I live in a town home and I get horrible signal. I am in the middle of a common residential area, no blockage or anything. I literally have to stand in certain areas to get over 1bar or not drop calls.
I was curious if there was anything out there to help get a signal boost.
This isn't rom specific or network specific or phone specific. I just can't imagine that I am living in that much of a dead area. Im in dfw, no hills or anything either.
I have had this issue with tmobile, sprint and metro.
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yea call sprint n tell them their signal sucks n ur cazncelling ur plan n goin with verizon. they will send u an air rave for free. thats what my dad did cuz he lives in the sticks. its like a router that plugs into ur internet n makes a cell tower in ur house
It's Airave, not air rave. And yes, thats the only solution. There is no rom or software solution to boosting a signal.
If you suddenly start getting better signal when you go outside, then it's most likely the materials the house is made out of. Some materials block wireless signals better than others. In either case, unless you want to start punching holes in your house's walls, an Airave is gonna be your best bet.
Bah, thanks. This is a newer townhome and I do get a slightly better signal outside but not a full one. I can actually watch my signal drop as soon as I hit my neighborhood. Almost like it drops one tower for the next but I am in a weird void between the two.
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I have zones that kill battery, I live in dfw also, I never see that. But there is a small spot that forced drop calls. Right in dead man's curve, ( curve where 75 becomes 175 sounth of mlk blvd.) Hit that curve and dropped call all the time.
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nothing that you can do on your phone
Related
Ok just moved into a new apt that has poor 3g signal with 2 bars and was suggested by sprint to get the airwave with my high speed Internet.. Well I was wondering I'm like a mile maybe 2 away from 4g, will it boost me into 4g coverage or just give me good signal within the home??
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Doesn't help with 4g, but reception is way better.
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The Airave doesn't boost signal, it's a femtocell, which is essentially a mini cell tower. It's 3G only and doesn't broadcast a 4G signal of any kind.
What datajosh said... And with wifi your data travels over that very fast.My two cents: I am so glad I have an Airave. I live in a fairly wooded area and both 3g and 4g (which I can get in town by the way) don't work well at all - for any carrier. I've had sprint up here for about 5 years and was looking at Verizon and ATT but neither could even get the anemic reception on 3g/1g I was getting on Sprint. Got an Airave and my signal is freaking great! I can walk out of my place to my garage about 50yds and still be on my unit. My sister got one because she too was was having issues down in SoCal (and the family has FIVE phones!). Now they can all get super reception. I set up my unit (and my sisters too) to be 'off' my network in a DMZ. Configured my router to allot an IP as DMZ and let the Airave use it as the 'public' IP. That way that traffic doesn't 'mix' with my local net and wifi. Lastly I just went to Amazon and baught mine for like $50.00 U.S. My sister made calls for about a week and finally spoke to the right person(s) and got one free!
I just got the Airave and the only thing I can see improved on is the reception of my calls (I get 5 bars instead of 2)
4g is the same
and 3g is still slow as heck..
also it has a build in GPS.. to tell you where you are..
It has about a 300 foot radius so if you go past that point you most likely will jump to another tower.
and when making and getting calls you get 3 beeps letting you know you are on the Airave. also dialing *99 will give you a message to let you know you are on the service.
If I am not mistaken the air rave is for call quality. 4g is purely data. Why wouldn't you just use wifi?I would think 4g would be slower than wifi anyhow. Feel free to call BS on this.
it only help with cell service.
you just get the air wave. ( they should offer it for free..)
and get on wifi network.
Have one myself. Great for calls and SMS/MMS but the data speeds are maybe half the speed of my DSL. I just use wifi for anything but calls, makes sense to me. Sprint had recently changed something with their towers out here and we were left with absolutely no service on my property. Sprints corporate numbers, including the CEO's, are not hard to find. I called and tore them a new one, I wasn't letting them get off easy with this one, being a sprint customer for yeeeaaarrrss. Long story short I got a free air rave for life out of it which I think was fair of them to do.
Just a note, if you have low bandwidth and you make calls while downloading stuff or just eating the bandwidth in general, you will have stupid delays in you conversations. Its just awkward.
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Not true about data speed on my airwave at home i was at 2.5mbps
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Why not just connect to the wifi of your home network...
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daniel4653 said:
Not true about data speed on my airwave at home i was at 2.5mbps
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Well maybe their speeds vary, but the whole point is if you have an air rave you most likely have wifi so why not just use that for data? The air rave is completely dependant on the broadband connection, its not like a range extender for sprint tower signal. I'm sure the phones modem has a lot to do with it as well.
