3G Signal Booster

[NDA]

Anyone use one?

Any good?

I get one bar by my kitchen window and am thinking of investing in a booster..... Not sure!

[fatboy b]

I got a Vodafone booster. Never had it working. Set it up as per various manuals / websites / call-centres, bit-no-go. Vodafone call centre are abysmal and blame my ISP. ISP say it's Vodafone's issue, not theirs, and have provided all the info they can to enable it to connect.

Vodafone wanted me to take it to another house with a different ISP to see what happens. Utter shiite, bit there's probably people on here who have gotten one to work.

[skilly1]

want to sell it !

[AClownsPocket]

We have a couple of Vodafone ones in our office. Quite easy to setup, each device supports 10 connections and they work quite well. We are in a notoriously weak area, so they really are a godsend for us.

[NDA]

I'm on EE and understand their signal booster is for business customers only.... Was wondering about the amplifier kits you can buy.

[DSLiverpool]

You can get a device that will take your signal in the kitchen and send any calls through your home phone so your mobile stays in one place where the signal is good.

[Steffan]

NDA said:

Anyone use one?

Any good?

I get one bar by my kitchen window and am thinking of investing in a booster..... Not sure!

Yes and yes. Excellent reception and signal all the time. From Three came free because they admitted that the recent poor reception was down to them. Best signal I have ever had never varies. Otherwise would be £100 odd.

[tim0409]

Steffan said:

NDA said:

Anyone use one?

Any good?

I get one bar by my kitchen window and am thinking of investing in a booster..... Not sure!

Yes and yes. Excellent reception and signal all the time. From Three came free because they admitted that the recent poor reception was down to them. Best signal I have ever had never varies. Otherwise would be £100 odd.

Recently signed up to 3's £15 sim only one plan and when I complained about the poor signal in my house they ran a few checks and the next day I received the booster which plugs into my router - absolutely fantastic and 3's service has been surprisingly superb.

[Siko]

tim0409 said:

Recently signed up to 3's £15 sim only one plan and when I complained about the poor signal in my house they ran a few checks and the next day I received the booster which plugs into my router - absolutely fantastic and 3's service has been surprisingly superb.

Hmm. I have a three signal booster which I have setup correctly, been verified over the phone by 3 it is working and I get the square root of naff all signal! Tried at two locations, different routers, different phones etc, pulling my hair out now.

[NDA]

tim0409 said:

Steffan said:

NDA said:

Anyone use one?

Any good?

I get one bar by my kitchen window and am thinking of investing in a booster..... Not sure!

Yes and yes. Excellent reception and signal all the time. From Three came free because they admitted that the recent poor reception was down to them. Best signal I have ever had never varies. Otherwise would be £100 odd.

Recently signed up to 3's £15 sim only one plan and when I complained about the poor signal in my house they ran a few checks and the next day I received the booster which plugs into my router - absolutely fantastic and 3's service has been surprisingly superb.

I waited 20 minutes on the phone for EE customer service and gave up. There must be an easier way!

[Mr E]

Siko said:

Hmm. I have a three signal booster which I have setup correctly, been verified over the phone by 3 it is working and I get the square root of naff all signal! Tried at two locations, different routers, different phones etc, pulling my hair out now.

Solid green light?
Phones have 3G enabled?

[TEKNOPUG]

Had Vodafone Sure Signal for a few years and always worked very well.

[NDA]

TEKNOPUG said:

Had Vodafone Sure Signal for a few years and always worked very well.

When I was with Vodafone a few years ago, I had a sure signal..... I would say it worked 30% of the time. Very frustrating.

By all accounts the EE device is very good, perhaps the femtocell technology has moved on a bit. The problem is getting hold of one.

[Mr E]

NDA said:

By all accounts the EE device is very good, perhaps the femtocell technology has moved on a bit. The problem is getting hold of one.

For the record, the 3 device and the EE device are the same device.

[NDA]

Mr E said:

For the record, the 3 device and the EE device are the same device.

That's a Nokia device isn't it?

I don't know much about the subject, but it has to be 'registered' with the mobile provider to work I think.....

[Mr E]

NDA said:

That's a Nokia device isn't it?

I don't know much about the subject, but it has to be 'registered' with the mobile provider to work I think.....

I believe it's badged NSN yes. It's not designed or made by Nokia however. The core network is (and is different between operators).

And no, you can't use the box for other networks. Config is locked to the unit of and cannot be changed by the end user.

[Sleepers]

I have two boosters, a vodafone and an EE one. As I have a BT HomeHub 2 the vodafone booster was connected first then follow the guides to to do the port forwarding on the internet. At this point it did not work but then put it on the DMZ and it should then spring to life. Then remove it from from it from the DMZ and it will continue to work as long as you have implemented the port forwarding rules. When I got the EE booster I just put it on the DMZ port as you can only have one on the BT HH.

Both work great and are sited in the atic along with the BT HH and cordless base station for the phones all connected to a meaty IBM UPS being rural. Ensure all these wireless devices are as far apart as possible...

Cheers

EDIT: don't expect a huge range from these devices.

[Mr E]

Co location shouldn't be a huge problem if correctly designed.

Sleepers said:

EDIT: don't expect a huge range from these devices.

Depends on device type, config and radio environment.

Also, I don't like the term 'signal booster' as it's not what these boxes do. They are small cells, not repeaters.

A repeater would have been a lot easier to do.

[Cuchillo]

Siko said:

Hmm. I have a three signal booster which I have setup correctly, been verified over the phone by 3 it is working and I get the square root of naff all signal! Tried at two locations, different routers, different phones etc, pulling my hair out now.

Have you specifically added the phone numbers of the mobiles that you wish to use with the booster? You can either do it via a webpage on the 3 site (may take 24 hours to be added) or call them up and they will add it there and then. After that turn your phone on (and then off) to "Airplane Mode" and it should work.

Least, thats how it did for me

HTH

[Siko]

Thanks for the tips chaps, yes 3G is on. I spent a good hour of my life on the phone to the techie switching the damn box on and off with no joy! Not once did he mention adding my phone number to the website, I found the form and have submitted it so let's see what happens.

I'm assuming that was all it was though, as the box checked out fine when he remotely tested it and the lights work fine too, fingers crossed

Edit: well duh, just realised from the 3 video on the website the box is linked to the account it was requested for, which originally was my wife's phone. Hence why my phone/s didn't work.....

Edited by Siko on Friday 8th November 17:38