Anyone use a Cell Phone booster in their vehicle?

[JoshuaHufford]

I've been thinking about getting one for my work vehicle, which is a 2015 Ford Transit Connect. I do Appliance Repair for a living, I can get out into rural areas with little to no coverage. There are times I really could use cell coverage for maps, looking up service manuals, calling tech support etc.

Curious if anyone else uses one,

Do they help much?
How much did you spend?
Any suggestions on make model?
Any suggestions on an antenna for an NMO mount?

Thanks!

 

[JoshuaHufford]

Giving this a bump.

 

[KeithJoseph]

And can these be used to boost scanner signal?

 

[Australia4001]

And can these be used to boost scanner signal?

No they can not

 

[Australia4001]

I've been thinking about getting one for my work vehicle, which is a 2015 Ford Transit Connect. I do Appliance Repair for a living, I can get out into rural areas with little to no coverage. There are times I really could use cell coverage for maps, looking up service manuals, calling tech support etc.

Curious if anyone else uses one,

Do they help much?
How much did you spend?
Any suggestions on make model?
Any suggestions on an antenna for an NMO mount?

Thanks!

Are they legal ? FCC approved ?

They can cause more harm than good in emergencies

 

[JoshuaHufford]

Just thought I'd update this thread in case it can be of help to anyone else.

I bought this unit about 2 weeks ago,

Fusion2Go Fleet

The Fusion2Go 3.0 NMO Fleet is designed to outperform other in-vehicle cell signal boosters with twice the output power and significantly faster data speeds.

www.surecall.com

I haven't been able to test it yet in very rural areas, but I've tried it out in a few spots where I used to have little to no reception and my phone now works perfectly in these areas, and I have not had a single dropped call yet. I also notice that on the phone that I leave my mobile hotspot active all day, it doesn't get nearly as hot as it used to, so it apparently doesn't need to work nearly as hard.

All of the components seem of very high quality, I used one of the NMO mounts I already had in my van as I had 3 installed in it, but the mount that came with the kit seems of very high quality. The antenna that comes with it is made by Larid, it is the same as this only with the Sure Call brand on it, the numbers inside the antenna match this one,

https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/laird-technologies-tra6927m3nb-6167

And yes it is FCC approved and legal.

 

[KeithJoseph]

Can it work on a scanner?

 

[KeithJoseph]

Nvm I already got that answer

 

[JoshuaHufford]

Can it work on a scanner?

If you want to improve scanner performance in your vehicle your best bet is to mount an external antenna on your roof.

 

[mmckenna]

Just thought I'd update this thread in case it can be of help to anyone else.

Back in 2007 or so I had a similar system in my truck. It had a phone holder with the indoor antenna built into it. I had an NMO mount on the roof with a similar antenna as yours.

When in camp without the BDA, I'd get zero phone service. If I stood in just the right place with the phone at just the right angle, I could get enough signal to show up, but the call quality was terrible.
Added that device in my truck, and enjoyed good call quality and even some data.

Trick to them is making sure there is plenty of separation between the inside and exterior antennas. If they are too close, the devices will start to self-oscillate. The boosters/BDA's are required to shut down when that happens. That usually results with inexperienced installers telling you they don't work. But, with a proper antenna install, they work quite well. They will not make something out of nothing, there has to be some sort of signal there, but they will make a marginal signal useable.

Ideally I wish cell phone makers would just find a way to work an external antenna connection back into the designs. Usually that would negate the need for the amplifier, just having the external antenna outside the vehicle would help.

Glad to hear it's working for you. Good solution for working out in the rural areas.

 

[KevinC]

Moving interference to track down...wonderful.

 

[JoshuaHufford]

Back in 2007 or so I had a similar system in my truck. It had a phone holder with the indoor antenna built into it. I had an NMO mount on the roof with a similar antenna as yours.

When in camp without the BDA, I'd get zero phone service. If I stood in just the right place with the phone at just the right angle, I could get enough signal to show up, but the call quality was terrible.
Added that device in my truck, and enjoyed good call quality and even some data.

Trick to them is making sure there is plenty of separation between the inside and exterior antennas. If they are too close, the devices will start to self-oscillate. The boosters/BDA's are required to shut down when that happens. That usually results with inexperienced installers telling you they don't work. But, with a proper antenna install, they work quite well. They will not make something out of nothing, there has to be some sort of signal there, but they will make a marginal signal useable.

Ideally I wish cell phone makers would just find a way to work an external antenna connection back into the designs. Usually that would negate the need for the amplifier, just having the external antenna outside the vehicle would help.

Glad to hear it's working for you. Good solution for working out in the rural areas.

Thanks for the tip on oscillation, I might move the antenna to the back of my van, I have 3 mounts, one center, then one about half way towards the front, and one about half way towards the back.

I was way out in a rural area today, I did drop a call twice, but I've been in that area before and there was about a 5 mile dead spot where I had no signal whatsoever, this time I was able to reconnect the call immediately, so certainly an improvement. I think a lot of the problem I have is the van I drive has only 2 side window up front, nothing in the back or on the sides in back, so unless the cell tower is in front of me or directly to the side, the signal has to travel through metal. I agree, I do wish cell phones still had antenna port, I used to use just an external antenna with my phone all the time.

