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Signal Boosters??

ChrisMACosx said:
I think this is what your looking more lindsayanng, http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/cellphone/9823/
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yes, i am looking into repeaters, but i was asking about the specific ones.. I wanted to know if anyone uses them, if so which one, and how well did they work..

I am thinking that i will just spend the money to be able to use my iphone at home..

the real issue here is that i live on a marsh, and the phone keeps trying to go across the water to a Long Island Tower in NY!! It does this because its straight across the water, its a direct shot even though there IS a tower right near me at the airport thats basically in my backyard.. its SOO frustrating to KNOW there is a tower right there, but the stupid phone wants to go to Long Island! My old phone did have a way of not ALLOWING it to "roam" to out of network or out of state towers, but ATT does not seem to do this.. SO i am stuck with a long island signal that does not work for me..


I am probably going to get the best buy repeaters, but i REALLY want to know if there are people on here who have one.. Or should i start ANOTHER post..
 
lindsayanng said:
ok.. i'd rather not argue of the exact definitely of what you call physics.. you can say that the make up of anything is physics.. but the truth is that physics proves that it is POSSIBLE..
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Ok, there is a lot of confusion and misinformation here so I thought I'd help clear things up a bit.

The theory behind applying an external piece of metal to boost signal strength traces its etymology back to CB Radios in Cars (and maybe much earlier but this example is easy to work with). Instead of drilling a hole in the car to mount the aerial a cable was run from the radio to a glass window, this was then secured to the glass using a flat metal plate and adhesive. Another metal plate was attached to the exterior of the glass to line up with the interior plate, this was then connected to the final stage of the aerial. (If this is difficult to understand I will try to mock up a diagram).

The theory behind this design is that the two metal plates and the glass dielectric between them form a parallel plate capacitor. This capacitor acts as a high pass filter blocking low frequencies and allowing high frequencies to pass through unhindered. The threshold at which the system determines whether to attenuate a frequency depends on the capacitance of this junction and the characteristic impedance of the transmission line used to connect the aerial to the transceiver.

The iPhone was never meant to work in this manner so there is no flat metal plate. Instead there is an induction coil to act as the antenna, which is tuned to match the intrinsic impedance of free space. Since there is no plate you cannot form a capacitive junction and hence none of the signal absorbed by the external antenna is passed on to the iPhone.

Best case scenario, it does nothing. Most likely scenario, it does lots of horrible things like so:-
  • Absorb a load of signal which never makes it to the iPhone, crippling it's internal signal
  • The iPhone responds by cranking up the transmit power to the absolute maximum and asks the cell tower to do the same
  • This will destroy your battery life and expose you to a lot more (potentially) harmful radiation.

All in all, *BAD* idea.

HTH

Chris
 
lindsayanng said:
It does this because its straight across the water, its a direct shot even though there IS a tower right near me at the airport thats basically in my backyard
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Are you absolutely sure that the tower you can see at the airport is for omnidirectional cellular communications rather than for directional microwave links? It is extremely strange that a wireless company would put a transmitter tower on an airport.

This is because the Air Traffic Control at the airport will be using radar to identify and track the planes and radar is usually run in the range of megawatts. To put that into perspective the radar at the airport is transmitting about a million times more signal than your phone is. The near field of the radar would blow the transceivers on the cell tower.

Also airports (depending on the size) require large amounts of land which means they are usually constructed on plateaus. Cell towers are usually located on the highest land available to offer line of sight to each subscriber, not on low land where airports are built.

Chris
 
thanks chris. That was what I was trying to figure out. What is the iPhone antenna and how does of work.I entirely understand what you are saying and now I can understand why it wont work. Thanks.

So now, what do you have to say about repeaters,if anything.
 
lindsayanng said:
What is the iPhone antenna and how does of work.

So now, what do you have to say about repeaters,if anything.
Click to expand...

