A Guide To Cell Phone Signal Boosters

Signal boosters offer an excellent solution for eliminating weak mobile signals and dropped calls—ideal for anyone who already receives some signal outside their home, office, vehicle, or commercial premises of up to 100,000 square feet. Every installation is unique, influenced by the strength of the external signal, natural and man-made obstructions, the number of users, and their specific requirements. Therefore, it is essential to understand both your needs and what you are purchasing before making a decision.

This guide contains everything you need to make an informed choice when selecting a signal booster, and we encourage you to explore it fully.

Booster Basics For Boosting Cell Phone Signals

What Is A Cell Phone Signal Booster

Mobile signal boosters operate by capturing a mobile signal from outside or near your building and amplifying it for use inside your home, flat, office, commercial premises, car, lorry, or caravan. As a general rule, if you are able to make a call from any spot outside your building, a mobile signal booster is likely to work for you. Even if you're unable to, we can often tailor a booster kit to suit your specific situation. Boosters require no ongoing subscription fees, support all network providers, are typically straightforward to install, and offer an excellent solution for eliminating dropped calls and poor mobile reception across areas ranging from 10 to 100,000 square feet.

Why You Have Bad Reception & Dropped Calls

Bad reception and dropped calls are the result of different factors working both independently and together. These factors include distance from a cellular tower, user capacity for a cellular tower, and impediments between you and the tower such as geographic features (hills, mountains, rocks), organic features (trees, leaves, snow-pile), weather conditions (rain, snowfall, wind, dust), manmade structures (buildings, walls, fences), and conductive materials (copper, aluminum, salt water, and anything else that can conduct electricity). All of these can have a negative impact on the quality of your cell signal but, in most cases, a signal booster will be able to overcome these obstacles.

How Does A Cell Signal Booster Work?

Choosing A Signal Amplifier For Car, Truck, Or RV

Signal amplifier options for a car, truck, or RV are small and easy to install. The ideal booster for a single driver in a sedan will not be the same as the perfect choice for the family of four that is road-tripping in their SUV or RV. The SureCall Fusion2Go 3.0 is available as a kit for vehicle or RV and is the industry’s most powerful signal booster for cars. The SureCall FusionTrek is a single-user signal booster that has no outside antenna and is the easiest-to-install booster on the market. The Fusion2Go 3.0 and FusionTrek both boost 2G, 3G, and 4G LTE signals for AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, Telus, Rogers and any other North American carriers and phones.

Alternatives To A Cell Phone Signal Booster

What is a Microcell?

Also called a femtocells, microcells create a cellular signal by using a broadband Internet connection. These can be purchased through your cellular carrier ($100-$300) and require a monthly subscription that will be added onto your Internet bill. Microcells work well for small spaces (1-2 rooms) where there is no cell signal outside of the building.

What is a DAS?

Distributed Antenna systems (DAS) are high involvement solutions designated for large applications that exceed 100,000 square-feet and host a large number of users. This is the most likely solution for stadiums, convention centers, airports, hospitals, and gigantic office buildings. DAS requires approval from the FCC and all carriers that have nodes on towers that service the area.

Cell Phone Antenna Cases & Stickers

We often deter customers from these solutions as they typically boast higher levels of performance than they actually deliver. Unfortunately, these are too good to be true.

Who is the Best Carrier for Cell Coverage?

Based on cellular reliability for the United States, the ranking holds Verizon at the top, then AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint. It's important to note that all of these carriers have more than 90% coverage in the United States, which is pretty darn good. Because reception varies significantly from city to city and even house to house, we suggest using cell reception to locate the towers closest to you and see what people have to say about their service in that area.

FAQs About Signal Boosters

What Cell Phone Bars Actually Mean

Cell phone bars are inaccurate indicators of signal strength. The reason for this is that there is no standardized scale, rather, each phone manufacturer makes up their own arbitrary algorithm. This being the case, we suggest testing your cellular strength yourself. Fast-forward to the next section to learn how!

