Are there any IPhone antenna signal booster available

Question

Are there any IPhone antenna signal booster available

Hi,

We have two iphones in our family. The problem is that usually we have VERY poor signal strength in our house. I've gone to ATT's site to check out coverage (they have a map of signal strength by geographical location on their site) and sure enough, we live in a zone with poor signal strength. If we lived a block away, in any direction, from where we live now, we'd have great signal strength available. Sometimes we have good signal strength, but those times are few and far between, and the number of bars showing signal strength often changes right before our eyes.

We love the phones, but they are of little use to us while at home. So ... we wondered if there is a solution out there for us. Are there signal boosters, or something like that, which might help us out?

If there are, where would we look for one? Would we need a special kind?

Pat

Message was edited by: Patrick Murphy

Macintosh G5, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Oct 11, 2007 7:30 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Oct 13, 2007 8:16 AM in response to Earless Puppy

Ahhhh.....well, I've checked out the information at the link,and then went on to investigate even further. Boy oh boy, this is an expensive fix, isn't it? As it is now (whine), we use less than 50 minutes of our ATT plan, mostly because we keep losing calls and we just use our land line instead. Of course, people who call us get annoyed at the inconvenience of having to call twice, not to mention getting a upset at having a call dropped, and then we're a bit steamed at paying so much for such mediocre service.

There is some solace,though, in the fact that our family is not alone. As I type this I see the guy across the street out on his front lawn with his cell phone to take a call, which brings a smile to my face. Misery loves company, I guess.

So, I guess we'll bite the bullet and go check out some of these gadgets. I suppose I'll start at the ATT store in our neighborhood and see what they have to say. Radio Shack sells some of these gizmos too. It looks as if they go for a few hundred bucks. Hmmmm.....maybe it is time to check out eBay.

I'm curious, are any of you fellow iPhone users experiencing a similar problem, and how many of you use these gadgets? And, most importantly, do they work?

Patrick

Reply

Answer 2

Oct 15, 2007 3:55 PM in response to Patrick Murphy

I have the Wi-Ex repeater and am very happy with the results. As long as you can mount the main antenna somewhere where there is a signal, you're good.

Here's an earlier post with more details:

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=5015136#5015136

Reply

Answer 3

Oct 14, 2007 9:15 PM in response to Patrick Murphy

Can you provide feedback as to whether you tried the signal booster? I recently switched to an iphone from a treo 650 and now I have almost no signal in my home as well (Lower Haight - San Francisco). As cool as this device may be, it is for me primarily a PHONE so if it can't function as one, I'll seriously consider going back to my treo (as it has very good reception in my house). Thanks for your feedback.

Reply

Answer 4

Oct 14, 2007 9:21 PM in response to Patrick Murphy

Patrick Murphy wrote:
There is some solace,though, in the fact that our family is not alone. As I type this I see the guy across the street out on his front lawn with his cell phone to take a call, which brings a smile to my face. Misery loves company, I guess.

what provider does he use

Reply

Answer 5

Oct 14, 2007 9:57 PM in response to Patrick Murphy

This, quite simply, an AT&T problem. AT&T has very poor signal quality and strength. I often laugh when I see the claim that AT&T has the fewest dropped calls. They must mean fewest in numbers, because percentage wise they are very poor. They may well be the "fewest" because so few people use their "service."

Reply

Answer 6

Oct 14, 2007 10:06 PM in response to Legal Beagles

Legal Beagles wrote:
This, quite simply, an AT&T problem. AT&T has very poor signal quality and strength. I often laugh when I see the claim that AT&T has the fewest dropped calls. They must mean fewest in numbers, because percentage wise they are very poor. They may well be the "fewest" because so few people use their "service."

So few people, where do you get our figures from?
Where I live Nextel and AT&T have the best signals

Reply

Answer 7

Oct 14, 2007 10:24 PM in response to william_sf

Sorry, no feedback on this yet. I was hoping someone else would have already tried a booster or repeater or whatever they are, and post a comment about them here. We went to the ATT store in Pismo Beach and stood there for fifteen minutes waiting for someone to help us and then left. Two doors down there is a Radio Shack, and although these antennas are listed in their online catalog, the two guys who were working there didn't have a clue. Actually, Radio Shack was kind of a funny experience because one of the guys just said "we don't have any" and then just walked away from us to return to the movie he was watching on the large screen TV across the store. I swear!

Then, we went to another ATT store located on the south side of Santa Maria and we finally got a guy who not only knew what we were talking about, but was actually helpful. Though they didn't have any antennas for us at the store, he discussed the effectiveness of antennas with us, and was truthful enough to tell us that the information he was relating to us was just information he had heard from his friends, but that he had no personal experience with using these antennas.

