Internet booster?

Yes, I'm exaggerating a bit in my responses. Sorry, I don't want to push it too far.

Although you may know that you are unlikely to melt your brain, unfortunately, many others don't know that and sincerely believe it. I'm trying to ask the critical questions that everyone should ask when they hear such claims.

It's very interesting that Wilson suggests not putting the amplifier against your ear, but I don't know why they would suggest that and I wouldn't automatically assume it has anything to do with brain cancer or or tumors or any other chronic issue. It could simply be because the amp heats up and touching it could cause burns; or maybe it affects the performance of the amp. Who knows? I certainly don't and I wouldn't guess.

I understand that you never intended to and do not wish to engage in a detailed discussion about RF and I can completely agree with that, but I think that some of your comments bring up deep rooted fears that readers fall prey to when talking about cell phones, transmission lines, microwave ovens etc.

I am keenly aware of these fears and try to shed light upon them every opportunity that I get by getting to the facts.

Please tell me you are kidding right, I did not actually think that "melt your brain" would have been taken so literally nor that anyone would take offence to me repeating Wilson's message by delivering it in a less serious way or clarifying what I assumed was confusion from that message in a more technical manner. It was not meant to cause offence to anyone.

The Sleek is not a cell phone and it is not meant to be put up to your ear, it is an amplifier. If you do not believe me contact Wilson, in fact the description for the 460107 on their website specifically says "FCC requires to never use the cell phone in the cradle next to your ear"

I am not here to convince you to do or not to do anything I am simply passing on a message that I read in the instructions for my Wilson Sleek. Nor am I going to be dragged into an Electrical Engineering debate on the many factors of RF, among which wattage is only one of them that affect the human body. And I am not about to dig up easily available research for you. Feel free to ignore the message from the FCC and Wilson that I simply passed on to this thread, or feel free to do your own research if you do not believe the FCC or Wilson.

rwbradley wrote:

holstein13 wrote:

rwbradley wrote:
3) in the case of the sleek, the hotspot or phone must sit in the cradle the whole time, and in the case of a phone, you must not put the phone/cradle up to your ear unless you want to melt your brain

Oh my goodness, that's an incredible claim and sounds awful. Please explain to us how this mechanism works? Is there an actual burning sensation to warn us that we are melting our brains or is it more insidious, like a 1,000 watt microwave oven, that will melt our brains from the inside? Wow, I would think the authorities should be alerted to this serious health concern. How could the product liability lawyers even allow this to happen? Amazing. I'm glad you've alerted us to this safety issue.

Let me clarify for those that did not detect the bit of humor in that statement. The base unit is an amplifier, for this reason having the base unit in close proximity to the skull would increase the risk for brain tumors, as high power RF is a known source of brain cancer. With RF signals the risk from them drops logarithmically as you get away from the base unit ie having it 1" from your brain may theoretically lower the risk 10x, and having it 2" may lower the risk 100x etc which is why the unit is not a risk when sitting on the dashboard of our car. If you read the instructions that come with the unit, it does say not to put the phone in the amplifier cradle up to your head it is just not very clearly spelled out (IMHO).

"Increase the risk for brain tumors"? You mean there is a risk of developing brain tumors if I put this thing up to my head? That's very concerning. I don't see any humor in that statement at all. Please point me to your research on this. The cell phone companies have been telling us for years that there is no risk of developing brain tumors. I would really like to see where you are coming up with support for these very alarming claims.

When you say that "high power RF is a known source of brain cancer" are you referring to the one or two watts of power in the Wilson Sleek? I didn't realize that high power RF meant a few watts of power. I always thought it referred to thousands of watts or at least hundreds of watts.

Also, when you refer to high power RF being dangerous, what part of the electromagnetic spectrum, specifically, are you referring to? Is that statement based upon the UHF part of the spectrum where cell phones frequencies emanate or the high parts of the spectrum such as x-rays and gamma rays. Could it be that not all RF is equally dangerous? Perhaps, ionizing radiation such as x-rays and radioactive output might be more dangerous than non-ionizing radiation such as a light bulb, AM radio or cell phone.

holstein13 wrote:

rwbradley wrote:
3) in the case of the sleek, the hotspot or phone must sit in the cradle the whole time, and in the case of a phone, you must not put the phone/cradle up to your ear unless you want to melt your brain

Oh my goodness, that's an incredible claim and sounds awful. Please explain to us how this mechanism works? Is there an actual burning sensation to warn us that we are melting our brains or is it more insidious, like a 1,000 watt microwave oven, that will melt our brains from the inside? Wow, I would think the authorities should be alerted to this serious health concern. How could the product liability lawyers even allow this to happen? Amazing. I'm glad you've alerted us to this safety issue.

