Mobile phone repeaters

i've no experience of this type of 'active repeater' system for mobile coverage issues but i have had some luck with a 'passive repeater' system.

A passive system consists of a yagi (beam type) antenna designed for the cell band your mobile is using, connected via a short length of high quality low loss coax to an omni directional (vehicle type) cell phone antenna.
The yagi is pointed towards the cell base station and the reception of the cell network should be increased when your mobile is in close proximity to the omni antenna.

A passive system can be made for under £100.

If you only require voice calls, another option you could try is a mobile phone which has a dedicated antenna connector which you could connect a yagi antenna and point to the local cell base station to improve reception.
Have a look at GSM gateways for sale on ebay. This is another option you may want to consider and are a much cheaper option than an active system.

best of luck*
Pete
 
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Piers said:
I'm thinking of installing a mobile phone repeater on the boat to increase the local signal strength.

Something like this: http://mobilerepeater.co.uk/shop/index.php?cPath=23

Anyone any experience with this type of kit?

I am told they are legal. Is this true?
Click to expand...

I tried the exact kit you linked to - the £500 version as my boat isn't big enough to need 1000 sq m coverage :-)

I was initially hopeful as it arrives in one of those low volume aluminium finned cases that are nicely made and heavy, with loads of countersunk screws on the back and little LEDs at the bottom. Gives the impression of being engineered to last.

It has two sockets. One to attach an external aerial which you place outside and preferably high up. The box of tricks then picks up the signal and repeats it after boosting it to the other socket, to which you attach a 'flat panel' type internal aerial.

The cabling is fairly heavy duty co-ax, so the sort of thing that would need careful runs and clipping, it isn't lightweight stuff you can easily tuck into a corner.

I never did install it on the boat, here is why.

I live in a terraced house. Fairly thick walls but lots of floors, so thin and tall.

I put the external aerial upstairs, outside on a balcony. The balcony is the highest place I can get the aerial easily, 8 metres up, clear of surrounding buildings. Using the engineering code to get my iPhone to show dbs instead of bars I got a fairly consistent signal below -80db without the booster. That's pretty good and shows as 5 bars in the normal iPhone display. The carrier is the 3 network.

I then used the full length of the aerial cables down the stairs into the centre of the house.

When I stood near the internal aerial, the signal with the unit turned off fluctuated around -110db. Tha's the kind of loss you would expect.

When I turned the booster unit on the signal strength stayed exactly the same.

I had expected that the unit would be act as a repeater, whatever signal was available at the external aerial would be available at the internal aerial. I was hoping it would effectively ‘pipe’ the -80bd signal from the balcony into the centre of the house. Better still I hoped that if my iPhone could get a -80db signal on the balcony a large fixed aerial would get a stronger signal and then it would boost it and pipe it into the house, so that inside the house the iPhone got a signal better than -80db.

To be honest there was no discernible difference between the unit being turned on or off and I worked at it for some hours.

So I gave up, returned it and got my money back, which they were OK with.

I did try their support team, who replied to emails, but basically told me the unit was working as expected, so go ahead and install it on the boat.

I never did get an answer to the simple question why I wasn't getting any improvement in the house.

I remain confused - the unit seemed well engineered, the company were professional (it arrived when they said, they answered support emails and they returned my money) but as far as I could tell it was an empty box with a glowing light.

Maybe other people have more luck with that kit, but it didn't work for me.
 
Piers said:
I'm thinking of installing a mobile phone repeater on the boat to increase the local signal strength.

Something like this: http://mobilerepeater.co.uk/shop/index.php?cPath=23

Anyone any experience with this type of kit?

