Improving Cellular Reception

Wilson Mobile Professional

On the Go? Need to improve your cellular signal at home, in the office or on the road?

Since we started offering cell phone accessories, we have received these questions a lot and there are several options. One of the best is the Wilson Mobile Wireless Cellular Amplifier. It’s a 3 watt amplifier with about 40db gain. It’s a great mix of power while it minimizes required antenna seperation.  In a vehicle, the outside antenna is placed on the roof getting 6 ft of seperation from the inside antenna and having the metal of the vehicle between the two. In a home or office, the outside antenna can be placed outside a window and the inside antenna at your desk.

Wilson Mobile Wireless 3 Watt Amplifier System

Other more portable options are the Wilson Mobile Mini-Amp and the Wilson Professional. With the Wilson Professional, you can improve your cell signal just about anywhere like the home, office, hotel, airport or vehicle.

More Infor on Portable Cellular Repeaters

Wilson DB Pro Cell Phone Signal Booster

CE Pro magazine and the Custom Electronics Dealers and Installers Association (CEDIA) have awarded Wilson’s SignalBoost DB Pro cellular booster with their 2009 Best Electronics Systems Technologies (BEST) Award in the Home Networking Device Category.

CE Pro held it’s inaugural BEST Awards at the recent CEDIA Expo recognizing the “most noteworth new products and technoligies” for 2009.

Wilson Electronics answers the growing need to improve cellular signal inside buildings  ”with the SignalBoost™ DB Pro kit.  Allowing home integrators and contractors to cash in on an emerging market and consumer demand, DB Pro is installed using standard RG-6 cable, common to home installers and often prewired in newer buildings.”

Read more here: http://www.cepro.com/best/details/signalboost_db_pro/

Find the Wilson SignalBoost DB Pro at Alternative Wireless.

Wilson Sleek

The Wilson Sleek

At CES this week Wilson announced it’s new Sleek cell phone signal booster. The Wilson Sleek™ is designed to be simple, plug and play and easy to move from vehicle to vehicle.

At a planned price of less than $130, the Wilson Sleek will come in at a lower price point than Wilson’s other amplifiers making it very attractive. It will support most signal frequencies from AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and the rest except for Nextel’s iDen 800MHz.

The Wilson Sleek Features:

• Reduces dropped calls
• Extends signal range
• Speeds data rates
• Up to 20 TIMES more output power to cell site when in a vehicle
• Built-in port for battery charging
• Simplifies hands free operation
• Installs in minutes – no special tools required
• Adjustable arms to fit most any phone

No expected delivery date has been given by Wilson. For more info, Wilson Sleek

Wilson Cradle Boosters

Wilson’s new Cradle Boosters are a nice compact, portable and very effective to boost the signal to your device. The Cradle Boosters come in 3 versions: Apple iPhone iBooster, BlackBerry Curve C-Booster and the universal version U-Booster that works with most cell phones and cellular PDA devices.

Shop Wilson Cradle Boosters

iPhone Signal Booster

New from Wilson Electronics is the iPhone iBooster. The iBooster iPhone signal booster consists of an iPhone cradle with built in amplifier, an outside cellular antenna and mounting brackets.

Features include:

• Built In Cellular Amplifier – Reduces dropped calls
• Extends iPhone signal range and improves data rate in weak signal areas
• Up to 20 TIMES more output power to cell site when in a vehicle
• Built-in battery charger
• Pass-thru iPhone connector for accessory access while in cradle
• Cradle accommodates most iPhone protective cases
• Installs in minutes – no special tools required
• Package includes everything needed — plug-and-play
• Attractive, compact design

More Wilson iPhone iBooster Information

Wilson SignalBoost DB Pro Cellular Amplifier System

Wilson Electronics is introducing a new dual band in building cellular amplifier called the Wilson SignalBoost DB Pro. This Wilson cellular amplifier has  62db gain on both 1900MHz and 800MHz frequencies and uses 75 ohm RG-6 cable that is commonly found in current home for use with Cable or Satellite TV.

At the same time, Wilson has added three 75 ohm antennas including a dual band building cellular antenna, panel cellular antenna and dome cellular antenna. New options in include an in wall installation kit for the panel antennas such as an “in the wall” panel installation kit and stud mount dome antenna kit.

