Internet While on the Road - Current Setup and Future Plans (1 Viewer)

[SharpeCat]

I spoke to a sales as well as a service rep, and they both confirmed that it will work for Visible as well.

WeBoost devices boost ALL North American cell signals/all carriers, and the result is that everyone around the antenna/receiver/weboost devices can benefit from it. Not only you with your visible sim, but your nearby friends and family with their ATT and Sprint SIMs can enjoy the Signal boost as well.

They are emailing me information right now regarding group buy discounts. I will do some research into these devices and other similar ones/other ways to boost, and will keep everyone posted on what I learn. Anyone who has experience with these things or similar products that achieve the same goal, please feel free to chime in. We appreciate your input!

Thanks for asking!

 

[SharpeCat]

Just some light research; did a google search for “Best Cell Signal Booster” and these are some of the first page results:

WeBoost and Wilson Pro are the same.

Pcmags top boosters list has 4 Surecall Models, 2 WeBoost, 2 Cel-fi and 1HiBoost.

The Best Cell Phone Boosters for 2024

Cellular signal boosters use big antennas to improve coverage in your home or car. These are the top cell boosters for apartments, houses, and vehicles.

www.pcmag.com

According to the sales director of signalBooster.com, the WeBoost ones are at the top. I did check their site to see if they only sell WeBoost/biased because of it, and they do sell other brands including the 2 main competitors (surecall and Cel-fi).

The Best Cell-Phone Signal Boosters, According to Experts

This is how you fix the “Can you hear me now?” problem.

nymag.com

Tomsguide‘s top 5 has 2 WeBoost models and 3 Surecall models.

They are also doing very well on amazon. This is the Best Sellers ranking for “Cell Signal Boosters”.

 

[SharpeCat]

Variance - I got less than 5 at one point today in this same spot (by RDU). This is from the phone.

 

[SharpeCat]

This is speedtest from inside the car/laptop while hotspotting from phone; speeds are similar to phone on speedify but much lower on ookla. Both the wireless hotspot using wifi and the wired USB tethered connection are measured in Speedify, but the combine feature does not work for 2 connections to same phone. Note that i had to roll down sunroof to put phone on top to get that speed, because with sunroof and cover closed i was getting closer to 20-30 down in speedify; ookla speed was around 20-30 with both sunroof open and closed. Before opening sunroof/placing phone on roof, i was getting 2-3 upload speeds through ookla, and i got 8-17 after; just to give you an idea of how much of an impact the roof can have.

 

[SharpeCat]

So Wilson Pro/WeBoost responded to me with prices and I have to say... if I decide to go the Cell Signal Booster route, then the prices they sent me to give to myself members will seal the deal.

I’m really glad I contacted them, now I will do more research into MIMO antenna setups to decide which I want to try first, and then pursue/organize a group buy for one or both.

I love it when you can work around amazon, deal with distrubutors and manufacturers directly and save money in the process!

 

[gungriffin]

Nicely done on getting in touch with them. Let me know if you get a group buy around. I would likely be in!

Daniel of TCT has the WeBoost and he really likes it. I can say from wheeling with him that he gets reception in some really unexpected places. The antenna mount that Daniel works really well too. He can lower the antenna down when not in use to get into his garage and also to be able to drive into parking garages.

WeBoost Drive Reach OTR Long Term Review

Years ago I was atop Red Cone Peak, Elevation 12,801, and my buddy’s FJ Cruiser would not start. After fumbling around we decided that this problem was above our skill level and went to call a mechanic friend. We could not make the call. We barely had one bar of cell service. However, this FJ...

tctmagazine.net

Based on your research so far, would a device like the WeBoost increase the speed of the cellular internet?

 

[SharpeCat]

c
Nicely done on getting in touch with them. Let me know if you get a group buy around. I would likely be in!

Daniel of TCT has the WeBoost and he really likes it. I can say from wheeling with him that he gets reception in some really unexpected places. The antenna mount that Daniel works really well too. He can lower the antenna down when not in use to get into his garage and also to be able to drive into parking garages.

WeBoost Drive Reach OTR Long Term Review

Years ago I was atop Red Cone Peak, Elevation 12,801, and my buddy’s FJ Cruiser would not start. After fumbling around we decided that this problem was above our skill level and went to call a mechanic friend. We could not make the call. We barely had one bar of cell service. However, this FJ...

tctmagazine.net

Based on your research so far, would a device like the WeBoost increase the speed of the cellular internet?

I am working on learning more about them, but it seems like there are situations when they work. Basically if you get zero signal, then there is nothing to boost. If you are in the literal middle of nowhere and too far from towers, then it won't work. If you are too close to tower then you don't need it since your signal is probably already strong. For people in between who get some sort of signal but it's too weak, then yes. The rest comes down to how much of that in-between range do you want to cover, how much you're willing to invest, and how much of a boost you are after. The stronger your setup, the more of a boost you get and the further your reach,when trying to pull a signal from a tower. If you travel a lot in the US, especially to remote locations, then i'd say you'd end up benefitting from one quite a bit. If your speed is slow because of congestion, as in slow while in cities/busy areas, then i don't think a boost works to get around deprioritization/congested speeds.

