And thanks to whomever mentioned “Rick’s Tech Tips Newsletter” - I came across this suggestion there…and did also find this topic on SF but back in 2014…no answer in that thread
I have house with thick stone walls, so signal is often weak in house, and sometimes I get none at all. I can use wifi calling, but I’d actually like to have a good signal in the house. One of my neighbors can’t ever get a signal so he has to step outside…when it’s raining not so much fun! So -
I found a " Répéteur de réseau Mobile" (not a wifi booster/répéteur) on amazon for E300…the question is has anyone used one of these répéteurs and if so, did it work, was it worth the money, know of any cheaper etc.?
=================================================== Femtocells are small router-sized boxes that connect to your cell carrier’s network through your high speed modem/router. They radiate a strong cell signal throughout your home, and in some cases even out into your yard.
There’s a big difference between a “ Répéteur de réseau Mobile"” and a femtocell.
TL:DR version : ping your network provider and get a femtocell from them. It’ll cost you way less and provide a decent service.
Long “I’m a very dull former cellular telecoms engineer…” version:
Femtocells are usually supplied by mobile network operators as they form a part of their cellular network. They’re basically a very short range / low capacity version of the cell sites you see dotted all over the place, but they connect to the operator’s network control system over the public internet instead over via private microwave links and/or fibre optics.
Don’t expect them to provide much in the way of exterior coverage as their output power is actually lower than your mobile phone due to SAR regulations and interference concerns.
A “Répéteur de réseau Mobile" is very much like a WiFi extender in that it takes a weak external cellular signal, amplifies it and rebroadcasts it at a useable service level inside a building. The problem is that artificially extending the coverage of a cell site in this manner can cause problems as the cell site will be receiving skewed RF pathloss data as the phone will be reporting the data for the repeated cell and not the actual cell. The main issue is that such the service indication on your phone is that of a fixed beacon/pilot channel that acts as the reference for all the measurements and information that all phones report to the network and it is zero guarantee that the cell site has any call related resources available. This is highly likely the further out from a rural cell you are.
Thanks all…another case of “if it seems too good to be true…” Caution comes with old age…I once bought a little box that you plug in to an electric outlet and it “uses the electric wiring of your house” as a tv antenna! Seemed reasonable to me at the time!
