Mobile Signal Booster

[pandemonium]

Hey ladies and gents. I've been testing this Wilson MobilePro 800/1900 in a very poor reception area (inside a building with zero direct windows to this room, through several walls). We typically have 1-2 bars here.

My testing methods were using dslreports.com's mobile 100k simple test on my phone. I've run 15 sample tests with the booster on and then 15 without and I'm getting some very strange results; ranging from being barely better with the booster to much better without it. I know there's several factors involved here, but this isn't very favorable at all.

I plan on running some more tests when I get home, but this is very strange and I'm wondering if this thing even works, lol.

Anyone else have experiences with signal boosters, or this one specifically?

 

[vshah]

i recall reading an article about these, and it explained the problem like this: boosting the signal also boosts the noise, and that noise goes and interferes with the original unboosted signal, causing trouble for the receiving device (your phone). I remember they got better results when they put the booster on one side of an RF barrier (say in the attic with a metal plate on the floor) and ran a cable for the antenna to the other side.

basically, i think you need to put your booster in an area with strong signal for it to have a chance.

 

[pandemonium]

There is mention of using the car rooftop as a barrier between the antenna and the amplifier, so I made use of the metal storage cabinets we have here in this room. This booster has oscillation detection and the indicator light changes to red when the amplifying signal is interfering with the antenna.

I'm just wondering if anyone has seen improvements themselves with these devices.

I'll be taking a large road trip for the next week and I'll have plenty of opportunity to be testing its amplification capabilities driving through mountains and tunnels and such, so we'll see.