Signal boosters for small spaces usually have 1-2 room coverage (about 150-1,500 sq. ft.). They are the cheapest entry-level units and are perfect for basements, apartments, desktops, small workspaces, and single office, home office (SOHO).
Signal boosters for medium spaces usually have 1,000 to 5,000 sq. ft. coverage (the average around 2,500 sq. ft.). They are the most popular choice to boost cell phone signal in homes and small offices.
Signal boosters for large spaces usually have 2,000 to 7,500 sq. ft. coverage (the average around 5,500 sq. ft). They are the most powerful in terms of range and are popular choices for businesses, large offices, and remote, rural areas.
(multi-story buildings, large offices, warehouses)
Commercial and industrial cell phone signal boosters are enterprise solutions. For large buildings and areas such as multi-story buildings, large offices, warehouses, hospitals and schools. Sq. ft. coverage ranges from 25,000 sq. ft. to 50,000 sq. ft. Although, technically, there is no limit of coverage, because multiple cell phone boosters can be used for maximizing best cell phone coverage.
Signal boosters for car & truck are simple plug-and-play units. They come in two forms: cradle (to boost a single cellular phone) or wireless (to boost up to four wireless users. Boosted signal range covers about an arm’s length from the inside antenna (about 45-61 cm).
Signal boosters for RV & large vehicle are custom kits specialized for more inside coverage. When paired with a robust outside antenna and stronger inside antenna, boosted signal range covers all or most of the RV or large vehicle.
A signal booster takes a weak cell signal (3G and/or 4G LTE), amplifies it multiple times up to 32X, and then rebroadcasts the boosted signal to an area in need inside your home or car. They are compatible with all cell phone service providers and work on any phone that uses 2G, 3G, and 4G signals.
While signal boosters are capable of boosting 3G & 4G signals for cell phone companies, it cannot boost landline broadband Wi-Fi Internet from cable and satellite providers (e.g. Bell Aliant, Rogers, Shaw etc.). That product is usually called a Wi-Fi booster, wireless repeater, or range extender.
Cellular speeds of today have greatly improved to match or surpass that of landline Internet. Both are capable of streaming high-speed Internet, therefore, the term ‘Wi-Fi’ is almost synonymous with both technologies.
A cell phone signal booster also cannot create 3G & 4G signals. It can only amplify what signal you’re currently receiving. However, this is a trickier situation than it seems. Because with very weak signal, it could be too faint for your cellphone to pick up. But with a signal booster, it may be possible to get signal in a dead zone or no-service area.
In order to accurately see if you’re in a dead zone, it’s best to learn about decibel (dB) reading. To learn more about dB reading, click on the “How to Access Your dB Signal” box.
Also, a cell signal booster amplifies signal inside your home or car. It’s not designed to boost signal outside the building or vehicle, although some coverage may ‘spill over’ to the outside.
Signal Booster Kit Components
The Outside Antenna is the first major component of a signal booster. It pulls in the existing weak signal. In general, the higher the outside antenna, the better it can pull in signal. Installation is relatively easy as it can be installed on the roof or outside wall.
Outside Antennas For Homes & Buildings
For home cell phone signal boosters, there are two types of outside antennas: omni directional antenna and yagi antenna. Both are capable of pulling in your existing 3G & 4G signals.
Omni-Directional
Omni directional antennas are all-around performers. They pull signal in from every direction equally (360 degrees). This is great for locations with multiple cell towers and to boost multiple mobile carriers. So if you have moderate signal and want to support several network providers, this is a popular choice.
Directional (Yagi) Antenna
Yagi antennas (also known as uni directional antennas) are specialized performers. They pull signal in from only one direction (around 45 degrees). This allows the antenna to reach farther to the cell tower. This is great for remote, rural areas with only one cell tower and one provider carrier to be boosted. If you have very poor signal with some distance to the cell tower and want to boost just one network carrier, this is the recommended choice.
Outside Antennas for Cars & Vehicles
For cell phone boosters for cars, there are a variety of antennas and mounts. But in general, there is a standard magnet mount antenna for car, a more robust antenna for RV or large vehicles, and a weatherproof/ waterproof antenna for boats and yachts.
Car antennas are generally installed vertically and near the center of the car roof. They are omnidirectional antennas that pull in signal from all directions. So it’s important the antenna be free from all obstructions.
Magnet Mount Antenna
These magnet mount car antennas are standard on most kits and easy to install. They range from 10 to 30 centimetres, and have a strong magnet base to stay on the roof of any metal vehicle. These antennas are generally low profile for cosmetic reasons and pull in 3G & 4G signals.
RV/Trucker Antenna
These RV and large vehicle antennas are specialized antennas made for more power and more durability. They’re long, ranging from almost .6 to .9 metre. In general, they are sprint-mounted for shock absorption and feature radials for better antenna performance. These antennas are usually fixed installations and not magnetic, so they need to be paired with a mount. Most antennas pull in 3G & 4G, although some RV/ Trucker antennas only specialize in 3G for better voice and text data.
