Cell boosters explained?

DO

docque

Senior Member
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Apr 14, 2022
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I am trying to figure this out from my limited radar/radio knowledge and I may have it.

When it comes to connectivity, if I am outside my RV and I get one bar and I go inside and get none, that is the RV interfering with the signal.

For a booster, I think it doesn't really boost the signal. I think what it does is takes that one bar and sends it to the router in the RV. Now my cell may see full bars but reality is it is only one bar?

So, the only upside to it is that you will get the same "strength on the inside of the RV as you did outside?
 
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It will amplify the signal a little, you do need some signal outside for it to work.

You may also need the phone fairly close to the inside antenna, The inside and outside antennas also need to be as far apart as possible. I have my outside on a pole attached to the ladder and the inside in the front bedroom.

It does help and I was able to work from a number of locations I couldn't otherwise. Don't expect miracles.
 
docque said:
I am trying to figure this out from my limited radar/radio knowledge and I may have it.

When it comes to connectivity, if I am outside my RV and I get one bar and I go inside and get none, that is the RV interfering with the signal.

For a booster, I think it doesn't really boost the signal. I think what it does is takes that one bar and sends it to the router in the RV. Now my cell may see full bars but reality is it is only one bar?

So, the only upside to it is that you will get the same "strength on the inside of the RV as you did outside?
Click to expand...

Here's how we solved that issue-----STARLINK! My wife needed to be connected at all times due to her job and we needed cell phone connectivity and Internet. Starlink works amazing and tackles both of those problems easily!
 
I have a booster. The antenna is outside on a mast and another inside far away from the external antenna. At best I get one more bar inside than outside when I use the setup.

They work.

But… the speed decreases as the setup only works in one direction at a time unlike straight to/from the call tower.

Like I said, it works. I tried one that didn’t have an inside & outside antenna, it didn’t work too well.
 
Cell signals do not penetrate walls very well (particularly the upper bands). We have two service providers and the signal in the back of the house is worse than in the front of the house (more walls to go through). We have a 4G LTE extender (same principal as a booster) provided by one of our wireless vendors due to loss of coverage as they rolled out 5G. When it is on, we get 4-5 bars but it is routing our calls over wifi on our Comcast internet service even though we have wifi calling turned off on the phones. When we lose power, our phones will cycle from one bar to no service.
 
Not sure if we are talking about the same technology or not, but at our old house we couldn't get cell within our house. We put in a Verizon device that had a bigger antenna that we put next two a window. That device got a couple of bars of service. Our cell phones then connected to that when we were in the house. We didn't have to pay anything extra but had to buy the device for a few hundred dollars.

I'm aware that providers also have devices that connect to your provider over your internet and your phones can connect to that. These days those maybe be obsolete as cell phones have call over wifi capability.
 
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Verizon network extender which physically connects to our home router. If you call #48 , it will confirm if you are on a network extender and give you the ID. I found this out during COVID when we had to work from home. Noticed a funny icon over the bars on the phone when I was in my office - looked like a mushroom. Calls and texts were dropping and failing. Turned out my neighbor had complained to Verizon and they provided a network extender which had a stronger signal in my office than the nearest cell tower. Very frustrating. Ultimately, they sent me an extender as well.
 
COGrandDes said:
Here's how we solved that issue-----STARLINK! My wife needed to be connected at all times due to her job and we needed cell phone connectivity and Internet. Starlink works amazing and tackles both of those problems easily!
Click to expand...

Any issues with Starlink and the typical trees in campgrounds? I am planning to add this before the start of the season. I was thinking I would still need the cell booster at times, would be great if it is not needed. We do camp in state parks most the time.
 
We used Starlink exclusively last season. Tested it in our driveway before we headed out and our driveway is surrounded by tall trees. Did not have a problem with connectivity in any location but did notice a drop in bandwidth in the evenings in areas of sparse cell coverage at one or two campgrounds. Then I looked at all the rigs in the campground with dishys and I understood why.
 
llr2800 said:
Any issues with Starlink and the typical trees in campgrounds? I am planning to add this before the start of the season. I was thinking I would still need the cell booster at times, would be great if it is not needed. We do camp in state parks most the time.
Click to expand...

No---not for us. We use it in the mountains of CO and it works great. We stream all our movies, shows, Internet usage, and Wi-Fi calls and it's seamless...... My neighbor spent a bunch of money with multiple cell carriers and a booster and the Starlink still works the best. Where we camp...there are never any cell signals floating around. We have the mobile plan and enable/disable it as needed or desired.
 
We use a cell booster. To do so, we mount a directional YAGI on top of a colapsable flagpole (using the pole truck) mounted to our roof ladder. We run a LMR400 cable thru the center of the flag pole into a converted KMR240 cable which connects to our cell booster input mounted behind our couch inside our RV. Then of course, run the boosted output to a directional interior antennae were we place our cell phones and then use our mobile hotspot as our ISP.

