been looking at these lately to boost my signal at home. I'm aware these incorporate data usage on top of mobile data plan such as downloading a 200mb file through 3g or 4g will also add same usage to your monthly with the ISP. luckily I'm just looking for better signal since I'm on wifi at home anyways while 3g or 4g is only on for mms which isn't often.
Do you get a decent signal outside your house? You can go with a booster if you do.
mjones73 said:
Do you get a decent signal outside your house? You can go with a booster if you do.
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kind of depending which room I'm in. if I'm upstairs and on side towards a tower I get 4-5 bars vs 2-3 everywhere else...sometimes one depending on Verizon's end
dyetheskin said:
kind of depending which room I'm in. if I'm upstairs and on side towards a tower I get 4-5 bars vs 2-3 everywhere else...sometimes one depending on Verizon's end
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I meant completely outside, they sell cell phone boosters where you mount an antenna outside of your house and feed it down to a booster in the house that repeats the signal inside. That method lets you help kill dead spots in the house and it still uses the towers vs your broadband connection.
As for the Verizon device, can't comment on it personally, I'm sure there are some reviews elsewhere in the forum. I don't think any data pulled over one of these would count against your Verizon data plan since it's coming over your broadband connection though, would be the equivalent of being on wifi.
Are you wanting to improve your voice connection or data connection? At a school I work at the Principal had a AT&T extender installed and it helps a lot with voice, but overall it was better to stay on wifi for the data connection.
Personally if it was me if your voice connection was good, I would just stick on Wifi for data if its not that great for 3G or 4G.
Lots of questions answered in this FAQ:
http://support.verizonwireless.com/faqs/Equipment/network_extender.html
I have one for voice and it works pretty well.
I keep it in my closet and it does the job, however there are some downsides.
It does not "extend" data, so I generally need to use WiFi in my house. I've heard the newer models will handle data as well; not sure if they handle 4G.
It does not hand-off to towers. This means you cannot initiate a call in your house then walk outside of the house; you'll drop the call. This applies for coming into your house as well.
This might be obvious, but it's reliant on how good your internet is. For example, while I was uploading my Google Music collection, I could not make calls using the extender because my connection was essentially tapped. I tried to set up QoS, but setting to low was the only thing that sort of worked.
I have one and Etherboo is correct. I'll add that they do not handle 4g. Doesn't matter because I use wifi at home.
That said, it works very well for voice. For some reason they need a GPS fix. Mine's in my basement office and I have to use the external GPS antenna that's provided.
Related
new to androids and sprint so I searched the forums and found nothing related to my issue, so here goes.
I have a sprint air rave at my house and when i do internet speed tests whether it be through an app or a website i can manage barely 2mbps DL and sub 600k UL
When i turn wifi on i get my normal 10mbps DL and ~2mbps UL that i would get through my PC's...can someone tell me if its an airrave setting or is it just the way that the phone is set up to work with the air rave?
im Running Synergy rev 344 on my Evo 3d
This is because the airwaves uses Evdo while you use speedtest. If you turn off the airaves and perform a test again you're not using evdo you're using your home wifi.
You should be able to use wifi while the airraves on, just go into quick settings and turn off mobile network before you perform a speed test. Make sire to turn it back on when you're done!
sent from a double barreled shooter
thanks for the quick response! so i guess it was the way that the air rave is programmed (i had a inkling that that might have been the reason)
Preston2291 said:
I have a sprint air rave at my house and when i do internet speed tests whether it be through an app or a website i can manage barely 2mbps DL and sub 600k UL
When i turn wifi on i get my normal 10mbps DL and ~2mbps UL that i would get through my PC's...can someone tell me if its an airrave setting or is it just the way that the phone is set up to work with the air rave?
