bad cell phone reception in house. What to do?
 

I live out in the country. We just discontinued our land line and long distance service. My wife and I each have a cell phone (verizon) and new to us broadband wireless (sprint). For cell service if I stand right at the front door of my house I can get 2 bars but if I move into the interior of the house I get 0 bars. I frequently drop calls or miss calls when I am inside my house.

I want to increase the reliability of the cell service. I was thinking of buying a cell repeater to mount inside the house to boost reception. I am hoping this will also boost our internet speed as well.

What do you guys suggest?

Here are some repeaters I am thinking about...
http://www.repeaterstore.com/products/repeaterkits/index.html

from what I understand our cell phone service and broadband internet run off the same frequency.

Regards,
Speedy:)

It might be easier to switch cell phone providers. If another provider has a tower closer to your house than Verizon or Sprint, you'd get better signal. Niether of those companies is well know for good coverage out in the sticks. They do better if you live in a city.

Different phones can help as well. Some of the newer phones compromise reception and battery life to the false god of the small size. I use a large boat anchor for a phone, which works much better than the little cute one my wife uses.

JR

Is it both phones or just yours? In my house, the service on my personal cell phone sucks. My wifes cell and my work cell have excellent service. Sometimes its just the phone itself.

I have the same problem. The only solution I have come up with is to leave the cell phone where it receives the best signal, and have a bluetooth headset to use in a 20ft area. Not the best option but it is as good as I can do right now. Never tried a repeater.

Rich

Yes, you may be able to change phones. I haven't researched them, but a repeater should work well.

I think I'd have checked this out before I canceled my working service. ;)

My wife wanted to cancel our landline. I compromised with changing it to the cheapest setting. I'm allowed 25 outbound calls a month and unlimited inbound.

Now I know 911 will work if I ever need it.

I used to have this same problem. Now it's a bit better but not stellar.

I have set up and used a wireless repeater in the past. Basically what you need to do is get an antenna outside (where you have signal) and run the antenna cable inside to an area where you have no signal. Then hook the wireless repeater up to the cable. It will rebroadcast the signal in the area where you have no signal.

Here's a catch - the repeater can sense where there's an overlapping signal and scale it's power back. If you have a room (or floor) that truly has no signal then it will work well for you. If there's even a weak signal there it will interfear with the repeater. This may mean you'll only have a small coverage area inside the house - but that coverage area will have signal strength as good as being outside.

I still have a wireless dual band repeater, antennnas, very low loss cable, and some connectors that I'd be willing to sell cheap. If you're interested send me a PM and we can figure something out. Direct wire repeaters work very well but you have to plug them into your phone (or wireless internet card). Against FCC rules some people use a wireless repeater as a direct wire repeater (more power!!!).

Oh yeah - your wireless broadband is on one of 2 frequencies that the repeaters cover. It can help your internet signal as well (which may mean faster speeds).

I spent a lot of time on this stuff. Feel free to ask any additional questions.

I told ya' that faraday cage was a bad idea....




(if you get that, pat yourself on the back......geek:))

YES I DO! and I'm not too sure I'm happy about it...;) :D

Speedy,
I'm with T-Mobile and just upgraded to a Nokia WiFi/Bluetooth phone (6086) for $50
For another $50 I could get a WiFi hub for my house, all WiFi calls are free... be it at home, Starbucks, Barns & Noble etc.

I personally don't need Wifi at home but you might check with Verison of Sprint to see if they have a deal like that. If either of you have a laptop it might be handy for that too.