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i heard sprint will give you one of these free if you call and complain about the service in your house....any truth to this, cuz i cant text or call in my house if my depended on it
Oops blank post. I meant to say, read this thread...two people have said they got one from sprint for free...I was one of them. Do you read through posts before you ask a question at all?
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ShinigamiH4ck3r said:
i heard sprint will give you one of these free if you call and complain about the service in your house....any truth to this, cuz i cant text or call in my house if my depended on it
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YES & No!
If you have poor/fair service in your home, then just search xda forums for info on how to get it, or just PM me and I'll give you the info. I have very poor service in my home with sprint, that I just moved to. I and my family would all have to walk outside in the yard, to get a signal that was less likely to drop in the middle of the call. Even then, we only got 1-2 bars at most. In my house, we either didn't get a signal at all or it would drop out if we moved around.
I called the Sprint Retention line, and explained to them my issues with the service in my new home. I told her that I had searched the Sprint coverage map, and my area was listed with "Fair" service. She had me hold for just a few seconds to look up my address on their coverage map as well. Then she came back and explained the Airwave to me. I had never mentioned an airwave to this point.
She said that she had to check my area's coverage before offering it, because they've received a ton of request from people lately for this device, and many of them were in "excellent" coverage areas, and were simply calling because they heard they could get it for free. Just to have it I guess. Anyways, if you are in a poor-fair coverage area, and have real issues with coverage/dropped calls. Yes, they will send one for free and then not charge a dime. You just have to agree that it's their property and is to be returned at end of contract/service-termination.
I have one in my home as well. Works great. it doesnt support 4g but any sprint device will work with it. I get about 2-3 megs down with it running 3g.
I have a airave but get nowhere near the range some of you claim. Is there a way to boost it's range? I'm lucky to get 50 feet. Sorry if this is a hijack.
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Free airaves
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1407446
JDinAZ74 said:
I have a airave but get nowhere near the range some of you claim. Is there a way to boost it's range? I'm lucky to get 50 feet. Sorry if this is a hijack.
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sprint.com --> mysprint --> my preferences --> manage my airave --> range settings
Doctor_XXX said:
sprint.com --> mysprint --> my preferences --> manage my airave --> range settings
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Awesome thank you.
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Actually, my Airave sucks. Somebody else in my building has one that is locked to their phone number, and my ET4G always get confused and connects to that one. It basically keeps me from making any phone calls in my house. I have to go all the way into the street to call.
So, please be kind and don't lock down your airave to your account.
Also, even when it does work, I still get **** data speeds.
Hello. I have a real curious question. At my house I have practically no signal. I actually roam at times. If I walk to the metro bus stop which is literally like less than a 30 second walk across the street, I get full signal. Fastest 3G/4G speeds ever. It doesn't make any sense.
I think I'm living in a dead spot. Could there be something at my house messing up my signal? It just doesn't make any sense for me to have no signal, then I walk across the street and flourish in signal.
I'm on Sprint. Its luckily no big deal since we have wifi, but I do kinda want a backup plan.
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No_Nickname90 said:
Hello. I have a real curious question. At my house I have practically no signal. I actually roam at times. If I walk to the metro bus stop which is literally like less than a 30 second walk across the street, I get full signal. Fastest 3G/4G speeds ever. It doesn't make any sense.
I think I'm living in a dead spot. Could there be something at my house messing up my signal? It just doesn't make any sense for me to have no signal, then I walk across the street and flourish in signal.
I'm on Sprint. Its luckily no big deal since we have wifi, but I do kinda want a backup plan.
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A lot of the materials used in construction of homes can lead to blocking or weakening of signals. There are also several other factors that can effect it but there are so many to go into it would be a book before we finished this post.
The best way to picture it is to imagine one of the old TV sets with the rabbit ear antenna on top. You had to have those ears just the right distance apart, at just the right angle, at just the right length to get a clear picture. The second dad walked in front of the TV, Mom bumped the antenna out of position or the sun started to set your show got all fuzzy again. Then you were stuck messing around until you got the picture just right again.
So I guess basically what I'm saying is just be aware that your phone may not work in some spots and plan accordingly if you need to make a phone call or use your phone for internet.
Another thing to look at is getting an AirWave through Sprint. I've heard that if you have roaming issues in your home they will actually send you one for free.
