Boosting a mobile network signal

TTony

Let's say that we had a large garden.  At one edge of the garden (about 100m from the house), there's a reasonable mobile signal.  But by the time the signal tries to get across the garden and into the house, it's died, so using mobiles in the house is a pita.

Using calls-over-wifi isn't a solution, because I also want the mobile signal for data rather than calls (wired broadband is worse than edge-of-garden mobile speeds).  Using the network's signal booster isn't an option, because they don't work from 100m away (AFAIK).

Anyone got any experience/knowledge of systems that can capture the signal from 100m away, and could then send it around the house?

Sporky

Micro cell? I don't think you can (easily/legally) boost a mobile signal yourself.

fields5069

Signal booster with a long CAT6 cable, in a shed? I don't think you can get an actual RF booster as such.

TTony

Sporky said:

I don't think you can (easily/legally) boost a mobile signal yourself.

Let's talk hypothetically.

MattBanshee

TTony said:

Sporky said:

I don't think you can (easily/legally) boost a mobile signal yourself.

Let's talk hypothetically.

Hypothetically pay the mobile provider enough to install a new mast, and hypothetically bribe the council planning people to simultaneously approve it and also hush it up.

There's no civilian way to 'boost' a mobile signal. Some networks provide a 'boost box' which in fact just routes the signal via a broadband connection, rather than through radio.

ESBlonde

Hypothetically you could do like the foreigners do and set your phone to seek the strongest signal (whoever that is provided by).

fields5069

ESBlonde said:

Hypothetically you could do like the foreigners do and set your phone to seek the strongest signal (whoever that is provided by).

Phones already do that, assuming the other UK operators' radio PLMN ids aren't stored in the SIM's Forbidden PLMN list. However none of the operators allow other network's subscribers onto their kit, unless it's to make a 999 call.

fields5069

fields5069 said:

ESBlonde said:

Hypothetically you could do like the foreigners do and set your phone to seek the strongest signal (whoever that is provided by).

Phones already do that, assuming the other UK operators' radio PLMN ids aren't stored in the SIM's Forbidden PLMN list. However none of the operators allow other network's subscribers onto their kit, unless it's to make a 999 call.

BTW the idea that foreigners immediately get the pick of UK phone signals is simply not true. Most foreign operators have roaming agreements with more than one UK network, but the agreement has to be in place for anything to work.

TTony

MattBanshee said:

There's no civilian way to 'boost' a mobile signal. Some networks provide a 'boost box' which in fact just routes the signal via a broadband connection, rather than through radio.

I believe that there are.

Some are even legal - Nextivity Cel-Fi, for example - due to them having been approved by the mobile network.  Some are less legal.  

Hence me asking whether anyone had any actual experience of using them.

TTony

ESBlonde said:

Hypothetically you could do like the foreigners do and set your phone to seek the strongest signal (whoever that is provided by).

The problem isn't that one network has a signal and that others don't - O2 & Voda have zero coverage, whereas EE & Three have marginal coverage.  I just want to demarginalise (aka "boost") the EE and/or Three signals that are usably strong 100m way, but fail to make it through the trees & walls and into the house.

Sporky

Oooh!

I also thought you weren't allowed to do it - sorry!

They look most intriguing.

TTony

Ah-hah - further reading suggests that trees can block a mobile signal quite effectively, I guess that becomes more effectively, the more marginal the signal is before it hits the trees.

So, aerial at the far side of the trees towards the network mast, long cable back to the house, then a personal "cell" to send the signal around the house.