Jump to content

No Voice or Data when Roaming with Amplifier

Andrew Revering
 Share

Recommended Posts

Andrew Revering Member Level: 1x Advanced

Andrew Revering

Posted
Posted

This one has stumped me and I'm hoping someone can shed light on this...

 

I have Sprint as my provider, and I'm out in a no-coverage area north of Lake Superior in Minnesota.

 

I purchased a 20db gain Yagi antenna, and pointed it at the nearest tower, which is 16 miles away on the other side of a high bluff.

 

The antenna is connected to a Wilson (WeBoost) amplifier

Amplifier showing all green as it's at max power and working properly.

 

I am getting a signal! It's a middle of the road "2-3 bar" -87 dBm signal on both my Android HTC 10 and my wife's iPhone 6S Plus

 

Signal Check Pro says it's the Verizon tower, which makes sense as I'm pointing it at the 850 mhz Verizon tower.

 

The problem is that calls do not work. No tones or audio when dialing and eventually it just disconnects, and no data connection available.

 

I tried a Verizon MiFi and had similar results. It had a signal but couldn't connect.

 

What's the problem? I've put in about $800 into this setup, and I don't want to give up on getting data and switching to Satellite if I'm very close to getting a connection!

 

Thanks in advance for your ideas/explanations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Flompholph Member Level: 4G WiMax

Flompholph

Posted
Posted

Did your phone have signal where your antenna is located? 16 miles is not unheard of for 3g but very weak. The reason I ask is because weboost needs something to boost. It may be garbage in garbage out. It may just be a factor of you finding that one spot that works on your property where it works and placing the antenna there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Andrew Revering Member Level: 1x Advanced

Andrew Revering

Posted
  • Author
Posted

There isn't a signal without the antenna & amp. With the amp its 2-3 bars and about -87 dBm

 

I guess I was just wondering if since I have a signal if the problem is something like high noise and antenna placement would resolve the issue.

 

It's the middle of a huge forest...and antenna is about 15-20 feet up, but all the pines are 40-50 foot high. So I'm hitting the middle of all the trees.

 

Lets say its some sort of noise or obstruction due to the trees, do you think raising the antenna another 20 feet would do the trick, or since I'm already at 20 feet with a decent, but unusable signal that going another 20 feet wouldn't make a difference?

 

I know this is more of a trial and error type of thing, but it's a lot of work if it's a fruitless effort.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • large.unreadcontent.png.6ef00db54e758d06

  • gallery_1_23_9202.png

  • Similar Content

  • Posts

    • Paynefanbro
      Network Vision/LTE - New York City Market

      By Paynefanbro · Posted

      As far as I know it's ubiquitous. Ultimately the network decides if you should use VoNR vs VoLTE but pretty much anytime my phone is in standalone mode and I place a call, it goes over NR.   Yup, it was terrible. After a while, I just connected to the WiFi, and that worked fine at about 90Mbps. I get the feeling that rather than doing a "real" upgrade where they install new antennas, upgrade backhaul, etc., T-Mobile instead installed new radios onto the existing and already overloaded DAS and called it a day, which isn't enough. Compared to Yankee Stadium, where they actually went and deployed new antennas/radios for their n41 upgrade, and you're able to get upwards of 200Mbps at sold-out games, Arthur Ashe really is a joke. What's worse is that the folks in their NOC likely know this already, but no effort is being made to change that. I'm not asking for T-Mobile to deploy mmWave everywhere like Verizon but there is a real use case for it at stadiums.
    • Wfmets45
      Network Vision/LTE - New York City Market

      By Wfmets45 · Posted

      Does anyone know how well implemented is VoNR in the 5 boroughs. Does anyone use it? I have an iPhone 15 Pro. Does anyone know if T-Mobile is still working on upgrading their network? It seems like the service has gone down. My phone struggles in parts of the Belt Pkwy, and data is slow. 
    • RAvirani
      Network Vision/LTE - New York City Market

      By RAvirani · Posted

      I come to the US Open men’s semifinals and finals every year, and I’ve never been able to use my T-Mobile phone successfully. Usually AT&T is the top performer—good to hear Verizon has upped their game. 
    • Paynefanbro
      Network Vision/LTE - New York City Market

      By Paynefanbro · Posted

      All done!
    • Paynefanbro
      Network Vision/LTE - New York City Market

      By Paynefanbro · Posted

      One sector down, two more to go — — — — —  I was at Arthur Ashe Stadium for the U.S. Open today and the good news is that there is an n25/41 DAS setup throughout USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. From the "boardwalk" to the outdoor concession area, to inside the stadium; you connect to standalone n41 and n25 everywhere via oDAS and iDAS. The bad news is that in the actual stadium it's beyond useless. While I saw strong coverage as indicated by signal bars and I was able to make calls and send texts, there was no data throughput at all. Running a speed test failed 9 out of 10 times. The only time I got a speed test to work was by switching to LTE funnily enough or by using NSA 5G where the test would initiate via LTE and then n41 would kick in giving me ~20Mbps. T-Mobile has so much traffic on their 5G network that now n41 gets bogged down before LTE. That was a first for me! In the stadium in the same area Verizon got 1.2Gbps on mmWave and LTE kept timing out when trying to test it. My Boost line on AT&T got upwards of 150Mbps on C-band and I know they have mmWave deployed as I saw their Nokia mmWave antennas deployed but I was unable to test it. In the outdoor concession area T-Mobile performed well getting over 150Mbps on n41. AT&T in these areas saw over 250Mbps on C-band and I didn't get the opportunity to test Verizon there. It just seems like 140MHz n41 is not enough capacity for the amount of people inside the stadium. Hopefully T-Mobile is considering deploying n258 to all of these stadiums since they now own that mmWave nationwide. It'd make a world of difference in terms of capacity at these venues. Bonus Pics: Verizon and AT&T mmWave Hidden carrier neutral DAS: 

  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...