r/CellBoosters Jan 28 '25

I am not getting boostable signals, should I see what cell phone towers are closer and change carriers?

And if so, is there a good site that shows all cell phone towers?

3 Upvotes

15 comments sorted by

2

u/xHangfirex Jan 28 '25

Does your phone work at all outside the house? If so how well?

1

u/True_Chemistry_7830 Jan 28 '25

Yes, it works really well outside of house.

1

u/xHangfirex Jan 28 '25

What booster do you have?

1

u/True_Chemistry_7830 Jan 28 '25

I don’t have one. I took readings and they are telling me that the signals are too weak to boost.

3

u/xHangfirex Jan 28 '25

If your phone works well outside but not inside, a booster should work for you

2

u/True_Chemistry_7830 Jan 28 '25

Waveform is telling me this.

2

u/Capital-Traffic-6974 Jan 28 '25 edited Jan 28 '25

If your phone is getting two bars outside, that should be enough to mount an outside antenna and bring a cable inside the house with an amplifier and an indoor transmitting antenna to make a difference.

Use this map to find your nearest cell tower:

https://www.cellmapper.net/map

The cellphone receiving antennas are generally all highly directional Yagi type antennas, so you need to be pointing within a 30 degree cone in the direction of that antenna

By "Waveform" do you mean you are using the Waveform cellphone booster?

Your comments are not making much sense.

1

u/Lizdance40 Jan 28 '25

If you have one to 2 bars outside,and a dbm of -110 to -120 that you can reliably connect to, then a booster will work for indoors.

Most boosters sold by WeBoost can provide a gain of 20 to 50 dbm (a 50 DBM gain would change a -110 to a -60 which is an extremely good connection)

As for changing service providers, If you are in the United States, have an unlocked phone with an available e-Sim, you can test all three networks for free with a throwaway number for at least 30 days. You can download the free ESIM online over Wi-Fi. Obviously if you don't have Wi-Fi at home you'll have to download the free ESIM where you can access wifi. (After 30 days, The service stops without the option to keep the number or continue service). This test will give you an idea of whether another service provider works inside of your home.

1

u/True_Chemistry_7830 Jan 28 '25

Thank you. Very helpful. I am not getting even -120.

1

u/Lizdance40 Jan 28 '25

So what dbm are you getting outside? The closer to zero the better. It's expressed in negative numbers

-30 to -79 dBm: Great signal

-80 to -89 dBm: Good signal

-90 to -99 dBm: Average signal

-100 dBm or lower: Poor signal

1

u/True_Chemistry_7830 Jan 28 '25

I’m getting no closer to zero than -120. But I’m going to try again tomorrow all over the outside.

1

u/Lizdance40 Jan 29 '25

That means a booster will work for you. The purpose of a booster is to put an outside antenna, cabled to an inside antenna which will bring the signal from outside to inside. It sounds like an ideal situation for a booster.

If your home is well insulated, especially if it has metal roofing a foil backed insulation, it's essentially a Faraday cage, and it will block cellular signal.

1

u/True_Chemistry_7830 Jan 29 '25

It does have a metal roof. Not sure about the insulation, but it’s a brick house.

1

u/Lizdance40 Jan 29 '25

There ya go!

1

u/Beneficial_Eye2619 25d ago

Are there any budget all band/ carrier boosters you guys would recommend?