How To Test Your Cellular Signal Strength

Websites like Cell Reception and Antenna Search or applications like OpenSignal (Android | iPhone) and Network Signal Info (Android) are easy ways to find towers and get a general reading of your cell phone signal. For larger installations we suggest using an RF Signal Meter to get a pin-point precision reading. The approach we suggest for our small- to medium-size home and office owners is field test mode.

How to Enter Field Test Mode for iPhones Not Running iOS 11 1.

Go into your Settings / WiFi / Turn Off WiFi 2. Check your iOS and: 1. For iOS 9.3 and later go to Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options > Enable LTE > Turn Off LTE 2. For iOS 9.2 and earlier Settings > Cellular > Enable LTE > Turn Off LTE 3. Make a phone call to *3001#12345#* and press call

How to Enter Field Test Mode for iPhones Running iOS 11 1.

Go into your Settings / WiFi / Turn Off WiFi 2. Check your iOS and: 1. For iOS 11 and later go to Settings / Cellular / Cellular Data Options / Enable LTE / Turn Off LTE 3. Make a phone call to *3001#12345#* and press call 4. Select Serving Cell Measurements and refer to the top item named Measured RSSI

How to Enter Field Test Mode for Android

1. Settings > More Options or More Settings 2. Tap on About Phone > Mobile Networks > Signal Strength 3. Under Signal Strength you will see your dB reading. If you do not see it there you will see it under Network Type or SIM Status.

How To Get A Better Cell Phone Signal

Don't Block the Antenna

Remove your cell phone case and don't hold the sides of your phone. Most smartphones tuck the antenna inside of the phone and holding the sides of your phone can dull the antenna's ability to receive and transmit RF signals.

Remove Obstructions

Go outside, stand by a window, open a window, get away from metal surfaces and walls, distance yourself from other users, and get to a higher level that has less surrounding structures (trees, mountains, other buildings, etc.). The fewer obstructions between you and a cellular tower, the better your signal will be.

Charge Your Device

As your cell phone battery loses power the amount of energy it can use to access cellular towers also decreases. Putting your phone on airplane mode while charging can help speed up the charging process.

Close Unused Apps and Pages

Closing the apps and pages you have running in the background enables your mobile device to devote all performance to the action at-hand.

Airplane Mode to Reset

Turn airplane mode on for 3+ seconds then turn it off to reboot your cell signal and try to connect to a better, stronger tower.

Cell Phone Signal

Booster Signal booster are typically carrier agnostic and one system can support all carriers. Cellular signal boosters will use an antenna to grab a signal outside of your building and, with the booster and internal antenna(e), will amplify and repeat that signal within the structure to give you a great cell connection throughout. These range in price based on the square-footage of the application. A signal booster for a 5,000 square-foot application will cost a few hundred dollars whereas an 80,000 square-foot application could require a booster that cost a few thousand.

Evaluate Your Cell Phone Signal

Websites like Cell Reception and Antenna Search or applications like OpenSignal (Android | iPhone) are easy ways to find towers and get a general reading of your cell phone signal. The approach we suggest for our residential customers is field test mode, which gives an exact reading for your specific device at that specific moment. For larger installations we suggest using an RF Signal Meter.

Wi-Fi Calling

If you are connected to the Internet applications like FaceTime Audio, Skype, and Google Hangouts allow you to call over Wi-Fi rather than cellular. Alternatively, you can enable Wi-Fi calling directly on your iPhone (Settings > Cellular > Turn On: Wi-Fi Calling) and Android (Settings > Wireless & Networks: More > Activate Advanced Calling) devices.

Femtocells

Also called Microcells, femtocells use a broadband Internet connection to create a cellular base station that can cover a small space. These can be purchased through your cell carrier, cost between $100 and $300, and require a monthly fee that accompanies your Internet bill. These are great solutions for homes or small offices where there is no cell signal outside of the building and where cell usage typically occurs within one or two small rooms within the building.

