[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by golfing eagles

I live south of 466A, use Verizon LTE with an I phone 6s and have no problems whatsoever. In fact, I have yet to have a problem anywhere in TV.

As far as a "booster" goes, it sounds like this is a simple range extender for your home router---it does you no good out and about. Depending on your home design and location of your router, you might need one to cover your whole home. But be careful to understand the various encryption protocols and use a strong password, otherwise anyone within a few hundred feet could tap into your network. You might be safe from your neighbors, but their grandkids could be into your personal files in about 30 seconds!

I think you may be confusing a wifi booster with a cell phone booster. You don't use your router for cell phone calls unless you are using the wifi option on your phone. I think cell phone providers have boosters to enhance your cell phone signal and they don't have anything to do with your wifi router.

[SouthOfTheBorder]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I think you may be confusing a wifi booster with a cell phone booster. You don't use your router for cell phone calls unless you are using the wifi option on your phone. I think cell phone providers have boosters to enhance your cell phone signal and they don't have anything to do with your wifi router.

We have been using an AT&T MicroCell for more than 3 years and it works great.

And it requires a connection to (your) WiFi to operate.

Won’t get into the details here, a Google search will provide specifics for those interested.

We could not, and still can’t, rely on our cell phones inside our home without the MicroCell. Occasionally we need to reboot it along with our WIFI system.

AT&T has a $75 rebate at this time.

Don

[retiredguy123]

Thanks for the information. But, my point is that Microcell is not a wifi extender and it doesn't affect your wifi service. It does use your router and LAN to operate. A wifi extender increases the range of your wifi service, but Microcell actually creates a mini cell tower in your house. Apparently, you do not need to use your phone's wifi feature to use Microcell.

[Ecuadog]

Originally Posted by GordyM

I use Google Fi and they give you unlimited talk and text for a flat $20 a month. Data is $10/GB. You decide when you sign up how much data you need per month (e.g. you might decide that 1GB is enough for you, in which case your total monthly bill will be $30, plus a bit more for taxes and fees of course). If you do not use all the data you signed up for in a given month, you get a refund for the unused portion. It uses the Sprint, T-Mobile, or US Cellular networks whichever one has the best signal for you at any given moment. Handoffs from one carrier to another are done on-the-fly and are supposed to be seamless (i.e. if you are on a call via T-Mobile and you wander in to an area where Sprint is better, the call will hop onto Sprint and you won't lose the connection). It also supports WiFi calling so that if you are on WiFi, your calls go over that instead of the mobile network (and sound great by the way, at least if you have good WiFi). Both the wife and I use it and it is the best we have found so far South of 466A (We live in the village of Sanibel)

Just an aside...

We use Google's Project Fi also. The phones also work (phone, text & data) in about 135 other countries. My wife called South America from Italy for 20 cents a minute, using the cellular network.

[TNT]

We switched to Consumer Cellular several years ago. They use AT&T towers. Very pleased with coverage. Best of all...only $65 per month for two people.

[trenbarg12]

I live in the village of Charlotte and like many others I had to get a network extender for Verizon.... Well now we have a summer home in an area that only gets service from AT&T towers. So I checked out Cricket Wireless... The phone works but only have one bar, so I get an occasional dropped call or even no service. We are determined to stick with Cricket because of their no contract and their low prices. I am checking out network extenders etc to find a solution. With Cricket as a start up company that leases AT&T towers not sure I can talk them into a free unit. I did find out how to do a home test and this is what I did to find out my true DB strength.

Field Test Signal strength It works on most iPhones...Android has another way to check the DB gain.
1. Access the iPhone’s Field Test mode by typing *3001#12345#* in the phone’s keypad and press dial. This will bring up the Field Test menu.
2. In the top left corner, you will see the numerical signal strength value, as in the picture below.If you tap the number in the top left corner, it will toggle between displaying signal in decibels, and displaying it in “dots”.
To exit Field Test Mode and go back to your phone as normal, just press the Home button.
If you want to exit Field Test Mode, but keep the signal display in decibels, not dots, that’s easy. It’s particularly convenient if you are in the middle of a site survey and you want to move around from room to room to find the strongest signal. While in Field Test Mode, hold down the Power button until the “Slide to Power Off” message appears, then release the Power button and hold the Home button until Field Test quits. You can now tap the signal dots or signal numbers to switch between the two. To exit this entirely and go back to normal, go back into Field Test Mode, then quit it normally by pressing the Home button.

As a general rule, -80dB or higher (ie, -70, -60, -50) is considered strong signal. -110dB or lower (ie, -120, -130) is very weak.

My signal in the village of Charlotte is 111-118 basically a weak signal