Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Cell Phone signal booster

My home is 12-15 miles from the nearest cell tower,so no service. I know there is a weak signal in the drive, since Onstar phone service works fine in the truck. I talked to a guy yesterday that is about 10 miles from tower and he has service. He is using a Verizon booster-looks a lot like a modem with antenna and is wired into his Windstream DSL box. He claimed the dsl and a clear view of the sky were only requirement to get strong signal within 150 feet of his house. This system only works with Verizon phones. Anybody here have experience with a system like the above?

I'm using a similar system for my house, which is in a cell phone hole, but has very good internet service.

It has a cell tower receiver and small transmitter that your cell phone "sees". It also hooks in to your internet connection, sort of like VOIP. Once you install it, you have solid phone service via the "micro-tower", through the internet.

I've had two, one from Sprint and now one from AT&T. In both cases, I told the local store that lack of service in my area was holding me back from switching to them, and they cut me some slack on the price of the equipment.

As you were told, they only work for the "right" brand of cell phone.

Maybe not a solution for you. But the IPhone 6 on att can make/ recoeve calls on wifi. Also txt anyone, not just iMessage.

I'm sure other carriers have something similar.

I have one from Sprint & it's called an Airave.

Works fine or as others have said, you can use WiFi calling as most all new(er) phones are able to use that mode.

MM

YEP! I too lived in a 'Dead Zone' signal booster was great.

Prior to that had to go to the second floor, hold the phone by the window near the ceiling to get any service.

I have a weboost and it works as advertised. It is a true signal booster and not dependent on internet voip. www.weboost.com

Checked at the site. Too much $$ for deer camp use. 😂

No disrespect intended, Sir.

How in hell did we "suffer" through the weeks of deer camp back in the day ???

No cell phone for me.

Weboost might be the best for me, since my DSL service is slow. Windstream truly sucks! No fiberoptic here, just the copper lines they installed before 1950. I'll do some more research.

I'm in a cellular black hole. Sprint supplied a free Airave which boosts my signal from 1 bar to 5!

No suffering, I see your point. During the week days I hunt alone. I'll txt a buddy when I get in every evening just to let know everything went ok.

I have a cell phone booster made by ZBoost. It consists of a small antenna I mounted on the side of the house, and a receiver in the house. Works great with all cellphones. Cost was about $200.

Pretty sure OnStar is satellite fed.

I went with a Wilson 4G cellular phone and data booster. Works very well. I have a 40 ft tower for TV antenna so I mounted the phone antennas about 30 ft up. That antenna is directional so you have to locate your service providers tower to be sure you point it correctly. I also bought some high quality shielded coax. Set up probably coast me 500, but it has been worth it. The only catch to this is there must be a signal to boost.

I don't think Onstar is satellite fed. I tried using the Onstar phone in the Qhehanna wilderness area, where there absolutely no cell service, and the truck could not connect. At the time, I did have a open view of the sky on a clear starlit night.

At my old house, we had zero cell phone signal with Verizon. My cell is company provided, and they provided me the signal booster. Like you say, it plugged into the internet router we had (Windstream by the way, through the copper phone lines). Anywhere in the house, as well as most spots of my yard then had crystal clear service with the cell phone. Used it for 6 years with no issue.

Actually, it's both satellite & cell data pioneered by Verizon & the Hughes Corporation.

"OnStar was formed in 1995 as a collaboration between GM, Electronic Data Systems and Hughes Electronics Corporation. Each of the founding companies brought a specific area of expertise to the enterprise: GM brought vehicle design and integration and a distribution system of millions of vehicles, EDS brought much of the systems development and information management and customer service technologies, while Hughes contributed communications and satellite technology and automotive electronics. The OnStar service relied on CDMA mobile phone voice and data communication, primarily via Verizon Wireless in the United States."

So, we were both right.

Hi Guys,
I had on star in my last couple of trucks and got rid of it before it became competitively priced. I don't know what the cost is now but back then the per minute price was outrageous. After I cancelled it they offered me a really cheap unlimited package price but I had already replaced it with a cell phone. The cell and Bluetooth combo works great.
I also live in a no cell phone reception hole in a rural area of PA. I contacted them when I still had on star because I couldn't make a call and was informed that the emergency services were handled by satellites but the phone service was carried by cell towers. No cell reception, no phone service. So yeah it's a combination. Ask at the dealer's and they will tell you it satellite service.
Lou