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Click to collapse
tried google searching but i couldn't find any explicit stating of airave speeds.
wifi hardware on the evo 3d has the greatest speeds of all the radios on the device.
airave is using pure cell phone, 3g/evdo technology to communicate with the device which has bandwidth limitations.
to list the radios in the phone in order of speeds i've seen:
1) wifi, 2) wimax, 3) 3g/evdo/airave, 4) 1x
i also have an airave at home and i never thought to run a speed test on it. i usually flip on wifi if i need to pull down a lot of data while at home. mainly just use the airave for placing/receiving voice calls and sometimes text.
jlear3 said:
You should be able to use wifi while the airraves on, just go into quick settings and turn off mobile network before you perform a speed test. Make sire to turn it back on when you're done!
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Click to collapse
turning on wifi with an airave and w/o works the same as with a cell tower signal and without.
when wifi is turned on android switches data to operate over the wifi radio and leaves voice/text over the cell radio which will go through either the airave or the sprint tower.
when wifi is turned off android switches data back to going over the cell radio which uses either the airave or the sprint tower, whichever has better signal.
hope that makes sense and helps!
No problem
Yeah the airave just gives you evdo speeds not wifi also be aware that it won't know if you're calling a mobile phone or a landline, so any minutes used to call will be deducted from your monthly minutes.
sent from a double barreled shooter
both of those are awesome pieces of advice!
yea i tried to google it also but couldnt find squat on the airrave speeds, lol i usually have wifi on at my house but i was curious to find out the throughput speeds of the airrave.
and also thanks for the info on the cell calls....when sprint sent it to me...they didnt say a word about the air rave not knowing if i was calling a cell or landline so i will definatly have to watch who i call from now on
Ya it really depends on what person you get from tech support. I don't know this from first hand experience only what i was told by a tech rep, mine won't be here for a few weeks as they're on backorder :/ so maybe the rep that told me was wrong, just pay attention until we know for sure
sent from a double barreled shooter
Hi.
I may possibly be moving about 30 mins away and the location has inconsistent signal...I get 4 bars of LTE in one spot, move literally 2 feet away and I am down to 1 bar of 3G signal. I need to have a very solid 4G-LTE signal as I use my phone for tethering as my main internet to my desktop and I also work a bit from home so this is important.
I am wondering if there is any product out there that can enhance my 4G-LTE signal on my phone that you can get and does not require a separate internet connection to work?
To my knowledge, the current Verizon network extender requires an internet connection and can only distribute/extend 3G speeds....this won't do.
flooritnfly said:
Hi.
I may possibly be moving about 30 mins away and the location has inconsistent signal...I get 4 bars of LTE in one spot, move literally 2 feet away and I am down to 1 bar of 3G signal. I need to have a very solid 4G-LTE signal as I use my phone for tethering as my main internet to my desktop and I also work a bit from home so this is important.
I am wondering if there is any product out there that can enhance my 4G-LTE signal on my phone that you can get and does not require a separate internet connection to work?
To my knowledge, the current Verizon network extender requires an internet connection and can only distribute/extend 3G speeds....this won't do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some may claim to extend LTE passively, but if you look at the specification, it's pretty much impossible to do passively. About the closest you can get is to build a picocell; a cell that covers a small home or office area. The reason they don't work is because LTE, like GSM, uses time division duplexing. This requires an advance in signal broadcast to compensate for the speed of light so that the handset's signal always reaches the tower inside it's assigned time window. The delay is a function of distance. Once your distance is greater than the allowable advance of the specification, the tower will drop your signal regardless of how strong it might be.
loonatik78 said:
Some may claim to extend LTE passively, but if you look at the specification, it's pretty much impossible to do passively. About the closest you can get is to build a picocell; a cell that covers a small home or office area. The reason they don't work is because LTE, like GSM, uses time division duplexing. This requires an advance in signal broadcast to compensate for the speed of light so that the handset's signal always reaches the tower inside it's assigned time window. The delay is a function of distance. Once your distance is greater than the allowable advance of the specification, the tower will drop your signal regardless of how strong it might be.
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Click to collapse
Sooo.....anything on here won't help me out?
flooritnfly said:
Sooo.....anything on here won't help me out?
