Best Cell Phone Reception Boosters

Few things are more frustrating than dropped calls, weak signals, or slow data speeds, especially when you rely on your phone for work, travel, and emergencies. Cell phone reception issues are common in rural areas, large buildings, and places with heavy network congestion. Fortunately, cell phone reception boosters—also known as signal boosters—offer an effective solution. These devices amplify weak cellular signals, improving call quality, data speeds, and overall connectivity. But with so many options on the market, how do you know which booster is best for you? This article explains how reception boosters work, reviews the top models, and highlights the features you should look for before making a purchase.

How Cell Phone Boosters Work

How to Fix Your Apartment Cell Phone Dead Zone

If you're experiencing a cell phone dead zone specifically in your apartment, here are some steps you can take to try and improve the situation:

Verizon 4G LTE Wireless Signal Booster

Verizon & AT&T 4G LTE Signal Booster

Now there’s a mobile signal booster for those using Verizon Wireless LTE devices.  The Sleek 4G-V from Wilson Electronics was announced this week.  You can boost AT&T's 700 MHz LTE (bands 12 & 17) signal as well as all carriers 3G & 2G cellular signals on 800 MHz & 1900 MHz.  The boost provides more than 20 times the power of your cell phone alone.  This booster will help you stay connected by providing a strong reliable signal in weak-signal areas indoors and outdoors in a car (1 or 2 bars), reducing lost dropped calls and speeding data rates.  It's designed for the car but will work anywhere.

The Sleek 4G-V works with all devices on all conventional 2G and 3G networks, except Nextel.  FCC type accepted.  Below is a diagram of how to set up the antenna for a typical car.

Verizon 4G LTE Signal Booster 

Related Articles: 

Which Cell Phone Signal Booster is Best for Verizon Home?

How to Find The Best Indoor Signal Booster

So you're tired of poor reception, dropped calls, and drained batteries. You know it's time to find a solution and someone recommended checking out signal boosters. But how do you navigate the sea of uninformative model numbers, strange names, and new technologies to find the solution that fits your setup at the most reasonable price? Here's a guide that will outline the factors to remember when going booster shopping. You'll be a cellular amplifier expert in no time.

There's one puzzle you should try to solve first before you start your booster search: Namely, why is my reception so poor? Coverage goes hazy for a variety of reasons. You might live adventurously close to the edge of the network, a good distance from the most far-flung cell towers. On the other hand, you might live in a city skyscraper behind thick concrete walls impenetrable to the strongest of cell signals. Or it's possible you live comfortably in suburbia well within cellular range but your house happens to rest at the bottom of an imposing hill, blocking most of the good reception from reaching your residence. Determining the primary obstacle to your cellular experience is key in reaching success with a signal booster.

The second puzzle to solve (and this is a lot easier than the first) involves determining how strong your natural, unamplified signal is, both indoors and out. Just open up your phone and check the bars of reception. Signal boosters vary in the degree to which they amplify a signal. Some simply modify a mediocre signal while others totally soup up a dead zone into a powerhouse. So why not go for the biggest and the strongest? Price, of course; those powerful amplifiers come with a hefty price tag for their fancy technology. You want to find the booster that suits your needs exactly to be financially sound and energy-efficient.

So, you’ve determined why your cell signal is poor and just how strong your unamplified signal is indoors and out, as described above. Now, you'll want to know exactly how much square footage you plan on blanketing with amplified signal before hitting the stores. The signal booster kit contains multiple pieces of equipment that serve different functions. The broadcasting antenna distributes the boosted signal throughout the desired space and these antennas come in a wide spectrum of strengths, each able to cover a different-sized space. Of course, the larger space, the more powerful and more expensive the antenna. It's important to keep in mind that some websites and product descriptions advertise maximum broadcast ranges that refer to tests set in open territory. However, when those antennas are placed indoors where it must battle through walls, staircases, and other obstacles, the antenna's range reduces significantly. Be sure to get help with an expert from the store to find the true indoor range of these amplifiers.