To answer your first question is to speculate. I have never taken an iPhone apart and I don't have any photos to hand. It is most likely a coil of wire which is roughly tuned to pick up frequencies in the 500 to 2000Mhz range. The required frequency is precisely selected using a transistor. By altering the Collector-Emitter voltage you can alter the size of the depletion region inside the semiconductor. This depletion region acts as a dielectric and hey presto you have an electrically variable capacitor :). This way you can selectively pick what frequency you want without any moving parts

As for the repeaters, in principal they are a good idea, there are however a few issues that might arise:-

  • Beware of the potential power consumption. I don't know about the U.S. But over here in London the price of electricity is astronomical.
  • Remember that the femtocell is completely agnostic to the people connecting to it. This means that it is possible that someone could be routing a 911 call through your femtocell at any time. Check with AT&T but this might mean you have to keep it running 24/7, (see previous point about power).
  • Hardware is only as good as the software that runs on it. AT&T will need some way of broadcasting to the phone "hey I'm a femtocell, use me regardless of anyone else". If this is not implemented properly then you will have just as many dropped calls.

HTH

Chris
 
lindsayanng said:
the real issue here is that i live on a marsh, and the phone keeps trying to go across the water to a Long Island Tower in NY!! It does this because its straight across the water, its a direct shot even though there IS a tower right near me at the airport thats basically in my backyard.. its SOO frustrating to KNOW there is a tower right there, but the stupid phone wants to go to Long Island! My old phone did have a way of not ALLOWING it to "roam" to out of network or out of state towers, but ATT does not seem to do this.. SO i am stuck with a long island signal that does not work for me..
Click to expand...

Congratulations. You have finally figured out why you have a two-bar signal with no capability to make a call. Cell signals are completely line-of-sight. Water has no obstructions so it's the path of least resistance. If you used the Maps applet to determine that you're into a NY tower then you now have your answer. Your signal is miniscule compared to the output of a tower. You're not making it there but you're hearing it just fine. That appears to be a distance of about 14 miles. There's no wonder you can't get into it.

As for selection of tower, I've never seen a phone capable of disabling crossing into another state to use a tower there. That would be disaster for forgetful people who would then travel into another state and suddenly lose the ability to make a call. As for roaming, you're not out of network at all. You're just into another AT&T tower across the other side.

If you are truly into a NY cell and there is an AT&T cell close to you then you could always create a reflector, eliminate the NY cell and go to the Bluetooth method once you've got your aim down.
 
Ok.. chris, again thanks for all the info. It does all start to make sense when you know how things work better.

As for the airport tower, i have not actually SEEN the tower, ATT told me over the phone that it was the closest tower to me, it might not be in the actual airport, but it is right on the outside of it. Like i said, i JUST moved here so i dont know the are well and have never ventured to the airport.

as for the repeaters.. Power consumption is at some concern to me, but i will shut down a fish take to run this thing and it should even out (our fishtanks are big with lots of lights) But also, i am talking about ones make for the home and not commercial repeaters for office buildings.

when you talk about femtocell, isn;t that different than the repeater that i posted. from what i know, a femtocell connects to a DSL/broadband network the one i searched, the spotwave.

if it IS the same thing, then i have more questions as to what you mean about the 911 calls.. i thought the spotwave repeater was different though...
 
lindsayanng said:
if it IS the same thing, then i have more questions as to what you mean about the 911 calls.. i thought the spotwave repeater was different though...
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Right, as to your inquiry regarding the definition of the term femtocell. It's a difficult term to quantify as the market is moving so fast at the moment. Originally they referred to repeaters but now the term seems to have evolved to what you are talking about with regards to DSL/VoIP. I think that what you are looking for is a repeater, not a femtocell.

As for the 911 call. The repeater you install for AT&T does not know that you installed it for your iPhone. The repeater is there to allow AT&T users to get better reception. If someone is involved in a car crash outside your house and reaches for their AT&T phone to call 911 the phone will go "AHA! There is a repeater here, I'll use that to get better reception". AT&T are legally, (and morally) obliged to do everything and anything within their power to handle that call with the utmost priority. This means that, especially if the repeater is loaned to you and not purchased, you cannot power down the repeater as it would interrupt a 911 call.

Now that situation is hypothetical. It is possible that AT&T have got special exemption from the FCC that allows them to bypass the laws on 911 call handling but knowing AT&T you should check with them first otherwise there might be a clause in the contract you don't like.

