Metal buildings and Cell signals

[oosik]

Essentially - I live in a metal house. The rigid urethane insulation on the roof and in the wall is all enclosed in aluminum foil ( RMax ). When I make a phone call - warm outside, I stand out on the porch - cold outside, I stand by the glass door leading out to the porch.

Works pretty well for me.

 

[IXLR8]

Our home has aluminum siding and cell signal inside it terrible to non-existent. I have one window upstairs and one window downstairs where I can sort of make/receive calls, internet is out of the question.
I bought a WeBoost Multiroom system, put the outdoors antenna in the attic where it is not shielded by the Alum siding and put the indoor antenna in the first floor living room. We can now make/receive calls from any room on the first floor and my internet download speeds are typically between 15-30Mb/s, which is all we need. Calls and internet are a bit shaky on the second floor though.

Home MultiRoom | weBoost

 

[Doofy]

We have the house pre-wired with Cat-6 Ethernet to avoid dead spots for internet access. I am no expert, but I am much more experienced and trained with computers and networking than other technical skills. I can hardwire my desktop and will have Ethernet jacks throughout, I can also plug in my laptop directly. This will keep the WiFi bandwidth available for phones and other devices without Ethernet ports. There are about 15' between the shop/garage and the house. The mechanicals room is nearest the shop (almost like I planned it that way). I will probably run Cat 6 or 7 between the buildings and the have a separate router distribute WiFi in the shop. I will hardwire the TV in the shop...need to see videos on lots of how-to stuff.

Big issues to solve are finding a good internet provider and boosting the cell signal. Given our location, my choices are Starlink or other Satellite based internet or Verizon or similar cell based. There is no fiber or DSL in this rural area. 7 miles to the nearest town and it is less than 5k people. Only about 6 properties on the entire road and the smallest is 15 acres. They are not likely to run cable, fiber or DSL anytime soon.

The cheapest solution seems to be finding a good cell booster that can effectively be my ISP. Verizon has that service. Once I get a strong signal in the house, it can run through the wires and wireless. Plan B will be Starlink with the same distribution plan.

Good Lord, I thought I lived in Podunksville! I live 20 miles from a small town of 400 or so and have had DSL for at least 10 years. Fiber optic will be installed this summer. Best of luck finding something that works for you.

 

[bigtiller]

I get pretty good reception inside my tin shed.

 

[newbury]

I'm pro Starlink. Getting phone signal or WiFi from towers or cable is antiquated. In 2004 I talked on a Cell phone in the middle of the Iraq desert. Sattelite all the way.

Problem is our government still wants to throw money at towers and cable. My small local phone company received a $15M grant to bury fiber optics. Didn't improve our WiFi at all.....

Why would you expect anything done by your ISP to improve your WiFi?
Our government has invested heavily in fiber. The counties in my area (the corners of Ms, Al, Tn) are getting "fibered". My area near Tupelo is getting "fibered" on the poles by the electric coop and in the ground by the telephone company. (~$85 for 1GB for either)
Often the same area was getting both. My speeds are back up to 90 to 108 up and down for $54/month.
My Dish TV goes out in heavy rains. My old ISP w/ DSL would go out after a heavy rain.
When your "small local phone company" gets Fiber to you then YOU hook up WiFi.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

I get pretty good reception inside my tin shed.

I wonder if the cell tower in the pic has anything to do with that?

 

[dlctcg]

Wilson Electronics & weBoost are the same company & they were recently aquired by Zinwave. WilsonPro is really the commercial / enterprise level of equipment making it more scalable for larger installs (even though we have installed many in homes). The weBoost line is the home & small business solutions (also the auto). The thing with cell boosters is the expectations need to set & be realistic; you can not boost what is not there, so you need to know what you current signal strength is & what / where the towers you need are.

We have been to locations to perform a site survey where we had to tell the end user that the exterior signal was not strong enough for us to comfortably be able to offer a solution. (disclaimer: I have no connection to either company except we do spec out & install their systems) So, it is important to check your location first for carrier signal strength & tower location. A cellular booster will also only be as good as the installation, especially if you have a very weak directional signal, it will need to fine tuned. If the exterior signal is strong then a simple omni-directional antenna way work. Interior placement of antennas will also make a difference depending on the interior layout & the construction materials used.

Both companies have really good info on their sites & the employees are usually well versed in helping with a solution.

 

[newbury]

The thing with cell boosters is the expectations need to set & be realistic; you can boost what is not there, so you need to know what you current signal strength is & what / where the towers you need

I'll assume you meant

you can't boost what is not there

But what in general terms is a minimal signal strength?
For example
My front porch is -115dBm
living room is -120 dBm unboosted
as measured with both my phone SIM status and the android app - Network Signal Info (by KAIBITS Software GmbH)

 

[dlctcg]

I'll assume you meant

@newbury... You are correct... (& I corrected it).... thanks...

 

[dlctcg]

But what in general terms is a minimal signal strength?
For example
My front porch is -115dBm
living room is -120 dBm unboosted
as measured with both my phone SIM status and the android app - Network Signal Info (by KAIBITS Software GmbH)

So, we use a Cellular Signal Meter which will read the signal strength for each frequency (LTE, CELL, PCS, AWS); then for each frequency we cycle through each channel for the signal strength. This is a little different than how a cell phone does this as it is reading the channel it is connected to... but this still a great start.

To answer your question a little more directly, Wilson considers a -100dBm as a fairly weak signal & if the signal gets much weaker then that, you may not have any service. However, we consider -110dBm to be the point where we would offer a test install (for a predetermined investment) to see if the system will perform as expected for the clients needs. So, your -115dBm readings from the exterior (where we would want to measure them) is iffy but that is based on cell phone reading. If we can determine location for carrier signal strength & tower location than a fine tuned directional antenna might be a good solution. Sorry to be a little vague but without actual meter readings, a site survey & locating the towers (all which we do for our clients) it is hard to say... but as you exceed -105dBm it does start to be determined on the above factors & the quality of the install.

I know this does not directly answer the question "will it work or not" but the truth is maybe... (it is kind of like Wi-Fi... many factors). It is one of the reasons we offer a test install for certain projects... we want to make sure it is a working solution for our clients.