Better than I anticipated. What a wonderful purchase!
Wilson Electronics Booster Includes Directional
At our house we are unable to get high speed internet. Our cell phone reception was terrible, and 3g was out of the question.
Prior to installation, my phone (on the Sprint network) was getting readings of -85db to -100db. This was approximately 0-2 bars out of 6. Calls would be dropped, and we would have to use our phones in the breezeway to make a call. A Speedtest.net test yielded 0.01mbps and pinging 700+.
I installed the directional antenna on our old television antenna tower. At night, we could actually see the lights on the nearest Sprint tower, which made pointing the antenna easier.
Now I am getting readings of -57db to -65db, full bars. Speedtest.net shows 1.6mpbs to 2mbps, and pinging 155.
The only negative is the indoor panel antenna doesn't travel far. In the future, I will be buying another indoor panel for the second floor of my house.
Also, before buying, I gave Wilson a call to be sure I was getting the right equipment. I spoke to someone right away, and they actually knew what they were talking about. Very friendly US based customer support.
It is pricier than other antennas, but you will know that you are getting a product that actually works. A definite buy for those that need something like this.
Category Article cell phone
We live in a rural area in a valley with a hill immediately south of our house. Occasionally we would get ONE bar on our cell phone and it would work. Most of the time we would get no cell phone reception in our home. That meant we still needed to use dial-up internet because we had insufficient reception for anything else. When we installed our Wilson system we immediately got SEVEN bars on our cell phone. Combined with a Rogers Rocket Hub, we now magically have high speed internet. I thought at best we would get HIGHER speed internet but that was not the case. It was the real thing. High Speed. No more waiting for hours hoping a web page might come in.
Thank you Wilson Electronics.
Keith
I have been researching and delaying this purchase for a couple years now, not knowing if it would help our cell reception in our house. And the price of it. A lot of money for something that may not help! Anyway, we have terrible reception, one to MAYBE two bars of 1X service in our home or no bars at all. -105dBm or worse in the test mode. (If you want to learn more about dBm and cell phone test mode, go to [...]. Did much of my research on their site) Even on the roof of the house the reception was poor, so I didn't know if this booster would do any good. You couldn't carry a phone conversation in the house without the call dropping or you sprinting out of the house hoping the call wouldn't fail. Usually failed anyway. We have no land line and use Verizon's internet service with a MIFI modem device. So, poor cell reception, poor internet service! Our land line carrier doesn't offer DSL in our area and who knows when they might. Our Verizon MIFI device has been up for renewal for several months, but I didn't want to lock this in for two more years if DSL was coming to the area soon.
Long story short I said screw it and ordered the Wilson Electronics 841263 kit. I know the company name and actually own a couple of their other vehicle antennas. I attached the outside directional antenna to the side of the house with a nine foot piece of 1 and half inch pipe, so it was above the roof line 5 to 6 foot. Ran the wire (which is nothing more than tv antenna coax cable RG6) to the basement, mounted the booster in the basement and ran the wire from the booster to the room above and set the internal antenna on a shelf roughly 6 foot off the floor.
What a surprise, turned it on, powered up all the cell phones and modem, had 5 bars in most of the house! Not just 5 bars, but 5 bars of 3G! The best reception has been -68dBm and consistently in the -75dBm to -85dBm range, (-50dBm is the best, above -100dBm is basically no service). We now have excellent service in the house. Even the internet works great now. Not DSL fast, but running in the .5 meg speed which is more than double before, when it worked. It has been up for a month or so now and have noticed weather effecting it, dropping reception to the 3 to 4 bars on dreary, overcast days, but still pretty good reception.
If your cell service is poor, but have some service, this is a great device. I highly recommend it. Keep in mind that it only supports 3G. You need a different booster for 4G. Verizon 3G works in the 800MHz range and their 4G works in the 700MHz. Hope this helps in your decision making.
At our house we are unable to get high speed internet. Our cell phone reception was terrible, and 3g was out of the question.
Prior to installation, my phone (on the Sprint network) was getting readings of -85db to -100db. This was approximately 0-2 bars out of 6. Calls would be dropped, and we would have to use our phones in the breezeway to make a call. A Speedtest.net test yielded 0.01mbps and pinging 700+.
I installed the directional antenna on our old television antenna tower. At night, we could actually see the lights on the nearest Sprint tower, which made pointing the antenna easier.
Now I am getting readings of -57db to -65db, full bars. Speedtest.net shows 1.6mpbs to 2mbps, and pinging 155.
The only negative is the indoor panel antenna doesn't travel far. In the future, I will be buying another indoor panel for the second floor of my house.
Also, before buying, I gave Wilson a call to be sure I was getting the right equipment. I spoke to someone right away, and they actually knew what they were talking about. Very friendly US based customer support.
It is pricier than other antennas, but you will know that you are getting a product that actually works. A definite buy for those that need something like this.
My mobile carrier is Verizon (can you hear me now) who boasts of the largest network. Of course I live in a pretty dead zone for just about every carrier. I sometimes had 1 bar but not enough to make a call or send a text without being plastered against one particular window. The network extender from Verizon didn't work with my internet provider so I had to find another solution. At first we had the antenna in the attic with the wire run to the downstairs (temporary because it was freezing outside and unable to mount outside) but the unit would go into protect mode (orange) meaning oscillation. The first warm day we installed the antenna outside on the garage roof and ran the wire through the basement to the first floor. We actually now can make a call from any room in the house. Before I even purchased this I called Wilson who explained that oscillation will be worst with the omni directional antenna which you would need at least 50 feet of distance in a straight line away from the antenna and the inside antenna. With the Yagi you only have to be away 20 feet between both antennas. I am glad I got the Yagi because in a 3 story house (counting the basement) with the Yagi in the attic and 8 foot ceilings I had to have the indoor antenna on the floor in the basement in order to prevent oscillation. My advice would be to get the Yagi antenna if you don't want the hassle of repositioning distance between the two antennas and remember that the 50 or 20 feet of distance between is a straight line measurement. You can run 50 feet of wire up and over, down and under, but it's not how much wire you use it's a straight line distance between the two which is just easier with a Yagi. If I had bought the omni directional antenna I know it would have been much harder to get 50 feet of distance. As far as Wilson goes, the rep was very helpful with all my questions and after I received the product I didn't have to call back just re-routing. Wilson is top of the line as far as anything antenna is involved.