Verizon Signal Booster/Repeater

kpoverdorf

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Sep 15, 2010
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I did a quick search and was unable to find any useful information on the topic so here I go...

I have a Verizon phone (galaxy nexus) and I get decent signal everywhere I go but my office is plagued with the Verizon signal black hole. As soon as you walk in the door you go from full bar to none. Literally, I am not making this up. There is a tower right down the street but our building blocks the signal for some reason. Verizon tries to feed us some BS about how we are "inside the signal umbrella". Essentially we are too close the the tower. BS.

So basically our only option is to get a repeater of sorts. I work in the IT department and my manager refuses to let me plug any type of device into the network. I understand its a security thing. Plus if I do it everyone will want to.

What I am looking for is a signal booster/extender that does not require a network connection and is fairly inexpensive. Is there such thing?

I have seen some around for $100-$200 but the reviews are horrible and they seem gimmicky.
 
Yes, so that would not be what I need. Please read my post and don't reply with what I specifically say I am unable to use. Thanks.
 
I'm guessing you are referring to these as the ones that are cheapish.

Booster

The Wilson Wireless is one we have in our office and it works great. I can't remember where we got it but I think it was more expensive, that could also be the antennas we have. Either way, the Wilson has better reviews. And isn't terrible for a price.
Wilson Wireless
 
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I'm pretty sure my work installed a few of these in our building about 6 months ago. I never got around to asking what exactly they did, but I heard the word "boosters" thrown around during that time. All I know is that I literally used to have to turn my phone off at work because it would just go dead in a few hours while constantly searching for a signal. Now I get full bars on 3G anywhere I go in my building (on a Galaxy Nexus....notorious signal issues). I don't recall what the actual signal strength was in dBm, but I think to get full bars on my phone it needs to be no worse than about -70 or so. Anyway, if all they did was install a few boosters, then I'd say it is definitely worth the investment for any office with signal issues.
 
The Galaxy Nexus does not have signal issues. I love how people think that. The signal is fine where there is one. The phone just displays the REAL signal. The Signal to amount of bars ratio is more accurate. other phones may have bad signal but the bars do no reflect it so customers don't constantly complain.

As for the Wilson products, some one in my office is using a cheapo Wilson booster and I did not notice a difference when near it. I think their more expensive models are more effective but they are more invasive too.

Back to the drawing board.
 
The Galaxy Nexus does not have signal issues. I love how people think that. The signal is fine where there is one. The phone just displays the REAL signal. The Signal to amount of bars ratio is more accurate. other phones may have bad signal but the bars do no reflect it so customers don't constantly complain.

As for the Wilson products, some one in my office is using a cheapo Wilson booster and I did not notice a difference when near it. I think their more expensive models are more effective but they are more invasive too.

Back to the drawing board.

I am aware of how the GN currently displays a more accurate representation of signal in terms of bars...also not to thrilled that VZW is changing this to be more like other phones due to complaints from people that don't have a clue. If you read my post again, you'll notice I mentioned that my phone actually needed a good signal in order for it to display "full bars," However, I also know that my OG Droid got a signal that was often about 10 dBm different from my GN in the exact same places. This is with the GN set to 3G only, so it's not showing the 4G signal that was the original cause of some of the signal issue rumors (ICS will actually display the 4G signal, GB only shows the 3G signal so people were comparing the 4G signal on their GN to the 3G signal on other phones), This leads me to believe that the radio in the GN simply isn't as good as it should be.

Anyway, sorry for going OT, but I felt the need to explain my statement.
 
If you can't use the Verizon femtocell that Chris posted you are pretty much out of options, sorry to say.

No possibility of putting it in a DMZ? That's what I did at home for the wifeys Sprint femtocell.
 
Yes, so that would not be what I need. Please read my post and don't reply with what I specifically say I am unable to use. Thanks.


You really have an attitude with that reply. You should have said nothing even if the poster gave you something that you did not request. :mad:
 
As for the Wilson products, some one in my office is using a cheapo Wilson booster and I did not notice a difference when near it. I think their more expensive models are more effective but they are more invasive too.

