Looking for a good cell phone booster

Just a quick note - Wilson changed its name - They are now WeBoost amplifiers (and, of course, more expensive). Some of the older ones are still available on line; just be sure you check that they match your data speed & system.

There are exceptions to everyones experiences. If your phone shows no bars that does not mean the signal is 0. Ask Apple about their issues and inappropriate signal strength bars.

You need a DB measurement and not bars.

I give advices based on the average consumer and do so with 40+ years in the telecommunications business.

The Wilson does not output 3 watts. Yes with gain antennas the Effective gain can be that.

I have had them on a test bench with some very expensive test equipment.

Our RV's block a lot of signal. Getting a decent antenna to the outside world, that is the roof or higher, along with a bit of amplification is really key.

I have spent thousands experimenting with various amplifiers and antennas in my RV's. Since I own a telecommunications company I buy anything that interests me. If it does not work, I toss it and move on to something else.

I have personally installed thousands of radio systems.

So to keep it simple. The Wilson is an exceptional buy and is one of the simplest systems to install and use.

My ten cents worth.

ktmrfs wrote:

YC 1 wrote:
If you get any signal there a booster will help. If zero signal, not likely. However if you get aggressive with a good roof top antenna there is a chance. Someone suggested standing on top of the RV with the phone and check for signal. If none, then a booster will not help.

you do NOT need to have any bars or any recieved signal strength with your phone alone to still have a booster work perfectly fine. I've been 3-5 miles past where I have any signal without the booster and can still end up with 3-5 bars with the booster.

Why? well the booster broadcasts with a 3W signal to the tower from your phone. if the tower gets a signal from the booster, it will adjust transmit power on your channel until it reaches a certain SN ratio and BER (bit error rate) with CDMA. Not sure exactly on GSM carriers, but similar process. Only if it can't increase power enough will you not get a signal. However, the system is designed to work both directions with a 3W phone, which is what is in a car phone like onstar.

Basically the external boosters, like the wilson units, are turning your handheld phone into a 3W phone like you may have in your car.

Sorry the car phones / Bag Phones have been .6 watts for 6 years now . the 3 watt phones were analog. Since everything went digital the most power allowed in a phone is .6 watts. Most cell phones are only between .2 and . 3 watts now.

YC 1 wrote:
If you get any signal there a booster will help. If zero signal, not likely. However if you get aggressive with a good roof top antenna there is a chance. Someone suggested standing on top of the RV with the phone and check for signal. If none, then a booster will not help.

you do NOT need to have any bars or any recieved signal strength with your phone alone to still have a booster work perfectly fine. I've been 3-5 miles past where I have any signal without the booster and can still end up with 3-5 bars with the booster.

Why? well the booster broadcasts with a 3W signal to the tower from your phone. if the tower gets a signal from the booster, it will adjust transmit power on your channel until it reaches a certain SN ratio and BER (bit error rate) with CDMA. Not sure exactly on GSM carriers, but similar process. Only if it can't increase power enough will you not get a signal. However, the system is designed to work both directions with a 3W phone, which is what is in a car phone like onstar.

Basically the external boosters, like the wilson units, are turning your handheld phone into a 3W phone like you may have in your car.

If you get any signal there a booster will help. If zero signal, not likely. However if you get aggressive with a good roof top antenna there is a chance. Someone suggested standing on top of the RV with the phone and check for signal. If none, then a booster will not help.

The area that I'm talking about is very flat but wooded.

Without knowing more about the terrain and how the cell tower antennas are oriented the best answer is "It depends".

one key is NOT distance but terrain. 5 miles with straight line of sight to a Cell antenna aimed in your direction, boosters may do an excellent job.

5 miles down in a valley covered by trees with the cell antenna pointed away from you. Well...... not much you can do.

I have wilson boosters in my trailers, not the sleek etc. but the 3G full power booster and a yagi antenna. In one location, I'm only a few miles away from a cell tower but we are down in a valley and the cell base station antenna is pointed north south and we are due west. can't get a signal. In another case I'm almost 10 miles away, but on a hill with some trees but mostly line of sight to a cell tower and can get 3 bars, good enough for voice/text but marginal for data.

So far I haven't gone to a 4G booster. The reason, my experience is that by the time I'm remote enough to be needing a booster I'm in a 3G area anyway with no 4G signal anywhere within 50 miles or more. In a few years, likely a different story as the majority of the country will be 4G at least and 3G will have gone by the wayside.

And, contrary to many posts, I've often competely lost cell coverage several miles before our destination and still get good coverage with the booster. Partly because I have a CDMA phone (Verizon) . CDMA towers will adjust the transmit power for a given channel once it recieves a signal from a phone to maintain a certain SN ratio and error rate. So, when you go through a booster, if the outgoing signal can get recieved by the tower with acceptable SN ratio, it will then transmit and adjust it's output signal power level to maintain the desired SN ratio to the phone amp.

Don't know if ATT/ GSM systems do anything similar or not. I did design work the first test systems on the very first CDMA comercial phone systems for Qualcom, very interesting technology.

And because voice and data are on different frequencies, you may end up with good voice but limited/no data. Voice is at a lower frequency less affected by terrain, while data is a much higher frequency and more terrain/antenna sensistive. Especially with 4G

wcjeep wrote:
The Wilson Sleek is a good unit. It is only good for one device at a time. There are some slight variations in the Wilson Sleek line. 4G for all, 4G for AT&T, 4G for Verizon.

Depending on your distance to the booster the Wilson Mobile Pro 4g can be upto twice as powerful. It covers all 4G. It also can boost upto 4 devices at the same time. Distance to inside antenna is key. The closer the cellphone to inside antenna the stronger the signal.

On average:

Wilson Sleek 18db signal increase

Wilson Mobile Pro 4g - 35db with device on or next to inside antenna
- 5/10db increase with device at maximum range of 5ft



With the Mobile Pro 4g, place your mifi or cellphone next to the inside antenna. Then use Bluetooth or wifi for access.

Antennas can make a big difference. I use the supplied 4" rubber antenna. The small rubber antenna does little for/against the signal. Other antennas are good for 3g but negatively affect 4g. Vice versa.

Middle of the vehicle hood is usually a good place for the antenna.


Wilson Mobile Pro at Amazon

True....it will work with one device at a time but we put our Jetpack in the Sleek and run 2 laptops,a kindle,an IPad and a printer off of it.

We just returned from a six month trip throughout the southwestern US.

Without exception, in areas where our cellphone coverage was poor to nonexistent, by reading RV park reviews, we were able to find RV parks with decent to really good wifi service.

It did seem to me that more expensive RV parks had better wifi, but that isn't a scientific result - just an impression.

The Wilson Sleek is a good unit. It is only good for one device at a time. There are some slight variations in the Wilson Sleek line. 4G for all, 4G for AT&T, 4G for Verizon.

Depending on your distance to the booster the Wilson Mobile Pro 4g can be upto twice as powerful. It covers all 4G. It also can boost upto 4 devices at the same time. Distance to inside antenna is key. The closer the cellphone to inside antenna the stronger the signal.

On average:

Wilson Sleek 18db signal increase

Wilson Mobile Pro 4g - 35db with device on or next to inside antenna
- 5/10db increase with device at maximum range of 5ft



With the Mobile Pro 4g, place your mifi or cellphone next to the inside antenna. Then use Bluetooth or wifi for access.

Antennas can make a big difference. I use the supplied 4" rubber antenna. The small rubber antenna does little for/against the signal. Other antennas are good for 3g but negatively affect 4g. Vice versa.

Middle of the vehicle hood is usually a good place for the antenna.


Wilson Mobile Pro at Amazon