Cell Booster/Amp in Rural Area

[remrem]

Hello all,

New here....Great forum! You guys seem like the right people to ask for a problem I have.

My girlfriend and I just bought a vacation house in Cochecton, NY. Zip is 12726. Our house is right by the Delaware River.

We do not have cell service, do not have access to DSL or cable. Our only options for television was satellite and currently the only option for broadband is satellite internet.

We are COMPLETELY renovating the house so are on a tight budget for internet connection (things like appliances, new kitchen and bath are priority ) I have my own graphics design business and NEED access at the house for emailing some rather large files, viewing videos, etc.

So now to the point.... on our TIGHT budget we'd like to do away with the local Verizon landline and use our cell phones. We'd like to try using an amplifier with antenna on the roof to pick up the cell service that seems to end about 5 miles up the road. Is it possible with an amp/booster?

Also, we'd like to use something like Sprint's wireless broadband and use the card in one of those wireless routers so we can connect 2 or more computers to the connection.... ALL ON A BUDGET.

Am I dreaming here? What would the best course of action be?

Thanks!

[Barciurek]

You won't be able to pick it up if it ends 5 miles away from you... Signal booster boosts the signal that you get, so if you got 1 bar it would give you more.. but it won't bring a signal to you.

[Bill Clinton]

Do you have Sprint now? If there isn't service for miles around, an external antenna and an amp probably won't help. Try climbing up on the roof and see if you have any signal before you invest in equipment.

Does any carrier provide coverage at the location?

Satellite internet is a hassle, I had it for a while until cable became available on my road. I used WildBlue and they were fairly reliable, with decent upload and download speeds, but there is about a 3-4 second lag when loading anything because the signal has to make a round trip up to a satellite. for example, if you click to load a web page, nothing will happen for a couple seconds and then it will load suddenly.

Surprisingly, my cable connection isn't much faster than the satellite for uploading and downloading, but the satellite had some serious ping issues and it did cost more than my cable internet.

I would suggest EV-DO over satellite if you can get it, but if you don't have Sprint coverage you might be out of luck unless you switch to Verizon who is more expensive and the limit data plans.

AT&T might have coverage at your house but they would probably wouldn't have 3G. EDGE speeds are ok for a phone, but I wouldn't want to use that for my computer.

Good luck.

[Buickman]

WOW! And I thought northern MN was bad for cell service. I looked at major carrier's coverage maps for your area and here's what I see.

#1. There appears to no GSM service there, so AT&T and Tmobile are out.

#2. Sprint does not have EVDO (high speed) data anywhere near there, so if you were able to get a signal somehow, it would be like using dial-up or even slower.

#3. Verizon has EVDO near you. If an amp and outside antenna could get you a signal it looks like that would be your only option for high speed data.

Whether an amp and antenna would work, the only way to know is to try. I'm assuming it is a very wooded area, so getting up above the trees could make a big difference. Does your house already have an old TV antenna "tower" sticking up high in the air? If it does you could try climbing up there and see if your phone gets a signal.

[remrem]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

Buick, that's EXACTLY the conclusion I've come up with.

Verizon is my only option.

I was thinking of buying one of those Wilson SOHO amps and antennas but it's hard to justify the costs if I'm not SURE it'll work.

The area is very wooded and we're on a hill heading west down into the Delaware River Valley.

I've done a search for the Verizon towers and there are about 4 of them back up the hill to the east about 10 miles away.

Our DirecTV dish is mounted on about an 8' mast on top of the roof.

Is 10 miles away too far to pick up a reliable signal from where I'm at with the amp and a good antenna?

My only other options are the satellite internet and as the other poster eluded to there are lag times or trying to hook into 1 of the local open wifi networks at the high school or library.

It's driving me CRAZY!!!!

[Buickman]

10 miles from a cell tower = no problem (usually)

10 miles from a cell tower AND the other side of a hill = problem!

Who do you have as a cell phone carrier right now? You will have to use your current phone as a "test" device to see how well you can get any signal using various antennas or amps. You talk about trying to pick up WiFi from other locations around you. How do they get there service then?

[remrem]

Alright, so basically just start buying antennas and amps until I find 1 that works?

Are they usually returnable if they DON'T work?

The sites around us with WiFi I believe are within the range of DSL, or have had cables run to the locations.

We just seem to be in a "dead spot." There is DSL available around us, cable also and cell service just to the east and west of us. And yet the services either end just short of our property as in the case of DSL and cable or are out of reach as in the case of cell service.

Frustrating to say the least.