With this easy checklist, you'll be way ahead of the game when in the market for a signal booster. Try to look for boosters with the strength you need and antennas to cover the space you want. Remember, asking for help never hurts. There are cell booster experts available to answer specific questions and assist with large-scale installations.

Carriers Bluffing on Cell Phone Signal Booster Network Interference

Mobile operators have avoided facing the reality of consumers frustrated with congested networks and entrepreneurs who have found solutions to fix coverage problems. Now comes a report from the New York Times that the leading mobile operators in the USA are contending that wireless boosters interfere with the smooth running of their networks. What's ironic is "cell phone boosters" have been around for a few years with companies like Wilson Electronics and Wi-Ex.  This equipment is used by law enforcement and often used at stadiums to boost coverage.  Fast forward 10 years and now with an investment in femtocell made, the mobile operators are screaming stop, and seeking assistance from their trade body, CTIA and the FCC to limit or eliminate the use of the wireless boosters when in reality the solution to provide coverage in many places really has been Wi-Fi.  Here are products that have been sold directly from Amazon Wireless for many years.

Read more about the craziness of this idea at VoIP Watch.

Emergency Vehicles Need Cell Signal Boosters

Response times and emergency communication shouldn't not be compromised at the expense of poor cell coverage. Up until now, officers in Arizona have been living in an unconnected computer world taking handwritten notes during investigations and then driving to the nearest substation, often 80 or 100 miles away, to log into the computer systems. While in-vehicle computers and cellular modems are standard equipment for many law enforcement agencies across the U.S., making the department’s Mobile Data Computing Project work in Yavapai County, Arizona was a challenge due to weak cell signals provided by the carriers. The County covers 8,100 square miles, an area larger than several U.S. states, lying between suburban Phoenix and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The topography includes the Sonoran desert and mountains rising nearly 8,000 feet.  As the department researched the feasibility of implementing the upgrade, a field testing confirmed that the cellular signal in many areas of the county was too weak to allow in-vehicle modems to reliably connect with the department’s computer system.  Now their officers have the data connectivity resources in their vehicles.

The Yavapai Arizona Sheriff’s Office took it upon themselves to upgrade their data communications capabilities for more than 120 police cars installing cell phone booster systems made by Wilson Electronics. They didn't beg the carrier to upgrade their networks like so many agencies do.  To solve the problem the department installed Wilson boosters and antennas to detect and amplify faint cellular signals. The payoff has been clear and immediate enabling police officers to use on-board computers and cellular modems to access the department’s computer network and search for needed information or file reports directly from their patrol vehicles, even in remote areas of the county.

The officers recently went on a search and rescue operation in an area where the searching units had no cellular coverage according to their handheld devices, but with the air-cards in their vehicles, responding deputies had service through the Wilson booster and were able to instant message and stay in contact with the communications center.  The department also experienced another unexpected benefit shortening response times.

Wilson Electronics, Inc., a leader in the wireless communications industry for more than 40 years, designs and manufactures a wide variety of cell phone signal boosters, antennas, and related components that significantly improve cellular communication in mobile, indoor, and machine-to-machine (M2M) applications. All Wilson products are engineered, assembled, and tested in the company's U.S.-based headquarters. Wilson boosters fully comply with FCC regulations for cellular devices and are FCC type accepted and Industry Canada certificated. Wilson Electronics has developed and patented a variety of technologies for protecting cell sites by preventing network interference. For more information, visit weboost.com

RV Cell Phone Signal Booster

An RV (aka Recreational Vehicle) on the move can have significant cell phone coverage problems depending on the location it's traveling in. A good way to minimize dropped calls and increase reception to cellular phones/broadband data cards is to install a Cellular Repeater Kit on the roof. A Cellular Repeater Kit will allow you to make calls when very little cell phone signal exists or one or two bars. This booster will also reduce dropped calls and increase internet speeds. We have heard of lots of success stories with Wilson Electronics Repeater kits customized for use in Motorhomes & RVs. Wilson Electronics is well regarded in the industry because of its high quality.

