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I wondered whether anyone has tried rigging up an external aerial with an internal repeater, like the ones on ebay.
I'm on Vodafone and have just moved house, it doesn't seem that my phone works anywhere inside the house.
Or, would a Vodafone Sure Signal be the best bet? Do they work?
Technically illegal in the UK, although unlikely anyone would ever notice it....
Ofcom do try and stop sellers offering them as they are legal to sell, but illegal to use.
They are legal and popular in the US, hence so many models about.
Can you enable wi-fi calling on your phone?
Not used the Vodafone one but supported people using similar products for other networks and they seem to work fine.
The repeater kits are potentially an issue as you're effectively setting up broadcast equipment without a license. Not sure if that's really a problem on a household scale, probably not. I don't know how well they work.
Oh, had no idea they were illegal. How exciting knowing that you were dicing with the law every time you made a call.
Wi-fi calling on my phone seems to be worse than normal calling, not sure why.
I have a Sure Signal, and it's a worthwhile addition to my Faraday cage of a house. That said, I didn't pay for it, got it from work.
My personal phone is now on EE and using WiFi Calling - this is less hassle, but not sure VF support it (they didn't when I was with them before).
I have fairly poor ADSL connectivity so I doubt you'd have a bandwidth issue.
Vodafone do support WiFi calling now. Checked recently as I was thinking of migrating.
Rachel
I installed the repeaters in my last work place. Worked great but the obviously the outside part needs to able to receive a good signal.
Sure signals also work and we used them at users homes. Only problem if making a call while on the sure signal and then leaving the house it does not seamlessly move the call to the network and the call will drop once out of range of the sure signal.
Vodafone Sure Signal have a long history of catching fire. Google it. The risk seems real enough to put me right off using one.
Oh God so you're saying I've either got to risk arrest or have my house burn down.
I'm with three, but similar to yourself I have terrible reception in my house on my mobile. Three have a special app for diverting all calls & txt's via wifi and it works really well.
Perhaps vodaphone do similar?
I'm also interested in options, just to get a cell signal inside a metal box. Currently considering a pair of antennae or one external antenna and some leaky feeder. Both of which feel like they should be legal.
I didn't pay enough attention in impedance matching class to know if either will work though.
I had similar problems at home and swapped to Three with wifi calling, works fine.
Currently considering a pair of antennae or one external antenna and some leaky feeder. Both of which feel like they should be legal.
As it's passive, it would be fine, however you'll struggle to get much improvement from it unless you really are in a metal box and close to a mast as the gain from the antenna will be wiped out by the losses in the cable....
Me. I have one.
EE.
£70 eBay .
Yagi aerial in the loft pointed at the HSDPA mast three miles away.
Mast needs to be at a higher level than the booster box.
Wire ran down wall cavity.
Full 3g signal throughout house, 9mb download. No signal drops.
Why?
No 2g, 3g or 4g in my house or garden in any network unless I'm in the loft. Semi rural area. Proper deadzone despite networks claiming otherwise.
EE have WiFi calling but are mean and only activate on direct sales. So not my contract. I'm paying £38 a month and I believe they should accommodate me. They won't. My wife has the same phone from the EE shop so gets WiFi calling.
To clarify. I had the booster before WiFi calling was really a thing.
Not caused any interference to anything that I know of.
The neighbours probably enjoy the boost (they have no knowledge of the booster)
It's ilegal. But hey, I pay. I want signal. Why do EE etc make it so hard for paying customers???
It's 2018. I live on a major road going into Wales. The state of the networks outside major cities is rubbish. I can't drive between two major local towns on a dual carriageway without losing signal or reverting to EDGE constantly. I've read the phone companies are starting to look at 5g. How about getting 3g to the masses first????
The state of the networks outside major cities is rubbish. I can’t drive between two major local towns on a dual carriageway without losing signal or reverting to EDGE constantly.
Much the same across south Wiltshire into Dorset, sat in the team car trying to contact a client to update them on a collection time, virtually zero signal for ten to twelve miles at a time, get a signal, only to lose it again a minute into a conversation and then no signal for yet more miles. That’s on O2. At home, on the other hand, I can stand outside my front gate and almost throw a stone and hit the nearest O2 mast!
FWIW, they can & do interfere with the mobile networks, I know of one EMC test house that assisted O2 finding the cause of a very localised network issue in the Midlands, turned out a corner shop was using one & It was knackering the signal between the O2 transmitter and it's location.
I used to have a Three box in the house that connected to your broadband to generate a signal
As others have said, you dont need them these days as most phones including my Vodafone works phone have Wifi Calling
Vodafone signal thingy here, internet connection side of it is dangled off a cheap USB powered wifi widget as it normally expects a wired connection.
Paid £50 from Ebay, because Vodafone are tighter than a tight thing, and wanted £100 at the time.
Works very well. Despite having to bend over to obtain one. Hasn't caught fire yet.
You have to whitelist numbers, so only you and friends will be able to use it.
Cel-Fi works well for all uk networks - the more expensive model can be used with an external weatherproof aerial - in really bad areas it’s possible to rig up a 10m “mast” or fix the aerial to a tree and then run coax back from there - which for the vast majority of areas will give good 4g coverage assuming there’s enough bandwidth on the network e.g Vodafone you may get a strong signal but poor data speeds - with EE and three you’re more likely to get good signal and speeds as they have more masts in more places.
It’s also worth mentioning the gain difference between different boosters - Cel Fi is around 100db whereas the plug in femtocells (connecting to broadband) will be a lot lower than that I.e. femto is best suited to smaller houses or properties that don’t have solid walls internally.
Didn't Vodafone used to officially supply something for this?? In my distant memory (my very first mobile was on Voda) I seem to recall setting up a box to boost Voda's signal in my house. It worked absolutely fine. Just looked on their site - £69! because they are crap. It was free back then!
and here
https://www.lifehacker.co.uk/2014/07/13/vodafone-sure-signal-really-work
"the vast majority of customers will be better served by finding a mobile network that actually covers their homes, and saving an extra £100 on Vodafone hardware"
Couldn't agree more.