Dropped the call? Slow Internet? The message is not going anywhere? Despite all the hype that touts breathtaking bandwidth and uninterrupted coverage, the reality is that for many of us, the cellular connection remains intact. A recent site latch Verizon’s 4G footprint in the US stands at 70%. I’m using the second largest carrier, AT&T, which has 68% coverage of the country.
Including my house, obviously, but you wouldn’t know that from the quality of service I usually get: there’s always a bar or two on my phone, incoming calls never ring but forward direct to voicemail and the need to frequently stand near a window for better sound quality and to avoid dropped connections.
There has long been a solution to this problem, which involves connecting your phone to your home broadband network and performing end-to-end work on the cell tower. Femtocell like $250 Verizon LTE Network Extender However, AT&T discontinued the MicroCell in 2017 to allow smartphones to connect directly to Wi-Fi hotspots. It’s great in theory (and great when it works), but for me, the only thing less reliable than my cell service is my Wi-Fi.
The good news is that there is another, potentially better solution, although it doesn’t come cheap: a signal booster that can greatly amplify your existing cellular signal. This concept is often vaguely associated with deceptive, spam products (back in the days of 0, some unscrupulous companies sold counterfeit goods). sticker for your phone promises to boost your signal), but modern signal boosters are legit.
A signal booster is actually a pretty simple device. A large directional antenna is mounted outside and towards the nearest cell phone tower. The outdoor antenna captures cellular signals, amplifies and replays the signal on the indoor omnidirectional antenna. The system is bidirectional, enhances the signal both ways, and (most importantly) is system agnostic, requiring no registration, management, or contracts. Anyone within range of the booster — which is said to cover 4,000 square feet of space — can benefit from it, as long as their network has a tower somewhere in the distance.
To test if the signal booster was doing well for me, SureCall suggested installing one of the high-end boosters in my home. Previously, this product was available as a DIY kit by the homeowner or (more likely) the contractor they hired. But SureCall recently started offering its Fusion Install system with a professional installation included, in partnership with its subsidiary Dish OnTech to do the setup. (Due to the semi-permanent nature of the installation, this system cannot be returned upon completion of the review.)
Installation was scheduled in about a week, and a friendly technician arrived on time. He discussed the ideal placement of the device with me, and it quickly became clear why professional use is a much better idea than trying to do this myself. While the system isn’t complicated, consisting of only one antenna and one indoor antenna and amplifier, connecting them all together is a messy affair that involves threading cables through the cables. crawl space and drill a hole through the outer wall. Obviously, it’s very difficult to make all this good.
In the end the installation took about an hour, after which I completed the clean setup putting the unit inside out of plain sight and seeing the external antenna mounted on a sturdy pole that attached to it. eaves of our roof. Then once the device was plugged in, it was done. There’s nothing to configure or manage and no apps to install. If you want to turn it off, simply unplug it from the electrical outlet.