Chris
 
ok, that makes sense, and i would not be against letting it run all the time since my hubby and my schedules are so different that someone is almost always home..

but the repeater that i linked is different in that does NOT need to be carrier specific and it just amplifies the signal from whatever towers are closest and repeats them inside of the house..

i THINK that is what i need since i am SOO close to a tower, but because I am at the bottom or a hill, or something, the signal does not reach me.
 
it's a simple question of weight ratios. a five ounce bird could not carry a one pound coconut. though, i guess if two swallows carried it together... probably by a strand of creeper...
 
lindsayanng, I think this is what you were looking for...

http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phone-and-smart/wi-ex-zboost-yx510/4505-6448_7-32156398.html

or something along the lines of it. I have 1 bar or no service at my house. I purchased this device last summer for $300, and it was the best purchase I have made. I now have a steady 2-full bars in my house. If you wish, I would be more than happy to somehow make a video of the difference it has made. The only bad part is the set up, there are many restrictions you must follow, including how the antennae must be 30 ft. away from the device, and the antennae is mounted outside. I am not saying that this will work for you, but it has worked very well for me.

Hope this helps.
 
scho52386 said:
lindsayanng, I think this is what you were looking for...

http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phone-and-smart/wi-ex-zboost-yx510/4505-6448_7-32156398.html

or something along the lines of it. I have 1 bar or no service at my house. I purchased this device last summer for $300, and it was the best purchase I have made. I now have a steady 2-full bars in my house. If you wish, I would be more than happy to somehow make a video of the difference it has made. The only bad part is the set up, there are many restrictions you must follow, including how the antennae must be 30 ft. away from the device, and the antennae is mounted outside. I am not saying that this will work for you, but it has worked very well for me.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
yes, that is ONE of the ones that i looked into. I was just thinking of the SPOTWAVE brand because i can purchase it through BESTBUY making the return policy a little easier incase i set it up and it does not do much for me.. I dont know what stores carry the ones you posted to, but i wont buy it unless they give me a decent guarantee or return policy..

I was wondering if anyone ever USED the spotwave before

i know that these things are hit or miss, so i'm just trying to figure what my best option might be

i also TRIED to get to the field test screen, I had one bar in my living room.. and i just COULD NOT connect to anything.. the ONLY thing i can do with one bar is send, and occasionally receive texts.
 
thanks for that article.. it kinda gave me a ton of info i already know.. and right now, femtocells are NOT an option because ATT did not come out with one yet..

i read the reviews between the spotwave and the z-boost and they seem to be pretty split, thats why i'm thinking i will try the spotwave first from bestbuy and return it if it doesnt work, and then try the z-boost.. unless someone tells me that there is a reason the spotwave is useles.. i dont know much about frequencies and stuff like that so i would like to know.
 
If its not wired to the actual antenna of the iphone its not going to do anything positive for signal strength. Think about it, if it were that simple to get better signal strength Apple would have just slap the stupid sticker inside the phone.
 
skubish said:
If its not wired to the actual antenna of the iphone its not going to do anything positive for signal strength. Think about it, if it were that simple to get better signal strength Apple would have just slap the stupid sticker inside the phone.
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i HATE people who do not read the thread in it's entirety. i mean, not even read EVERY post, but atleast get the idea as to where the thread ends up BEFORE you post!
 
well, whats the sense in offering help if 1.) your help gives no actual answer, but just states something this is of pure opinion
2.) there is a different question at hand now that still has to do with the OP, but nothing to do with your comment
 
i googled that, a whole bunch of nothing came up/ I went to the ATT CS chat room and the girl who responded to me asked me WHAT is a repeater - she was of no use except that she told me ATT works on 850MHz and 1900MHz, i have no idea what what that means, but i;m pretty sure the spotwave AND the zBoost might help me.
 
The I-Tena Signal Booster SCAM

I just received my I-Tena antena signal booster. I followed the instructons on their demo of their own website and NOTHING, ZERO improvment. DO NOT BUY this product. IT IS A SCAM.

I requested the 3G one and got the 4G with a hand written letter telling me "Please use this 4G model, it will work with your 3G phone".

I sent them an e-mail because there is no way to contact them live. It was not expensive but I still lost $30. To get a refund uou need a copy of the receipt but I could not print it to send it to them because I do not have a printer.

DO NOT BUT. SCAM.....SCAM.....SCAM

Regards
 
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