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+--- Thread: Cell Service Booster (/thread-4991.html)
Cell Service Booster - Secular Sanity - Mar 10, 2018
I'm going to a remote area.
Has anyone ever tried one of those cell service boosters? Do they work?
What's the difference between a booster, extender, and a repeater?
RE: Cell Service Booster - stryder - Mar 10, 2018
I've not used one myself, however my father and sister have been using one in rural Georgia. Originally the problem was the house my father built apparently is really good at blocking cell signals, especially since his location was already a low number of bars anyway (The particular county is one of two in the state that has the lowest internet speeds and internet availability, so it's spotty for communication in general). So they picked up a booster and they are able to make calls from within the house.
As for the difference, my take would be:
A repeater would likely use a larger antenna (with a boosted signal) to connect to the cell network, then any calls your cell makes or receives is sent through that repeater rather than the cell. (A
A booster will attempt to boost the power output of a signal, where as an extender will likely try to reduce the interference of the point to point connection of a signal. (The more interference there is the more times a packet has to be sent before a non-corrupted packet can be obtained, reducing interference reduces dropped packets thereby increasing the amount delivered over a short time period. So in some instances poor signals can actually add to the localised interference because of the attempted packet deliveries.)
the problem of course is that companies will use the terms with each other (usually to add to the word count on their sales pamphlet) For further definitions you could look at Wifi booster/extender/repeaters since they are pretty much the same thing, just instead of dealing with a cell network they work with wifi.
RE: Cell Service Booster - Secular Sanity - Mar 11, 2018
(Mar 10, 2018 08:55 PM)stryder Wrote: I've not used one myself, however my father and sister have been using one in rural Georgia.
Yeah, I did a little more reading and I checked out an "as the crow flies map." I’m in range of a cell tower but then I checked my elevation. It’s not going to work for my situation, I’m afraid. I’m way too low. My only alternative is one of those satellite internet providers but the only ones in this area have those huge data caps. Oh, well.
Thanks for the info, Stryder.
RE: Cell Service Booster - C C - Mar 11, 2018
Nearest I ever came to encountering any category of wireless booster (purely for home network) was an elderly woman who was tapping into her son's wi-fi from a mile way via an antenna/amp plugged into her laptop. He gave her the password as well as surely buying / setting it up for her.
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RE: Cell Service Booster - stryder - Mar 11, 2018
Unfortunately there isn't much that can be done for the individual household. There are of course projects that have been suggested with the intention of being able to deliver service, however that's something that is really meant for larger scales. Like for instance the Loon project (X Companies Balloon cell/wifi antenna)
An older method would likely be