General Boards > Off Topic
how to improve mobile phone signal strength
WAI4WD:
The best thing you can do is call someone like https://powertec.com.au and talk with them. They have products that range from a simple antenna to help get the signal for better reception, to the legal boosters for all three prime networks.
Talk to an expert about phone reception. Most of what you read online is BS and misinformation. You cannot install an antenna and boost your mobile phone reception. It does not work that way. If you want to boost a one bar signal, or where your mobile has no bars, but a booster can grab some signal to create bars for you, then the only legal way to do that in Australia is a Cel-Fi Go. The only company who counts for those is Powertec. Everyone else is only a reseller for Powertec.
We've been through this with our owners corp. Companies tried telling us they could create signal in our parking levels with antenna boosters from the entry. Told them to try and prove it to us - they quickly refused, as their product could not do as advertised and was rubbish. We went to a professional telco company and had this exact conversation with them, and we installed 3 x 3 sets of the Cel-Fi Go's through 2 parking levels with additional split antenna systems. Where there was no signal, we now have full bars.
Cel-Fi Go is the only legal system sold in Australia to boost mobile signal. An antenna alone does not boost signal, it just clears up spotty reception a little.
Yes, you're looking at around $1000 to $1150 for the 4WD kits (depending on aerial size), but its legal, you won't be tracked down and fined for creating chaos within the network. Yes, they actually do that. Our RFID in our building was on the wrong signal, they tracked us down within 8 weeks as the cause for creating issues in surrounding mobile systems - specifically some emergency ones. They gave us 7 days to disable it or fix it. Telco's don't screw around with illegal signals causing issues in their network.
Do it once, do it right, is my advice.
mewgaf:
Hi Jack
I've had a quick read here and hope this helps.
Telco's buy bands (radio bandwidth chanels) from the government (costing $m). Each Telco and towers operate on different freqencies inside these bands.
To get better reception for your phone. You can get a better antenna for your phone or a mobile phone repeater .
A mobile phone repeater will use an external antennta regenerate the signal and send it out at a low power on another.
Pros. You can get all sorts of antennas if you truly need mobile comms or just stick to the base kits. (Or to 7m tow bar mount)
Be aware that 3g is being turned off in Australia, and has been in a lot of places, but alot of 3g repeaters are still being sold.
A repeater is a licensed device, and all the ones that I have seen are tied to a carrier (ie Telco). So when you buy one of these there are licencing terms and conditions to comply with communications act. Basically you operate as a mini cell off the mobile phone network.
Btw a repeater that receives no signal can only regenerate nothing.
Mark
WAI4WD:
--- Quote from: mewgaf on Sep 08, 2021, 03:31:50 AM ---Btw a repeater that receives no signal can only regenerate nothing.
Mark
--- End quote ---
In case this was aimed at what I said, which is maybe misinterpreted, I said: If you want to boost a one bar signal, or where your mobile has no bars, but a booster can grab some signal to create bars for you
A mobiles strength is limited and will drop out before a stronger powered system. In a given location your mobile may get zero signal, but a powered antenna booster may in fact receive a weak signal that the mobile is not capable of doing so. This is where boosters come into their own.
Yes, agree with what Mark said though. A booster with no signal can not boost anything.
This is why you read about people camping together and one couple having no signal for their mobiles and another with a cel-fi go system having full signal around their caravan.
Whilst 3G is marked for 2024 to be turned off, you will find this will start in cities primarily, as no telco has the infrastructure in regional Australia to replace the existing 3G network coverage. 4G just doesn't travel as far, thus more repeaters are required (the infrastructure that does not currently exist). Not sure they can pull that rabbit from their hat in just 3 years.
Honestly, I suspect 3G will remain beyond 2024 in rural Australia because the cost will exceed the demand for telcos to bother themselves with. I believe companies like StarLink will endup providing the rural coverage Australia needs once they release a mobile service for those on the move to use without a fixed address. Rural calls will move to VOIP as StarLink is changing satelite data costs for the better. If you have a good data connection, then a 4 or 5G connection means nothing with VOIP.
yvesjv:
--- Quote from: WAI4WD on Sep 08, 2021, 06:47:08 AM ---Rural calls will move to VOIP as StarLink is changing satelite data costs for the better. If you have a good data connection, then a 4 or 5G connection means nothing with VOIP.
--- End quote ---
Not always, I have a decent VOIP connection at work and we are migrating to Teams audio... every so of tern there is a loss of UDP packets significant enough for one of the callers to start the "hello I cannot hear you, you've dropped" routine.
But that is another conversation not relevant to this topic.
3g, 4g and 5 G, it's all about the frequencies and modulations used.
And I concur with 3G remaining prevalent for years to come when rural.
For everyone who likes a quick read, I've googled for a short one: https://justaskthales.com/en/reader-response-whats-the-difference-in-network-coverage-between-3g-4g-5g/
If Jack gets one bar that a cel-fi can make good use of, his son should buy him one ;)
jack-fc:
Firstly, a great big thank-you to all who responded! Much appreciated, and very valuable to an old fart techtard.
I'm now starting to get an idea of what best suits my situation. Some parameters I'm applying to my eventual decision are probably worth noting -
1) Personally, I'd rather do nothing; I'm happiest when far away from bloody mobile phones.
2) But I should at least give a little thought to the needs of the LotO who will readily tolerate no phone
reception but prefers it where possible to talk/video call/skip or whatever to kids and more particularly,
grandkids, together with the ability to read the daily papers, etc on her 'device' whilst being served
breakfast in bed in the 'motorhome'. And some miniscule thought is also due to the needs of one
particular son who seems to fervently believe that it's his birth right to have unlimited access to his
mummy and daddy 24/7... (he's the one who should pay for the legal cell fi go thingy if he doesn't
like my eventual decision, but given that he was born with abnormally short arms and has always
purchased (second-hand of course) trousers with extremely deep pockets, this is about as likely to
occur as a three-legged race for 110 year old one-legged nuns with STDs...)
3) The LotO and I are both old age pensioners and would prefer to fritter away our meagre available
funds on mere bagatelles like food, beer, wine and diesel for travelling.
4) My smartypants phone is elcheapo, old and battered. It was VERY secondhand when it was forced
upon an (until then) blissfully and happily phoneless me by someone mentioned above and solely
for reasons mentioned above... This phone is old and suffering from a lifetime of abuse (much like
its current owner), and will likely expire soon (ditto).
Sooooo....., I'm thinking, in light of the above, that the best compromise might be a new Telstra Tough Max phone ('blue tick', scored OK in tests for reception range, just not as good as the (shudder) 1 to 2 grand jobbies). Big attraction is that this phone, unlike any others I've managed to find, has an "RF connection port" that allows, with a "patch lead", connection of an external antenna such as RFI CDQ7195 which came up best on a range test I stumbled upon on the interwebby thing.
So I'm hoping this may somewhat extend reception when it is available, be relatively simple (no cradle thingy needed, no hyper-expensive cell go fier) and address the issue of my abysmal phone; all without a too-horrendous price.
Further comments warmly invited as no firm and final decision has been made.
Cheers and Thanks, Jack
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