Mobile Phone Boosters

[Dr. Love]

Has anyone ever used one of these things? Do they work? I'm looking to drop my land line to save some $$$, but would like better mobile reception in the house. Specific recommendations would be especially appreciated.

[AtomicCEO]

Has anyone ever used one of these things?  Do they work?  I'm looking to drop my land line to save some $$$, but would like better mobile reception in the house.  Specific recommendations would be especially appreciated.

 

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I bought an external antenna for my phone when my home reception was bad. It didn't work for squat. I asked about the stick on antennas, but nobody was that enthusiastic about them.

 

Three things you might look at:

- Update your phone. When my reception got worse over the course of a few years, Verizon told me to do an update by dialing some code, and it updated the list of compatible towers I could connect to (or something like that).

 

- Get a different phone. My LG6000 was great for several years... then, as the battery wore down or maybe something else happened, my reception got worse. I traded in for a Motorola e815, and now I get WAY better reception at the house. My wife traded into a lower end Motorola that got bad receptions, so she took it back and traded it for a new LG that worked better. Phones vary on how good their reception is.

 

- Get a different provider. T-Mobile sucks in my neighborhood. Sprint and Cingular are marginally better. Verizon is the only one that works well enough to replace my home phone.

[Ursa Majoris]

We have installed a booster into the basement at work and reception improved greatly for all services. This is way beyond what you'd want, but there is likely a residential version of the same thing. I'll see if I can get the equipment name.

[Dr. Love]

I bought an external antenna for my phone when my home reception was bad.  It didn't work for squat.  I asked about the stick on antennas, but nobody was that enthusiastic about them.

 

Three things you might look at:

- Update your phone.  When my reception got worse over the course of a few years, Verizon told me to do an update by dialing some code, and it updated the list of compatible towers I could connect to (or something like that).

 

- Get a different phone.  My LG6000 was great for several years... then, as the battery wore down or maybe something else happened, my reception got worse.  I traded in for a Motorola e815, and now I get WAY better reception at the house.  My wife traded into a lower end Motorola that got bad receptions, so she took it back and traded it for a new LG that worked better.  Phones vary on how good their reception is.

 

- Get a different provider.  T-Mobile sucks in my neighborhood.  Sprint and Cingular are marginally better.  Verizon is the only one that works well enough to replace my home phone.

 

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I realize that phone models vary greatly on their reception. Unfortunately, I'm somewhat limited with my phone choices, as my current one is a smartphone, and I'm completely dependant upon it.

 

As to the providers, I'm already investigating that. Verizon, Alltel, and Sprint are the best providers for my area with Cingular being a noticable step down. T-mobile is non-existant (and I have no idea how Nextel is). I'm checking on all of them. However, I really like Cingular and would strongly consider staying with them if I can pick up a signal booster that works for a few bucks, considering that if I switched, I'd have to buy a different smartphone (which isn't a cheap date, either). Your experiences with these things aren't encouraging.

 

We have installed a booster into the basement at work and reception improved greatly for all services.  This is way beyond what you'd want, but there is likely a residential version of the same thing.  I'll see if I can get the equipment name.

 

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Many thanks.