Cellphone boosters

[GeoCampers #4771]

Question: cellphone signal boosters; who has one and what type are you using?
While camping in "remote" locations in europe we often find ourselfs without (or very unreliable) cellphone coverage. While this is great most of the time (no disturbance) it also comes with its downsides.
We have the children home alone so some kind of possibility to connect is necessary for pease of mind. Also when something happens it is always handy to be able to contact someone. And a satelite communicator (inreach, zoleo, ...) seems a bit overkill for our use case.

So any advice from someone?

 

[Viking1204]

I had a Weboost setup on my truck and it worked good. The thing with a Weboost setup is you at least need a weak cell signal and it amplifies the signal. In MS where I hunt I could only get one bar of service until I turned the Weboost on and then I got 3 bars of service and could send pictures and look up things on the internet with my phone. Before turnting on the Weboost I could barely send a text without pics or make a call.

 

[NCFireGuy]

I Installed the Hiboost about a month ago and the difference is night and day. If you look at Hobtech he has a 20% off coupon for you

Our county has really bad service and the Ram is driving around with 3 or 4 all the time.

 

[El-Dracho]

The idea is basically good and in North America such boosters are also broadly in use. That's exactly why we asked ourselves at the last OB Europe Comms round table talk whether such a booster would also make sense over here. As we all were not quite sure about what is available in the european market we have postponed the topic. The topic will be on the agenda next time again. Therefore, I have done some research.

In Europe, however, we are operating in a different jurisdiction as far as frequency allocation, frequency use and also the use of such devices is concerned. The use of such a repeater/booster in Europe is subject to regulatory restrictions. The exact regulations are very different depending on the state. Sometimes a license from the regulatory authority is required, sometimes a permission from the mobile operator. Just examples. After all, the frequencies of a cell network operator getting repeated and the operator has on one hand paid for the licenses to use the frequency and on the other hand is also responsible for the proper use of this frequencies. Therefore, such repeaters/boosters are also often only available directly from the respective network operator or even have to be installed by the company.

So, the idea is of course smart, but please check exactly what is allowed and what is not before buying and using. We will talk about this again at the next OB Europe comms round table. Please join us if you like. I will set up a new date soon, you will find it in the Rally Points then.

But if you want to be reachable independent of the mobile network, then I would still recommend a satellite communicator such as the inReach. They work really well and very reliably.

 

[nickburt]

After some research a couple of years ago I bought a booster (800 & 1800Mhz) due to one of our sites being in a very poor reception area. There was just one small area where a single bar of cell signal was possible.
Having spent over £300 on the booster, cables, antenna, I was completely disappointed with it's performance (and worse, the after sales support).
My plan was to be able to set this up on the Land Rover, with it's antenna mounted high and get a signal into one of the buildings using a indoor panel antenna.

What a waste of money. It was quite unreliable, no matter what I did with reception antenna height, direction etc.. etc....

As @El-Dracho says, there are a host of issues surrounding frequency allocations/licencing etc.. etc...

In the end, I gave up and bought Starlink RV. Problem solved for ever, anywhere.

 

[Alanymarce]

A couple of thoughts:

- if there's no signal there's nothing to boost - if you find yourself in such an area the booster will not help. This is a lot more common where we do most of our local travel, however is less of a concern in Europe (at least Western Europe - there are major gaps in Central Europe (Ukraine, Belarus) and hardly any coverage in Northeastern Europe (Northern Russia etc.)).

- A satphone can provide complete coverage - we don't use ours for day to day contact, only for "emergencies" ,however I guess it's a question of how much you value the capability.

 

[Polaris Overland]

We have a Huawei E5577 Portable Mobile Wifi Hotspot which can take an external antenna.
This we have used in multiple countries just changing the Sim as required. In most instances this alone without an external antenna has operated better than our phones.

However I did look at external antennas and in the future that is what I will probably fit. But selecting the best antenna becomes a whole new world of confusion where reviews from others can vary and not all external antennas are created equal so to speak.

 

[nickburt]

We have a Huawei E5577 Portable Mobile Wifi Hotspot which can take an external antenna.
This we have used in multiple countries just changing the Sim as required. In most instances this alone without an external antenna has operated better than our phones.