I'm wondering if there is another antenna out there that would work better than the one that came with the kit, I know these low profile antennas are a compromise, and this one was designed to work without a ground plane. I'm wondering if I got a regular wire antenna that was designed to work with a ground plane (since I have a good one) would improve performance even more. Problem is I don't know what frequencies I need, seems the antenna that came with this is very wideband, probably so it will work with any carrier. I use ATT if anyone happens to know what frequencies they use.

https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/antennas-191/mobile-antennas-192/cellular-data-voice-lte-wifi-201/high-gain-pcs-dbc-wifi-237/

 

[mmckenna]

The unit I had was a Wilson, and the antenna that came with it was junk. But it was a cheap mag mount with RG-174, intended as a single solution antenna for everyone, which usually translates into "doesn't do anything well". One time I used it I pulled it up off the truck and the magnet stayed behind.
Since I had an NMO mount, I used this one instead: https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/laird-technologies-etrab821-18503-984
Worked well.

I doubt SureCall is making their own antennas, so that's probably rebranded cheap Chinese antenna. Going with the Laird might be a better idea.

 

[JoshuaHufford]

The antenna that came with my kit is made by Larid, it is this exact antenna just with the SureCall brand on it, the numbers inside the base match.

https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/laird-technologies-tra6927m3nb-6167

I did some searching online but couldn't find any real answer to what ATT uses, maybe I'll start a new thread for that, someone on here might know.

 

[mmckenna]

I did some searching online but couldn't find any real answer to what ATT uses, maybe I'll start a new thread for that, someone on here might know.

Do you mean which frequencies/bands AT&T uses?

As for the antennas, trying to cover so much bandwidth spread over multiple bands makes having a good mobile antenna difficult. If you could tie the thing to just one band and focus on an antenna for that, it would likely have better performance.

 

[JoshuaHufford]

Do you mean which frequencies/bands AT&T uses?

As for the antennas, trying to cover so much bandwidth spread over multiple bands makes having a good mobile antenna difficult. If you could tie the thing to just one band and focus on an antenna for that, it would likely have better performance.

Yes. While the antenna that came with the kit is made by Larid, and I'm sure a quality antenna, it is very wideband, no doubt SureCall chose this antenna so their product will work with multiple carriers. Since I only use ATT, if I can narrow down to what they use, I was hoping to find an antenna tuned to whatever ATT uses.

 

[mmckenna]

Since I only use ATT, if I can narrow down to what they use, I was hoping to find an antenna tuned to whatever ATT uses.

There is a way to do market based searches, but for the life of me, I can't recall how I did it. I did one for my area for all the cellular carriers a while back. I've got it for my county, but I really don't remember how I got it. Maybe if I sleep on it, I'll remember.

 

[mmckenna]

Here's one tool you can use. https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/General_Menu_Reports/engineering_search.cfm?accessible=NO

Make sure you check "Cellular" and "PCS". You can narrow it down to state/county, and the report will give you the call signs as well as the cell site locations.

Here's the one I used: https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchMarket.jsp
Select "Market Type" as CMA - Cellular Market Area
The, hard part, find your location on the list. Probably by county for you.
For "Radio Service Code", click "all", that way you'll see it all and weed out what you don't want.
For "Auction", click "all".
Down near the bottom under "Results Display", select 100.

Run the report and that should give you what you need. Look for your carrier (be aware that some of them use the old carrier names, ie: Verizon might have some under GTE, etc)
Click on the individual call signs, and you'll see a section where it shows "Associated Frequencies".
That's what'll tell you what frequencies your carrier uses in your area. With that, you can determine what type of antenna you need. However, it's very likely you'll still need the whole wideband models.

Like I said, would be nice if you could limit the cell phones to use specific bands, that way you could put up a proper antenna.

 

[JoshuaHufford]

Great, thanks!

 

[JoshuaHufford]

Just wanted to update this thread, I went ahead and bought this antenna,

Wilson NMO Antennas - Requires NMO Mount

Upgrade, replace, or expand your cell phone booster antenna with Wilson Multi-Band NMO Trucker Antenna for trucks and RVs. Free shipping.

www.wilsonamplifiers.com

I got it on ebay for $12, I figure if it doesn't work well I'll make use of it for something.

Today I did a test at a spot where I've had a lot of problems getting any signal at all before. I kept my phone in the exact same location in my van, did 3 speed tests each, one with the booster off, one with the booster on with the Wilson antenna, and one with the booster on with the stock Larid antenna, here are the results, this is Mb per second.

No Booster,
Down Up
1.64 .00
1.60 .01
0.83 .01

Booster on
Wilson Antenna
2.48 5.29
1.81 2.35
2.32 2.99

Booster on
Larid Antenna
3.85 6.52
4.01 6.91
2.49 6.40

I realize this isn't exactly a scientific test, but I think it is enough to show that the booster is clearly working and improving reception. I also find it interesting that I almost had no upload speed at all with the booster off, but that makes sense because it is probably harder for the phone signal to make it to the tower than the tower signal to make it to the phone in a bad area.

Clearly, at least at this location the Larid antenna performed better, which makes sense as the booster was probably designed around this antenna. I was hoping a taller wire antenna might improve things, but perhaps not. I'll probably try to test between the two another time at another poor site.