Boost weak signal inside building?

I get a very weak signal inside the building I own. It's usually 1, maybe 2
bars and sometimes nothing. Even outside on the sidewalk you can only get 3
bars. It's not my phone (I have a LG 4400) because every person that comes
in has trouble with their calls.

So, I'm wondering if there is some sort of booster, signal grabber, repeater
contraption that I can install inside the building that would "grab" a cell
phone signal and send it outside for a stronger connection. I've been to
Radio Shack and the girl there said "No", but she also seemed a little
clueless, if you know what I mean.

Any help is appreciated.

"lardsoup" <lardsoup@a.v> wrote in message
news:kyKkc.13425$Xj6.220770@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net
> I get a very weak signal inside the building I own. It's usually 1,
> maybe 2 bars and sometimes nothing. Even outside on the sidewalk you
> can only get 3 bars. It's not my phone (I have a LG 4400) because
> every person that comes in has trouble with their calls.
>
> So, I'm wondering if there is some sort of booster, signal grabber,
> repeater contraption that I can install inside the building that
> would "grab" a cell phone signal and send it outside for a stronger
> connection. I've been to Radio Shack and the girl there said "No",
> but she also seemed a little clueless, if you know what I mean.
>
> Any help is appreciated.

Of course there are. Many office buildings, and steel sided manufacturing
buildings and warehouses have them

There are quite a few of em. Check out http://www.cellantenna.com

lardsoup wrote:
>
> I get a very weak signal inside the building I own. It's usually 1, maybe 2
> bars and sometimes nothing. Even outside on the sidewalk you can only get 3
> bars. It's not my phone (I have a LG 4400) because every person that comes
> in has trouble with their calls.
>
> So, I'm wondering if there is some sort of booster, signal grabber, repeater
> contraption that I can install inside the building that would "grab" a cell
> phone signal and send it outside for a stronger connection. I've been to
> Radio Shack and the girl there said "No", but she also seemed a little
> clueless, if you know what I mean.

One should never look at the number of "bars" as any indication of
signal strength. They're put there by the manufacturer of the phone.
One manufacturer might decide that a weak signal deserves one bar,
while the next thinks two would be more appropriate. Etc., etc. Not
only is there no standard between manufacturers, there's not even a
standard between phones from the *same* manufacturer.

Having said that, are you basing your "weak signal" on the number of
bars or your ability to aquire/hold a signal?

Larry

Both.

> Having said that, are you basing your "weak signal" on the number of
> bars or your ability to aquire/hold a signal?
>
> Larry

Though the network plays a big part, am too in a similar weak signal
building, the phone can play a part too. Had first bought this week a
LG 4400 to replace a dying Startac 7868, it had poorer reception than
the Startac replaced. The LG 4400 stayed in analog much of the day
(not to mention 20 hours of battery life on a few short calls) whereas
the Startac stayed in digital at least 50% of the time and had 60
hours of battery life under similar conditions. After reading rave
reviews of the Nokia 3589i at http://www.phonescoop.com> of its
reception, it has BOTH an internal and external antenna, which very
few models have, have this now and returned the LG 4400. The Nokia
3589i am getting 1-2 digital bars out of 7 nearly all the time and 95%
of calls are ringing thru where 75 feet from nearest window on ground
floor. At phonescoop, a VZW salesman posted that this is the phone he
recommends to his customers in the mountains of NC.

Scott

"lardsoup" <lardsoup@a.v> wrote in message news:<kyKkc.13425$Xj6.220770@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>...
> I get a very weak signal inside the building I own. It's usually 1, maybe 2
> bars and sometimes nothing. Even outside on the sidewalk you can only get 3
> bars. It's not my phone (I have a LG 4400) because every person that comes
> in has trouble with their calls.
>
> So, I'm wondering if there is some sort of booster, signal grabber, repeater
> contraption that I can install inside the building that would "grab" a cell
> phone signal and send it outside for a stronger connection. I've been to
> Radio Shack and the girl there said "No", but she also seemed a little
> clueless, if you know what I mean.
>
> Any help is appreciated.

I'm not sure the repeater is really practically viable because be
potentially interferring with the power allocation that the base
station is trying to do.

As far as RS, what you're asking for is a little out of their scope.
You're lucky if the person you get knows the catalog.

One idea you might try is removing any strong interference sources
that are under your control, especially if they are near the cellular
band or have strong spurious emmisions that might make it up that
high. Examples are internal wireless phones, high power electric
equipment, unshielded computer equipment or unshielded cables. You
won't see more bars on your phone, but you might have better success
using the few bars you do have. If you want to spend some money you
could have someone survey your site.

Another approach is a change of service providers. Sometimes your
building is far from one cell site (e.g. Verizon) but really close to
another (e.g. Cingular). So if you're spending a lot of your life in
one particular building, you might be better off with a phone that
talks to the brand of tower outside your window.




"lardsoup" <lardsoup@a.v> wrote in message news:<kyKkc.13425$Xj6.220770@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>...
> I get a very weak signal inside the building I own. It's usually 1, maybe 2
> bars and sometimes nothing. Even outside on the sidewalk you can only get 3
> bars. It's not my phone (I have a LG 4400) because every person that comes
> in has trouble with their calls.
>
> So, I'm wondering if there is some sort of booster, signal grabber, repeater
> contraption that I can install inside the building that would "grab" a cell
> phone signal and send it outside for a stronger connection. I've been to
> Radio Shack and the girl there said "No", but she also seemed a little
> clueless, if you know what I mean.
>
> Any help is appreciated.

I got a repeater for my place. Works like a charm.
My battery stays up for longer and I haven't had an issue since I put it in.
I have no issues with power allocation as the cell phone still obeys power
commands, hence better battery life.

I got mine at:

http://www.criterioncellular.com/repeaters/index.html

But there are many other sites that sell 'em.

Scotty



"Jay" <kayrock66@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:d049f91b.0405011944.1a01c755@posting.google.c om...
> I'm not sure the repeater is really practically viable because be
> potentially interferring with the power allocation that the base
> station is trying to do.
>
> As far as RS, what you're asking for is a little out of their scope.
> You're lucky if the person you get knows the catalog.
>
> One idea you might try is removing any strong interference sources
> that are under your control, especially if they are near the cellular
> band or have strong spurious emmisions that might make it up that
> high. Examples are internal wireless phones, high power electric
> equipment, unshielded computer equipment or unshielded cables. You
> won't see more bars on your phone, but you might have better success
> using the few bars you do have. If you want to spend some money you
> could have someone survey your site.
>
> Another approach is a change of service providers. Sometimes your
> building is far from one cell site (e.g. Verizon) but really close to
> another (e.g. Cingular). So if you're spending a lot of your life in
> one particular building, you might be better off with a phone that
> talks to the brand of tower outside your window.
>
>
>
>
> "lardsoup" <lardsoup@a.v> wrote in message
news:<kyKkc.13425$Xj6.220770@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>...
> > I get a very weak signal inside the building I own. It's usually 1,
maybe 2
> > bars and sometimes nothing. Even outside on the sidewalk you can only
get 3
> > bars. It's not my phone (I have a LG 4400) because every person that
comes
> > in has trouble with their calls.
> >
> > So, I'm wondering if there is some sort of booster, signal grabber,
repeater
> > contraption that I can install inside the building that would "grab" a
cell
> > phone signal and send it outside for a stronger connection. I've been
to
> > Radio Shack and the girl there said "No", but she also seemed a little
> > clueless, if you know what I mean.
> >
> > Any help is appreciated.

http://www.wilsoncellular.com/amps/w...20progress.htm