Weak signal amplifier for Cell phones?
 

i have been reading about amplifiers for use in the home that raise the avaiable weak signals if one bar up to 3+ bars via the amplifier in the house.
They are fairly expensive.

Has anybody had experience using one of these or know how effective they may be (or not).

Which cell service do you have? AT&T has a Microcell box. It is not an amplifier. It plugs into your broadband router, creates a cellphone zone within your house, and routes cell phone calls through the internet. It works well.

I also have the ATT Microcell and it works really well for me.:BigApplause:

I have Verizon and the application is for a remote location in the low mountains of east TN where there is a weak signal and no wifi capability. Hence looking for amplification of weak signal.....if such technology exists/works.

We have T-Mobile and our coverage was bad. Being long time customers, they sent us two boxes to place in our house that increases signal power to our phones. They do work well. I would start by checking with your provider and go from there.

I used one of these with Verizon service when I lived in The Villages and it helped quite a bit. If you are persistent they will give you one at no charge. My argument to them was the fact they were unable to provide the service I was paying for; therefore, there responsibility to correct it. Good luck

I agree. I have both a Verizon cell and a TMobile cell and have boosters provided by both companies at no charge. Reception on both units increased significantly.

I agree they work well, but they're pretty expensive. If you have a recent vintage iPhone with an up to date IOS, there's an alternative. Just turn on the WIFI calling feature (presuming you have a WIFI network in your home).
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bc

We have ATT and had hardly any coverage at all. (One bar if we were lucky) We called ATT and explained the problem and they sent us a Micro Cell tower for our house at no charge. Now we have 5 bars and fantastic coverage. Made a huge difference!

I paid for the At&t one. Try to get one directly if you can.

I have a Verizon network extender and they originally wanted over $250 for it. I am a long time customer of Verizon, and eventually got them down to $75. That was the best I could do. At least I could write it off as a business expense, since I was dropping Inspection calls.

I am currently 5 foot away from it right now and my bars show two. Not that much of an improvement, but it seems to be enough. I no longer drop calls, etc.

I think upgrading to an iphone 6 helped a lot, as it seems to have much better coverage than my older iphone 4.

Frank

I talked to Verizon technical folks today.
They have a network extender that requires having an existing wifi to connect to, which in the location I am looking to resolve does not have.

They suggested going to Best But where they have have them look up which is an appropriate signal booster.....actually amplifies the incoming signal.

I had the tech rep look up the towers that were in the vicinity of the home and the closest one is 3.9 miles away......then take into account the mountains, valleys, forestry, etc......

We currently get 1-2 bars out on the porch facing the lake (facing south).

So the research continues.

I don't understand the technicalities if the last post; but when I had lousy Verizon service in my home in Sanibel, Ilooked up the cell service customer service manager, emailed them. They called,assigned me a case number and sent me an extenDer for Free. It has worked great for 2 1/2 years. Some having little knowledge of all the tech stuff, and explaining that I am not getting any value from their service works fine.