DAS

This is a much more involved solution designated for large applications that exceed 100,000 square-feet and host a large number of users. These applications require approval from the FCC and carriers on nearby towers and, while costs range based on the size of the application, we would not suggest this option for most homes or small businesses.

Consider a New Carrier

If all else fails, you may want to consider dropping your carrier and starting a plan with the carrier that provides more reliable cellular coverage for your most frequented areas. Cell Reception is a great service that helps you locate nearby cell towers and hear what people in your area have to say about their reception with those carriers.

Will A Signal Booster Work When I Have No Cell Service?

If you have cellular service readings between -50 dB and -103 dB outside of your building, a signal booster should be able to improve your signal inside of the building. On the other hand, if your best signal reading outside of the building is between -104 dB and -150 dB and you do not have a clean line of sight to a cellular tower that is within 20-miles of your building, there is no signal booster, regardless of manufacturer, that will be able to boost your signal. Learn how to get a signal reading.

How To Use Wi-Fi Calling On Your Cell Phone

WiFi calling is a temporary workaround if you have no cellular reception but a strong Wi-Fi signal. It is important to note that without a strong internet signal, your call could drop or suffer from low-quality audio. To use Wi-Fi calling, you can download and run an application like FaceTime Audio, Skype, or Google Hangouts. You can also activate Wi-Fi calling on your iPhone by going to Settings > Cellular > Turn On: Wi-Fi Calling and for Android devices tap Settings > Activate Advanced Calling.

Is Weak Reception Draining Your Cell Phone Battery?

Yes. When you are standing next to a cell phone tower and have perfect reception your phone doesn't have to expend much energy to get great reception. On the other hand, when you have a weak cell phone signal your phone must use more energy to access a stronger signal, which draws from your cell phone battery.

Get To Know 2G, 3G, 4G LTE, & 5G Signals

What is 2G?

· Introduced in the early 1990s, 2G is the second generation of cellular technology, and moved mobile devices from analog to digital. This enabled carriers to provide data service — text and picture messages — for the first time. Carriers in the United States are shutting down their 2G service, although many will remain functional through the decade. While updating to more broad and secure standards is recommended, a signal booster like SureCall's Fusion4Home will help amplify 2G service through its remaining life while also supporting 3G and 4G LTE.

What is 3G?

· The third generation of mobile communication technology, 3G first became commercially available in the early 2000s. It introduced mobile internet access, video calls, and mobile TV to consumers. Although still prevalent today, 3G has been superseded by 4G LTE and will begin to further disappear as new standards are developed. A signal booster like SureCall's Fusion4Home will help amplify 3G service through its remaining life while also being compatible with 2G and 4G LTE.

What is 4G LTE?

· 4G LTE service is the current cellular standard. This system moved mobile devices to true internet access, enabling faster mobile web, gaming, internet telephone, and high-definition video. 4G LTE is the most advanced commercial standard to date and available around the world. Even so, factors like construction materials and distance from cell towers often compromise connectivity. A signal booster like SureCall's Flare will help assure signal strength.

What is 5G?

· Mobile “generations” change roughly once every decade, and the dawn of 5G is still over the horizon. Along with technical improvements like increased coverage, super-fast mobile networks, and support for device-to-device applications, 5G standards will allow devices to use less battery and allow a much greater number of broadband users. Research and development is well underway, with the arrival of 5G expected in the early 2020s.

What Is Voice Over LTE (VoLTE)

VoLTE gives you access to more bandwidth thereby giving you higher quality audio. This allows you to place a phone call over your LTE connection rather than the older 2G and 3G networks, thus the name “voice over LTE.” Often called “true 4G” your ability to use VoLTE depends on your carrier:

Remote Signal Monitoring Software

Remote monitoring benefits business owners, managers, or installers who require continuous up-time. Whereas some booster manufacturers allow you to “remote monitor” to view the health of your system before performing on-site adjustments, SureCall Sentry™ Remote Monitoring System allows you to gauge the system's performance and manually tune the amplification and output power for each band via the Sentry web portal or applications for Android and iPhone.