LC4LIFE
Supporting Vendor
Hi Everyone,
I just wanted to post up about a new product I offer along with my review of using it so far. Everyone I talk to seems curious about cell boosters and I will admit, I was skeptical that I would find it as useful or as good as it is made out to be. I am talking about the new weboost Drive Reach cell booster. I personally bought one prior to becoming a dealer mainly because of the two posts I note below. The post over in the 200 Series forum had some really compelling info along with some very solid testing by @TeCKis300. I figured it was worth a shot, especially since I had over two weeks of travel in September planned, much of which was pretty far off the beaten path and we were only taking one vehicle.
Cell Booster Install
Cell phone booster Ya or Nay
The weboost consists of two antennas, the main amplifier, and a power cord. The outside antenna is a small 4” magnetic, the inside antenna is also about 4” long, the amp is about 4”x6”x2” and the power cord just connects using an available power port. It’s all pretty simple.
The first test drive I did was just over 100 miles on a route I knew had some very limited coverage along with spots deep in a canyon with no service, at least without a booster. The results were a bit better than expected. My Verizon iPhone only ever had a signal loss in the area I knew there was no service. The T-mobile iPhones I had with me had the same result, but the improvement for them was better. Normally the T-mobile users ended up with poor signal or no signal much sooner or more often than my Verizon phone. The improvement during this trip was pretty much what I expected, but I was still hesitant to say it was worth it. It did however, convince me that I needed further testing and real use during my upcoming 1000mi trip through Utah and Colorado.
The next trip, the long one, left from Colorado Springs and included heading west through Breckenridge, then out the I-70 to Moab, south into Canyonlands, drive the White Rim Trail, then RimRocker from Moab to Montrose, CO. After that, through Gunnission and back to the Springs via the 50. Six nights, seven days, never in the same spot. Basically, it was a huge loop including all types of terrains and altitudes. I will say that after that trip, I will never travel without the booster. It simply makes any signal better. It meant, quicker mapping, more reliable music streaming, texting almost always, and even sending pictures or videos when I thought it would be impossible. Keeping in contact was much easier.
I know that some people (myself included) hit the road and off road to leave it all behind and find the places with no service, but I view this as just another type of communication. I like being out of contact just as much as the next guy, so I figure I will just turn if off if desired.
During the CO/UT trip, I stopped and tested the unit multiple times and I regularly saw a 28-32db gain. This was the signal in the phone. That gain meant the signal went from barely working to something useable. I was in the White Crack campground and my phone without the booster was at -122db and with the booster on I was at -91. The booster made the signal entirely useable. I would have never though I would have had a signal like that out there. I was able to text, call, send pics and even a video from the campsite. I had very similar results at Goosberry Camp on White Rim, Buckeye Lake on Rimrocker and a couple other random stops I made. I had read and heard that on the west side of White Rim, there was simply no signal and that was mostly the case. There were a few pockets of service on the way out, but it was pretty much not existent for 2-3hours on that side of the drive.
One thing to note is that in the US, Sprint, Verizon, and US Cellular use CDMA. AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM. I did have times where my Verizon phones had good signal and the T-Mobile did not. I must assume that the tower servicing Verizon did not have the GSM transmitter.
I know there are some good apps for android users to check signal strength, no so much for iPhone users. If you’re curious, here is how you check your signal strength in an iPhone.
First, turn off Wi-Fi.
Then, open the Phone app and dial *3001#12345#*including the stars and pound signs.
Press the call button, and the Field Test menu will show on the screen.
You will see in this menu not many things are well labeled. For our purpose, choose ‘LTE’ from the first menu.
Select ‘Serving Cell Meas’ from the second menu. You’ll notice the order of the listing here changes every few seconds, as the measurements continually update.
You’re looking for ‘rsrp0,’which means Reference Signal Received Power for the closest tower. You could however, be connected to a different secondary tower ‘rsrp1’.
You should see a negative number from around -40 to -140. Closer to -40 is a really strong signal, while closer to -140 is a really poor signal. Anything below -120 is very poor, and you might suffer interruptions and you data speeds will be poor.
-90 or higher = Excellent
-91 to -105 = Good
-106 to -120 = Fair
-121 to -124 = Poor
-125 = No Signal
I have another 1000ish mile trip to southern CO coming up in a couple weeks so I will post back results from that, but I am optimistic that I will have the same improved experience.
