How to Choose a Cell Phone Booster for Home Use: The Ultimate Guide

Photo by Nijwam Swargiary

You might think that having a bad cell signal in your place would be something long lost to technological history. Unfortunately, you’d be surprised at how common it is to have dead spots in your home.

From dropped calls and failed downloads to incoming calls going straight to your voicemail, if all of those warning signs are becoming a regular occurrence, then it’s time to get a solid cell phone booster for your home.

If you don’t know your bandwidth from your bandaid, then this guide is for you. Keep on reading for a full breakdown of what’s a cell phone signal booster and how to pick the right one for your home.

What Is a Cell Phone Booster?

It does exactly what it sounds like. In the simplest of terms, a cell phone booster is a handy wireless gadget that intensifies the phone signal that originates outside of your home. The probable reason behind the terribleness of your cell signal is usually the building materials of your place.

Wood, concrete, or plaster walls. All of these materials can wreak havoc on your cell phone signal. In addition, if you’re in a mountainous area, that can also be a disadvantage.

How to Pick the Right Cell Phone Booster for Your Home

As with any technological gadget on the market, not all cell phone signal boosters are great. You’ll need to check out specific criteria to choose the best one for your home in terms of quality and performance.

These will be of great help when you’re on the lookout for the best mobile signal repeater as well.

Needed Coverage Area

The first order of business should always be the area you want the cell phone signal booster to cover.

Start by figuring out whether your entire place has a horrific cell phone signal performance, or there are specific areas that are complete dead spots and the rest of the house is good to go. For instance, cell phone signals tend to be weaker in specific areas like basements and energy-efficient windows.

After you have a coverage area in mind, check out the cell phone boosters that are designed for a single room or an entire house.

You’ll find that the cell phone boosters have a “max gain” number. The higher this number goes, the wider the range of coverage you’ll get.

Therefore, if you’re focusing on smaller coverage areas, you can find ones that over the range of a desk. But, if you’re looking for full house coverage, then grab a cell phone signal booster with a max gain of 72 dB and a range of around 6,000 square feet.

Outside Signal Strength

The next step, after identifying your coverage range, is figuring out the strength of the outside signal. You can do so by taking a nice walk around your place, as well as your roof (if you have roof access).

Once you’ve found the spot with the strongest signal, this is where you’ll install the booster’s outside antenna.

Antenna Type

There is a variety of antenna types on the market for you to check out. The trick about these antennas is that they’ll need permanent installation. So you’ll have to pick the right antenna for your place the first time around.

Yet, picking the right type of antenna isn’t rocket science. You’ll find that an omnidirectional antenna is great for urban and suburban areas. The traditional case here is a strong outside signal with a terribly weak (or nonexistent) signal indoors. This type of antenna works on pumping the strong signal that’s available outside to your indoors.

Furthermore, there is the directional antenna, which can be fantastic for rural areas with weak signals due to huge distances between your home and a cell tower.

This type of antenna will have much higher forward gain than the omnidirectional antenna. The strongest directional antennas on the market can have a forward gain of 14dBi.

Cable Length

For home cell phone boosters, there are two main coax cables that you’ll have to deal with. The longer one will connect the antenna to the signal booster, while the shorter one will connect the signal booster to the inside antenna.

In order to get the best performance (and convenience), you’ll want to keep the length of the outside cable as short as possible. As it were, your signal strength moving through the cable it’ll drop by up to 3.9 dB for every 100 feet of cable.

Number Of Users

This criterion is all about the number of people who’ll be using (or have devices that will be using) the cell phone signal booster.

For instance, if you’re solo-traveling in an 18 wheeler, then a cradled signal booster will have you covered. On the other hand, if you’re aiming to use your cell phone signal booster for a household of eight people, then getting a multi-user cell phone signal booster will prevent a lot of heartache down the line.

Multi-Bandwidth and Channels

Whether you like it or not, your living space will have a plethora of wireless devices all in use at the same time.

The issue here is these gadgets all like to compete for bandwidth. Therefore, the best way to stop them from sabotaging each other (and you) is getting a multi-bandwidth cell phone signal booster. Make sure it has the ability to switch frequencies, so it can minimize interferences with other electronic gadgets.

Product Support

Same as any technological gadget on the market, unless you’re a tech person yourself and a fan of DIY, go for a cell phone signal booster with good manufacturer support on hand.

Before you make your final selection, check out the warranties and go for the cell phone booster with at least a two-year warranty. In addition, you can also pick one with a money-back guarantee for extra safety.

Furthermore, check out whether the manufacturer has tech support on call, so if you’re facing trouble with installing the booster, you can have someone help you out through live chat or even on the phone.

Ready to Get Your Cell Phone Signal Booster?

You don’t have to deal with terrible cell phone signal issues forever, not if you have the right cell phone signal booster on hand.

With the full guide on how to choose the right cell phone booster for your home, you can delve into the world of cell phone signal boosters knowing that you’ll be making the perfect choice with these criteria in mind.

However, there so much more to learn about tech. From the best tips and tricks on network security and VPNs to IT job advice, make sure to check out our blog for all your tech needs.

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