Wilson Booster

I have the other antenna posted. It came with a 3watt system I bought before the Sleek series was sold. It didn't improve my Sleek system signal level. It might work better with different vehicles and different terrain. I've talked a couple of friends into the Sleek. There are many little factors that affect actual signal level. The older Iphone 3G doesn't seem to like the booster. All newer Iphones have no problem. Motorola's seem to respond faster and slightly better with the Sleek.

Just thought I would throw my 2 cents worth in on this topic. We have camped in several places with marginal or no service so I decided after some research to try the Wilson Sleek for Verizon. Mine came with the stubby antenna so I added the trucker antenna. We have only tried in one location so far but the results were surprising to me. I just stuck the stubby antenna on the side of the trailer as high as I could reach, under the awning. We were barely able to make a call and had no data connection but when I placed my phone in the cradle I had crystal clear voice service and a faster data connection than my broadband at home. I did however have trouble turning on my wifi hotspot sometimes. My wife has a 3G phone and hers would work fine. Not sure why that would matter. My phone showed a 4G connection but sometimes I would get an error when I tried to turn on my hotspot. It works fine in an area with good service. I'm going to research that a little more. Overall I'm very pleased with the sleek so far. I tried the trucker antenna clamped onto my awning arm and it didn't seem to be any better than the small antenna. But I'm going to get it mounted higher and see how it works then.

We've been purchasing wifi from a local telephone company at our normal camp ground every time we visited. The signal was always very poor and degraded. The same is true of any cell phone signals. It's been deteriorating for years and we finally decided to invest in Wilson's 801245-t amplifier kit for RV's. This unit coupled to a FreedomPop hotspot for wifi should be all that we need.

RoyB wrote:
My WILSON SLEEK came with that same antenna I bet. Sure looks like it...



Roy Ken

Yes, it does. Mine came with what is IMHO a substandard 4" stubby antenna. How recently did you purchase yours? Perhaps they are including the superior antenna now.

My WILSON SLEEK came with that same antenna I bet. Sure looks like it...



Roy Ken

This is the upgraded antenna that I bought. Wilson Electronics told me this is the correct one for a Wilson Sleek - V (Verizon). This is purely subjective, but replacing the stubby antenna with this antenna increased my results with the Sleek, multi-fold, you know, like it boosts maybe as much as 5 or 10 times better. One campground where using the Sleek with the stubby antenna gave me NO usable signal, with this upgraded antenna, with my laptop tethered to the phone, the internet was very solid, and pages were popping up quick as can be on my laptop, and this was only 3G, not 4G.

Clicky here

I use my VERIZON MIFI to free up my phone... My VERIZON MIFI is the early 3G type and allows five WIFI connections for my other WIFI capable units.

Has provided good signals when camping back in the woods like we do alot of.

The WILSON SLEEK is my docking station for my 2200 Mifi unit. I have it mounted behind my VALANCE curtain that wraps around my whole interior of my POPUP trailer. It is powered with a 120VAC xfmr or will run around four hours from an internal rechargable battery. With the outside antenna connection I get a pretty big WIFI HOTSPOT outside my trailer for my other devices.

This is a 4G setup shown in the photo but my MIFI 3G 2200 units works just the same. My Verizon 2200 MIFI is a 3GB dataplan for around $30 a month and does us ok with the amount of usage we need. If we ever upgrade for more data will probably go with the no contract Millenicom Plan which uses Verizon as their carrier.


Roy ken

docj wrote:

crcr wrote:

docj wrote:

gajd33 wrote:
They do help, but they only amplify the signal. If your out in the sticks where there is no signal then there is nothing to amplify. The other issue is only one device can be used with each "sleek", so we ended up getting a upgraded booster system so the DW and I (along with our MIFI) could all benefit as well as our occasional visitors.

The Sleek, of course, can't help you when the cellular network stalls or goes down completely. We're currently in a location with somewhat marginal Verizon 4G signal. The sleek helps our phone, acting as our hotspot, to maintain a connection but sometimes the data signal goes to zero throughput even though the phone continues to think it is connected. After a few minutes things return to normal but during the "outage" all the amplification in the world is to no avail.