[Buickman]

Originally Posted by remrem

Alright, so basically just start buying antennas and amps until I find 1 that works?

I'd hate to tell you that. You said you have a dish on your roof for TV. Can you climb up there with your cell phone and see if it gets a signal when you are up that high? I know it seems kind of drastic, but it's really the only way to test things. If you bought an antenna you would have to climb up there anyway to install it.

[remrem]

I'll give it a shot this weekend.

I'm certainly not worried about climbing on the roof.... my worries are more about the equipment it's going to take for me to get a decent internet connection.

[Maximum Signal]

we probably would be able to put something together for you in your budget . Check us out . Link to the site is below.

Originally Posted by remrem

Hello all,

New here....Great forum! You guys seem like the right people to ask for a problem I have.

My girlfriend and I just bought a vacation house in Cochecton, NY. Zip is 12726. Our house is right by the Delaware River.

We do not have cell service, do not have access to DSL or cable. Our only options for television was satellite and currently the only option for broadband is satellite internet.

We are COMPLETELY renovating the house so are on a tight budget for internet connection (things like appliances, new kitchen and bath are priority ) I have my own graphics design business and NEED access at the house for emailing some rather large files, viewing videos, etc.

So now to the point.... on our TIGHT budget we'd like to do away with the local Verizon landline and use our cell phones. We'd like to try using an amplifier with antenna on the roof to pick up the cell service that seems to end about 5 miles up the road. Is it possible with an amp/booster?

Also, we'd like to use something like Sprint's wireless broadband and use the card in one of those wireless routers so we can connect 2 or more computers to the connection.... ALL ON A BUDGET.

Am I dreaming here? What would the best course of action be?

Thanks!

[remrem]

OK, I'll check out the products.

In the meantime, OK, so this weekend I purchased a Verizon cell phone to see what type of signal I got at the house.

Outside i was connected to the network and actually made a call but I moved SLIGHTLY and the call was disconnected.

I could stay connected to the network but calls kept failing then.

I'm thinking of buying one of these zBoost products to see if the signal could be boosted. I should then buy a good directional antenna, correct? Any recommendations?

[Bill Clinton]

Well a Yagi or a panel antenna are your options for a directional antenna. If you go that route, I could recommend you buy the highest gain Yagi you can get, and thats probably going to set you back $60-$110.

A directional antenna might not help you that much if you are trying to get a cell site on the other side of a hill. In this situation you aren't really able to aim the antenna very effectively. In your situation a nice omni directional antenna could be just as effective.

[Buickman]

If your phone was getting a marginal signal outside (I'm assuming at ground level), than I wouldn't be surprised if an omni directional antenna mounted up high worked just fine with the booster. I would try that first, and than if you think it isn't quite enough, drop the cash for a Yagi. The good news is it looks like you will be able to get cell service to work at your place.

[remrem]

What we were looking to get just to try to see if a booster will help was the zBoost YX500.

We would also try out the YX026-CEL from Wi-Ex which is an 11 dBi Outdoor Directional Signal Antenna.

Does that sound like it would be good to test?

If it ends up working we may take a look at the products MaximumSignal offers for a more permanent solution.

Also, another question. The instructions say not to mount the outdoor antenna near metal. I wanted to mount the directional possibly onto a piece of PVC pipe that would be mounted to a 8ft high metal mast which currently supports our DircTV dish... would that work or if we're using the directional antenna we really don't need to be concerned with mounting it on a metal mast?

[Maximum Signal]

The WI-Ex products need a really strong signal outdoors to work properly . Please do not judge all products by your WI-EX expierience

Originally Posted by remrem

What we were looking to get just to try to see if a booster will help was the zBoost YX500.

We would also try out the YX026-CEL from Wi-Ex which is an 11 dBi Outdoor Directional Signal Antenna.

Does that sound like it would be good to test?

If it ends up working we may take a look at the products MaximumSignal offers for a more permanent solution.

Also, another question. The instructions say not to mount the outdoor antenna near metal. I wanted to mount the directional possibly onto a piece of PVC pipe that would be mounted to a 8ft high metal mast which currently supports our DircTV dish... would that work or if we're using the directional antenna we really don't need to be concerned with mounting it on a metal mast?

[remrem]

Also, another question. The instructions say not to mount the outdoor antenna near metal. I wanted to mount the directional possibly onto a piece of PVC pipe that would be mounted to a 8ft high metal mast which currently supports our DircTV dish... would that work or if we're using the directional antenna we really don't need to be concerned with mounting it on a metal mast?