In hopes of finding less crowded parks we've been going to more remote ones. And there lies the issue. Cell Signal. Are affordable cell boosters effective? Key word, affordable. We are not full timers, but try to head out 4 - 5 times a year for 2 - 4 weeks at a time. And which if any would you recomment? We generally run ATT, if that matters.
I've had better luck overall with an aimable dual MIMO antenna set that cost about $150. The MIMO set has equaled or bettered my previous $600 booster. The photo shows the set installed above our batwing TV antenna.
just curious, how much improvement do you get on your cell service? does it go from 4G to 5G? Increase in bars of signal strength? do you get service in areas most people dont?
The improvement varies not surprisingly depending on the location, the distance to the towers, and other interference factors. We haven't upgraded to 5G yet, so I can't address that part. We have gotten streaming strength service in some campgrounds where folks were regularly walking around holding their phones in the air in the classic "Is there a signal?" mode. I have no idea whether they were using the same carrier that we were or not. We use both AT&T and Verizon (Visible). In most locations we get significantly better signals than we get directly on our phones, and in a few locations have gotten usable signals via the MIMO set where we saw no bars on our phones. Fortunately, our phone's WiFi calling feature has worked well though, so we were not completely out of touch. Since we're using the MIMO antenna set with a MiFi/hotspot, and bars are not a good measure of signal strength, comparing them from one device to another is not very useful. Signal strength measurements like the RSRP and RSRQ are much more accurate and universal across devices.
The best cell boosters use an outside antenna which feeds an amplifier which feeds an indoor antenna which is pretty unobtrusive. The outdoor and indoor antennas should be separated by as much space as possible and on different horizontal planes. The outside antenna is mounted on an extending 4' mast along with our WiFi antenna. We use a Hiboost system and it turns 1-2 bars into 5 on our phones and allows streaming internet with my phone being used as a hot spot. The Hiboost system amplifies four telephone bands and is supposed to also work with 5G but we have 5G phones. Many folks use a Weboost system which is essentially the same configuration. We purchased our Hiboost system on Amazon. Outside Cell & Wifi antennas