I have camped in places where my phone shows NO signal and has NO voice or data reception, but once I put the phone in the Wilson Sleek, with my upgraded antenna 14' in the air, it often finds a signal to amplify.

If you are judging the signal level your phone has by the number of bars displayed on the screen, that is a very poor indication of the real situation. Most phones have a screen through which you can display the actual signal level. A decent signal is typically in the range of -95 dB and larger (the smaller the number the stronger the signal). When signal strength gets to be less than ~-100 dB things get pretty iffy. The Wilson Sleek is only capable of a ~3dB improvement in signal strength that's equivalent to a factor of 2 amplification. That's all it can do; that can be a lot but it doesn't achieve miracles.

It's possible that your phone saw no signal before you connected the Sleek, but it's also just as likely that the carrier was experiencing a outage at that moment. Many people are unaware how erratic the cellular data signal can be from moment to moment.

I'm aware of how to access the actual signal strength numbers in the phone, tho I seldom bother. When I said the phone had no signal prior to insertion in the Wilson Sleek, I meant that I could get NO internet access, and NO ability to make or receive calls or texts, which renders the phone useless for me in a practical sense. I have found the upgrading my antenna from the poor performance of the stubby antenna included with the Sleek, to a high gain antenna, plus raising the antenna high in the air on a mast, is a combination that gives me vastly improved boost from the Sleek.

I seldom ever experience carrier (Verizon) outages in the areas we travel and camp in. It's very reliable the places we go.

crcr wrote:

docj wrote:

gajd33 wrote:
They do help, but they only amplify the signal. If your out in the sticks where there is no signal then there is nothing to amplify. The other issue is only one device can be used with each "sleek", so we ended up getting a upgraded booster system so the DW and I (along with our MIFI) could all benefit as well as our occasional visitors.

The Sleek, of course, can't help you when the cellular network stalls or goes down completely. We're currently in a location with somewhat marginal Verizon 4G signal. The sleek helps our phone, acting as our hotspot, to maintain a connection but sometimes the data signal goes to zero throughput even though the phone continues to think it is connected. After a few minutes things return to normal but during the "outage" all the amplification in the world is to no avail.

I have camped in places where my phone shows NO signal and has NO voice or data reception, but once I put the phone in the Wilson Sleek, with my upgraded antenna 14' in the air, it often finds a signal to amplify.

If you are judging the signal level your phone has by the number of bars displayed on the screen, that is a very poor indication of the real situation. Most phones have a screen through which you can display the actual signal level. A decent signal is typically in the range of -95 dB and larger (the smaller the number the stronger the signal). When signal strength gets to be less than ~-100 dB things get pretty iffy. The Wilson Sleek is only capable of a ~3dB improvement in signal strength that's equivalent to a factor of 2 amplification. That's all it can do; that can be a lot but it doesn't achieve miracles.

It's possible that your phone saw no signal before you connected the Sleek, but it's also just as likely that the carrier was experiencing a outage at that moment. Many people are unaware how erratic the cellular data signal can be from moment to moment.

docj wrote:

gajd33 wrote:
They do help, but they only amplify the signal. If your out in the sticks where there is no signal then there is nothing to amplify. The other issue is only one device can be used with each "sleek", so we ended up getting a upgraded booster system so the DW and I (along with our MIFI) could all benefit as well as our occasional visitors.

The Sleek, of course, can't help you when the cellular network stalls or goes down completely. We're currently in a location with somewhat marginal Verizon 4G signal. The sleek helps our phone, acting as our hotspot, to maintain a connection but sometimes the data signal goes to zero throughput even though the phone continues to think it is connected. After a few minutes things return to normal but during the "outage" all the amplification in the world is to no avail.

I have camped in places where my phone shows NO signal and has NO voice or data reception, but once I put the phone in the Wilson Sleek, with my upgraded antenna 14' in the air, it often finds a signal to amplify.