Back to the drawing board.

Do you know what Wilson booster they are using? In the Lower Level if you are at out of the room that the booster is in, you have no signal, but if you are close to it you get some. So its doing something.
And what do you mean by the more expensive ones are more invasive?
 
The Galaxy Nexus does not have signal issues. I love how people think that. The signal is fine where there is one. The phone just displays the REAL signal. The Signal to amount of bars ratio is more accurate. other phones may have bad signal but the bars do no reflect it so customers don't constantly complain.

As for the Wilson products, some one in my office is using a cheapo Wilson booster and I did not notice a difference when near it. I think their more expensive models are more effective but they are more invasive too.

Back to the drawing board.

It definitely does have a signal issue, IMO. Our house sits about 1/4 mile from a Verizon tower (actually a Bluegrass Cellular tower that Verizon phones roam off of). It sits right next to my sons school and I drop him off there every morning. Well before I got my G-Nex, I was curious as to how strong the signal is when I literally right next to this cell tower ( < 100 ft). I had my Droid at the time and it got down to about -45 dBm. At my house it's at about 65-75 dBm.

I don't know why, but both of my G-Nex's (returned my first one for random reboot issues) refuse to go any lower than -75 dBm even when I'm right next to the tower while I'm dropping my son off. At my house it's very sporadic; fluctuating anywhere between -83 dBm and 120 dBm. This is with the phone set in CDMA only mode (LTE disabled).

Also, we went down to visit family on Christmas eve last week. At this house we've gone to the last couple years, my and my wife's Droid never had any signal/connectivity issues in this area. Well when we got there this time I had my G-Nex and she still has her Droid. She still has 2-3 bars/-80 dBm signal with 3G while my G-Nex has -85 to 100 dBm of signal, but NO 3G or 1x. I don't know why, but the whole 4-5 hours we were there, the damn phone didn't make a data connection once regardless of how many times I toggled airplane mode, CDMA only or CDMA/LTE, mobile data, data roaming and several reboots while taking the SIM card out for a moment before re-inserting and booting back up (I've read places that this forces a PRL update, but I don't see how.. but figured it couldn't hurt to try). It was frustrating to say the least. I even called *611 to see if they could help me out. I got transferred to a tier 2 tech, told him everything I've done and he had no more advice for me other than I'm in a weak signal area, but couldn't explain why the wife's Droid had no signal issues whatsoever.

Otherwise; even though it's had a relatively weak signal everywhere compared to my Droid, it still maintains a decent enough data connection (with above exception) and that's what matters, I guess. I really hope that they can tweak this with a software/baseband update though. I'm really baffled as to why I can't get the phone to read stronger than a -75 dBm signal. Please let me know if you can get yours to read lower (or higher depending on how you look at it) number than that. I think that points to a software issue because there's no reason why I can't get a stronger signal than that when I'm right next to the tower.
 
You really have an attitude with that reply. You should have said nothing even if the poster gave you something that you did not request. :mad:

Don't post if you are not productively contributing to the topic at hand. The poster replied with a product I specifically said I am not able to use. Stay on topic.

Do you know what Wilson booster they are using? In the Lower Level if you are at out of the room that the booster is in, you have no signal, but if you are close to it you get some. So its doing something.
And what do you mean by the more expensive ones are more invasive?

I don't remember the exact model but when I looked it up at the time it was ~$150. I was standing less than a foot from it and it did not do anything for my signal. When I say invasive I mean you have to install a antenna on the roof and run a cable over 15" away. Rather than just slapping a antenna on the window or something.

It definitely does have a signal issue, IMO. Our house sits about 1/4 mile from a Verizon tower (actually a Bluegrass Cellular tower that Verizon phones roam off of). It sits right next to my sons school and I drop him off there every morning. Well before I got my G-Nex, I was curious as to how strong the signal is when I literally right next to this cell tower ( < 100 ft). I had my Droid at the time and it got down to about -45 dBm. At my house it's at about 65-75 dBm.