More Wilson Dual Band Cellular Repeater Info

The amount of improved cellular signal you get inside the building will depend on the signal strength outside (where ever you mount the outside antenna). Typically an in building repeater system will work for you if you can make a cell phone call from where-ever you might put the outside antenna. If you can make a call from outside of your vehicle or from the roof of your house or building, the signal is probably strong enough for the system to help you.

In Building Cellular Amplifier Sytems

A basic cellular repeater building amplifier system consists of an outside antenna to collect the signal from the cell tower, a cellular amplifier to boost the signal and  an inside antenna to broadcast the improved signal  inside the building. A basic system is easy to install with running cable being the hardest part.

You can put most phones into test mode and get a received signal strength reading. This is a number usually between -60db and over -100db. The closer to 50db, the better the signal. To make a reliable phone call you usually need a signal under -100db. A signal in the -70db range will give pretty good coverage inside the building depending on the system.

More Info on In Building Cellular Amplifier Systems.

Advance Communicator Desktop HandsFree / Speaker Phone / Cradle

One way to improve your cellular reception is to use a desktop station or vehicle hands free device that has a built in external antenna port. One such device is the AdvanceCommunicator from AdvanceTec.

The AdvanceCommunicator™ from AdvanceTec is designed to convert your cell phone into a convenient stand alone Base Station / Desktop Speakerphone / Hands Free System. The speaker phone and handset work with both cellular and PTT (Push To Talk) modes. The cradle also charges the phone.

The AdvanceCommunicator comes with a high gain antenna but also has an external antenna port built into it making it easy to improve cellular signal strength by adding an antenna such as a Yagi or magnetic mount.

The AdvanceCommunicator also comes with software that enables you to operate your phone from a PC. The software allows you to make calls, copy and save caller ID, store thousands of names and numbers, attach photos, assign distinctive rings, update an activity log, keeps a history of calls and more.

The AdvanceCommunicator is available for many Nextel Motorola iDen phones and some Nokia phones.

More Info on AdvanceCommunicator Desktop Hands Free Info at Alternative Wireless

In order to use femtocell, you must have a broadband service like T1, DSL or Cable.  An example is Sprint’s AIRAVE™ service. A Sprint customer buys the AIRAVE™ base station, connects it to their broadband router and a mini cell tower is created inside the home or office. Verizon and AT&T offer similiar femtocell solutions with varying prices.

The femtocell solution does have it’s limitations.  Since a broadband service is required, using it to improve the signal to their cellular data cards makes little sense.  If you live in rural areas where DSL or Cable is not available, femtocell won’t be an option.

Femtocell service is offered only in limited areas so even if you do have broadband service you might not be able to use femtocell. A single femtocell device will only work with a single carrier. A Sprint AIRAVE™, for example, won’t help the Verizon phones in the home. The number of user that can use the a femtocell device at one time may also be limited.  For example Sprint has a 3 user limit.

Check with your carrier for more information.

Sprint AIRAVE ,  Verizon Wireless Femtocell

The higher the antenna gain, the better performing the antenna correct? This is usually true but not always. There are a few other factors to consider. Here’s a brief, non technical explanation.

Gain

There are a couple of different methods that manufacturers use to measuring antenna gain. The results give a dBi rating. You will usually see  cellular antenna gain expressed in 3 different ways

• dB
• dBi
• dBd

dB and dBd are the same. 0 dBd (unity gain) is about 2.15 dBi.

The higher the antenna gain the more concentrated it’s beamwidth. As shown in the illustration of omni directional antennas, a 0 dB gain antenna has a higher radiation pattern while the 5 dB is rather flat.  Typically a 0 db (or unity) gain antenna would would work better in area surrounded by many trees, hills or high rise buildings while a 5dB would be better in flatter, open areas. A 3dB antenna is probably the best all around antenna for most travelers.

Yagi Directional Cellular Antennas

Yagi Directional Cellular Antenna

Yagi antennas have the highest gains and, because of their more concentrated beam width, are directional. A yagi is mounted on a building and pointed towards the nearest tower. Because of their more narrow beam-width, they do not make good antennas for moving vehicles. Stick with omni directional antennas for cars, trucks and RVs. If there a hills or other obstructions between your location and your carrier’s tower, an omni directional may work better. However, we have seen many instances where the higher yagi still out performs an omni directional even in these types of areas.

Need more info? Larsen has some excellent and more technical info on antennas on their website. You can also find cellular antenna advice on our web site.