Before I buy the Sleek 4G
My wife and I are long time users of the sleek 3G. We use the sleek cradle connected to a Wilson truckers antenna, which is mounted on a redneck extendable paint-pole slid into a piece of pvc pipe zip...
Forum Discussion
Update:
I received the sleek 4G from Amazon and completed some basic testing yesterday at home. I found out after the fact that there are two different kinds of 4G sleeks. This is the one used for the testing.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I9I67Z2?keywords=wilson%20sleek%204g%2023db%20amplifier%20kit%20-%20460107&qid=1437680654&ref_=nav_ya_signin&sr=8-1-fkmr0
Testing consisted of the new 4G sleek, the 3G sleek, the magnetic antennas for the aforementioned sleeks, the Wilson truckers antenna on a makeshift pole outside the window with the Wilson slightly above the gutter. And the following phones – my HTC Incredible version #1 3G, wife’s Google Nexus 4G, and sons Samsung galaxy S4 4G. Cases were removed from all phones.
I realize that the number of bars is not necessarily the only or best way to judge signal strength but that’s what I used for this quick test. Verizon coverage map indicates Verizon 4G LTE is available here. Of course the real test is at the locations we camp at but I wanted to test them before we leave.
The old HTC 3G circa 2010 had 2-3 bars unboosted and jumped to a solid, sustained 4 bars when boosted.
The S4 was 2 bars unboosted and increased to 3 bars when boosted. The nexus was 1 bar unboosted and went to 3 bars when boosted.
I also found that it made no difference using the 3G sleek vs the 4G sleek. I tried all combinations of phones/cradle/antenna, including both the little magnetic antennas and of course the trucker’s antenna. For example the two 4G phones performed exactly the same when using either the 4G or 3G sleek.
Also tested the two 4G phones for hotspot speed when boosted. The Nexus was using foxfi and the S4 was rooted. The S4 was 1.78 UL, 1.35DL. Nexus was 2.81UL, .38DL.
My initial thought was if the 4G sleek and S4 phone proved capable I might purchase one off ebay. I’m not so sure about that anymore. I’m still satisfied with my HTC except for two areas, the camera quality (especially for close-up shots) and the poor hotspot performance over the last couple years at our favorite camp-spots.
The thing that is supremely frustrating about this situation for my wife and I is either of our HTC 3G phones + the 3G sleek and wilson antenna worked very well for boosting the signal at our favorite camp spot. It work well for several years but the last couple years it has slowly but surely become near useless.
Then after reading some more I find there is a sleek 4G-V booster which of course is more expensive than the regular 4G sleek but is supposedly keyed toward the Verizon 4G LTE. Anybody have any intel on this unit?
http://www.amazon.com/Wilson-Electronics-815125-Technology-Frequencies/dp/B003NQ7RZY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1437681156&sr=8-2&keywords=wilson+sleek+4g-v
Hmm,3G store says it's discontinued.
http://3gstore.com/product/3547_wilson_sleek_4g-v_lte_amplifier-815126.html
I received the sleek 4G from Amazon and completed some basic testing yesterday at home. I found out after the fact that there are two different kinds of 4G sleeks. This is the one used for the testing.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I9I67Z2?keywords=wilson%20sleek%204g%2023db%20amplifier%20kit%20-%20460107&qid=1437680654&ref_=nav_ya_signin&sr=8-1-fkmr0
Testing consisted of the new 4G sleek, the 3G sleek, the magnetic antennas for the aforementioned sleeks, the Wilson truckers antenna on a makeshift pole outside the window with the Wilson slightly above the gutter. And the following phones – my HTC Incredible version #1 3G, wife’s Google Nexus 4G, and sons Samsung galaxy S4 4G. Cases were removed from all phones.
I realize that the number of bars is not necessarily the only or best way to judge signal strength but that’s what I used for this quick test. Verizon coverage map indicates Verizon 4G LTE is available here. Of course the real test is at the locations we camp at but I wanted to test them before we leave.
The old HTC 3G circa 2010 had 2-3 bars unboosted and jumped to a solid, sustained 4 bars when boosted.
The S4 was 2 bars unboosted and increased to 3 bars when boosted. The nexus was 1 bar unboosted and went to 3 bars when boosted.
I also found that it made no difference using the 3G sleek vs the 4G sleek. I tried all combinations of phones/cradle/antenna, including both the little magnetic antennas and of course the trucker’s antenna. For example the two 4G phones performed exactly the same when using either the 4G or 3G sleek.
Also tested the two 4G phones for hotspot speed when boosted. The Nexus was using foxfi and the S4 was rooted. The S4 was 1.78 UL, 1.35DL. Nexus was 2.81UL, .38DL.
My initial thought was if the 4G sleek and S4 phone proved capable I might purchase one off ebay. I’m not so sure about that anymore. I’m still satisfied with my HTC except for two areas, the camera quality (especially for close-up shots) and the poor hotspot performance over the last couple years at our favorite camp-spots.
The thing that is supremely frustrating about this situation for my wife and I is either of our HTC 3G phones + the 3G sleek and wilson antenna worked very well for boosting the signal at our favorite camp spot. It work well for several years but the last couple years it has slowly but surely become near useless.
Then after reading some more I find there is a sleek 4G-V booster which of course is more expensive than the regular 4G sleek but is supposedly keyed toward the Verizon 4G LTE. Anybody have any intel on this unit?
http://www.amazon.com/Wilson-Electronics-815125-Technology-Frequencies/dp/B003NQ7RZY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1437681156&sr=8-2&keywords=wilson+sleek+4g-v
Hmm,3G store says it's discontinued.
http://3gstore.com/product/3547_wilson_sleek_4g-v_lte_amplifier-815126.html