Let me clarify for those that did not detect the bit of humor in that statement. The base unit is an amplifier, for this reason having the base unit in close proximity to the skull would increase the risk for brain tumors, as high power RF is a known source of brain cancer. With RF signals the risk from them drops logarithmically as you get away from the base unit ie having it 1" from your brain may theoretically lower the risk 10x, and having it 2" may lower the risk 100x etc which is why the unit is not a risk when sitting on the dashboard of our car. If you read the instructions that come with the unit, it does say not to put the phone in the amplifier cradle up to your head it is just not very clearly spelled out (IMHO).

rwbradley wrote:
3) in the case of the sleek, the hotspot or phone must sit in the cradle the whole time, and in the case of a phone, you must not put the phone/cradle up to your ear unless you want to melt your brain

Oh my goodness, that's an incredible claim and sounds awful. Please explain to us how this mechanism works? Is there an actual burning sensation to warn us that we are melting our brains or is it more insidious, like a 1,000 watt microwave oven, that will melt our brains from the inside? Wow, I would think the authorities should be alerted to this serious health concern. How could the product liability lawyers even allow this to happen? Amazing. I'm glad you've alerted us to this safety issue.

trail-explorer wrote:

Bumpyroad wrote:
... park it half way between your RV and wifi source? might work more than 1/2 way away from source?
bumpy

He's talking Verizon, not Wi-Fi.

Wilson Electronics makes a lot of cell phone amps - that's what I run.

They seem to be the defacto standard when it comes to mobile and home/business class amps for cell phones.

They do the most advertising . Does not mean they they make the best products.

Bumpyroad wrote:
... park it half way between your RV and wifi source? might work more than 1/2 way away from source?
bumpy

He's talking Verizon, not Wi-Fi.

Wilson Electronics makes a lot of cell phone amps - that's what I run.

They seem to be the defacto standard when it comes to mobile and home/business class amps for cell phones.

jrp wrote:
" I would say if the OP are going to get the Sleek (or something similar), just get the unit first and decide after using it for a while if you do need the upgraded antenna. "

We can agree on that much.
But in remote areas of the west where you start out with a weak one bar signal, the 4" mini mag antenna that comes with the Sleek is next to useless. With the Wilson Trucker antenna I usually get 5 dB improvement; and with a more advanced BoatAnt or similar Omni antenna I get 5-10 dB improvement. all vary based on specific location conditions.
Cellular signal strength, is always variable based on your location. If you're always near cities and interstates where the signal is good, then your choice of booster & antenna is not critical. If you travel all over the sparsely populated areas out west, then a $150 antenna and a $500 booster can mean the difference in having a usable signal or not. or by adding a better external antenna to the $150 Sleek many times allows you to avoid having to buy a $500 booster.
your money, your choice

I'll give you that one, I am an East Coaster so for me remote is being more than 15 minutes from a Starbucks, not by choice it is just harder to be remote on the east coast. I guess if the OP is a West Coaster every last db may make a difference.

" I would say if the OP are going to get the Sleek (or something similar), just get the unit first and decide after using it for a while if you do need the upgraded antenna. "

We can agree on that much.
But in remote areas of the west where you start out with a weak one bar signal, the 4" mini mag antenna that comes with the Sleek is next to useless. With the Wilson Trucker antenna I usually get 5 dB improvement; and with a more advanced BoatAnt or similar Omni antenna I get 5-10 dB improvement. all vary based on specific location conditions.
Cellular signal strength, is always variable based on your location. If you're always near cities and interstates where the signal is good, then your choice of booster & antenna is not critical. If you travel all over the sparsely populated areas out west, then a $150 antenna and a $500 booster can mean the difference in having a usable signal or not. or by adding a better external antenna to the $150 Sleek many times allows you to avoid having to buy a $500 booster.
your money, your choice

jrp wrote:
You need a good external Omni antenna and a booster. there are several different brands, models and selling sources. I wont recommend any specific ones over others, they all work. You do need to be careful to match the frequencies of the devices to the frequencies of your carrier & band. ie: not all are compatible with Verizon 4G 700 band.
The only comment above that I disagree with is the one saying an antenna is not important. If you're in a fringe area with weak signal, a good external antenna coupled with a booster makes a significant difference vs booster only with no antenna.
I travel all over the west and have 3 different sets of antenna's and boosters that I test side by side in different areas, they make a huge difference and I'm rarely without a usable Verizon signal, except out in the extreme boonies.

RVcrazy wrote:
We need an internet booster to improve the performance of our Verizon connection. Suggestions? Where to purchase?

I think that was me, kinda...
I was simply saying that adding a Wilson Trucker antenna to a Wilson Sleek will only give you a couple extra db of gain. Yes any extra db is better, any extra height is better... there is always going to be something better. I just meant that based on the fact that the Sleek is so cheap ($100-200) for 25db of gain, spending an additional about $50 is to get a couple more db is not in my mind very cost effective. Even with the 4G Sleek you are paying about $8 per db of benefit vs about $25 per db for the antenna.

I have had fantastic results with the mini mag antenna that it comes with on my roof and IMHO I do not think it is necessary to upgrade the antenna. I would say if the OP are going to get the Sleek (or something similar), just get the unit first and decide after using it for a while if you do need the upgraded antenna.