Cell Phone Boosters

[Dana431]

My company sits equidistant from Claremore, Owasso, and the Port of Catoosa.  The cell phone reception is sketchy out here.  We have adequate cell phone signal until we are inside our pre-engineered metal building office.  Once inside, we miss calls left and right.  Then when we are out of the building we receive all the messages and texts we missed.

After a few calls to our cell carriers, its sounding like our best solution would be to set up a cell phone booster on the building.  Has any of you had any success with cell phone boosters?

I'm not finding any discussions on any forums about this subject.  I only find a few reviews on bestbuy.com

[patric]

I've used an external Wilson amplifier that plugs directly into my phone to give me 3 bars where there is barely one, so they can be a great benefit.
My arrangement is direct-connect, though, which means only one phone at a time.
It's a Wilson 812201 

http://www.buy.com/prod/wilson-812201-dual-band-amplifier-824mhz-to-1990mhz-gsm-tdma/q/listingid/77628074/loc/101/214705976.html
and you purchase an adapter that fits your particular phone.


If you want to operate more than one phone in a given area, you need to investigate an arrangement like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Building-Wireless-Dual-Band-Cellular-Amplifier/dp/B000PD02HI/ref=pd_bxgy_e_img_a

Which is an outdoor antenna pointed at a known tower, an amplifier, and an indoor antenna to radiate to your phone(s). 
The range is not much further than your building, though.

Ive seen other, all-in-one boxes that got bad reviews because the range was even less.

[nathanm]

The Wilson at the Amazon link is the way to go (as long as you don't need to amplify Nextel or T-Mobile's 3G, although it will work with T-Mobile's EDGE service). I have one of them in Alabama doing exactly what you're wanting. The only thing to keep in mind is that they're only good for a few thousand square feet, and you must install the antenna outside, away from the indoor unit, so it entails drilling.

You'll want to walk around outside the building to see where you get the best signal and put the outside antenna there, and you want to get the inside antenna as near to the middle of the coverage area you want as possible. You have to be able to get a good signal with a roof or wall mounted antenna somewhere around your building.

My client has a big warehouse, and it isn't enough to cover it, but it's enough to cover their relatively large office space.

There are a few discussions regarding this subject on howardforums.com.

[patric]

The Wilson at the Amazon link is the way to go (as long as you don't need to amplify Nextel or T-Mobile's 3G, although it will work with T-Mobile's EDGE service).

It's also the method you will want to use for phones like the Apple iPhone or data cards that dont have direct connections to an antenna port.  These amplifiers are sometimes referred to as SOHO cellular/PCS amplifiers.
http://www.wilsonelectronics.com/ViewProduct.php?ID=100

[sgrizzle]

If you're AT&T, get a microcell.

[patric]

If you're AT&T, get a microcell.

Dont.
at&t's MicroCell uses your personal broadband (cable modem, etc) to carry their signals, instead of a tower.
The microcell essentially is a little "cell site", but not connected to their backbone like a regular tower.
That sounds like a cool idea, using your own bandwidth to take some of the load off of at&t, but when you get to the fine print you will find you are charged your normal airtime minutes even though you arent using their tower.
And on top of that, you also pay for the privilege of using the MicroCell itself.

Essentially, you are paying at&t to use the bandwidth you are already paying for elsewhere.
Verizon has a similar setup, called FemtoCell, and is as much a ripoff.

I read a analogy that seemed to explain it well:

You buy a city bus pass, but the bus is full, so the city rents you a bicycle you use to follow the bus to your destination.  You pay twice for less service.

Go with the cell amplifier.

[nathanm]

Go with the cell amplifier.

The bigger problem is that they don't cover much area and data used counts against your cap if you have one, and although the different carriers have different policies about those aspects of it, you have to have a separate device for each provider.

I don't have so much of a problem with minutes counting against you, as you are still using their infrastructure. They're still paying to terminate your calls. (Granted, last I saw it was well under half a cent a minute, but that was back when WilTel was still an independent going concern)

[Dana431]

When I find a free moment this week I'm gonna order one and install it.  I'll post the outcome.  Thanks again for the tips!