With our setup, after using a cell tower direction finder app, compass and YAGI physical pole positioning, we can take a Verizon 1 bar signal and boost it to 4-5. Simple to setup, great signal reception, and can stream and VPN at the same time.

BTW, also fly a 3x5 flag on the pole without any interference issues to either flag or YAGI reception
 
traveldawg said:
I have a booster. The antenna is outside on a mast and another inside far away from the external antenna. At best I get one more bar inside than outside when I use the setup.

They work.

But… the speed decreases as the setup only works in one direction at a time unlike straight to/from the call tower.

Like I said, it works. I tried one that didn’t have an inside & outside antenna, it didn’t work too well.
Click to expand...

What do you use for a mast?
 
docque said:
What do you use for a mast?
Click to expand...

I use a Flagpole Buddy setup mounted on the rear ladder. You can order different types/materials of poles to use with it. They even have pole tips for cell boosters and a dedicated setup for StarLink.

Rob
 
Second Chance said:
Flagpole Buddy makes an aluminum pole setup, too:

https://flagpolebuddy.com/products/ols/products/16ft-sectional-aluminum-flagpole-kit

Rob
Click to expand...

I think I saw that one before..... Looks like it only supports 2" diameter pole. Because I run my YAGI wire down the center, needed a large colapsible pole holder (2.5" diameter for pole storage in place on ladder) while traveling.

By running the wire thru pole, dont interfere with ring movement when flag(s) flown. Again, works out great for cell reception and flag flying.

Note: When traveling, I do wind up the excess wire and bungy it to the hitch frame under the trailer. Also disconnect the wire from a metal transition box mounted on the frame with an installed union which feeds the signal into the coach thru a side marker hole in the frame. Setup takes less than 20 minutes to raise pole, hang flag, position YAGI, connect to union and turn on booster. Even less for travel setup (no compass direction finding and YAGI positioning aprox 10min).
 
After a couple of parks with little or now cell service we bought a WeBoost setup the last year we had the Foretravel. It worked well and wasn't too difficult to install. I let it go with the Foretravel because it would have left holes inside and the new buyer wanted to try it. I haven't figured out how to install one in this trailer yet, though. The Foretravel didn't have any slides, and there were cabinets pretty much all along the side, so fairly easy to run the coax. I had the external antenna mounted on the luggage rack directly above the camera, and the coax just followed the cabinets along the navigator's side. The amplifier was in the dining area, with the internal antenna near the front.
 
docque said:
I am trying to figure this out from my limited radar/radio knowledge and I may have it.

When it comes to connectivity, if I am outside my RV and I get one bar and I go inside and get none, that is the RV interfering with the signal.

For a booster, I think it doesn't really boost the signal. I think what it does is takes that one bar and sends it to the router in the RV. Now my cell may see full bars but reality is it is only one bar?

So, the only upside to it is that you will get the same "strength on the inside of the RV as you did outside?
Click to expand...

When you talk about bars on your phone, you should understand that bars are Not a true indication of good cellular service. Data speed is the only thing that really matters. I've had full bars before and speeds so slow, that it was unusable for getting anything other then email, if lucky. For testing purposes, get a data speed app for your device. The use of a cell booster is dependent on having a workable signal to begin with. It can work, but it has limitations. Its still better then your phone by itself because any external antenna can outperform an internal one, like your phone. The booster is using just one antenna to process, and convert to wifi frequencys for connectivity of your devices. Remember, wifi is Not the same as cellular signals. Your cellular signals are captured by a cellular enabled device, then rebroadcast on wifi frequency for a limited usage zone for your devices to connect to. What is better then one antenna then? Multiple antennas! Enter MIMO technology. Multiple input, multiple output. MIMO antennas have the advantage of processing your cellular signals through multiple antennas, thus improving drop outs and interruptions of service. Combined with a good cellular router, they can be an advantage over a simple cell booster antenna. I am currently using a 10 db gain omni directional dome MIMO antenna on the roof of our 5th wheel, fed into a pepwave cellular router that can use any carriers data plans using sim cards. I have two card slots, so I can have a backup service if one is not available in my area. But to get back to having better cell signals, my antenna dome has two input antennas and two output antennas. It also has a set of wifi antennas for using campground wifi . The usable connection zone on this system is about 100 feet. It is usable when towing the rig from the cab of the truck. In very challenging conditions I have hooked up a directional antenna on a 15 ft mast into one set of coax cable connections on the router, while the other set is still using one of the omni directional dome antennas. Thereby optimizing two different antennas at the same time. Everything has advantages and disadvantages. But there is no denying that an external antenna will outperform an internal antenna at distance from the source. And dual antennas will improve gain of signal over just one. Many people will just reply get Starlink. A great system, but you asked about cellular, so I gave you some info on optimizing that . Good luck with your solution, what ever direction you choose to go
 
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