Increase signal inside room?

[bbs lm-r]

Ok basically, I get good cell phone signal outside my dorm building, in my dorm, i'm lucky if it gets enough signal to tell me the time.

Whenever I'm inside, I have to leave my phone on the window sill, it's the only way I get enough signal to get texts and phone calls (which I never bother picking up, I have to go outside and call back).

Is there anything I can do to boost signal inside my room? Stick a satellite dish or something outside to my window:hmm:?

Incase it matters, phone is LG Cosmos (yes, it is a hunking pile of crap)

 

[vshah]

you could buy a signal booster for the correct frequencies for your carrier/phone.

 

[luv2liv]

yes and no.

YES, there is this thing called BDA, bi-directional amplifiers. it costs buckloads of money and corporations will gladly pay for installation so their employees can make calls while in the middle of the building in the bathroom.
NO, those Wilson amplifiers (about 50 bux) do not work.

depending on your mobile carriers, you could get Femto cells. these will route your mobile calls through VOIP. I know for sure Sprint and Tmobile have femto cells

 

[bearxor]

I'm going to chime in here on Wilson equipment.

Up until Jan 2nd of this year, I worked for a company that deployed unattended machines in remote locations. Wilson antennas work great. There are some catches though.

You won't want a cable running in to your phone for the antenna, so you'll need to use their two-antenna setups. The main catch with this setup is that the two antennas need to be about 15ft apart and they can't face each other. This might be really difficult to do in a dorm room. If you could get the room next door to put the tower antenna on their window sill and then you can put the transmitting antenna in your window and that should work just fine. Don't know how practical that is. Either of those solutions cost less than $300. The dual system is a bit more expensive than the single that plugs directly in.

A femtocell might not work because your university might block the traffic.

 

[gsaldivar]

Easiest way, but quality may vary based on your router and internet connection:

Get any cheap/used Android phone (doesn't have to be activated for this purpose), install Groove IP, then place & receive calls from your Google Voice account over wifi.

 

[sygyzy]

Are universities savvy enough to block the traffic from a femtocell? I don't mean if their IT department knows how to block traffic but is it really such a problem that they are actively blocking it? I think you would be the hero of your dorm building if you bought the femtocell. Heck, get ten people together, pay $10 a piece, and buy a used femtocell on ebay.

 

[Oyeve]

Wrap phone in aluminum foil?

 

[Wonderful Pork]

Are universities savvy enough to block the traffic from a femtocell? I don't mean if their IT department knows how to block traffic but is it really such a problem that they are actively blocking it? I think you would be the hero of your dorm building if you bought the femtocell. Heck, get ten people together, pay $10 a piece, and buy a used femtocell on ebay.

I believe femtocell use is tied to a single account, and most carriers count minutes used on a femtocell against plan minutes, so unless everybody was on the same family plan that wouldn't work.

If the reception is that horrible, you can call the wireless carrier and they may give you one for free if you keep their service.

 

[bearxor]

They typically can't support more than three or four active calls at once. You also have to assign them which numbers are allowed t use them. I think the AT&T one holds 10.