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Click to collapse
Nope. None of that will help at all unless you're planning on making your own cell.
What's the point in them selling them then?
And how do I solve my problem aside from moving somewhere closer to a tower?
flooritnfly said:
What's the point in them selling them then?
And how do I solve my problem aside from moving somewhere closer to a tower?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Judging by the fact they all have coax leads on them, they're specifically designed for permanent client installations such as home broadband or to build a small cell within or very near a home or building. Doing what you're wanting to do, as in creating a local cell that extends to where you're at and uplinking via LTE, is possible, but you'd have to clone a device that would authenticate on Verizon's network and I'm pretty sure that would be pretty illegal on a couple fronts.
Not sure where you live, but around where I'm at in the rural areas WiMax is a common broadband solution that provides pretty good data rates.
loonatik78 said:
Judging by the fact they all have coax leads on them, they're specifically designed for permanent client installations such as home broadband or to build a small cell within or very near a home or building. Doing what you're wanting to do, as in creating a local cell that extends to where you're at and uplinking via LTE, is possible, but you'd have to clone a device that would authenticate on Verizon's network and I'm pretty sure that would be pretty illegal on a couple fronts.
Not sure where you live, but around where I'm at in the rural areas WiMax is a common broadband solution that provides pretty good data rates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you suggesting I dump VZW?
omg people are you serious
loonatik78 said:
Some may claim to extend LTE passively, but if you look at the specification, it's pretty much impossible to do passively. About the closest you can get is to build a picocell; a cell that covers a small home or office area. The reason they don't work is because LTE, like GSM, uses time division duplexing. This requires an advance in signal broadcast to compensate for the speed of light so that the handset's signal always reaches the tower inside it's assigned time window. The delay is a function of distance. Once your distance is greater than the allowable advance of the specification, the tower will drop your signal regardless of how strong it might be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you for real LTE is nothing like gsm and tdma is completly different than gsm as well which stands for time division multiple access LTE is an IP. Based technology. With that said im waisting no more text on this fool.
Passive LTE Boost
flooritnfly said:
Are you suggesting I dump VZW?
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Click to collapse
I know this is an old thread but just in case your still interested.
I have the Wilson Sleek LTE Booster. It took my Thunderbolt from Zero 3G to full 4G at my home. It was designed for mobile use but it works great. I know use it with an iPhone 5 with which it is even better. Wilson has a full home system that uses a directional outdoor antenna, and an indoor antenna that will connect an unlimited number of LT E devices all at once. I am getting this device soon.
All,
I have a battery drain problem that only occurs in locations where I have poor signal, particularly the office building I work in every other week.
I believe my phone is constantly switching from 3G to HSPA+ to 2G and back.
Is there any way to boost the signal so it doesn't need to switch?
Or should I try to find a way to disable 3G/4G when I am at this particular location?
Or maybe there is something I have not thought of...
Suggestions?
The only way to boost the signal is to buy their (AT&T) socall signal booster (mini tower) that cost you $300.00USD.
BeenAndroidized said:
The only way to boost the signal is to buy their (AT&T) socall signal booster (mini tower) that cost you $300.00USD.
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Click to collapse
I thought it was $200. Call them up and complain. I got 2 for free
Yep, my local cor store had a bunch of refurb microcells for 50 bucks. Works great for me.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using XDA App
For now my workaround is a wifi hotspot i am broadcasting from my laptop... but i have to be within 100 feet of my desk.
Warning: Created with Swype
I have only minor issues with my cell tower. Some time mms don't get sent out. Or takes about 5 sec to send out a call sometimes. My internet is a solid 12mb down and a 2mb up. So don't think its my internet.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda premium
3G and HSPA+ don't really change much since HSPA+ is only used with high data transfers that require the multiple 3G connections.
Can you upload a screenshot of your battery graph, stats, and CPUspy?
BeenAndroidized said:
The only way to boost the signal is to buy their (AT&T) socall signal booster (mini tower) that cost you $300.00USD.
