Mobile Cell Phone Boosters

[ducktapeguy]

I agree with you, living and off roading in CA, there are many locations with dead or VERY weak signals. And it doesn't matter who your cell carrier is.
Looking forward to hear how this works for you!
When you're using it in the middle of nowhere, can you take a moment to see what your signal strength is and then get out of your vehicle, walk maybe 15-20 feet away and see how many bars you get without the WeBoost?

I’ll definitely give it a try. I don’t expect it’ll work when I’m in the canyons, but I’m hoping to camp somewhere near the edge of cell reception to get a better idea of how well it works.

just from my quick testing yesterday in my driveway I saw a signal increase from -111 to -80. I think that’s in db. That equates going from a fair/poor connection to an excellent one. When testing internet speeds without the booster I was at 26 Mb down/4 up. With the booster on it went to 33 down/19 up, so an almost 5 time increase on upload. This was just a single test so I’ll have to play around with it some more

 

[r2m]

Wow! That's encouraging!

 

[ducktapeguy]

I was curious to see what would happen if I started moving the exterior antenna, specifically how close or far I need to be from the interior one before it started causing problem. The good news is it had to be fairly close of the interior antenna (within 2 ft) before I saw an issue on the booster (blinking red light). If the exterior antenna was outside the car, then there's no issue. Seems to match what I've been reading about the metal exterior of the car being an effective shield between the two antennas, so physical separation isn't that big of a problem at least from this very rudimentary experiment.

 

[r2m]

I've been wondering about that also. If having the exterior antenna hanging off my rear spare tire hanger would be far enough from the interior antenna. I've also read where the interior, if possible, should point toward where the phone is? If so, what determines the part of the interior antenna to point? The side edge, the front or back flat face? And how near?

 

[Jstawgn]

I got mine mounted on CBI ditch light bracket and it's fine. The instructions call for 3' separation between the inside and outside antenna.

 

[leucadiacruiser]

I got mine mounted on CBI ditch light bracket and it's fine. The instructions call for 3' separation between the inside and outside antenna.

View attachment 2662156

Having never put my hands on one of those antennas - how top heavy is it? With that spring mount is there a lot of movement? Just starting to wade into these waters.

 

[r2m]

I got mine mounted on CBI ditch light bracket and it's fine. The instructions call for 3' separation between the inside and outside antenna.

View attachment 2662156

And no problems with the interior antenna?? Unless I'm guessing you have it closer to the passenger side.

 

[Jstawgn]

And no problems with the interior antenna?? Unless I'm guessing you have it closer to the passenger side.

I just put it behind drivers seat. Not even mounted. It's in a pocket on one of the seat back organizer.
I can move mine from vehicle to vehicle in 5 min.

 

[Jstawgn]

Having never put my hands on one of those antennas - how top heavy is it? With that spring mount is there a lot of movement? Just starting to wade into these waters.

It would vibrate a bit. I have to put some stabilizing spacer on the ditch light bracket to make it 3 point contact.

Weboost recommended maximum one extension to be able to still use the spring mount. I don't have any due to low clearance concern but easily can be added or removed at any time.

 

[re_guderian]

Just got back from a trip to TX, and drove from El Paso out through Carlsbad, NM (route through absolute BFE), then through (really, really) rural TX oil/farm country to Abilene. Saw TONS of these antennas on all the oil field work trucks.

 

[r2m]

Just got back from a trip to TX, and drove from El Paso out through Carlsbad, NM (route through absolute BFE), then through (really, really) rural TX oil/farm country to Abilene. Saw TONS of these antennas on all the oil field work trucks.

Hummm.... Must seem to work and have some value!
Yep, I think I going to pull the trigger and get one when my play piggy bank recharges.

 

[ducktapeguy]

Just got back from a trip in Canyonlands national park. The weboost worked as expected. Its not magic, it won’t automatically get you signal in the middle of nowhere, but it will improve a weak signal. I still didn’t have reception in about 99% of the park, but there were a few places on the top that i could pick up faint signal from the surrounding mountains. In those areas I was able to actually use the my phone as a hotspot and send out couple emails and text.

It helped a lot when camping around Bryce canyon and Kanab out in the middle of the forest. Sometimes the reception was there, but almost unusable. In one instance i was barely able to load a webpage without it, but after turning it on I was actually able to surf YouTube. My measurement showed a 40 db boost in signal. I’m pretty happy with it and would recommend it.

 

[giovanni]

Wow! I’ve been all over that part of the world and to have any useable reception at all is amazing.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

I recently moved to a higher cooler climate for the summer. Im in a remote area of about 100 people and no one gets cell service. I now have 100 new friends being the only one with cell service. WeBoost will be getting some more orders.

 

[r2m]

I recently moved to a higher cooler climate for the summer. Im in a remote area of about 100 people and no one gets cell service. I now have 100 new friends being the only one with cell service. WeBoost will be getting some more orders.

LandCruiserPhil,
Didn't you have a Hyndy and post on the 100 series before?
Do you have a GX now?
Also, how good is that WeBoost?

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

LandCruiserPhil,
Didn't you have a Hyndy and post on the 100 series before?
Do you have a GX now?
Also, how good is that WeBoost?

Currently, 2006 LX470 and 1996 FzJ80 both WeBoost equipped

 

[GrizzlyClint]

I recently moved to a higher cooler climate for the summer. Im in a remote area of about 100 people and no one gets cell service. I now have 100 new friends being the only one with cell service. WeBoost will be getting some more orders.

What cell carriers and what reception levels did you see before and after with everyone? Also what state is that in? I’m going to need a solution for north Idaho and western Montana.

 

[leucadiacruiser]

We just drove cross country and are pretty impressed with the WeBoost Drive Reach OTR Really a solid product out of the box - even their antenna mount is legitimate for off-road use in my opinion. I've got AT&T as a provider and we did multiple tests across the country with virtually all of them doubling the signal with the We Boost turned on, if not more. One thing we did learn from other forums is if signal looks weak on your phone, toggle off and on the cell receiver on your phone and apparently it will switch to a closer tower rather than hanging on to the last one it received. I don't know if that is accurate but it seemed to work for us. Also, if there is no signal, there is no signal. It's an amplifier. I currently have mine mounted on a Yakima Skinny Rack but have an order in for the Rhino Rack mount that will allow it to fold down inside my the back of my awning. In addition, they now offer the hardwire kit so I'll be switching to that as well. It is really one of the better products I've seen come along. No snake oil from our experience.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

What cell carriers and what reception levels did you see before and after with everyone? Also what state is that in? I’m going to need a solution for north Idaho and western Montana.

TMobile was better than Verison....this time. At the noted above location, no carrier worked without WeBoost. Arizona

 

[re_guderian]

I recently moved to a higher cooler climate for the summer. Im in a remote area of about 100 people...

You lucky dog Long time, no see!!! I'm still stuck here where it's hotter than #@$!.