Poor signal in home, signal booster

[Apache]

I have a VZW HTC One M9. I like it, but my wireless signal is really poor in my home in Sugar Land, TX. This is not a podunk area or anything like that. I called VZW and they sent me an in-home signal booster (that I had to pay for). The booster has been setup and is active. My call quality is still bad. Questions:

1. Any tips or tricks on how to make the booster work better?
2. Any experience with the booster actually working to improve your call quality?
3. Any other ideas? If I can't actually have decent phone calls on this device with this carrier in my home then that is a deal-breaker

 

[AZgl1500]

I have a VZW "Mini cell site" booster.
Mine worked well, as long as, the internet signal was good....
Which mine was not at the time, I have AT&T ADSL and when I used that booster, the internet service I had was problematic. Drop outs occurring all the time. Each time an internet drop occurs the VZW booster looses sync and the call drops.
I could walk outside the house for almost a 300 ft circle and still stay connected to it

At the time I used it, there were no VZW cell towers in my area... now there are and I'm not using it anymore.

I don't recall that the "Call Quality" was any worse than a normal cell tower call would be.

We also have the HTC M9 here in our home, my daughter uses it. It does not suffer from bad call quality for us.

Keep in mind that if you don't want to stay with Verizon, you are going to have to switch to AT&T or other GSM carrier. The M9 will cover a lot of those carrier's bands, but may not cover all of them. Switching to Sprint won't help you at all, as they use the same towers as VZW, both are CDMA.

Take a good strong look at this website before you make a leap that you may regret.

* WillMyPhoneWork.net - Check if your phone works on a network

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Verizon: Galaxy S5, Note 4, HTC One M9, VZW MiFi

 

[Apache]

Having just switched devices and carriers -- Nexus 5 on T-mobile to HTC One M9 on VZW -- I don't have the appetite to switch again -- it's just too much of a PITA. My home internet & wifi connection is pretty solid and stable, but for some reason my device randomly comes on and off the booster's network.

Any idea why or what I could do to prevent this?

 

[svim]

I have a VZW HTC One M9. I like it, but my wireless signal is really poor in my home in Sugar Land, TX. This is not a podunk area or anything like that. I called VZW and they sent me an in-home signal booster (that I had to pay for). The booster has been setup and is active. My call quality is still bad. Questions:

1. Any tips or tricks on how to make the booster work better?
2. Any experience with the booster actually working to improve your call quality?
3. Any other ideas? If I can't actually have decent phone calls on this device with this carrier in my home then that is a deal-breaker

We recently had to straighten out a femtocell setup at a small business recently. They had originally just set it up in an out-of-the-way closet space and it wasn't making any difference in their cellular connectivity. Not knowing what model of Verizon booster you have, just guessing but it should require just three things -- the power adapter of course, a patch cable into a router, and a GPS signal. That last part seems to be a big factor. Is your booster close to a window so it's getting a GPS signal?

 

[Apache]

Great question. My father installed it for me and he had to move it to a few different spots before it got a decent GPS signal -- problem is that that is in the garage (!). Do you think that might be too far and that is why I keep dropping off the booster network?

 

[svim]

Are there status lights on the front panel of the cellular booster? There should be indicators showing an Ethernet connection and a GPS connection. How far away is the garage to your house? Also, I'm curious about your home network -- assuming your DSL or cable modem and router are located in the house, what kind of Internet connectivity does your garage have considering that's where the booster is located.

On your phone you can use an app like 'GPS Status & Toolbox' to check your GPS signal.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eclipsim.gpsstatus2&hl=en

 

[AZgl1500]

Great question. My father installed it for me and he had to move it to a few different spots before it got a decent GPS signal -- problem is that that is in the garage (!). Do you think that might be too far and that is why I keep dropping off the booster network?

Right there, you have found the problem...

I placed my booster in a window until it got a good solid GPS fix.


Then I placed it in an overhead cabinet inside my home office....
Once I did that, everywhere inside the house is great....

get it out of the garage and place it inside where your computer is. Mine is sitting on a shelf about 3 feet above my Desktop PC.


The garage is a BAD PLACE to put a booster.
That is where the HVAC equipment is, lots of metal duct work that will reflect the booster's signal away from you in the house.

HVAC = Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning

 

[Apache]

All the lights are solid blue on the booster indicating that communication with the wifi and GPS is solid. We do have an ethernet connection in the garage.

AZgl1500: I think you are right. Occam's razor -- it's just too far away. Will try to move inside, stay tuned.

Thanks all for your advice