Cell phone booster recommendations?

[tessellated]

Originally Posted by scott.semone

I see lots of people looking for a solution in terms of a cellular signal booster or repeater in order to get service while out camping in some remote parts of the United States. I would highly discourage everyone from purchasing a cell booster; and perhaps consider a 4G LTE Vehicle Router. Cell Signal Boosters have lots of issues if the proper isolation from donor antenna (outside antenna), and the serving antenna (inside antenna) aren't met. Ever been to a wedding or conference, where the guest speaker creates feedback when speaking into the microphone and you hear that loud squealling sound..??? That's feedback, and the same thing happen on the RF link if the antennas don't have enough isolation between the donor and serving antennas; this historically caused interference within the cellular networks. Today's boosters are to be smarter and essentially shut down the gain, which basically doesn't provide any benefit to you... We have a 2017 AIRSTREAM Interstate Grand Tour, and I noticed that the equipped DVD player had a similar smart menu as our smart TV that we use in our home, which had icons to connect and stream NetFlix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc... However it needed to be connected into a physical network adapter and couldn't be connected via Wi-Fi. I installed a Sierra Wireless MP70 which solved a whole bunch of problems that we experienced when we are traveling out on the road.

The MP70 Vehicle Router has discrete antenna connections for cellular, GPS and Wi-Fi; any time that you can install an antenna on the roof of your vehicle or RV, you are highly improving the performance of receiving a cellular signal from any of the multiple bands used by the US wireless carriers, as well as even different wireless carriers (I'm a VzW preferred, with AT&T as my back-up SIM). The metal roof acts as a ground plane to the antenna, which provides overall antenna efficiencies which amounts to better signal quality to both the receiver and transmitter, in this case - the Sierra Wireless MP70 which has an overall positive throughput experience. The MP70 offeres two physical cellular antennas for Receive Diversity or even perhaps 2x2 MIMO for 4G LTE performance.

The MP70 uses the 4G LTE cellular networks as the backhaul network connection; it can be loaded with two SIM cards, I use VzW and AT&T and since my antennas are drilled into my roof using a small multi-band antenna (PCTel) which covers the 700MHz LTE bands, 850MHz Cellular spectrum, the PCS 1.9GHz and 2.2GHz AWS bands which Verizon Wireless has been building out their 4G LTE service on. Inside our AIRSTREAM, I have a physical network cable between the MP70 and the Smart Samsung DVD player which allows us to stream Hulu, Netflix and or Prime movies and TV programs; in addition, the MP70 has three Wi-Fi antenna connectors which offer 3x3 MIMO Wi-Fi. You can setup your own SSD and network security psswd and such in order to use Wi-Fi and prevent users from connecting and using your data plan and or lowering your throughput experience.

The GPS antenna can also be used to provide vehicle location if you rent out your vehicle on OUTDOORSY.

I know a wrote a lot, but wanted to offer up my own experience and solution that we have used very successfully all over the country. VzW has the same 700MHz Band-13 LTE channel throughout the entire United States, including AK; you could even install two high gain antennas specifically tuned for the 700MHz band and always have a high probability of getting service. I don't see throughput congestion as a problem while out at your favorite National Park. I attached a specification sheet for the MP70; however there are lots of similar in vehicle routers out there which would all out perform a cellular signal booster any day of the week, and twice on Sunday...

Scott, I found your post very helpful. I am strongly considering a similar set up to yours. Could you help me better understand what you did for the antenna(s) on your roof? I suspect that we would rarely if ever need a cell booster provided I do a good job with the antenna set up.

We have a 2017 22' Sport.

[NickA]

Tend to agree on getting a good cell receiver rather than a booster. Not had much luck with the latter, but we bought this and it's been great - able to work remotely with video calls/VPNs etc with no issue in most areas...
https://www.mobilemusthave.com/Ultim...rk_p_1213.html

Mobile must have has a bunch of other bundles too...
https://www.mobilemusthave.com/Mobil...dles_c_44.html

The main issue is that anything like this needs its own sim, and those plans can be expensive, but there are a variety out there - these guys always have good recommendations...
https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/

In terms of the antenna, we installed the 7-in-1 (ie 4 cell antennas, 2 wifi and one GPS) mobile mark on top of our rear AC unit. We then leave one wifi antenna on one of the inside "bunny ears" and use one of the two on the roof. The roof one has the metal roof in between it and inside (unlike on a non Airstream RV) so isnt much use inside, but is great outside. The combination of one of each works great!

We also bought one of these, which we use on a pole in place of the roof antenna when there's not quite enough signal, but we rarely have to
https://www.mobilemusthave.com/XPOL-...na_p_1280.html

Here's a roof view and a view from the side where you can see it sticking up just higher than everything else