Anyway, one of the posts at the top of this thread lists a site to check out, and it seems to have most of the brands we heard about in our search. It appears that they run in the neighborhood of $300 for a good one, and you can spend up to about $1,000 for one of the best models available.

I think we're going to spring for one of the $300 models and see if it works for us, but probably not until next week.

Sure seems like a lot of $$$ for phone service. I don't blame Apple for this at all. It just seems like ATT ought to provide better service, either through more towers or some other way. That's just mho.

Patrick

Reply

Answer 8

Oct 15, 2007 5:23 AM in response to Patrick Murphy

Patrick Murphy wrote:
Hi,

We have two iphones in our family. The problem is that usually we have VERY poor signal strength in our house.

The easiest signal booster to try is to take your hand away from the iPhone's antenna when using the phone. It is the black part of the back on the bottom. if this doesn't help enough you can try other, more expensive, options.

Reply

Answer 9

jbillin

Level 1

5 points

Oct 15, 2007 6:03 AM in response to Patrick Murphy

If the guy across the street (and maybe other neighbors) has AT&T, maybe you all could get togther and buy one?!?

Not ideal I know, but...

I am curious about this fix too, as I often work in a government office that is located in the basement of a downtown-type building and there is no signal there. Right on the sidewalk in front of the building the bars are full too, so we would have signal to work with.

Here is to spending your money 8)

Reply

Answer 10

Oct 15, 2007 3:18 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Lawrence -

Get outta here! It's the black part on the back?! You're referring to the part toward the bottom of the back, right? Of course, I mean what else could you be talking about? I really didn't know that, and assumed that the antenna was toward the top, that it would make sense to place it there or on the sides, but I never would have guessed the bottom.

Well, I'm going to give that a try and see if the reception is better. Why not? As it is now, though, I am glad nobody can see me holding up the iPhone, toward the heavens above, as if I am waiting for a signal from the mother ship. Or as if it were a geiger counter.

I'm going to give that a try and I'll report back in a day or so … Thanks for the tip. I appreciate it.

Reply

Answer 11

Oct 15, 2007 4:00 PM in response to Legal Beagles

Legal Beagles wrote:
This, quite simply, an AT&T problem. AT&T has very poor signal quality and strength. I often laugh when I see the claim that AT&T has the fewest dropped calls.

If you can't make a call then your call can't be dropped.

Seriously, AT&T had network coverage problems a few years ago, but I rarely see problems today (at least where I travel). In residential areas coverage is frequently spotty, but this is partly because people who live there won't let AT&T and other carriers put up cell towers. And then they complain here and in other forums about the lack of coverage in and near their homes.

Reply

Answer 12

Oct 15, 2007 4:55 PM in response to Patrick Murphy

I just kind of scanned all your replies, so forgive me if this has already been said:

I got AT&T to credit my bill with the cost of an antenna. I "proved" it to them that their coverage showed that my house was in their high coverage area, yet I had no coverage (maybe you'd have the case that you "should" have good coverage based on where you're located. ALSO: they admitted to me that the coverage map on their website was different from what their employees had, so you might make some sort of case there, too).

They don't make antennas nor do they endorse specific antennas, but I looked into the type of antennas other people recommended here and came up with a dual-band Zboost antenna. Put the antenna on my roof and ran the wire down to my office. My reception at home is good now. Make sure the antenna is dual-band and GSM. Zboost makes a bunch of varieties.

I faxed the receipt to the antenna to the AT&T rep I was dealing with (my request accelerated up the chain to some kind of "high" supervisor) and they DID credit my bill.

Of course, I did this not long after the iPhone came out, so maybe they've cracked down on allowing this.

But, keep in mind, almost all Apple stores have accelerators installed on-site, so you might want to ask them what they use to be sure you're getting a good one.

Reply

Answer 13

Oct 16, 2007 8:13 PM in response to everettwolf

Hmmmm.... Would it be worthwhile to get up on top of my house with my iPhone to see if the signal is indeed stronger up there? I just hate it when I buy something that is supposed to improve service and then it doesn't work the way I'm expecting it to - then I feel as if I've been duped.

Reply

Answer 14

bdrell

Level 1

0 points

Oct 16, 2007 11:57 PM in response to Patrick Murphy

Well, a seriously dorky (but effective) solution is to plug in your iPhone's USB cable. I live in a basement, and we generally get poor signal strength in the house. But when I plug in the USB cable, it can sometimes go up 2 bars.

You might see if it helps. Might not, though.

Reply

Answer 15

Oct 17, 2007 6:10 AM in response to Patrick Murphy

Yes, that would be a good idea.

In order for the repeater to be effective, you have to locate its antenna in a place with a signal; so you'd definitely want to see how your phone does in the place(s) you plan to mount the antenna.

Reply