I just wanted to post up about a new product I offer along with my review of using it so far. Everyone I talk to seems curious about cell boosters and I will admit, I was skeptical that I would find it as useful or as good as it is made out to be. I am talking about the new weboost Drive Reach cell booster. I personally bought one prior to becoming a dealer mainly because of the two posts I note below. The post over in the 200 Series forum had some really compelling info along with some very solid testing by @TeCKis300. I figured it was worth a shot, especially since I had over two weeks of travel in September planned, much of which was pretty far off the beaten path and we were only taking one vehicle.
Cell Booster Install
Cell phone booster Ya or Nay
The weboost consists of two antennas, the main amplifier, and a power cord. The outside antenna is a small 4” magnetic, the inside antenna is also about 4” long, the amp is about 4”x6”x2” and the power cord just connects using an available power port. It’s all pretty simple.
The first test drive I did was just over 100 miles on a route I knew had some very limited coverage along with spots deep in a canyon with no service, at least without a booster. The results were a bit better than expected. My Verizon iPhone only ever had a signal loss in the area I knew there was no service. The T-mobile iPhones I had with me had the same result, but the improvement for them was better. Normally the T-mobile users ended up with poor signal or no signal much sooner or more often than my Verizon phone. The improvement during this trip was pretty much what I expected, but I was still hesitant to say it was worth it. It did however, convince me that I needed further testing and real use during my upcoming 1000mi trip through Utah and Colorado.
The next trip, the long one, left from Colorado Springs and included heading west through Breckenridge, then out the I-70 to Moab, south into Canyonlands, drive the White Rim Trail, then RimRocker from Moab to Montrose, CO. After that, through Gunnission and back to the Springs via the 50. Six nights, seven days, never in the same spot. Basically, it was a huge loop including all types of terrains and altitudes. I will say that after that trip, I will never travel without the booster. It simply makes any signal better. It meant, quicker mapping, more reliable music streaming, texting almost always, and even sending pictures or videos when I thought it would be impossible. Keeping in contact was much easier.
I know that some people (myself included) hit the road and off road to leave it all behind and find the places with no service, but I view this as just another type of communication. I like being out of contact just as much as the next guy, so I figure I will just turn if off if desired.
During the CO/UT trip, I stopped and tested the unit multiple times and I regularly saw a 28-32db gain. This was the signal in the phone. That gain meant the signal went from barely working to something useable. I was in the White Crack campground and my phone without the booster was at -122db and with the booster on I was at -91. The booster made the signal entirely useable. I would have never though I would have had a signal like that out there. I was able to text, call, send pics and even a video from the campsite. I had very similar results at Goosberry Camp on White Rim, Buckeye Lake on Rimrocker and a couple other random stops I made. I had read and heard that on the west side of White Rim, there was simply no signal and that was mostly the case. There were a few pockets of service on the way out, but it was pretty much not existent for 2-3hours on that side of the drive.
One thing to note is that in the US, Sprint, Verizon, and US Cellular use CDMA. AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM. I did have times where my Verizon phones had good signal and the T-Mobile did not. I must assume that the tower servicing Verizon did not have the GSM transmitter.
I know there are some good apps for android users to check signal strength, no so much for iPhone users. If you’re curious, here is how you check your signal strength in an iPhone.
First, turn off Wi-Fi.
Then, open the Phone app and dial *3001#12345#*including the stars and pound signs.
Press the call button, and the Field Test menu will show on the screen.
You will see in this menu not many things are well labeled. For our purpose, choose ‘LTE’ from the first menu.
Select ‘Serving Cell Meas’ from the second menu. You’ll notice the order of the listing here changes every few seconds, as the measurements continually update.
You’re looking for ‘rsrp0,’which means Reference Signal Received Power for the closest tower. You could however, be connected to a different secondary tower ‘rsrp1’.
You should see a negative number from around -40 to -140. Closer to -40 is a really strong signal, while closer to -140 is a really poor signal. Anything below -120 is very poor, and you might suffer interruptions and you data speeds will be poor.
-90 or higher = Excellent
-91 to -105 = Good
-106 to -120 = Fair
-121 to -124 = Poor
-125 = No Signal
I have another 1000ish mile trip to southern CO coming up in a couple weeks so I will post back results from that, but I am optimistic that I will have the same improved experience.
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