Thanks. Our house was made in the 1950's so I'm guessing it has something to do with the material. My answer was to link everything through Google Voice. Best alternative for my case. Since Google Voice uses data and I have WiFi, I can get the messages and calls I need. I didn't have this problem with Tmo, though. I'm guessing it's a frequency thing and material. Don't really care for details. Just a curious question. Thanks again for your insight.
Phandroid posted an article about and Umbrella that boosts Wireless signals and can charge your phone. Think I should get that? LoL!! An AirWave just seems to extreme for my case. If it's really that bad, I'll just walk across the street. =.P
I called Sprint's retention department about horrible roaming in my house and they're sending me an Airave for free. I had to question them and like say "why do I have to pay additional because your service is roaming in my house when it's in fair coverage"? So they waived the monthly AND the one time fee of $129.99 for the unit. Give them a try. I get mine this week.
The building materials play a big part in your reception. Things like stucco, bricks, wiring, etc... And if you have a lot of EMI that would be another factor, do you ever experience intermittent wireless connectivity at home? Slow speeds, random disconnections, inconsistent signal?
Do you happen to have your own tesla coil by chance?... That was a joke but it is something that would cause major signal loss.
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You would be amazed at what affects signal. A friend of mine used to get perfect signal in his house even in hugs basement until the day he installed new carpet in his living room. Now he can only get signal on the second floor of his house.
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Sprint Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch
My office in my house is a cluster of EMF between desktops, servers, countless little transformers, two wifi units, ip cams, several amateur radio ht's,etc. The air rave is like 35 feet away and I only get 1or 2 bars most of the time.
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I thought about using the airave but I have read bad reviews on it and have even had people at sprints stores tell me they werent worth the money. I only have 1-2 bars in my room and I walk out side and get 3-4. Odd thing is at work i bounce between full service and one bar under that and speeds are the same as if I am standing outside at home with less recption. I have used several different modems and tey all seem to follow the same sort of trend. crappy thing is i dont work or live in the boonies or anything. I wish Sprint would step the game up I have been with them for 5 years now and I am seriously thinking of going over to verizon because of the massive difference in speeds.
I purchased the Note 2 in hopes of having a little better reception at my desk here at work. If I walk to a window, I get full bars, but my desk is in the middle of the floor, so I get one bar or none. Sadly, the Note 2 didn't change that (I didn't think it would, just hoped it had a better antenna). I'm probably going to return it this afternoon, and switch to Verizon next month when it arrives there. My coworker's S3 on Verizon has full bars, and he sits 3 feet away from me, but he also has 4G on his (can't figure out how to turn it off to test his 3G only).
I like Sprint, and if I knew LTE would change these reception woes, I'd just tough it out until it hits Memphis. Has anyone had a problem getting 3G, but then saw their reception increase with LTE? The older 4G would not reach my desk with my 3D, so I'm skeptical, but never hurts to ask.
don't change carriers just because your desk is in a bad spot. I can guarantee you there are places in your building, or even other buildings where the roles will be reversed.you will be the one with signal and him with nothing
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reinaldistic said:
don't change carriers just because your desk is in a bad spot. I can guarantee you there are places in your building, or even other buildings where the roles will be reversed.you will be the one with signal and him with nothing
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Unfortunately, this is where I spend 8 hours a day, and there's no chance of me moving to a different part of the floor. When I'm at home, I use Wifi, so it's not an issue, but here at work, my phone is basically useless because of Sprint's weak signal. I can move to Verizon with no penalties, and with my corporate discount the rate is the same (unlimited data goes away, but I've never gone over 2GB a month), it's just a bunch of trouble I'd rather not go through if Sprint's LTE is strong.
Does anybody else have horrible reception problems in week signal areas?
I know how that sounds... but, what I mean is in the city, with the corporate PRL (56xxx) and the LJ7 radio, I get better signals then I ever have with my Moment or S2, roaming or native.
However, when I go out of town into a Cellcom area, I drop to no signal unless I am practically on top of a tower.
My Sprint tablet and S2 get decent roaming signals ( 2-3 bars) while my S3 gets no service, despite multiple combinations of radios and PRL's.
Any ideas? Bad antenna connection? Bad phone?
Thanks!
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I've noticed the signal roams and just flat out drops in certsin areas. Maybe it's just the antenna? I'm in So Cal.