Marine Antenna
These marine antennas are specialized antennas made for more power and weathering the sea and ocean elements. They’re generally a little under .6 metre long. Made from stainless steel and fiberglass, they’re salt-resistant. These antennas are also fixed installations and need to be coupled with a mount. These antennas pull in 3G & 4G.
The Inside Antenna is the second major component of a signal booster. It takes the amplified signal and rebroadcasts or extends throughout the location in need. For cell phone boosters for home, there are two types of inside antennas: panel and dome antennas.
Inside Home & Building Antenna Types
For cell phone boosters for home, there are two types of inside antennas: panel and dome antennas. weBoost (Wilson Electronics) prefers using panel antennas whereas other manufacturers such as SureCall prefers dome antennas
When paired with a splitter, multiple inside antennas can be used with one amplifier. This a great option for multi-story coverage, long distance coverage, or boosting cell phone signals in certain parts of the building.
Panel Antenna
Panel antennas broadcast signal in one direction and are generally mounted on the wall, although they can be ceiling-mounted. They’re best suited for multiple floor coverage or long rectangular spaces.
Dome Antenna
Dome antennas broadcast signal in all directions and are generally mounted on the ceiling. Best suited for single floor coverage.
Inside Car & vehicle Antenna Types
For car cell phone boosters, there are generally two types of inside antennas: the low-profile inside antenna that radiates signal up to an arm’s length for car use and the panel antenna that covers a much bigger area for RVs, semi-trucks, and yachts.
Low-Profile Antenna
Low-Profile Antennas are perfect for cars and sedans, they can be mounted using the provided velcro attachment. These types of antennas come included with almost all vehicle signal boosters. They boost 3G and 4G, and generally broadcast signal up to 1.2 meters in diameter, so about an arm’s length away from the antenna is considered normal conditions.
Panel Antenna
Inside Panel Antennas for are much better suited for large vehicles that have a lot of room, for example RVs and Boats. These antennas are included in specialty kits that are specifically for those types of situations. Whereas the low-profile antenna broadcasts signal an arm’s length away from the antenna, an inside panel antenna covers much more ground and generally cover the length of the average RV and boat. They boost 3G & 4G.
Cables are used to connect the amplifier and the antennas. There are usually two sets of cables in each signal booster kit: one to connect the amplifier to the outside antenna and one to connect the amplifier to the inside antenna.
Although the idea of having longer cable to work with is great for installation flexibility, signal degrades with cable length, so it is important to work with the shortest and appropriate grade of cable to ensure minimal signal loss.
RG-6 Cable
The majority of cell boosters for home use RG-6 coax cable and F-connectors. These are the same common cables and connectors you find in every home (satellite & cable TV). Cable length tops out at 50 ft.
LMR 400 / Wilson 400 Cable
Commercial cell signal boosters for larger areas (10,000 sq ft+) use LMR-400, an ultra low loss cable. They are fitted with N-Connectors. They are much thicker than RG-6 and used for installations where longer cable is needed. Cable length tops out at 1000 ft.
RG-174 Cable
Car cell boosters generally use RG-174 coax cables and are fitted with SMA-connectors. Cable length tops out at 10 ft.
Understanding Signal Strength
Although the number of bars on your cell phone is generally a good way to judge signal strength, it’s also subjective across cell phone providers. So what might be 3 bars on Rogers just might be 1 bar on Telus despite having the exact same signal and exact same data speed.
That’s because there is no unified standard on how mobile phone companies represent bars and cell signal strength.
The best, most accurate, and technical way is to look at decibel (dB) reading. Cell phone signal strength is measure in decibels. -50 dB represents great signal. Full bars. -110 dB is virtually no signal. A no-service dead zone. This is true across all carriers and all phones.
What Causes a Weak Cell Phone Signal
Dropped calls. Poor call quality. Slow Internet. Low Bars. These are symptoms of weak cellular signal. There are 3 Major Reasons why this happens:
1. Distance from Cell Phone Tower
One biggest reasons of poor service is distance from the cell tower. The farther away you’re from the cell tower, the weaker the signal your cell phone receives and inversely the closer you are to your carrier's cell tower the better your cell signal is.
2 Outside Interference
Another troubling factor is outside interference. Cell signals are basically radio waves (the AM/FM kind) that cover great distances but are easily disrupted. They generally need a line of sight to the cell tower for effective transmissions. However, the following obstructions can easily affect your signal:
Trees
Hills
Mountains
Tall structures (buildings, billboards, other urban surroundings)
Weather (rain, thunderstorms, and snow).