I don't know why, but both of my G-Nex's (returned my first one for random reboot issues) refuse to go any lower than -75 dBm even when I'm right next to the tower while I'm dropping my son off. At my house it's very sporadic; fluctuating anywhere between -83 dBm and 120 dBm. This is with the phone set in CDMA only mode (LTE disabled).

Also, we went down to visit family on Christmas eve last week. At this house we've gone to the last couple years, my and my wife's Droid never had any signal/connectivity issues in this area. Well when we got there this time I had my G-Nex and she still has her Droid. She still has 2-3 bars/-80 dBm signal with 3G while my G-Nex has -85 to 100 dBm of signal, but NO 3G or 1x. I don't know why, but the whole 4-5 hours we were there, the damn phone didn't make a data connection once regardless of how many times I toggled airplane mode, CDMA only or CDMA/LTE, mobile data, data roaming and several reboots while taking the SIM card out for a moment before re-inserting and booting back up (I've read places that this forces a PRL update, but I don't see how.. but figured it couldn't hurt to try). It was frustrating to say the least. I even called *611 to see if they could help me out. I got transferred to a tier 2 tech, told him everything I've done and he had no more advice for me other than I'm in a weak signal area, but couldn't explain why the wife's Droid had no signal issues whatsoever.

Otherwise; even though it's had a relatively weak signal everywhere compared to my Droid, it still maintains a decent enough data connection (with above exception) and that's what matters, I guess. I really hope that they can tweak this with a software/baseband update though. I'm really baffled as to why I can't get the phone to read stronger than a -75 dBm signal. Please let me know if you can get yours to read lower (or higher depending on how you look at it) number than that. I think that points to a software issue because there's no reason why I can't get a stronger signal than that when I'm right next to the tower.

I have -93dBm or 2 bars inside and -75dBm and 16asu outside. I don't usually worry about the dBm as long as I have signal. It has been documented and proven that the signal which this phone receives is on par with most other phones. It just displays more accurate bars per dBm. I am not sure whats going on with your phone. Sorry to hear about your low signal.

Verizon is going to update the phones so they display more bars to make the user think they are getting a better signal. This has been announced officially. I don't foresee a fix to boost the actual signal.

Engadget VZW update

DroidLife Accurate Signal
 
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I have -93dBm or 2 bars inside and -75dBm and 16asu outside. I don't usually worry about the dBm as long as I have signal. It has been documented and proven that the signal which this phone receives is on par with most other phones. It just displays more accurate bars per dBm. I am not sure whats going on with your phone. Sorry to hear about your low signal.

Verizon is going to update the phones so they display more bars to make the user think they are getting a better signal. This has been announced officially. I don't foresee a fix to boost the actual signal.

Engadget VZW update

DroidLife Accurate Signal

Yeah, I've seen all that. But it doesn't pertain to my above comparison to the Droid since I was comparing decibel strength, not signal bars or 4G vs 3G signal strength. I always have my G-Nex set to CDMA only since I don't live or work in a LTE covered area. So both the Droid and the G-Nex were on EvDo-rev A. networks when I was comparing signal strength.

It hasn't really been an issue for me with the exception for that one instance and I'm somewhat confident that there will be an update to fix things like that situation I was in. I thought it was very odd that I was getting relatively good signal, but no data connection. I could only make calls and send SMS messages. I've never seen that before on my Droid... if it had signal, it at least had a 1X connection.
 
Yeah, I've seen all that. But it doesn't pertain to my above comparison to the Droid since I was comparing decibel strength, not signal bars or 4G vs 3G signal strength. I always have my G-Nex set to CDMA only since I don't live or work in a LTE covered area. So both the Droid and the G-Nex were on EvDo-rev A. networks when I was comparing signal strength.

It hasn't really been an issue for me with the exception for that one instance and I'm somewhat confident that there will be an update to fix things like that situation I was in. I thought it was very odd that I was getting relatively good signal, but no data connection. I could only make calls and send SMS messages. I've never seen that before on my Droid... if it had signal, it at least had a 1X connection.

I hear ya. Only time will tell but we are kinda off topic so I will have to cut this short. I hope everything works out with signal strength issues.
 
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