Cell phone boosters

[kb0zke]

Looks like we're needing a cell phone booster for our Foretravel. I'm looking at the Weboost OTR unit, mounting the external antenna on the ladder or roof rack. If I mount it on the roof rack I can bring the coax in by the backup camera. If I mount it on the ladder I'll bring it in through the engine. Either way I'll mount the amplifier in a convenient spot and the internal antenna will also go in a convenient spot.

Any suggestions or thoughts?

[gjhunter01]

I have a Wilson booster for our fifth wheel which I added about 8 years ago, but we have not used it that much in the last 3 years due to better Verizon coverage. The Wilson required a 10 ft horizontal distance and a 30 Ft vertical distance from the outside antenna to the inside antenna. For the outside antenna, I mounted a removable 10' PVC pipe (non lightening conduct) to the pin box and mounted the interior antenna to the floor at the rear of the fifth wheel.

The 1" PVC pipe slips over a 18" vertical rebar welded to the pin box which extends well above the roof line, this gets removed and stored under the FW frame during travels. The cable was threaded through the pin box, then the propane compartment down along the FW frame then up through the rear compartment through a floor vent.

Another option I considered was to add a crank up TV antenna above the front bed room that could be raised with the exterior Wilson antenna. I was not excited to cut a hole in the roof though.

Edited August 8, 2022 by gjhunter01

[Dutch_12078]

We've had better luck with an aimable dual Yagi MIMO antenna set than we had with our expensive booster.

 

[GlennWest]

We stream tv with our grandfather's version wifi device. Recently added a mifi antenna. No booster. Averages about 2 bars difference. Now this plugs into our device. 

Edited August 8, 2022 by GlennWest

[RV_]

14 hours ago, Dutch_12078 said:

We've had better luck with an aimable dual Yagi MIMO antenna set than we had with our expensive booster.

 

Dutch is that for cell or TV? Either way what make and model. Thanks.

[Dutch_12078]

2 hours ago, RV_ said:

Dutch is that for cell or TV? Either way what make and model. Thanks.

The lower section is a standard Winegard batwing TV antenna. The upper section is the dual Yagi cell MIMO antenna set linked below. We rarely use the OTA TV antenna, so it make a handy aimable mount for the cell antennas.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084GCBWTN/

[RV_]

Wow! Great idea for an elevated mount on an RV with a hole already done for you. Not too expensive either. Thanks for the link too.

[vermilye]

If you are attempting to improve the reception & speed of a cell modem, you will likely have better results putting a pair of antennas on the roof connected to the MIMO inputs of the modem than you will with an amplifier.  

If you are looking to boost cell phone signals, an amp will be necessary since few cell phones have external antenna connectors.  Be sure you follow the instructions for the separation of the inside & outside antennas, and unless you put the outside antenna on a high pole, expect to need to be within a couple of feet of the inside antenna to see any improvement.

Edited August 9, 2022 by vermilye
Typo

[kb0zke]

As I'm typing this my signal went from two bars of 5G to two bars of 4G and back to two bars of 5G. The signal has been down to one bar of 4G several times.

Our crank-up tv antenna died a couple of years ago and was replaced with one that is fixed at about a foot above the roof, but can be rotated to point at the desired transmitter.

[Dutch_12078]

3 hours ago, vermilye said:

If you are attempting to improve the reception & speed of a cell modem, you will likely have better results putting a pair of antennas on the roof connected to the MIMO inputs of the modem than you will with an amplifier.  

If you are looking to boost cell phone signals, an amp will be necessary wince few cell phones have external antenna connectors.  Be sure you follow the instructions for the separation of the inside & outside antennas, and unless you put the outside antenna on a high pole, expect to need to be within a couple of feet of the inside antenna to see any improvement.

Both our cell phones support WiFi calling, so when we're in range of our AT&T or Verizon hotspots with the MIMO antennas connected, our phones benefit from the stronger signals.

[Smitty77_7]

Sometimes multiple tools in the toolbox can be of aid:)! I too endorse the MIMO Rooftop Antenna approach. We currently have a MobileMark 2X2 MIMO, as that was what we needed for our now aging Netgear MR1100 Nighthawk. Newer devices are coming out with 4X4 MIMO capability, and a key thing (Whether Phone on HotSpot or stand alone MiFi - for an external MIMO antenna to be useful, the device being fed has to have the 'input ports'. Most devices are still 2X2 (two ports) capable, but a few are reaching market with 4X4.) The MobileMark is Omni, and thus will not do as good of job of DB signal bumping as Dutch's Yagi (Cool setup up!) does. But in most locations, it does a fine job of enhancing the signal, without also bumping up the SNR's:)!). 

For finger areas, we do have a Wilson Over The Road Truckers antenna, mounted to our crackup rooftop old TV antennas mast (Similar to Dutches.). I left room on my brackets, to add a Yagi - just have not got around to taking the time to do so, as 95%+ of the time - the MobileMark feeding out NetGear Nighthawk does us well.  

In those 5% of the times that we can't get a useable ATT signal via MobileMark to Nighthawk, we then try my Verizon Samsung S21 via HotSpot. And if that does not work, we crank up the TV Antenna to get the OTR Wilson Antenna up a bit higher (With the mast and 18" pole for the Wilson, it's up about 3 1/2' above the roof line.). This feeds a simple Wilson Sleek cradle booster. Not a high boost, but also not a high price:)! And I'll the try the Verizon Samsung S21 in the cradle, and see if it gets a useable signal. And if not, then unplug the Rooftop 2X2 MIMO feed to the ATT Netgear MR1100 Nighthawk, and place it in the Sleek. (This allows the Nighthawk's internal 4X4 MIMO Antennas to receive the OTR Antennas signal.). 

If none of those work, well we try the old WiFiRange GOac and Load Balance any available Downloads from both devices, and if park WiFi is available, toss that into the mix if needed too. 

And if none of those work, well that's why we have an abundance of recorded movies and shows... And sometimes 'offline' from the Internet in general - is refreshing:)! 

======

I share all of that, as sometimes you need multiple paths and methods to reach Useable Internet Data... 

One suggestion, is to not spend large coin for for single acquiring gear at this time. Used, or middle of the road costs that you don't mind being replaceable soon, sure. As 5G rolls out, more and more gear is also slowly coming to market to work well with 5G landscape, and backward compatible to 4G LTE too. (And no question that especially in rural areas, 4G LTE will be the key path to Internet Data for the near future... (Sure, Starlink is coming along too:)!). 

Over the next few years, changes are going to occur... 

Best of luck,

Smitty

 

 

[Kirk W]

On 8/7/2022 at 9:15 PM, gjhunter01 said:

The Wilson required a 10 ft horizontal distance and a 30 Ft vertical distance from the outside antenna to the inside antenna.

We had a Wilson antenna & repeater too, but bought ours probably 20 years ago. It worked for us most of the time. Before that I had satellite internet on a portable dish. Times are changing.

12 hours ago, Smitty77_7 said:

As 5G rolls out, more and more gear is also slowly coming to market to work well with 5G landscape, and backward compatible to 4G LTE too.

As I read about 5G, it seems to me that the range of signal could make that difficult to find in the more rural areas and nonexistant in truely remote areas, much like cell service used to be? Even today cell service isn't available everywhere.