I live in a valley where no matter which mobile network I use, there’s often only 1 bar of signal inside the house, and two if I stand at the top of the garden….

I’ve been considering a Signal Booster, has anyone used/owned/tried one? Did it work? Was it reliable? Cost?

Cheers,

M.

The femtocell ones are legal (Voda + others?) any other type will be illegal.

Not sure what constitutes a signal booster – I have a Vodafone SureSignal box (femtocell or whatever it’s called). It’s worked flawlessly for the last 6 months or so and I would definitely recommend. I think other networks have similar boxes too – but Vodafone seem to be the only one that advertise them.

Chap up the road was telling me he’d just got one from 3 (free but he does have 5 contracts in the house). Said it took him from no signal anywhere in the house bar beside the kitchen window to having signal everywhere in the house. I know not about these things but surely it’s just a local broadcast of a phone signal which then gets converted to VoIP down your broadband line.

My Samsung galaxy s2 has signal booster that allows it to connect through my wireless router to boost signal.
It works great

I understand that some mobile airtime providers who also supply broadband have products that creates a small 3G cell using their supplied smart wifi router.

that’s a femtocell 🙂

Sadly it’ll have to be a non-femtocell version as we’re out in the sticks and have no landline…

+1 for vodafone suresignal.. 😀

another +1 for vodafone suresignal. Works brilliantly.

Vodafone suresignal here. Blagged it for free as part of an upgrade. Took close to no signal, to full signal. Brilliant, aside from mild worries that I now sleep 8ft from a mobile phone mast 🙂

Femtocell sounds like a ladies hygiene product!

What happened to UMA? this was some technology that I had in an older work Blackberry that enabled you to make calls over WiFi – I used it as I had no Orange signal at my house but could use the phone over WiFi via UMA. Later Blackberry models and other phones no longer have it – was it made illegal or something?

I used to use a booster on O2, just for call tho not 3G worked well. Aerial on the roof and an internal aerial in the house. Took reception from nothing to a useable 2-3 bars. If you get one you have to make sure its on the right frequency for your provider.

Not so comon in Uk ,but out in Eire we have TWOWAY KBO ,saterlite broadband ,so you don’t need a landline ,sure if you google that you will find a solution .

I’m not 100% sure but I think mobile phone signal boosters are illigal in the uk.

Sadly it’ll have to be a non-femtocell version as we’re out in the sticks and have no landline…

no one is reading this bit then…

I use a booster, we have no signal in the valley that we live, in the garden in certain places I can just about muster 1 bar!! The booster works ok, I have the aerial on a pole on the outbuilding, inside the house I generally get full signal (not 3G though as wrong frequency for that) although the reception can still drop calls sometimes, but at least you can get them in the first place which you couldn’t before!!

As for it being illegal in the uk that is wrong, whilst uk law states that mobile phone transmitters have to be licenced you will effectively be operating under your network operators licence therefor totally legal, if you are at all unsure you can always ask them for permission to use a booster (they will happily supply this) and you then have written conformation!

Second to rhat, even if it were illegal, assuming you live in the sticks, and no one is around and all your doing is repeating a signal around your own home/land then there’s no way on earth you’d get caught!! But like I say, I have investigates this and whilst some argue otherwise it is most certainly totally legal and if you have no/little signal I would highly recommend one

The one I brought when we moved In September was second hand off ebay and was only a cheap china import type one, it died last week after a power cut so I would recommend a better quality one perhaps!! I shall certainly be relaxing it with one now I know they work!!

From the Ofcom blurb:-

“Only the mobile network operators are licensed to use equipment that transmits in these bands. Installation or use of repeater devices by anyone without a licence is a criminal offence under Section 8 of the WT Act 2006. Any person found guilty of installing or using such devices without a licence would be liable on conviction to a fine of up to £5000 and/or up to 51 weeks’ imprisonment (Six months in Scotland and Northern Ireland) Anyone wishing to improve coverage in a particular area is advised to contact their network provider.”

If your operator supplies a “booster” then this will be one of the femtocell jobs, which requires a broadband connection to work as that’s how the voice data it transmitted to the operator network.

Yes, BUT by asking for permission from your network operator to use a signal booster (which they WILL give you) then you are operating under the umbrella of their licence! the only exceptions are, 3 who i think will provide you with a booster (at leaset 3 AU will so i assume uk will to? and vodafone may not give it as freely as they will try and get you onto there suresignal system, however, if you explain that you have no phone line then sure signal will be no good to you and they should provide permission!

as said, regardless of having permission and operating under your providers umbrella licence its highly unlikely that you would get caught, nevermind prosecuted!

Did you ask your provider for permission to use a Chinese booster ? 😉

EE do a “Signal Box”, it plugs into your broadband router and gives you a phone signal in your house. They haven’t been available for long (Novemberish) and they seem to be in short supply at the moment but it sounds like what you’re looking for.

Yes I did! I called and asked if they had a signal booster available as we had no reception and was advised to try a signal booster, I asked about the legalities of it ( as I had already read up on them) and was told that it was totally legal as would be operated under their terms as per the mobile contract you sign on to when getting a phone! I asked for written confirmation and was promptly sent an email!
However no I did not ask of I could use a “cheap Chinese” one, but don’t see it has any implications whatsoever, I only got a cheap one as I was unsure if/how well they worked and didn’t want to spend a fortune to find out they were a waste of time!! Now I know they work I shall be replacing it with a better quality one from a uk supplier