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External antenna/booster etc...

M

muab

Android Enthusiast
I saw a few tantalizing threads (mostly months ago) about an external antenna for the Droid.
My lady and I both run Droids and her house is out in BFE where we have to stand in one particular spot to get an SMS message, listen to voicemail or (sometimes) make a call if we are lucky.
I thought I could endure having some bloody contraption stuck on my phone when I am out there just to keep connected. Right now our Droids become wifi-dependent bricks when we are there.

Are there any of these external antennae around? Has anyone tried one?
(and I mean commercial/official products not twist ties or whatever)

Thanks!
 
tom108 said:
Set Your Location
Click to expand...

Ugh, I have ranted about that thing. The device you have to pay ~$200 for to allow Verizon to project a mini-tower from your house and eat up your broadband's bandwidth to supply people in the vicinity with phone service. I suppose it works if you're in the boonies so nobody is around to leech off your internet.
 
shadowdude777 said:
Ugh, I have ranted about that thing. The device you have to pay ~$200 for to allow Verizon to project a mini-tower from your house and eat up your broadband's bandwidth to supply people in the vicinity with phone service. I suppose it works if you're in the boonies so nobody is around to leech off your internet.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think I qualify. I don't like the idea of giving up bandwidth because I don't have that much to spare...but not worried too much about leaches. I bet the range is less than 300 feet and no other house is that close to my lady's house.

I like the Wi-Ex device better in some ways because it is not Verizon specific and it appears that it would boost ALL cell signal, not just voice like the VZ thing.. The VZ thing looks much easier to set up though....
hmmm.

Choices, choices....
 
muab said:
Yeah, I think I qualify. I don't like the idea of giving up bandwidth because I don't have that much to spare...but not worried too much about leaches. I bet the range is less than 300 feet and no other house is that close to my lady's house.

I like the Wi-Ex device better in some ways because it is not Verizon specific and it appears that it would boost ALL cell signal, not just voice like the VZ thing.. The VZ thing looks much easier to set up though....
hmmm.

Choices, choices....
Click to expand...

Yeah, the range is about a 50 ft radius so no worries for you. For me though, who has an upload speed of about 60kb/s (a single call uses 40kb/s up and down and 3 calls can connect at once), AND lives in New York City, it's a terrible device.
 
Yeah, for New York that might be a challenge. I am still leaning toward the other device just because guests who visit might have AT&T or whatever....
Verizon already owns my soul...why give them another $249 and be that much more tied to them.

I used to live in Queens in mid 80's BTW. So I kind of know what it is like. I haven't been in NY except the airport since then though.
 
We live in the country and had reception issues so I tried the network extender from Verizon and that did not work out very good. The Verizon network extender only works for 1x service also so it won't help out the 3g signal at all. After that didn't work I went to Best Buy and got a Wilson Electronics Signal Amplifier and installed that and now we get full reception and pretty good 3g coverage now also in our house. It was a little more than the Network Extender but now we can actually use our phones at our house and pretty much works on any cell provider so if you switch companies it will more than likely work with them also. It was frustrating for us because when Alltel was our provider we had great reception at our house but now that Verizon took over nothing but problems with reception.
 
nfluggs said:
We live in the country and had reception issues so I tried the network extender from Verizon and that did not work out very good. The Verizon network extender only works for 1x service also so it won't help out the 3g signal at all. After that didn't work I went to Best Buy and got a Wilson Electronics Signal Amplifier and installed that and now we get full reception and pretty good 3g coverage now also in our house. It was a little more than the Network Extender but now we can actually use our phones at our house and pretty much works on any cell provider so if you switch companies it will more than likely work with them also. It was frustrating for us because when Alltel was our provider we had great reception at our house but now that Verizon took over nothing but problems with reception.
Click to expand...

Can you tell me what model Wilson Signal amp you got?
 
twistedlim said:
Can you tell me what model Wilson Signal amp you got?
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I got this model at best buy and there is an updated antenna that is included for the inside amplifier. The installation was easy for me but you will have to run a coax cable outside unless you will be able to get good enough reception by your window. If you go to http://www.wilsonelectronics.com///Files/InstallInstructions/801247.pdf this gives you an idea of what install would be like. I have mine mounted on my deck with a dish antenna arm and seems to work really good for me. The model that I got was a 801247. Here is a link to Best Buy's website for the item also Wilson Electronics - SignalBoost DT Desktop Amplifier for Most Mobile Phones and Data Cards - 801247 electronics&cp=1&lp=2
 
Hey guys!
My name is Taylor, and I just came across your posts. I work at Wilson Electronics, and would be happy to answer any questions about different types of products, etc. Also, here is the number and email to our tech support. Anyone can reach out to them for help/advice on what product would be the best for your situation. The number is 1-866-294-1660, and the email is:tech@wilsonelectronics.com



 
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