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countrygirl
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# Posted: 17 Sep 2013 12:38pm
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Its been a hard summer for us. On August 10, this summer while at the cabin our 12 year old daughter was not well. She would not get up in the morning, at 11am when she final got out of bed and got dressed she would not eat, and it look like she was having trouble breathing! She said she felt ok, but my mom senses said something is not right. Got in the car drove 45min to the closed hospital. We didn't even wait in the waiting room when we got there. Her heart rate was 150 beats min. They check her glucose next 37! Off to children's hospital. Even before the we got to children's I know what was wrong. She must have Type 1 Diabetes! Its only been a month now dealing with this life threatening autoimmune disease. She must check glucose 8-15 day, and will have a minimum of 4 insulin injections a day for life. Our world at home has been flipped up side down.
Our Cabin if off grid, and that scares me now. We have no phone line, our cells can stream data, and text, but calls drop out. Have any out there tried phone Signal Booster.
http://www.costco.ca/.product.100007000.html?cm_sp=RichRelevance-_-categorypageHorizo ntalTop-_-PopularProductsInCategory&cm_vc=categorypageHorizontalTop|PopularProductsIn Category
Do they work? and if so which brand?
Our cabin is half a mile for the road and putting a line in will be costly and would take time.
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GomerPile
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# Posted: 17 Sep 2013 01:08pm
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Yes the Wilson Electronics units work very well (SOHO model). I'm in an impossible location and was able to get voice with a directional antenna, and data on a good day. With the car adapter you can run them on a car battery....draw is about 1/2 amp.
little pricey.
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countrygirl
Member
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# Posted: 17 Sep 2013 02:14pm
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thank you GomerPile. Nice to know how many amps it draws. Ill have to pick one up. thanks again.
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toyota_mdt_tech
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# Posted: 17 Sep 2013 02:49pm
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Country girl, my youngest daughter went through the same deal. She was 12 yrs old, same deal, blood sugar real low, took her to the hospital. She got pretty used to the injections and it is just a daily routine for her today. She is over 30 now. Its hard at first to adjust, but it is manageable anyway. Sorry to hear about that.
I have no expereicne on the boosters, but Tom Chum does if he is still in here. It can be a bit spendy from soem systems,. I was looking at, but in your case, good investment. I am fortunate to have 5 bars of cell service up at my elevation.
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Mann
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# Posted: 17 Sep 2013 03:05pm
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We went with the Wilson SOHO and went from no service to 3-4 bars and 4G.
Actually, bought another for home use, they work very well for us.
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razmichael
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# Posted: 17 Sep 2013 04:29pm - Edited by: razmichael
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Sorry to hear about your situation.
We wanted cell coverage for emergency situations so I am another satisfied Wison user. I have an external yagi directional antenna pointed at a tower about 18 km away. My model is the 6 volt one - it has a car adapter so I just connect this directly to my 12V circuits and go from 0-1 bars to 3-4 bars. Keep in mind that the internal antenna does not really give you huge coverage. We only turn ours on when we want to use it. The whole setup can get expensive and I notices that verynCostco was selling another brand - don't know how well it works. It can be useful to find out what frequency brand your best tower is using and buy a directional antenna designed for that frequency. Anything that covers multiple ranges is a compromise but it does depend how good a signal you have. There are instructions on the WIlson site how to put various phones into test modes but then it is still tricky to match the band codes to the actual frequency bands. This was discussed a while back in another thread that you could search for
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mjmmessina
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# Posted: 18 Sep 2013 08:03am
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razmichael, I have asimilar situation at my cabin. I'm about 7 miles away from ther nearest cell tower. I can get one bar if I walk about 200 yds to the top of my ridge but don't get any signal at my cabin on the hillside. I was thinking about hooking up a yagi. What process did you have to go through in order to get a signal? How high does the antanae need to be?
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razmichael
Member
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# Posted: 18 Sep 2013 08:28am
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Hi mjmmesina,
Really hard to answer your question as every situation is so different. I had a couple of spots around the cabin where I could get a very weak signal (not usable but enough to know that it was possible). I did some research and found two towers in my area (one about 7 kms away and one about 17). I did a path profile using a tool I found that worked with google earth (sorry - don't remember which one) and it actually looked like the far tower was my best bet. The booster I use is the SOHO 60 SOHO 60. Initially I used a wide band antenna Wide band primarily because I had one from a previous project. With this, at ground level, I was able to boost the signal enough to make it usable. Once I confirmed the frequency band I purchased the yagi yagi and mounted it at the roof line of the cabin. Handy to have a metal roof as this helps to isolate the interior antenna from the exterior to avoid feedback.