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xTMFxOffshore said:
I've noticed the signal roams and just flat out drops in certsin areas. Maybe it's just the antenna? I'm in So Cal.
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I'm in Wisconsin.
I have also noticed that my phone roams more often than any other Sprint device that I have.
The S2 and S3 should be identical as far which cellular frequencies they listen to... so there shouldn't be any reason that the S2 gets service in 90 percent of the places the S3 doesn't even get roaming service.
I wonder how likely it is that the antenna write somehow got disconnected when I dropped the phone at some point in the past?
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I live in an area that is rated as "Good / Best" for Voice, with solid 3G coverage (per their site map & past phone experience) but do not have LTE available here yet.
I've had the GS3 for < a day and was able to test side by side just moments apart from deactivating my old HTC phone.
I immediately went from a 3 year old phone getting -80dBm to -92dBm on the GS3. I have used the 3G on my HTC phone day in and out here for the entire 3 years of the phone, when suddenly, the GS3 was timing out while trying to download Google Chrome from the Play Store. Web page loads are bursty... hot/cold/hot/cold and SpeedTest.Net App seems to confirm the story...
I could not complete SpeedTest.Net due to "communication issues" nor download anything until I forced the phone to CDMA only. Unfortunately, even though I can now USE the phone, the speeds are still kinda rough:
Pings are ranging 800ms - 1300ms consistently ( I was used to 200ms or less )
Downloads are 30-80kbps, I was used to 350-500k.
Brief Real-world testing of moving through web pages, loading videos and browsing the playstore also lean towards the numbers I'm seeing.
Not sure about what to do. Maybe the HTC EVO 4G LTE would have better signal. It's hard to determine without personally testing, there's a LOT of complaints both ways, on both forums. I'll continue to evaluate and give it a chance to improve. Maybe it was a bad night last night.
The word thing is that I get better speeds and reception on Sprint's network in Milwaukee than I do with my S2.
As soon as I leave the city, or even leave Sprint's network, the S3 becomes prone to LOS while the S2 chugs along happily.
And, as I said before, this is with the same PRL.
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I've been noticing a lot more random LOS, and other signal issues in areas I've had signal before, and good signal at that on both my Photon and iphone. Is there a better PRL or Profile to use that will improve this or is it just something on Samsung's end that is gonna be what it is?
Has anybody ever used a signal booster? My apartment gets a really weak data signal, but if I walk outside into the parking lot I'm getting H+. I know at one time, T-mobile "gave" out signal boosters to customers living in a house. No love for apartments or townhouses. I've seen plenty boosters at Amazon, but just wanted to see if any of you have first hand knowledge. Thanks a lot!
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Indoor Wilson's booster are the best. They are expensive but totally worth it. I work in the oilfields, we all have them in our living headquarters and work great.
I have something similar to this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GSM-DCS-9...ell_Phone_Signal_Boosters&hash=item41746bce11
It works really well on the 1st floor, weaker on the ground floor but still makes a difference between a dropped call and being able to talk. If you adda a splitter and a 2nd aerial for the ground floor then that would sort that out. I have had to reboot it about 4-5 times in the year or so that I have had it though. It seems to happen when too many phones are in the area, like family visiting etc.... So 10-15 mobiles in the house all on. Generally about 4-6 and no problems there.
Google "femtocell'. It might be what you're after.
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Um is there no Wi-Fi? I mean even most boosters use the internet
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irock1985 said:
Um is there no Wi-Fi? I mean even most boosters use the internet
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Never seen a signal booster that needs internet for it to work.
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Well I'm on Sprint so things may be different but yes I have a booster and to get data (3g/4g) boost it has to be connected to the internet
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Signal boosters (repeaters) don't need Internet. Airaves do.
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A microcell uses the internet to create a WiFi AP sized cell site. Similar in practical result to a repeater, but a repeater or amplifier just amplifies or repeats a signal from a normal cell tower. Generally a microcell will be better if you have an available Internet connection, but a repeater will be much more flexible.
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I've got an Airave at my house to try to boost it. They're unfortunately hit and miss and it doesn't do so well in my area.
I've seen a video once, where a guy uses a can to strengthen the wi-fi signal. Haven't tried it myself, but I thought you should consider it since it's free.
bigkusi said:
I've seen a video once, where a guy uses a can to strengthen the wi-fi signal. Haven't tried it myself, but I thought you should consider it since it's free.
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I've heard about this too, essentially you make it a makeshift satellite dish for your router from what I understand