Repeater? antenna booster? Advice please

I have a Sprint/Sanyo 4930 phone which I was told when I bought it
(over a year ago) that was the best they had in terms of reception.
It's not bad, but too often I drop calls going over a bridge or can't
get reception on a job site (construction). I've looked for info on
signal boosters or repeaters but am overwhelmed by the conflicting
info and spam. There's not much on this group that isn't over a year.
Isn't there something I could mount to my car that would simply
increase cell reception and then relay it to my phone? I'd
appreciate any direction on this. It doesn't seem like it should be a
rare item....

Thanks,
John

While dumping the alt.cellular.sprintpcs bit bucket, I heard Local Hero
say:

> I have a Sprint/Sanyo 4930 phone which I was told when I bought it
> (over a year ago) that was the best they had in terms of reception.
> It's not bad, but too often I drop calls going over a bridge or can't
> get reception on a job site (construction). I've looked for info on
> signal boosters or repeaters but am overwhelmed by the conflicting
> info and spam. There's not much on this group that isn't over a year.
> Isn't there something I could mount to my car that would simply
> increase cell reception and then relay it to my phone? I'd
> appreciate any direction on this. It doesn't seem like it should be a
> rare item....
>
> Thanks,
> John

Just add a suitable roof antenna, and this Wilson repeater should do
what you want: http://wilsonelectronics.com/ViewProduct.php?ID=6

--
Dutch

On Mar 17, 11:49 pm, Dutch <bur...@blackholespam.net> wrote:
> While dumping the alt.cellular.sprintpcs bit bucket, I heard Local Hero
> say:
>
> > I have a Sprint/Sanyo 4930 phone which I was told when I bought it
> > (over a year ago) that was the best they had in terms of reception.
> > It's not bad, but too often I drop calls going over a bridge or can't
> > get reception on a job site (construction). I've looked for info on
> > signal boosters or repeaters but am overwhelmed by the conflicting
> > info and spam. There's not much on this group that isn't over a year.
> > Isn't there something I could mount to my car that would simply
> > increase cell reception and then relay it to my phone? I'd
> > appreciate any direction on this. It doesn't seem like it should be a
> > rare item....
>
> > Thanks,
> > John
>
> Just add a suitable roof antenna, and this Wilson repeater should do
> what you want:http://wilsonelectronics.com/ViewProduct.php?ID=6
>
> --
> Dutch

Thanks Dutch,
That's the idea but the price tag stops me on that one. I see devices
that claim the same function selling for under $10. I assume they're
junk but I'd love to know some opinions of which ones are reasonable
or a decent online review source.

John

While dumping the alt.cellular.sprintpcs bit bucket, I heard Local Hero
say:

> On Mar 17, 11:49 pm, Dutch <bur...@blackholespam.net> wrote:
>> While dumping the alt.cellular.sprintpcs bit bucket, I heard Local Hero
>> say:
>>
>>> I have a Sprint/Sanyo 4930 phone which I was told when I bought it
>>> (over a year ago) that was the best they had in terms of reception.
>>> It's not bad, but too often I drop calls going over a bridge or can't
>>> get reception on a job site (construction). I've looked for info on
>>> signal boosters or repeaters but am overwhelmed by the conflicting
>>> info and spam. There's not much on this group that isn't over a year.
>>> Isn't there something I could mount to my car that would simply
>>> increase cell reception and then relay it to my phone? I'd
>>> appreciate any direction on this. It doesn't seem like it should be a
>>> rare item....
>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> John
>>
>> Just add a suitable roof antenna, and this Wilson repeater should do
>> what you want:http://wilsonelectronics.com/ViewProduct.php?ID=6
>
> Thanks Dutch,
> That's the idea but the price tag stops me on that one. I see devices
> that claim the same function selling for under $10. I assume they're
> junk but I'd love to know some opinions of which ones are reasonable
> or a decent online review source.
>
> John

Oh, ok, I thought you wanted something that actually works... :-)

I use a roof mount antenna on my motorhome to increase my range, but it
plugs into my cell phone, rather than wirelessly relaying to it.

--
Dutch

On Tue, 18 Mar 2008 09:23:29 -0400, Dutch <buryit@blackholespam.net> wrote:

>Oh, ok, I thought you wanted something that actually works... :-)

>I use a roof mount antenna on my motorhome to increase my range, but it
>plugs into my cell phone, rather than wirelessly relaying to it.

If you do a wired solution, don't run too much cable. Just an additional 20'
of "low loss" cable is enough to eliminate the benefit of having an outside
antenna.

When I suffered w/ AT&T in the late 90's, I had an outside antenna mounted
on window as opposed to a rooftop antenna. It boosted the signal from
zero/one bars to two to three. Inserting 20' of wire dropped it back down to
one bar.

While dumping the alt.cellular.sprintpcs bit bucket, I heard AZ Nomad
say:

> On Tue, 18 Mar 2008 09:23:29 -0400, Dutch <buryit@blackholespam.net> wrote:
>
>>Oh, ok, I thought you wanted something that actually works... :-)
>
>>I use a roof mount antenna on my motorhome to increase my range, but it
>>plugs into my cell phone, rather than wirelessly relaying to it.
>
> If you do a wired solution, don't run too much cable. Just an additional 20'
> of "low loss" cable is enough to eliminate the benefit of having an outside
> antenna.
>
> When I suffered w/ AT&T in the late 90's, I had an outside antenna mounted
> on window as opposed to a rooftop antenna. It boosted the signal from
> zero/one bars to two to three. Inserting 20' of wire dropped it back down to
> one bar.

Yep, all I use is the 15 ft. cable that came with the antenna, plus a 1
ft. adapter cable.

--
Dutch

I believe Sprint is looking into one of it's own antennas. Something you
will find on it's website, when available. I don't know if it is
meant for a car, though.

Local Hero wrote:
> I have a Sprint/Sanyo 4930 phone which I was told when I bought it
> (over a year ago) that was the best they had in terms of reception.
> It's not bad, but too often I drop calls going over a bridge or can't
> get reception on a job site (construction). I've looked for info on
> signal boosters or repeaters but am overwhelmed by the conflicting
> info and spam. There's not much on this group that isn't over a year.
> Isn't there something I could mount to my car that would simply
> increase cell reception and then relay it to my phone? I'd
> appreciate any direction on this. It doesn't seem like it should be a
> rare item....
>
> Thanks,
> John