How do I eliminate dead zones in my apartment?

[otter]

I get horrible horrible reception in my apartment. I have a nexus and my girlfriend has a thunderbolt. Sometimes our calls drop for reasons I can't even explain. 1 day we might have 4 bars in a spot and the next day we don't have any reception. I'm sitting in my chair sometimes I have reception but if I tilt my head an inch to the right the call drops.

We live on the 17th floor (2nd highest floor) in a corner unit so I would think that the reception would be good but it's not. We live in a large downtown area with lots of buildings.

Do they make signal boosters or something like that? I would prefer not to spend much money and I don't wanna home phone since I have been without 1 for about 15 years.

We have no problem sending texts and although our Internet switches between 4G and 3G it usually works even if it is slow at times.

 

[otter]

For that matter sometimes my call drops like now. I looked down and I see I have three bars.

 

[Caddyman]

it happens on both yours and your GF's phones?

any task killer apps installed on both or anything like that?

if not, bad reception is bad reception, might look for signal boosters on amazon or something.

 

[otter]

No task killers. Yes both of our phones

 

[charliecc]

I'm assuming you're in the US, apologies if not.

I can't speak for the US market, but over here (UK), some operators sell femotcells which hook up to your router. We have one from vodafone, they call it Sure Signal, Vodafone Sure Signal – get a great mobile signal at home..

Now my wife gets perfect reception at home. Might be worth a google to see if your operators do the same.

 

[Deleted User]

Yep, there are network extenders that you can buy (aka "femtocells"). They're not cheap. This is Verizon's:
https://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/accessory?=&action=gotoFemtocell

It seems a little ridiculous to me that Verizon is asking people to pay nearly $300 so that they can use our home broadband, which we pay for, to transmit their network traffic.

You can also buy wireless signal repeaters, where you hook up an antenna in a good signal spot, and run a wire to a signal repeater somewhere else in the house. Also not particularly cheap:
zBoost: Cell Phone Boosters | Wi-Ex

Honestly, if you've got a contract with a big carrier, I'd call them and complain and see if they're willing to do something about it. A friend of mine was given a femtocell for free after he complained to Verizon about his signal and said he was going to have to cancel his contract.

 

[charliecc]

Yep, there are network extenders that you can buy (aka "femtocells"). They're not cheap. This is Verizon's:
https://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/accessory?=&action=gotoFemtocell

Wow, I knew Verizon sucked huge amounts of cock, but that takes the piss. That's over 3x what it costs over here, and prices over here are pretty high.

 

[otter]

Wow that's too much! The only reason I haven't a complaint to Verizon is because are phones are rooted.

 

[Trooper]

I tried to get them to send me a network extender when I moved. I was pretty much told that is your problem because you moved. I have not had time to go up the food chain with it though.

But I am moving away from VZW shortly. That said, I have heard good things about the network extenders. YMMV though.

Good luck and cheers!