I am told they are legal. Is this true?
Click to expand...

illegal in the uk, and probably in most countries. simple enough to check with ofcom if there was any doubt, surely?

from http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/enforcement/spectrum-enforcement/jammers/

Cellular enhancers / boosters / repeaters
In the UK the use of any radio transmitting device is required to be either licensed or specifically exempted from licensing under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006 (WT Act 2006). For mobile telephones, the use of the spectrum by the network operators is licensed to cover the use of transmitters and repeaters, while user devices (i.e. handsets) are covered by a general exemption.
Repeater devices transmit or re-transmit in the cellular frequency bands. Only the mobile network operators are licensed to use equipment that transmits in these bands. Installation or use of repeater devices by anyone without a licence is a criminal offence under Section 8 of the WT Act 2006. Any person found guilty of installing or using such devices without a licence would be liable on conviction to a fine of up to £5000 and/or up to 51 weeks’ imprisonment (Six months in Scotland and Northern Ireland)
Anyone wishing to improve coverage in a particular area is advised to contact their network provider.
Click to expand...
 
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Not quite what you want as it requires a Broadband internet connection for the onward connection.

However these work really well and, although I got mine from Ebay, I understand that if you complain about signal levels on the more expensive tariffs Vodafone have been known to send one out for free.


http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/mobile-accessories/vodafone-sure-signal

Martin
 
We bought the MR Dual Band Pro from that website a few months ago for our holiday home in Ibiza. I was very sceptical at first as we only ever get one bar of signal, 2 if we are lucky but more often than not we get no signal.

I installed it a few weeks ago and it works brilliantly as soon as I turned it on we had full bars consistently for the remainder of the time we were there. I'm not sure how the boat ones would work but with mine you needed to have line of sight of the mast, which I actually couldn't see I just pointed it in the general direction, the cables mustn't be coiled or kinked either so select the amount of cable you need with care.
 
matt13 said:
We bought the MR Dual Band Pro from that website a few months ago for our holiday home in Ibiza. I was very sceptical at first as we only ever get one bar of signal, 2 if we are lucky but more often than not we get no signal.

I installed it a few weeks ago and it works brilliantly as soon as I turned it on we had full bars consistently for the remainder of the time we were there. I'm not sure how the boat ones would work but with mine you needed to have line of sight of the mast, which I actually couldn't see I just pointed it in the general direction, the cables mustn't be coiled or kinked either so select the amount of cable you need with care.
Click to expand...

That sounds like a much better experience than I had. It may b down to the directional aerial. The one that arrived with the boat kit was omni-directional.
 
yesod said:
illegal in the uk, and probably in most countries. simple enough to check with ofcom if there was any doubt, surely?

from http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/enforcement/spectrum-enforcement/jammers/
Click to expand...

OK - it looks like it's one of those "legal to sell, legal to own, but illegal to use" products.

The OFCOM link yesod gave states,

"Cellular enhancers / boosters / repeaters

In the UK the use of any radio transmitting device is required to be either licensed or specifically exempted from licensing under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006 (WT Act 2006). For mobile telephones, the use of the spectrum by the network operators is licensed to cover the use of transmitters and repeaters, while user devices (i.e. handsets) are covered by a general exemption.

Repeater devices transmit or re-transmit in the cellular frequency bands. Only the mobile network operators are licensed to use equipment that transmits in these bands. Installation or use of repeater devices by anyone without a licence is a criminal offence under Section 8 of the WT Act 2006. Any person found guilty of installing or using such devices without a licence would be liable on conviction to a fine of up to £5000 and/or up to 51 weeks’ imprisonment (Six months in Scotland and Northern Ireland)

Anyone wishing to improve coverage in a particular area is advised to contact their network provider."

I've asked the seller again about the legality. Their reply should be interesting. BTW, I won't be fitting one.
 
intersting above-

i have one installed in the house and the receiver is mounted high up on our chimney for all to see - been there for around 3 years - works well though.
 
I asked "mobilerepeater" the following qn:

Hi,

Another question. You answered my email re the legality as "100% legal", but I've found this comment on the OFCOM website.

Cellular enhancers / boosters / repeaters

In the UK the use of any radio transmitting device is required to be either licensed or specifically exempted from licensing under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006 (WT Act 2006). For mobile telephones, the use of the spectrum by the network operators is licensed to cover the use of transmitters and repeaters, while user devices (i.e. handsets) are covered by a general exemption.

