This web site is squirrely tonight (locks up a lot). Anyhow, I read a post a week or so ago on potential solutions to poor cell reception "out in the country". My situation with landline phone coverage is OK, albeit a bit expensive for "out of area" calls (defined las anywhere greater than 5 miles from my home). However, the internet signal over that line, highly marketed by the phone company, is slow (1.5 mb/sec)- forget about streaming a movie, for instance. My cell reception by the carrier in our region with the most towers (Verizon) is adequate for phone calls and 3G digital signals but inside the house not sufficient for reliable 4G (i.e., fast digital). This appears to be a fairly common issue with TBNers. Verizon, as the other cell carriers, markets a signal enhancer that consists of an outside antenna (quite small) and an inside broadcast unit, but according to the local company store such will only gain at 1-2 "bars" in a marginal reception area and they recommended at least 3, preferably 4, bars (i.e, ~ -90dB or better) in order to have a truly reliable and fast 4G connection such that one could stream whatever at 5 or more mb/sec. OK, understood, now what? I checked on the various signal multipliers on the market and settled on the Wilson unit, naturally......the most expensive but also the most widely used by industry. However, until last month Wilson did not have a multi-brand (i.e., receives all cell carriers) unit in 4G but rather only in 3G or in single carrier units (so, Verizon 4G but no one else). So, I waited, and as stated last month they released the darn thing (a year after their site said it was due.....). This commentary is ONLY relevant to my experience with the Wilson 4G Pro. It has an outside antenna of decent size, the bracket which comes with the unit being limited in use so I purchased a short pipe and clamp on line onto which I could mount it under the eaves and out of direct lightening hits. The other inclusions are the inside antenna (a modest rectangular box one can mount on a stud or wall) and some low loss cable. You need low loss cable, which from Wilson is darn expensive but you can get very good R6, or better yet R11, online at modest cost, to connect the outside and inside devices. Wilson supplies a 50 foot cable with the unit and that should suffice for most. One needs to get out on the roof or wherever to locate the best direction for cell signal. I knew of 2 towers within 20 miles (you can find tower locations via multiple online sites or from your cell carrier), so pointed my cell phone in one direction, then the other as I slowly rotated while watching the cell signal meter (most phones have it buried in the "settings" section). When I locate the best signal I fixed the outside antenna (it's directional - got to be aimed correctly). Course......reason I waited for the "all carriers" Wilson unit is everyone who visits me, from relatives and guests to repair men, didn't have good reception either and they had a variety of cell carriers. Figured I might as well solve everyone's problem by putting in a multi-carrier multiplier. Y'all can see the obvious issue - if I aimed at the Verizon tower what about the towers of the other carriers. Fortunately they were fairly close to the Verizon tower so I got away with it (my daughter's boyfriend has T-Mobile, and "I never get any signal out here" - he does now, the benefits of which are debatable). Positioning the internal antenna can be a conundrum, and Wilson doesn't mention that point..... Basically, I purchased the medium building/business unit, and the internal antenna will blanket a very large room BUT it loses strength at each wall and I've 3 floors. Placed the internal antenna in the attic directly on the drywall over the top floor and signal on that floor was 5 bars (3 bars outside unaided, 1-2 bars inside the house on that floor unaided), on the middle floor 3-4 bars, and on the bottom floor 2-3 bars (bottom floor walls are 10" reinforced concrete, as in rebar every 18" in a cross pattern - 150 mph rated house) whereas unaided it had been 0 bars of 4G, 1-2 bars 3G and unreliable even for conversations, which is 1X.
So, just my experience - good luck out there if you've what many of us country folks have, a lousy internet connection (forget about the satellite stuff) via a phone line. Yeah, I have to pay for extra GB from my cell carrier (I had 6, going to 10) but I knew if I got decent 4G I'd have no issues with downloading whatever. Easiest way to find that out is to use your cell as a wi-fi source (if your cell plan allows it) close to a cell tower and see how fast your tablet or portable computer runs on it. And, yup, you can buy extra interior antennas but the signal diminishes 3dB with each split in the output so the advantage is not great.
So, just my experience - good luck out there if you've what many of us country folks have, a lousy internet connection (forget about the satellite stuff) via a phone line. Yeah, I have to pay for extra GB from my cell carrier (I had 6, going to 10) but I knew if I got decent 4G I'd have no issues with downloading whatever. Easiest way to find that out is to use your cell as a wi-fi source (if your cell plan allows it) close to a cell tower and see how fast your tablet or portable computer runs on it. And, yup, you can buy extra interior antennas but the signal diminishes 3dB with each split in the output so the advantage is not great.
There is only 6-7 lots over there with only a few houses while our subdivision is all but built out and has a about 30-40 homes. Go figure. The road behind the new subdivision has 10 mbps service but it is the typical rural road with houses a great distances from each other, yet we have a dense population in comparison. I really can't believe that the equipment to give us faster access would cost that much money. To make it even worse, there is a fiber line to our front as well for the cell tower that is nearby.