cell signal booster

Joined
Apr 8, 2014
Messages
557
Building a cabin where there is marginal verizon service, 1 or 2 bars.
Is there any recommendations for a booster, seems like a lot of varieties on amazon, but all the same style, with an outside receiver and an inside sending antenna.

its in a valley, and I don't seem to have much signal loss inside the cabin, it's just a bad location. will one of these boosters make a difference?
 

hunterjmj

WKR
Joined
Feb 3, 2019
Messages
1,368
Location
Montana
I bought one for our house since I'd barely get 1 bar. My phone went crazy so I bought a new phone and I've had no issue with service. Never ended up using the booster.
 

Tod osier

WKR
Joined
Sep 11, 2015
Messages
1,710
Location
Fairfield County, CT -> Sublette County, WY
Building a cabin where there is marginal verizon service, 1 or 2 bars.
Is there any recommendations for a booster, seems like a lot of varieties on amazon, but all the same style, with an outside receiver and an inside sending antenna.

its in a valley, and I don't seem to have much signal loss inside the cabin, it's just a bad location. will one of these boosters make a difference?

They make a huge difference in my experience. In my understanding they are especially useful if you have a weak signal (vs no signal) - they can improve a weak signal quite a lot. I can't be super helpful, since I have never researched it, but we bought a house that has one and it really works well. If you are on the property outside if a 100 foot radius of the booster, the signal is barely enough to keep a conversation going, but near the house it is a nice fast seamless signal good enough to stream movies.

Our antenna and transmitter is on the second story, which may be an extra benefit, since our phone use is all on the ground level or basement.
 

GambelOak

FNG
Joined
Jun 30, 2023
Messages
12
With 1-2 bars you will do great with a a booster. I would also recommend upgrading your outside and inside antenna over what comes with the booster. Best if it is stationary, get a directional antenna like this one (Wilson) mounted on the outside of the cabin, as high as possible, pointed to the cell tower where you are getting your signal from. The directional antenna connects to your booster and inside antenna. It will take some tuning, making sure it is pointed in the direction that makes a difference but it will work. A more foolproof method is get a Starlink and pay the monthly fee as long as you have a clear view of the sky, not so nestled in the trees that you can't see satellites. Keep in mind the Starlink route will require all your calls to be over wifi but you will have fast internet and be able to steam movies when you are blasted from the days hunt. Boosters and antenna are not a straight forward science, it really comes down to the amount of signal you have to work with in the first place. That said if you are getting 1-2 bars you should be good.
 

taskswap

WKR
Joined
Oct 6, 2021
Messages
536
I have a Weboost Destination RV which would work fine for a house. It has a 35' telescoping pole and a directional antenna. It worked really well for this type of situation and would often give me 4-5 bars where I had 1-2 before. One caveat of these boosters is the inside repeater/antenna setups don't have enormous range. They won't cover a whole house - you need to be no more than a room or two away from the repeater. If you can centrally locate it, you'd be fine, but don't think this is something you can hide away in a basement...

Starlink service is expensive but I agree with GambelOak. If it's an option for you, it solves a lot of problems at once.
 

BBarnett13

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Dec 13, 2020
Messages
162
Have a very similar situation to yours. We have a small cottage down in a valley. 1-2 bars at best inside and out. Installed a Weboost Home Studio cell signal booster and what a world of difference. We now get full LTE and sometimes 5G in the building. Went with the home studio cause it fit the square footage we needed. When installing the antenna, you download an app to locate the closest tower, point the antenna in that direction and you're set.
 

Weldor

WKR
Joined
Apr 20, 2022
Messages
1,855
Location
z
Have one at my cabin in Mtn's, It makes a big difference 4 bars in the main room and 2-3 through the walls to patio. It's only about 20' up on top of the shed 4 bars on the reciever also.
 
Joined
Jun 3, 2018
Messages
875
Location
North Carolina
After suffering at hunt camp for a year with little to no Verizon service non-to 1 bar, unable to download Spypoint pics at all, hardly ever able to download Tactacam pics except maybe hit and miss at 3:00AM, no internet at all, I bought a Weboost unit. WOW is what I say. With the Weboost on, I get a steady LTE 3 bars and somtimes 4 bars with my Iphone. Wife has Android and now has constant full service. Pics download instantly, go anywhere on the internet without delay and no more dropped calls. This thing works. Watch youtube, order gear.... do it ALL.
 
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