New cell phone booster review

[Dutch_12078]

I have no financial interest in this product other than as a satisfied purchaser...

I recently upgraded from a WeBoost Drive 4G-M cell signal amplifier/repeater to a Maximum Signal MaxAmp RV mobile cell signal amplifier/repeater, and have been very pleased with the results so far. We've now been through a number of areas where we've previously had no signal or a very unreliable signal for both voice and data even using an external antenna, and have had no loss of signal and good data speeds with the MaxAmp. The WeBoost did serve us well last winter in some pretty poor signal areas, but the inside antenna limitation that requires your device to be within a few feet of the antenna was a real drawback with multiple devices in use and two people trying to use them at the same time. The MaxAmp is giving us a good signal throughout our coach and even extends it out to our patio area under the awning. I can't post meaningful speed comparison numbers, although we have checked from time to time, because most of the time when we switched the MaxAmp off in those areas, we would get either no signal, or 1X or 3G data only, compared to a 4G signal with it on. We did learn early on that "bars" on the phone or MiFi display are relatively meaningless, with the signal quality and data speeds being the better units of measure, just as the engineers told us to expect. In every no or low signal area where we've checked, our RSSI numbers and data speeds have been well within acceptable levels using the MaxAmp, and pretty much unchanged in moderate to strong signal areas, as required under the current FCC booster rules.

If you're in the market for a quality cell booster that does what it says it does, I recommend giving the new MaxAmp some serious consideration.

[Naio]

Wow. $650 each. That's some serious investment in getting a signal.

[Maxi_Signal]

For everyones information ., The FCC just introduced new testing procedures . These tests are much tougher than before. They are in the process of retesting all products available on the market at this time. We passed.

http://12078.net/archive/KDB_935210_Signal_Booster_Measurements.pdf

[Maxi_Signal]

We should be shipping the car units in the next week fir folks with smaller RVs.

[docj]

What's interesting about these new FCC-approved amplifiers is that they're quite smart. They don't provide excess amplification if it's not needed. Which means, that if you're in a relatively high signal area you may not notice too much change to signal strength when you add the amplifier. With my old Wilson Sleek I used to see ~10-20 dBm of increased signal strength regardless of what it was without the device. That's not the case with these newer devices.

[docj]

2oldman wrote:


The biggest drawback to the WeBoost is heat. That thing'll boil water.

The Maximum Signal device is warm to the touch but not hot.

[gbopp]

Dutch_12078 wrote:

RoyB wrote:
Didn't look hard enough I guess what was price...

It looks like they're having some site problems at the moment, but this link should take you straight to their online store.

It's only $649.95...

[Dutch_12078]

RoyB wrote:
Didn't look hard enough I guess what was price...

It looks like they're having some site problems at the moment, but this link should take you straight to their online store.

[2oldman]

In the forest in WA I'm turning 2 bars of 1x into 4 bars, just barely enough to allow the phone to turn on the Hotspot. Rv net works fairly well as it's not too graphics-laden, but FB and gmail are often painfully slow. I don't know why the signal varies in strength.

I used to hoist an antenna up on a 12' aluminum pole, but I never really saw much benefit. I think the extra 25' of very expensive cable degraded the signal.

Anyway, I'm looking into your recommendation... but right now my connection is too slow to display your link!

[RoyB]

Didn't look hard enough I guess what was price...

[Dutch_12078]

2oldman wrote:

Dutch_12078 wrote:
when we switched the MaxAmp off in those areas, we would get either no signal, or 1X or 3G data only, compared to a 4G signal with it on.

That's quite a feat.. turning 1x into 4g. I've turned it into 3g with the WeBoost and a 6" exterior antenna, but never 4.

The biggest drawback to the WeBoost is heat. That thing'll boil water.

I'm sure there's some places in the country where absolutely no signal, or at least no 4G signal, is reachable at all, but I haven't hit one yet here in the Northeast. Even in parts of the Adirondacks that are marked as no coverage on the various carrier maps, we've maintained a usable Verizon 4G signal so far. We do have a 3G only Jetpack as well as our 4G/LTE Jetpack, and that one only gets 3G signals of course. 😉

Yep, that WeBoost does get toasty! Our MaxAmp runs barely warm to the touch.

[2oldman]

Dutch_12078 wrote:
when we switched the MaxAmp off in those areas, we would get either no signal, or 1X or 3G data only, compared to a 4G signal with it on.

That's quite a feat.. turning 1x into 4g. I've turned it into 3g with the WeBoost and a 6" exterior antenna, but never 4.

The biggest drawback to the WeBoost is heat. That thing'll boil water.