 

[SharpeCat]

New record, broke 100 mb dl, .6 miles from closest Verizon tower. This is from IPhone 8 no router and no booster of any sort.

 

[SharpeCat]

@Beau can you get a tower scan app and see where your closest tower is at the main location you use internet at? My guess is you’re in a congested area is why it’s slow at peak hours, but I want to eliminate distance from tower as a potential cause. If it’s a distance issue, then a cell signal booster might do the trick. If not a distance issue, then a log of your speed tests will help. I get deprioritized when I enter urban areas during peak hours and it can get pretty bad, and if I lived in a congested area I would not go with visible as main source of internet (if my work relies on it).

@gungriffin I think I will host a group buy with them for sure, just give me time to research so I can better educate fellow members as to who will benefit from their products. I also need to better educate myself on which if their products is right for me, as well as for members with different needs. Some may want to travel a large area but cover a small area like their vehicle, and some may want to stay put and cover a large warehouse; most want something in between.

Me personally, I want to cover my car but have a wide coverage area, and so I will be going with something omnidirectional and more portable. I also want a decent signal so I will likely go with something with a small antenna that goes on the roof, maybe their magnetic 4”. This may change as I read and educate myself more, as well as work out all the little details like I had to do with the IceCo group buy.

Basically, give me some time and I will start it as soon as I am ready. Gotta get some more work done for the IceCo one first but It is coming though, as long as they are willing to meet us in the middle with the price. I already confirmed that the warranty will be honored by WeBoost As well, regardless of which of their main Distributors we go with.

 

[Beau]

Congestion area is highly likely. I am at work, but when I scanned the area, I was about 2 miles from the closest tower, and maybe 3 miles from the second. Problem seemed that my home locations was at the edge of both of these towers in terms of signal. Anyway, I won't really be able to provide much data until I get a more appropriate router. Meanwhile, I'll be swapping over to the visible plan on my phone plan and see how that goes.

Ironically, spectrum was down yesterday for couple hours and visible and the jetpack worked quite well USB tethered to my laptop, and then my laptop in hot spot mode to my fire stick for couple hours. Then the jetpack decided to reboot by itself. Jetpack getting returned today anyway.

 

[JohnnyFive]

We've been using Harman Spark in both of our vehicles for a few years now. AT&T offers them and it simply plugs into your odbII port. I don't have any Speedtest snapshots, but my wife and daughter use them to watch movies, download/upload shared videos, and my daughter even uses her WiFI only iPad to hold a FaceTime video call while playing Minecraft! LOL. The only problem I've encountered is every couple of months or so the wifi will cutout in my LC100, and I just need to reboot the device (unplug/replug). Anyways, I think we pay $20 per vehicle device/line for per month, and it just uses our unlimited pool data from our shared family cell plan. Here's a link to it on AT&T's site if anyone want's to research it...

HARMAN Spark – $100 Bill Credit- AT&T

Buy and activate HARMAN Spark in Black , free! When you add a new line and buy on a qualifying rate plan.

www.att.com

 

[SharpeCat]

We've been using Harman Spark in both of our vehicles for a few years now. AT&T offers them and it simply plugs into your odbII port. I don't have any Speedtest snapshots, but my wife and daughter use them to watch movies, download/upload shared videos, and my daughter even uses her WiFI only iPad to hold a FaceTime video call while playing Minecraft! LOL. The only problem I've encountered is every couple of months or so the wifi will cutout in my LC100, and I just need to reboot the device (unplug/replug). Anyways, I think we pay $20 per vehicle device/line for per month, and it just uses our unlimited pool data from our shared family cell plan. Here's a link to it on AT&T's site if anyone want's to research it...

HARMAN Spark – $100 Bill Credit- AT&T

Buy and activate HARMAN Spark in Black , free! When you add a new line and buy on a qualifying rate plan.

www.att.com

I have briefly and stopped at the upload and download limits. However lately I have read of people finding a way to bypass both the speed limits, as well as the power limit (externally powering it so they don’t need to have car on). I will look more into it and report back. Thanks!

 

[SharpeCat]

Visible is known for high pings, but today I’ve been getting pretty good pings.

Also just got to the lake to check if I can maintain a live 720/1080p stream on one of the trails, And was surprised to see that I broke my record at the parking lot. 118mb download and much lower pings! Also upload is plenty so we will see if it can sustain it as I’m about to do a test stream. There is a Verizon tower a mile away according to my app, and I’m curious to see if connection is stable through all the trees. Will find out soon!

 

[SharpeCat]

WeBoost & Wilson Pro Cell Boosters - Code "MUDWEBOOST" at "AllTechSource.com" - Ends Nov. 31, 2020

I have an opportunity to get mud members a good discount (the best prices I’ve found by a decent margin) through an official reseller of weBoost and WilsonPro. This is as close as I can get since WeBoost and WilsonPro are not distributors/resellers - only manufacturers. Before we finalize...

forum.ih8mud.com