Do signal boosters work/worth it?

Telecaster · 11 Oct 2017 at 15:25

Phone signal on BT (EE) at home is shocking, even around town/my area out and about is bad.

Would a signal booster be worth it at home? It's getting really annoying now only hearing 50% of a conversation and constantly asking people to repeat things. Twice today I've had to give up on phone calls, one of which was to BT (the irony).

Or would it be cheaper to buy a landline phone and use that at home? Haven't owned one for years, I don't even know my number or what I would pay for calls.

Eurofighter · 11 Oct 2017 at 16:04

Or get a phone with wifi calling.

pinkpound · 11 Oct 2017 at 16:39

Telecaster said:
Phone signal on BT (EE) at home is shocking, even around town/my area out and about is bad.

Would a signal booster be worth it at home? It's getting really annoying now only hearing 50% of a conversation and constantly asking people to repeat things. Twice today I've had to give up on phone calls, one of which was to BT (the irony).

Or would it be cheaper to buy a landline phone and use that at home? Haven't owned one for years, I don't even know my number or what I would pay for calls.

BT Mobile are running test of a signal booster at the moment and its also alleged they are working on wifi calling

http://btsupport.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/57038/c/7707

reflux · 11 Oct 2017 at 17:22

I've got a signal booster on Three, and yes, it is worth it - when it works.

I've gone from basically no signal at all downstairs to signal throughout the house. However, sometimes it needs rebooting and sometimes, for some reason, it fails to pass calls through.

Still, it was either that or change network and I wanted to stay on Three, so it has been a reasonably good solution overall. However, obviously it depends if your network offers one. If they can't provide you with a solution for decent service at home, then I think you need to try and get out of your contract and go with someone else.

mame · 12 Oct 2017 at 10:21

We've got the EE one and it's the same as above. 95% of the time it works fine. Sometimes needs a reboot and sometimes the phone just doesn't see it for a short while. Wifi calling is fine if you've got wifi that never ever drops at all.

Hades · 12 Oct 2017 at 21:25

Does your neighbor also get to piggy back off it if he can 'see' your WiFi?

mame · 12 Oct 2017 at 22:39

Hades said:
Does your neighbor also get to piggy back off it if he can 'see' your WiFi?

individual devices don't have to be registered, they just work but it isn't really a case of seeing or not seeing your wifi, it uses your interent connection to broadcast a cellular signal.

Hades · 12 Oct 2017 at 22:55

mame said:
individual devices don't have to be registered, they just work but it isn't really a case of seeing or not seeing your wifi, it uses your interent connection to broadcast a cellular signal.

Sorry what I meant was that if you get a signal booster then does your neighbour suddenly find he has a great signal too? It sounds like they would.

reflux · 13 Oct 2017 at 09:04

Hades said:
Sorry what I meant was that if you get a signal booster then does your neighbour suddenly find he has a great signal too? It sounds like they would.

On Three, you have to fill in a webform to manually register each number you want to add to the booster. I don't know about other network implementations though.

Myshra · 13 Oct 2017 at 10:21

Hades said:
Sorry what I meant was that if you get a signal booster then does your neighbour suddenly find he has a great signal too? It sounds like they would.

You have to register handsets onto it, your neighbour wont be able to use your connection without your prior setup. You wont even be able to see it exists unless you have something that can detect 2100mhz, it broadcasts a 3G signal so only your phones can see it and the handset wont even know it's a femto cell to be honest.

Telecaster · 19 Oct 2017 at 17:52

Didn't realise they were so expensive, for a £5 p/m sim only deal I don't think I can justify it.

kayomani · 24 Oct 2017 at 00:42

I have a EE signal box and it gives me full hsdpa with a range of that of what you'd expect from wifi but you need broadband of course.

GSM signal boosters are illegal in England, Ofcom rules state that the device must be controllable by the network. Imagine if everyone decided to buy them, it'd potentially create masses of noise on the bands being used and other issues. Its legal to sell them mind you..

sesevans · 24 Oct 2017 at 13:42

Highly recommend Google WiFi which has boosted the WiFi signal extremely well in previous hard to reach spots. They say that it is because of the mesh network they create with the minimum of two Google WiFi units needed....one master and one booster unit.

BaldJedi · 24 Oct 2017 at 14:48

sesevans said:
Highly recommend Google WiFi which has boosted the WiFi signal extremely well in previous hard to reach spots. They say that it is because of the mesh network they create with the minimum of two Google WiFi units needed....one master and one booster unit.

OP wants to boost their mobile signal, not wi-fi... :rolleyes:

sesevans · 24 Oct 2017 at 15:48

BaldJedi said:
OP wants to boost their mobile signal, not wi-fi...

Fair dues. For phone boost I have a femtocell (check it out) supplied by Vodafone called SureSignal. Thick walls play havoc on phone signals. Works fine but you are limited to 4 or 5 phones that can be allocated to it. I do not have a solution if you need to cover more than 4 or 5 phones.

wesley · 24 Oct 2017 at 15:55

sesevans said:
Highly recommend Google WiFi which has boosted the WiFi signal extremely well in previous hard to reach spots. They say that it is because of the mesh network they create with the minimum of two Google WiFi units needed....one master and one booster unit.

post of the year

jpaul · 25 Oct 2017 at 08:55

Had you explored changing your phone first, to something more sensitive ?

that was what I was planning, maybe guided by this http://www.pts.se/upload/Rapporter/Tele/2016/MobilephoneTest2016-augusti-2016.pdf
but I have not searched for a 2017 update.