3. Inside Interference
The last and probably most annoying problem is inside interference. Dense building material (thick concrete or brick), metal, glass, radiant barrier, and other conductive material or clutter (electrical or magnetic) will either weaken or block incoming signal.
So even you if have great outside signal and even if you are close to a cell tower, inside interference can still cause you have poor signal.
How to Access Your dB Signal
The number of bars on your phone?
It’s not exactly accurate, because the number of bars on your phone are SUBJECTIVE across all carriers.
Learn how to read your REAL cell phone signal strength by accessing dB signal on your iPhone with Field Test Mode.
Once you have access to dB reading, walk around the perimeter of your home. The closer the number gets to -50 dB, then you’ll know which areas of your home have the better reception.
Anything higher than a -110 dB means you’re technically in a dead zone. If your signal is teetering on the edge (-100 to -105 dB), then this means a cell phone signal booster can definitely improve your signal!
How dB Gain Affect Signal Boosting
The signal booster takes the signal pulled in from the outside antenna and amplifies the signal up to 32x. Amplifiers are rated by the amount of decibel gain (power) it can produce. Decibels are measured exponentially. For every +3 dB increase, this equals to double the power. This also means for every - 3 dB decrease, this equals to one half the power.
Please keep this in mind when comparing signal boosters. A + 3 dB gain is significant!
Cell phone signals are simply radio waves that operate on various frequencies:
3G normally operates at the 850 MHz and 1900 Mhz frequencies. Therefore, a “dual-band” amplifier will boost those two bands that make up 3G.
4G normally operates at the 700 Mhz or 1700/2100 Mhz (AWS) frequencies. Therefore, a “five-band” amplifier will boost all of 3G and 4G! Most cell phone boosters are compatible with all cell phone carriers and all phones on the five major frequencies listed above.
However, there are some signal boosters that are carrier-specific and some frequencies carriers use that cell signal boosters aren’t compatible with.
Please refer to the chart below to find out more about your cell phone provider frequencies in Canada and US.
3G
850/1900 MHz (CDMA)
4G LTE
700 MHz - Band 13
850 MHz - Band 5
1700/2100 MHz - Band 4
3G
850/1900 MHz (CDMA)
4G LTE
800 MHz - Band 26
900 MHz - Band 25
3G
850/1900 MHz (CDMA)
4G LTE
700 MHz - Band 12 & 17
850 MHz - Band 5
1700/2100 MHz - Band 4
1900 MHz - Band 2
3G
850/1900 MHz (CDMA)
4G LTE
700 MHz - Band 12
1700/2100 MHz - Band 4
3G
850/1900 MHz (CDMA)
4G LTE
800 MHz - Band 26
1900 MHz - Band 25
3G
700/2100 MHz (CDMA)
4G LTE
700 MHz - Band 12
1700/2100 MHz - Band 4
3G
850/1900 MHz (CDMA)
4G LTE
700 MHz - Band 17
1700/2100 MHz - Band 4
3G
850/1900 MHz (GSM)
4G LTE
700 MHz - Band 17
1700/2100 MHz - Band 4
3G
850/1900 MHz (CDMA)
4G LTE
1700/2100 MHz - Band 4
3G
850/1900 MHz (GSM)
4G LTE
700 MHz - Band 17
1700/2100 MHz - Band 4
3G
850/1900 MHz (CDMA)
4G LTE
1700/2100 MHz - Band 4
1900 MHz - Band 25
3G
1700/2100 MHz (GSM)
4G LTE
1700/2100 MHz (AWS)
Registering Your Signal Booster
It is recommended to register your cell phone signal booster with your wireless provider. Most carriers have already given blanket consent for use of signal boosters. However, as a courtesy and liability protection, registering your signal booster ensues that you are operating within the fair use rules.
For all other Carriers, we suggest contacting the Carrier directly, for assistance please email our friendly sales team and we'll do our best to help you out.
Best Practices
Certified By IC
First and foremost, please make sure that your cell phone signal booster is certified by the Industry Canada (all our boosters have passed certification and comply with RSS requirements). Uncertified cell phone signal boosters are not regulated, and may cause disruptions to your wireless operator network and may destroy equipment.
Signal & Coverage
Second, although each signal booster is categorized by coverage size in a typical situation, a more powerful booster may be needed in cases of extremely poor signal and challenging conditions. In cases of good to moderate signal, a cell booster may extend coverage to an ideal square footage or even more. In cases of poor to little signal, a cell booster will still pull in and amplify your 3G and/or 4G. However, coverage may be less than what is expected. So it’s important to contact a trained specialist who can give you realistic solutions and not just try to sell you a box.
Optimizing For Maximum Boost
Third, while installing a cell phone booster is relatively easy, optimizing for maximum signal boost may take some extra care. Again, it’s important to read instructions and contacting certified customer support to provide the best way to improve your cell phone reception.
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