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Re: [Shop-talk] Cell Phone Signal Boosters

To: Ronnie Day <ronnie.day@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Shop-talk] Cell Phone Signal Boosters
From: Peter Murray <peterwmurray@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 1 Jul 2013 12:09:17 -0400
Cc: Shop Talk List <shop-talk@autox.team.net>
Delivered-to: mharc@autox.team.net
Delivered-to: shop-talk@autox.team.net
References: <CAMHhs6f2bv01Hv8nvVZMKYo-YaGMxLsJhYu_Ohd+tU79uAR4zQ@mail.gmail.com>
I'm sure several of us share a little bit of jealousy at your move. I know
I would like to put a tower up here, but I think 50' wouldn't get over the
trees that surround me...

I live in suburban Northern Virginia, with lightly rolling terrain and
people who harbor a strong fear of cell towers, so service quality widely
varies. I am 2 miles from the nearest cell site, and discovered a year ago
(when the derecho came through) that without it, there is absolutely no
service around my house.

Is no terrestrial-based internet connectivity available at the new place?
My parents-in-law have wireless internet at their house 10 miles south of
Montrose, Colorado. AT&T, Verizon and Sprint all offer microcell solutions,
but the high latency of satellite connections will likely prevent them from
working. That said, I have the AT&T microcell at my house on a Cox
cablemodem and it has been quite reliable. I had given some thought to a
commercial-grade booster - the Wi-Ex 645 - if the microcell had not worked
(and I still think about it, as my generally-reliable Cox cablemodem is a
single-point of failure).

In your situation, it sounds like the booster (with a highly-directional
receive antenna up on the tower) will be your best bet - and may provide
you the best data connectivity as well, though I wouldn't watch Netflix
over it.

Maybe these guys provide coverage to your area:
http://www.centex.net/internet.php

73 de N3IXY

-Peter


On Mon, Jul 1, 2013 at 10:46 AM, Ronnie Day <ronnie.day@gmail.com> wrote:

> We're (FINALLY) closing in on the move to our new place located near BFE
> about 80 miles NE of Austin. Being near BFE, cell coverage in the area is
> spotty at best, almost non-existent at our place. Data is (sort of and
> sometimes) there, but it is better than voice call. I do have one 50 foot
> tiltover, crankup tower that I'll be put up fairly soon, primarily for an
> OTA TV antenna and some ham radio antennas.
> Wilson Electronics has a series of signal boosters and different antennas
> that are basically low power repeaters. Wilson made their name in amateur
> radio many years ago and I expect their bits to work well. I did want to
> see if anyone in the group has used the Wilson gear or possibly some other
> company's so I could get some real world feedback.
> I might try the Verizon Network Extender, but I had one of those a couple
> of years ago where we're currently living and it didn't seem to make much
> difference in signal level in the house at that time. While the Wilson
> System uses antennas (omni or directional) to pick the RF signal, the
> Verizon box plugs into the Internet and basically provides a cell node in
> your house. Looks like we'll be using Exede satt based broadband so I'm not
> sure if the Verizon box would work at all.
> I can't believe that we're the only folks in this large widely scattered
> group that have to deal with this sort of situation.
> Thanks,
> Ron
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