Mobile Phone Signal Booster

firefox1956

I have very poor signal on my mobile phone where I live.
The signal strength is very poor on all networks.
Does anybody have any experience of signal boosters ??
Would be interested to hear.
Thanks in advance.

grumbler

It's illegal to use any 'boosters' in UK - except those provided by networks and working via broadband connection.

Some networks offer apps for smartphones relying on wifi at home.

http://www.three.co.uk/discover/three_intouch
http://www.o2.co.uk/apps/tu-go
http://ee.co.uk/help/phones-and-device/getting-started-with-wifi-calling (not an app).

I_have_spoken

Yes. I got one of the repeater/booster units off Ebay, putting the outside directional aerial on my TV mast and the repeater in a spare bedroom.

It boosted the number of bars on the phone by 1 maybe 2, but TBH I would now go with one of the units that connect to your broadband.

grumbler

I_have_spoken wrote: »

Yes. I got one of the repeater/booster units off Ebay, putting the outside directional aerial on my TV mast and the repeater in a spare bedroom.

IIRC, the fine is up to £5K: The legal ways to boost your mobile phone reception

Not that I've heard of any real cases when it was paid.

pappa_golf

what is a "bar" on your phone ?


those "bars" are not calibrated in any way, one phone might show 5 "bars" and another 1 "bar" , however they can both make and receive calls the same

prowla

If you are on EE you can enable Wi-Fi calling.

firefox1956

I use Tugo as a mobile phone app for MAKING calls but unfortunately it does not help for RECEIVING calls.
Not much point in giving out your mobile phone number if you cannot receive calls.
Unless of course I am missing something with Tugo ??

grumbler

firefox1956 wrote: »

Not much point in giving out your mobile phone number if you cannot receive calls.
Unless of course I am missing something with Tugo ??

http://www.o2.co.uk/apps/tu-go

When you're abroad, people can call you via TU Go by dialling your mobile number as usual.

I don't think it's different in UK.

prowla wrote: »

If you are on EE you can enable Wi-Fi calling.

http://ee.co.uk/help/phones-and-device/wifi-calling

To start with, WiFi Calling is available on the following phones:

• iPhone 5s, 5c, 6, 6 Plus, 6s and 6s Plus
• Samsung Galaxy S6, S6 Edge and S5
• Microsoft Lumia 640
• Microsoft Lumia 640 XL (corporate customers only)
• HTC One M9
• Sony z5 and z5 compact

WiFi Calling is only supported by the EE version of Android and Windows devices, which can only be bought directly from us in one of our stores, online at EE.co.uk, or through our telesales team ...
Android and Windows devices bought from other retailers will not be able to support WiFi Calling.

firefox1956

Well I'll be blessed !!!!!!!!!
Thank you grumbler I never knew that.
I always thought Tugo could only be used for making call thwifi not receiving them

AJXX

I'm on Three, the signal in my home has deteriorated over the last 6 months or so to the point I've gone from having 2-4 bars to more often than not having 0 bars with the occasional 1 bar. Often text messages are delayed by an hour or so and it's generally very irritating at this point.

I'd reported a network fault via their website 4 times, nothing changed. I've got multiple contracts and handsets with Three so this was not an issue with the phones. Nothing changed within the house that could have reduced the signal (routers etc...).

Anyway, I phoned Three and after 45 mins of explaining my plight they finally agreed to send me a Home Signal box.

24 hours after setup, the box still wasn't working (rapidly flashing green light). I spent about 3 hours the next day reading up on the box, reading troubleshooting, opening ports on my router, resetting the box etc.... nothing worked.

I decided to email Three (as I thought it would be better than explaining all of this via email instead of over the phone) - I waited 3 days for a reply to my fairly comprehensive email and what I finally received was a boiler plater reply, no acknowledgement of anything I'd done so far, no further suggestions - just simply here is the number for our Home Signal Team - ring them :mad:

I rang them on the 4th day of the box not working, it took the guy all of 30 seconds to say "ohh your box is not linked to your account correctly" when questioned further this had not been done during my initial phone call when the box was ordered. Unfortunately the man on the phone said this would take 72 hours to correct.

72 hours later the box still does nothing but rapidly flash green (which I've come to know means it's 'trying' to connect to Three's network).

So, I've had the box for a week and apart from a lovely flashing beacon it's useless. I'm going to have to ring them back on Monday but so far I'm not impressed.

Saying that; I have friends with signal boosters from o2 and EE and they swear by them.