However I did look at external antennas and in the future that is what I will probably fit. But selecting the best antenna becomes a whole new world of confusion where reviews from others can vary and not all external antennas are created equal so to speak.

We used a variety of similar devices on a couple of previous projects, but, as with any of them, they rely on having a reasonable signal in the first place (albeit, mostly better than mobile 'phones). As for external antennas for them - well ......

 

[GeoCampers #4771]

We have a Huawei E5577 Portable Mobile Wifi Hotspot which can take an external antenna.
This we have used in multiple countries just changing the Sim as required. In most instances this alone without an external antenna has operated better than our phones.

However I did look at external antennas and in the future that is what I will probably fit. But selecting the best antenna becomes a whole new world of confusion where reviews from others can vary and not all external antennas are created equal so to speak.

How do you connect the external antenna? I can't see any connection for that and the specs don't show it either. Can you give some more info?

 

[GeoCampers #4771]

So, simply put, there is no simple solution for this simple problem.
Only expensive and somewhat complicated solutions.
1 a simple satellite messenger (inreach mini, zoleo, ...)
2 a satellite phone
3 starlink

All with their downsides and limited use cases.
So with all our technology, is it still just a case of just choosing and paying for a less adequate solution. A solution that basically did not change since the 80's? Should have kept our satellite phone from back then.

Or is there a solution we just didn't think of?

 

[GeoCampers #4771]

Small update.
After some research and consideration we bought a satellite communicator. We did not go with the garmin inReach because of 2 reasons. 1 the device itself was way overpriced (IMHO) and 2 the plans do not give you as much value for the money as the competition, 3 you do not get to have a single fixed number and email where people can reach you.
For all those reasons we opted for the Zoleo. Hopefully it will give some peace of mind next time we are on the road.

ZOLEO® Seamless Connectivity Beyond Cell Coverage - United Kingdom | ZOLEO

 

[El-Dracho]

Small update.
After some research and consideration we bought a satellite communicator. We did not go with the garmin inReach because of 2 reasons. 1 the device itself was way overpriced (IMHO) and 2 the plans do not give you as much value for the money as the competition, 3 you do not get to have a single fixed number and email where people can reach you.
For all those reasons we opted for the Zoleo. Hopefully it will give some peace of mind next time we are on the road.

ZOLEO® Seamless Connectivity Beyond Cell Coverage - United Kingdom | ZOLEO

Thanks for the update.

However, a lot depends on from which provider you get the contract and not on the device itself. So it is for example also possible to get a fixed email address for the Garmin inReach.

For example, I have a plan for my inReach where I have a true 2 way email address that I can even forward my regular emails to. Furthermore I can activate the plan per day, per week, per month and even just activate it for a weekend. Very flexible.

 

[GeoCampers #4771]

Small update.
After some research and consideration we bought a satellite communicator. We did not go with the garmin inReach because of 2 reasons. 1 the device itself was way overpriced (IMHO) and 2 the plans do not give you as much value for the money as the competition, 3 you do not get to have a single fixed number and email where people can reach you.
For all those reasons we opted for the Zoleo. Hopefully it will give some peace of mind next time we are on the road.

ZOLEO® Seamless Connectivity Beyond Cell Coverage - United Kingdom | ZOLEO

Thanks for the update.

However, a lot depends on from which provider you get the contract and not on the device itself. So it is for example also possible to get a fixed email address for the Garmin inReach.

For example, I have a plan for my inReach where I have a true 2 way email address that I can even forward my regular emails to. Furthermore I can activate the plan per day, per week, per month and even just activate it for a weekend. Very flexible.

,here do you get the service from than? If not from Garmin?

 

[El-Dracho]

,here do you get the service from than? If not from Garmin?

There are other providers than Garmin. In Europe, check out ProteGear for example. These guys are absolute experts in the field of tracking, emergency call and communication systems. They sell different devices (btw, they have developed also an own device which is called Alive), but also many different contracts/plans. And on top of that, if you buy it there, the device is also completely set up. On the website you can even find an online plan advisor, which will guide you to the right plan for your use case.