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Click to collapse
Not the only option - Bidirectional amps don't have the numerous compatibility problems microcells have, however they're more difficult to install. At the workplace, they would have to be installed by facilities management - but corporate firewalls will probably prevent microcells from working anyway.
Also, microcells are notorious for murdering battery.
nh5 said:
I thought it was $200. Call them up and complain. I got 2 for free
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Click to collapse
The prices vary, I don't have one and not planning to buy one either..
Entropy512 said:
Not the only option - Bidirectional amps don't have the numerous compatibility problems microcells have, however they're more difficult to install. At the workplace, they would have to be installed by facilities management - but corporate firewalls will probably prevent microcells from working anyway.
Also, microcells are notorious for murdering battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is true, it is not the only option.
Unfortunately for me, I have the worst of both worlds, I live out in the country, so I have terrible internet and crappy cell coverage, so for users like me, its not really much of an option. I do know that I am a minority, but it still is frustrating.
joshh20 said:
Unfortunately for me, I have the worst of both worlds, I live out in the country, so I have terrible internet and crappy cell coverage, so for users like me, its not really much of an option. I do know that I am a minority, but it still is frustrating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A Wilson amp might be your solution then.
If network switching is something you still want to pursue, Try saving the following phone number to your contact list...
*#2263#
When you type it into the dialer, choose: GSM Band/GSM All. Menu/Back/Menu/End. Restarting the phone is not required. You can always switch it back by re-dialing the number and picking Automatic. Menu/End.
Verify the settings held by *#*#info#*#* Phone Information/Network Type. Should say: GPRS.
I live on the rural edge of 3/4G and the network switching was annoying and possibly not helping my battery life. I have 3/4G disabled most of the time because I don't have a data plan anyways (I use wifi for everything). Normal battery life with several hours of calls, wifi, email, browsing, etc. on the stock 2.3.4/HK7 is 2-3 days.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-i777 using XDA Premium
Signal Booster will help
Entropy512 said:
A Wilson amp might be your solution then.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
As mentioned by Entropy512, a signal booster may be a good solution for you.
Not only will it provide you with better signal but it will also help your phone save a lot of battery because it will only have to roam as far as the booster to get the signal source, compared to finding the closest cell tower.
For rural areas, if you are far from the cell tower, the installation of such a booster should be accompanied by an outdoors directional antenna pointed towards the cell tower and providing the highest signal gain inside your office.
Wilson boosters are among the most reliable ones, but you can also consider Cellphone-Mate or Wi-Ex, they may be a bit cheaper.
I used to have nasty 3G reception at my house and fixed it by getting a Wi-EX YX545 amp from the quantum-wireless website, they sell a bunch of boosters & antennas.
Hope this helps
If you just want to disable the connections rather than finding a way to boost the signal, try using Tasker. You can set it up so that when you reach your workplace, it will do what you want (disable data, enable airplane mode, etc). You can have the phone check for data periodically. As for voice calls, you can probably even set it to forward calls to your work phone.
As soon as you leave, the app will restore most of your settings (you probably would need to teach it how to stop forwarding calls).
Hello everyone,
I just recently received a sprint airave, free of charge. I don't necessarily need it...and the story of how why they sent it is a long one. Anyway, I usually get 25 up and 4-5 mps down with my ISP. I just moved and love the speed compared to my old ISP. I don't want to sacrifice any speed. So my question is, will the sprint airave reduce my downloads or uploads? Is there a certain way to install it to prevent any reduction in speed?
Thanks
No, it does not effect your speeds, even if it does, you wouldn't even notice it. I have an Airrave from sprint, but in my opinion it is not that great, sometimes it does not play well with HTC phones. Every once in a while you will have to tell sprint to reset it to work properly.
Hope that summary gave you the answer you were looking for.
