The less distance the signal has to travel, the stronger the signal. Cellular runs through coaxial cable, and will bleed through the cable. Some older hotspot devices have dual antenna ports as well. Most cellular router devices will have two antenna ports for this purpose. An omni-directional allows you to “set it and forget it”, but does not give a stronger signal than directional. The disadvantage of a directional antenna is that you have to physically turn the antenna towards the direction of the signal. Meanwhile, an omni-directional is designed to capture signal from any direction. A directional antenna has be to pointed towards a cellular tower to capture the most signal. Directional antennas are better than omni-directional.Make sure the metal portion of the antenna itself is grounded to your vehicle (good), or grounded into the Earth (better). Grounding the antenna improves performance.This allows your router or hotspot to select the strongest band to tune into. “Multiple in, Multiple out” antennas are designed to capture all of the frequency bands that cellular signal broadcasts over. Antennas larger in physical size do a better job of capturing more signal. When driving, they retract them and secure them. They have them mounted on telescoping poles attached to the side of their rig. We’ve seen some boondockers with antennas that reach 30 to 50 feet into the sky. Will I Get a Better Signal If I Don’t Use a Booster? If you cut out the booster and just go with a really good antenna, you can do that. You’d rather just “set it and forget it”. However, testing your cell signal along with your upload and download speeds gets to be a chore each time you change campsites. Ideally, in those areas, you should turn off your booster. So, if you’re in an area where cellular signal is strong, then boosting that signal only increases the surrounding noise. They interfere with the transmission of data packets, and often cause your cellphone to request the same packet be sent over and over until it finally receives a clean transmission. There is static noise within the very-high frequency bands that cellular signals broadcast through. This is because a cellular booster not only boosts cell signal, it also boosts the noise. But if you’re camped with good to strong cell signal, a booster will actually make your upload and download speeds get worse. If you’re camped in an area with fair to average signal, it may help some or not at all. Why a Cellular Booster Fails in Fair to Good Signal AreasĪ cellular booster is really only advantageous in areas with weak signal. It seemed to me that running hot for such long periods of time caused it to lose its ability to boost signal. I had our boosting unit plugged into a 12 volt port in our trailer so that it could stay running at all times. And it was not just that campsite either, we found that over time, the WeBoost had lost its ability to boost a signal. 18 months later, at the same campsite, we ended up getting only 5 decibels of gain. Whereas when it was brand new, we could see a gain of about 30 decibels at a particular campsite. After 18 months of use, we found that it wasn’t boosting very well. We bought a WeBoost Drive X RV ( see it on Amazon). Because we lived full time in our trailer, and spent 80 to 90% of that time boondocking, we used it every day, and just left it running 24/7. In our years of boondocking across the United States, we’ve found that cellular boosters have a life span that could be shorter or longer depending on how often you use them. To sum it all up, we’re not fans of boosters. cellular antenna? Cellular antenna on the back of this trailer Cellular Booster Vs. So which is better, a cellular booster vs. Otherwise, if you’re camped in an area with fair to good cell signal, you may find that your upload and download speeds get worse with a booster. A cellular booster can be better in some situations than just using a cellular antenna alone, particularly in places with weak cell signal.
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