difference is the price is waaaaaaay less and the data is truly unlimited. Stream all you want.I need to correct this statement. 'the Visible plan is unlimited (no cap, no throttling) while the Tello plan is limited at 15 gigs. Sorry about that.jor
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