Improve cellphone reception (device / product question)

[SgtFlamingo]

Hey all,

New to AT&T after having a nightmare call from another wireless company.  So I got the HTC Inspire 4g.  Very happy with the phone.  For the first time in 6 years I have cellphone reception in my home.  I'll be open.  I cried a little when I got my first call on my cellphone, I even participated in the survey they wanted me to take.

Even at work when I normally had no serv to 0.5 bars, I'm now experiencing the same no serv, but getting up to 3 bars at a time.  I'm also connectiong far more often than not.   Now with the required praise and cheers out of the way. 

I'm wondering how I can further improve the quality of my cellphone reception.  I've looked at signal boosters, but those are either very expensive or require the ability to install them at my work site.  Suffice to say I lack the ability to get such an item installed.  I can't install AT&T's device that allows you to set up a small 'bubble' for cellphones either.

So I'm somewhat stuck on the matter.  Is it possible to get better reception on the device by installing some hardware into my cellphone?  Or will I just have to  have the somewhat less than constant reception?

[JFizDaWiz]

it probably has to do with the contruction of the building that's weakaning the signal. they have cell phone boosters but i've never tested one before, we offer a microcell but that would require you have access to to connecting it to the network which you probably don't at your work

[Wild Banchi ACE - Professor]

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SgtFlamingo wrote:

Hey all,

New to AT&T after having a nightmare call from another wireless company.  So I got the HTC Inspire 4g.  Very happy with the phone.  For the first time in 6 years I have cellphone reception in my home.  I'll be open.  I cried a little when I got my first call on my cellphone, I even participated in the survey they wanted me to take.

Even at work when I normally had no serv to 0.5 bars, I'm now experiencing the same no serv, but getting up to 3 bars at a time.  I'm also connectiong far more often than not.   Now with the required praise and cheers out of the way. 

I'm wondering how I can further improve the quality of my cellphone reception.  I've looked at signal boosters, but those are either very expensive or require the ability to install them at my work site.  Suffice to say I lack the ability to get such an item installed.  I can't install AT&T's device that allows you to set up a small 'bubble' for cellphones either.

So I'm somewhat stuck on the matter.  Is it possible to get better reception on the device by installing some hardware into my cellphone?  Or will I just have to  have the somewhat less than constant reception?

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Glad to hear that you are somewhat satisfied with your new service. I do not think there is any way to physically install something onto (or into) your phone to act as a signal booster. There are probably apps in the Android Market that may claim to boost your reception, but that probably depends on the carrier one would be using, and I highly doubt they would work.

The only fix/solution for better reception would be to install the MicroCell at your workplace. Other than that, you would just have to cope with the signal that often fluctuates or may not even stay constant at all...

[nsayer]

Au contraire, there are signal boosters you can buy that are not snake oil (though there are plenty that are). Before we downgraded to the Microcell, we were using a ZBoost YX510 and it made a noticable difference.

For a large office building, the Microcell is not appropriate because it only works for 4 users at a time out of a list of 10. And you can't switch from one Microcell to another to cover a larger area.

Never mind the fact that the Microcell has a lot of problems and is not properly supported by AT&T - just go check the Microcell forum here for a taste of the misery we're experiencing.

[DHarabs]

I don't believe that there is anything that you can "install" in your phone, anything useful will have to be external.

We tried the Zboost route but couldn't see much difference, but there are other options out there.   WIlson makes a unit called the Sleek, which works pretty good as long as the phone stays in the cradle, and you can get the antenna close to a window.   I used it with a bluetooth in a temporary situation and it definitely helped.  The price is right, and it is pretty portable, may be just the ticket for your situation. 

In a mountain cabin we tried a bunch of  installed Wison and other amplifiers, but finally settled on the Sphere system, it out performed all the others and uses about 70% less electricity.  It will handle eight calls or data connections at the same time, and boosts all carriers, so even visitors using other providers can now use their phone here. 

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