In your case all I can say is that the higher the antenna the better. You can run good quality antenna cable a way from the cabin but this causes a signal loss so it is a balancing act. Even doing the path profile would not really give you a definitive answer. If you have a cell phone with an external antenna connection this allows you test out an antenna without the booster but these are few and far between now.
I tended to purchase my components from multiple sites as the price would vary greatly from different sources. I do not know what wilson or the other manufacturers offer in a return policy - they may allow you to try and return if not successful. This might be the advantage of a system from a place like Costco. costco.ca is offering two or three wilson systems and a number of uniden boosters (they didn't have any when I was searching for mine).
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bobrok
Member
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# Posted: 18 Sep 2013 08:56am
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@razmichael: are you using a booster and if so what is the power consumption. I'd love a setup like this, and I do have a metal roof and already have a mast for my tv antenna. I'm off grid with a solar panel/battery storage setup and I'm worried that if I leave the booster on all the time it would be a constant drain on the batteries. What is your experience?
Thanks
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razmichael
Member
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# Posted: 18 Sep 2013 09:14am
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Wilson SOHO 60. Selected because it is 6VDC and has a car adapter so plugs right into my 12VDC system. It is spec'd to use up to 3amps at 6 volts. It is dual band so I can turn the unneeded band down so I see about .8 to 1 amp on the 12V side in actual use so similar to 1 and a half of my lights left on. This is why I only turn it on when we need it and I have a big lighted button to make it obvious. Pictures show the wiring (earlier on - lot neater now and closed in) and the yagi on the outside.
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davey25
Member
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# Posted: 18 Sep 2013 09:28am
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I have a wilson portable unit, went from having no bars to about three..it works almost all the time, sometimes it dosnt though maybe because of weather and what not, your phone is suppose to work up to 12 inches away from the internal antenna but this is not true, your phone has to be basically right on top of internal antenna, and it seems to be fairly hard on the batteries, which is why i only plug it in when needed..friends also have a larger wilson unit and experience same problems with internal antenna..having to be so close to it...but its better than no phone at all ..my data is sporadic with it...good luck
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countrygirl
Member
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# Posted: 18 Sep 2013 12:06pm
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Good to know. I'll pick one up before I head back out to the cabin. Thanks everyone of all the great feed back.
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hueyjazz
Member
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# Posted: 18 Sep 2013 12:31pm
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I would research what is the closest cell tower that is for your phone provider. Ten miles is a huge distance for a cell. You need to have some signal to amplify.
The bars on a phone are a horrible way to guage signal strength. On I-phones you can place you phone into field test mode and produce a numerical number. Google how to do this but it is pretty simple.
I have the zBoost YX545 w/ YX039 dual band directional antenna.
It works great. I went from sometimes being able to get a text to being able to get data.
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redbeard
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# Posted: 3 Oct 2013 09:31pm - Edited by: redbeard
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I work for Hughesnet and we offer phone/internet service..its through a satellite. also cell phone mini towers will work via VoIP through are modems, Our service works nationwide as long as you have clear southern'ish sky. If you want to pm or email me, let me know I can tell you more about it and probably get you in touch with the local dealer. Or just do a google search for hughesnet, you want the gen4 if its avalible where you live and just tell them you would also like a mta phone service as well, its about $60 a month for internet and phone, free install, maybe free equipment, depends on dealer. Good luck!
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countrygirl
Member
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# Posted: 4 Oct 2013 10:25am
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Just put in the cell phone booster. I have 4 bars and can call out, with no problems
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Kudzu
Member
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# Posted: 4 Oct 2013 10:50am
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A tower was constructed approximately five miles away and I have a new Iphone. My service has greatly improved. I used to have to drive off the property for about a half mile to get service, now I can get it sitting on the front porch. Don't use it much, but it is nice knowing I have service if I need it.
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razmichael
Member
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# Posted: 4 Oct 2013 11:15am
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Quoting: countrygirl Just put in the cell phone booster. I have 4 bars and can call out, with no problems
Glad it works well! which model booster and type of antenna?
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