Repeater devices transmit or re-transmit in the cellular frequency bands. Only the mobile network operators are licensed to use equipment that transmits in these bands. Installation or use of repeater devices by anyone without a licence is a criminal offence under Section 8 of the WT Act 2006. Any person found guilty of installing or using such devices without a licence would be liable on conviction to a fine of up to £5000 and/or up to 51 weeks’ imprisonment (Six months in Scotland and Northern Ireland)

Anyone wishing to improve coverage in a particular area is advised to contact their network provider."

So, are they really legal to use?

Piers

Their reply was:

"Hello Piers, Yes, all of our solutions are legal to use as they have the built-in interference protection"

...to which I've asked if they have an Ofcom statement that backs this claim up. Let's see what they say.
 
kcrane, I had the same experience as you. We have a very marginal Vodafone signal in our house and I bought a repeater from this company http://www.cellantenna.co.uk/index.php?id=50 and had the aerial professionally installed on the roof. Even though we fiddled about for ages trying to align the aerial to optimise the signal strength, the unit never worked well enough to allow consistent phone useage. In our case, you would get max no of bars on the phone but a few secs later it faded to zero. V disappointing and complete waste of money.
FWIW we now have a Vodafone Sure Signal which works through the internet and is excellent but I'm not sure how that would work on a boat
 
Deleted User said:
FWIW we now have a Vodafone Sure Signal which works through the internet and is excellent but I'm not sure how that would work on a boat
Click to expand...

it won't (without lots of hacking). these devices use other means to ensure they're in the geographic area they are supposed to be in. typically this means they either look for another mobile phone network with the correct country code, or use gps. this is to ensure they are not inadvertantly using uk frequencies in france (for example). it obviously has the side effect that stops you taking one to your holiday home abroad (or boat) and saving the cost of roamed calls.
 
Deleted User said:
kcrane, I had the same experience as you. We have a very marginal Vodafone signal in our house and I bought a repeater from this company http://www.cellantenna.co.uk/index.php?id=50 and had the aerial professionally installed on the roof. Even though we fiddled about for ages trying to align the aerial to optimise the signal strength, the unit never worked well enough to allow consistent phone useage. In our case, you would get max no of bars on the phone but a few secs later it faded to zero. V disappointing and complete waste of money.
FWIW we now have a Vodafone Sure Signal which works through the internet and is excellent but I'm not sure how that would work on a boat
Click to expand...

Interesting, glad it wasn't just me as I was beginning to think I screwed something up while trying it.

As far as I know the Vodafone box does the opposite of what I want. I'm trying to get a good phone signal from a mast so I can use it for the in-boat internet. The Vodafone box seems to assume you already have internet and uses it to give you a phone signal.
 
Piers said:
I asked "mobilerepeater" the following qn:


Anyone wishing to improve coverage in a particular area is advised to contact their network provider."

So, are they really legal to use?

Piers

Their reply was:

"Hello Piers, Yes, all of our solutions are legal to use as they have the built-in interference protection"

...to which I've asked if they have an Ofcom statement that backs this claim up. Let's see what they say.
Click to expand...

AH, now that kind of reply fits with what I got when I asked about installation. I asked a carefully worded question to make sure there was no misunderstanding (as you have done above) and I didn't get a response to the question, just a generic "Yes, it seems to be working as it was designed to do."
 
Piers said:
I asked "mobilerepeater" the following qn:

Hi,

Another question. You answered my email re the legality as "100% legal", but I've found this comment on the OFCOM website....

So, are they really legal to use?

Piers

Mobile Reprater's reply was:

"Hello Piers, Yes, all of our solutions are legal to use as they have the built-in interference protection"

...to which I've asked if they have an Ofcom statement that backs this claim up. Let's see what they say.
Click to expand...

Guess what? Silence. Total silence....Nuff said.
 
Mobile Repeaters are absolutely useful in boosting weak signals, you better check with the legal authorities regarding the permissions to use repeaters in your region.
 
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