Cell Phone Boosters or Repeaters are very simple to set up and they do not require expert installation. A Repeater kit consists of 3 major components; an external antenna, an amplifier or booster, and an internal antenna that gives cellular coverage inside the RV.  Kits can range from $300 Single Phone Booster for a single-phone style amp to $600 Multiple Phone Booster for a more powerful amp that can support multiple cell phones and/or broadband data cards.

  A few of these kits are listed below for a Single Cell phone and Multiple Cell Phones or Data Card:

Cell Phone Signal Booster FCC Certification Standards

Published by Quantum-Wireless on February 04, 2010

Wilson Electronics has asked the Federal Communications Commission to raise its certification standards for cell phone signal boosters to prevent interference to service providers’ networks and equipment while increasing customer satisfaction.

In November 2009, Wilson submitted a ‘Petition for Rulemaking’ to the FCC recommending additional tests that cell signal boosters must pass in order to meet FCC certification standards. Some details include more testing on feedback detection and auto-shutdown to prevent interference with cell towers. Wilson also wants more stringent controls on proximity detection and auto shut down to prevent signal overload of cell towers.

“At the root of this issue is that we’re all trying to provide customers with better cell phone coverage and service,” said Joe Banos, Wilson's chief operating officer. “We strongly believe that raising the FCC certification approval standards for cell signal boosters would protect the performance of cell towers and prevent service disruptions that can be caused by some unsophisticated cell phone signal boosters in service today.”

Wilson also called for bi-directional signal amplification. Some signal boosters amplify only the incoming signal but do nothing to increase the phone’s weak signal transmission back to the tower where amplification is needed most and bi-directional signal amplification would remedy this problem.

Weak Home Cell Phone Signals

1. Rural areas

In many rural areas, the housing density is too low to make the construction of a new base station commercially viable. In these cases it is unlikely that the service provider will do anything to improve reception, due to the high cost of erecting a new tower. As a result, the only way to obtain strong cell phone signal in these areas is usually to install a home cellular repeater. In flat rural areas the signal is unlikely to suffer from multipath interference, so will just be heavily attenuated by the distance. In these cases the installation of a cellular repeater will generally massively increase signal strength just due to the amplifier, even a great distance from the broadcast towers.

2. Building construction material

Some construction materials very rapidly attenuate cell phone signal strength. Older buildings, such as churches, which use lead in their roofing material will very effectively block any signal. Any building which has a significant thickness of concrete or amount of metal used in its production will attenuate the signal. Concrete floors are often poured onto a metal pan which completely blocks most radio signals. Some solid foam insulation and some fiberglass insulation used in roofs or exterior walls has foil backing, which can reduce transmittance. Energy-efficient windows and metal window screens are also very effective at blocking radio signals. Some materials have peaks in their absorption spectra which massively decrease signal strength.

3. Building size

Large buildings, such as warehouses, hospitals and factories, often have no cellular reception further than a few meters from the outside wall. Low signal strength is also often the case in underground areas such as basements and in shops and restaurants located towards the centre of shopping malls. This is caused by both the fact that the signal is attenuated heavily as it enters the building and the interference as the signal is reflected by the objects inside the building. For this reason in these cases an external antenna is usually desirable.

4. Multipath interference

Even in urban areas which usually have strong cellular signals throughout, there are often dead zones caused by destructive interference of waves which have taken different paths (caused by the signal bouncing off buildings etc.). These usually have an area of a few blocks and will usually only affect one of the two frequency ranges used by cell phones. This is because the different wavelengths of the different frequencies interfere destructively at different points. Directional antennas are very helpful at overcoming this since they can be placed at points of constructive interference and aligned so as not to receive the destructive signal.

5. Diffraction and general attenuation

The longer wavelengths have the advantage of being able to diffract to a greater degree so are less reliant on line of sight to obtain a good signal, but still attenuate significantly. Because the frequencies which cell phones use are too high to reflect off the ionosphere as shortwave radio waves do, cell phone waves cannot travel via the ionosphere.