A definitive guide to picking your first cell phone signal booster

The key target of a cell phone signal booster is to transmute an existing cell signal that is found outside our house or workplace, amplify the signal and then broadcast it to an area which has a weak or may be no signal. A typical cell phone signal booster system consists of an external antenna, a signal boosting amplifier and an internal antenna, with cable connecting all of the components. For the system to work there should be an existing, stable signal to receive and amplify. Cell phone signal boosters generally do not create signal, they only amplify and transmit cell phone signal.

Pre-requisite for a signal booster to work

Cell phone signal boosters are designed in such a way that they take an existing signal, amplify it, and podcast it to a space that is receiving weak or no signal. In order for the system to work, there must be an existing, stable signal to receive and amplify. The absence of an external antenna in a location that has a stable signal results in the cell phone signal booster not working for you.

External Antennas

With any external antenna, it becomes a necessity to remember about its exposure to Mother Nature that can be pretty tough on the equipment. In particular, antennas are susceptible to lighting strikes as they are made of metal and have some level of electricity flowing through them. Another thing to consider is wind. There are two different types of external antennas that one will encounter when deciding on a cell phone signal booster – omni-directional and yagi -directional.
Omni-directional antennas are particularly designed to send and receive signal in all directions, so that one is able to reach multiple cell phone towers at the same time and boost cell phone signal for multiple providers. Omni antennas are best suited for circumstances where one needs to support multiple cell phone carriers, each with their own cell tower, and are already receiving at least three bars of signal outside of the house or workplace. It then becomes easier for the Omni antenna to pick up the signal from each of the carriers which is then supplied to the amplifier. This will thus boost the signal inside our home or office.

Yagi antennas on the other hand are designed to send and receive signal in a specific direction. When one is not able to spread over a broad area, you are still able to reach significantly larger distance to cell phone towers that you would not be able to do with an omni antenna. On placing an external antenna in an area which has weak signal, and when we have only one cell provider that we are looking to boost the signal for, then a yagi antenna proves right for our use.

Internal Antennas

Panel antennas are designed to podcast and receive signal in only one specific direction and they are proved to be the best suited for either long, rectangular spaces or multiple floors in a building. They can be either mounted on the wall facing down a space or mounted facing downwards at the top of a space and broadcast down and out through multiple floors.
Dome antennas on the other hand are designed to cover one floor with signal in all directions and they are meant to be mounted on the ceiling at the center of the space in order to broadcast and receive signal equally in all directions. They are not advisable to be used for multiple floors of coverage.

The Female Connector

The F connector is a coaxial RF connector commonly used for “over the air” terrestrial television, cable television and universally for satellite television and cable modems, usually with RG-6/U cable.
The F connector is not expensive, and has good 75 Ω impedance match for frequencies well over 1 GHz and has usable bandwidth up to several GHz. One reason for its low cost is that it commonly uses the solid conductor of the specified types of coaxial cable as the pin of the male connector. Universally, stainless steel is used for all types of F connectors.
The design is subjected to the surface properties of the inner conductor (which must be solid wire) and is not corrosion resistant. Hence waterproof versions are needed for outside use (for example, on aerials).
Corrosion resistance can be improved by coating all bare copper wires with silicone grease. The male connector body is typically crimped, or sometimes screwed, on to the exposed outer braid. Female F Type connectors have an external 3/8-32 UNEF thread (9.5 mm diameter). Most male connectors have a matching internally threaded connecting ring, though push-on versions are also available.

Coverage Areas

The already available external signal strength that we receive in the window of our home or workplace (where you would place the window unit) has a larger impact on the amount of coverage area we get from the Weboost Eqo. There are several key factors that go into shaping the coverage area, hence varying the original results from these estimates. One who has an existing strong 5-bar external signal, would receive upto 1200sq ft of coverage inside. Anybody having an existing 3 to 4-bar (-90 dB) outside signal, you may receive up to 750 sq ft (2-3 rooms) of coverage inside. Having an already existing external signal of 1 to 2-bar (-100 dB) will receive coverage a few feet from the inside antenna. If you have no existing outside signal, then unfortunately, a signal booster likely will not work in your situation.

Carrier Frequencies

  • AT&T 2G, 3G, 4G HSPA+ & 4G LTE
  • Verizon 2G, 3G, 4G LTE & XLTE
  • Sprint 2G & 3G
  • T-Mobile 2G, 3G, 4G HSPA+ & 4G LTE
  • US Cellular 2G, 3G & 4G LTE

All other carriers using 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 1900 MHz, and AWS 1700/2100 MHz frequencies
An important note to be jotted is that this signal booster kit does not work in most European, Asian, and African countries as the frequencies used there are different than those boosted by this equipment.
Frequencies : 700Mhz, 1900Mhz, and AWS 1700/2100Mhz.
One can get better text and talk and much faster high speed 4G LTE with this signal booster. It has proved best for people who are looking out for a faster and speeder uploads and downloads.