Sent from my EVO using XDA
I set one up at our office at work. I think it works very well. Only problem I have with it I will set certain sprint #'s to access it but if I ever reset it some #'s I put in will just vanish off and I have to go in and redo it. I just recently set it to accept all phones cause I was sick of updating the listing. Also will have issues with hand-offs sometimes from the device to the tower it can dump the call.
They tell you to put the device in front of the modem so it is in charge of your network. That wasn't gonna happen with me, it works just fine behind a router I just have QOS enabled for it & some vonage boxes it works just find. I can't tell that it uses any bandwidth then again we have a 40/5 connection so there is plenty to go around. It will increase your 3G speeds a lot but I still use wi-fi. One of our guys has a pixie which doesn't have wi-fi so the repeater is great for that. As long as you have a decent connection your never gonna notice a difference.
Sim-X said:
I set one up at our office at work. I think it works very well. Only problem I have with it I will set certain sprint #'s to access it but if I ever reset it some #'s I put in will just vanish off and I have to go in and redo it. I just recently set it to accept all phones cause I was sick of updating the listing. Also will have issues with hand-offs sometimes from the device to the tower it can dump the call.
They tell you to put the device in front of the modem so it is in charge of your network. That wasn't gonna happen with me, it works just fine behind a router I just have QOS enabled for it & some vonage boxes it works just find. I can't tell that it uses any bandwidth then again we have a 40/5 connection so there is plenty to go around. It will increase your 3G speeds a lot but I still use wi-fi. One of our guys has a pixie which doesn't have wi-fi so the repeater is great for that. As long as you have a decent connection your never gonna notice a difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If im remembering right, there are some pretty complicated issues with handoff between cell towers and femtocells (like the airave)
Sometimes you will have to dial "*99" in order to find out if you are the airave or tower. Hope you have better luck.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
So I've been reading up on the sprint airave, seems great. But I use my phones internet on my laptop and don't have a dedicated itnernet line....... Therefore using an airave is out of the question. Are there any other similar ways of boosting my signal strength or am I sh*t out of luck
[Edit]
Other than prls and different radios
Sent From My Eco 4g Using Mean 4.2
Phutt89 said:
So I've been reading up on the sprint airave, seems great. But I use my phones internet on my laptop and don't have a dedicated itnernet line....... Therefore using an airave is out of the question. Are there any other similar ways of boosting my signal strength or am I sh*t out of luck
[Edit]
Other than prls and different radios
Sent From My Eco 4g Using Mean 4.2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have an airave setup at my work & it works great. Have had very little problems with it. My only complaints with the airave is you can restrict which sprint #'s it will work on which is a great feature (can be any sprint # doesn't have to be on same account) however after settings it up over time #'s you put in seem to drop off. If your not authorized for the airave and you come into the office the airave actually makes the signal worse for the person on the phone over the tower. So if your not authorized the phone will see it but won't connect to it so the bars jump up and down making the signals even worse. I ended up shutting that feature off cause I was sick of having to re add numbers to the list. I just have it set to open now works fine. Also when your coming in from outside it won't let you hop on to the airave but if you are leaving it will transfer over to the tower. However I found this feature doesn't work very and a lot of times will drop the call. Sometimes it works but the handoff is not smooth at all and it breaks up. Also there is a very annoying dining sound when you are using the airave when a call first connects or you answer it. I have got use to it but there is no way to shut it off.
I also have a Wilson 841262 booster on order which doesn't need an internet connection. Although I can't provide a review for you since I haven't set it up yet, it does have great reviews and after much research seems to be the best value repeater. I didn't want a junk one or spend a grand on one so I think this is a good price point. I would stay away from the "desk ones" you want entire house coverage with decent signal output. I can let you know how it works once I get it running but if it works well at $350 while still steep is manageable. My only concern with this unit is how it will handle handoffs although your not really doing a hand off because say you start a call inside your house it's on the repeater then walk outside it should stay on the same tower it's not really handing off to a different tower but the phone still has to transition from the repeater base to the tower itself so I'm curious to see how well that works.