Weboost cellular booster - good or bad?

[randman132]

Originally Posted by rrolphe

We have a 2016 Cedar Creek 34RE 5th wheel. Has anyone had experience using the Weboost Drive RV cellular booster or anything equivalent? I'm trying to figure out the best way to to improve our internet reception and would appreciate any suggestions.

I have a small RV transport business and Cell coverage is awful, using my carrier, while I drive through Nebraska. I added a weboost to my truck and I have nearly complete coverage now. Yes, it works.

[reg11756]

Originally Posted by rrolphe

We have a 2016 Cedar Creek 34RE 5th wheel. Has anyone had experience using the Weboost Drive RV cellular booster or anything equivalent? I'm trying to figure out the best way to to improve our internet reception and would appreciate any suggestions.

I have a brand new Drive 65 we never busted out of the box. My son lives in Rathdrum and he can bring it to you after Xmas when he comes back home. Will make you a good deal. Paid $600 a year ago.

[rrolphe]

How much do you want for it?

[SacRV]

We have our trailer permanently setup at our property in the mountains. Our cell service has always been very poor. We really only needed it for Internet purposes so we could check email and light web browsing if necessary. So last year I bought the Amazon version of the Weboost, which is just an external antenna and an amplifier for inside. Pointed the antenna to the nearest cell tower on the roof. I tested the dB gain with and without it on..it didn't make one bit of difference. As Weboost and other similar products will say, if you have very poor reception you will not see any improvement in service, but it was worth a try..right.

So a few months ago I thought I'd try something else. I bought a Verizon JetPack MiFi 5510 and to my surprise it is fantastic. We can get up to 30-Mbits down, which is better than anything we could ever get with a cell booster. It's even good enough to do streaming via YouTube TV. Our voice and texting over the cellular network still sucks, but the Internet, which was our primary objective is much better.

I connected the Jetpack to that same antenna. From a technical standpoint I suspect what is happening is the Jetpack is sniffing out signals from other nearby sources and pulling that data in to help improve the over bandwidth and speed.

[Mike Currie]

I have tried almost everything in this thread and here's what I found - Cell boosters do work - but make sure you get a booster set to the frequencies common to both the nearest cell tower and your phone. I use the App "LTE Discovery" on my Android phone and it not only gives me an arrow pointing to the nearest tower, but the frequencies that my phone is receiving from that tower. Make sure the booster is made to boost those specific frequencies. I went from 1 to 5 bars. And yes - make sure the antenna and booster are 30 feet apart.

As for Wi-Fi, I used the Starlink system in rural Minnesota with consistent success, except that surrounding pine trees grew at a surprisingly fast rate and I had to keep raising my antenna mast higher. I started at 15 feet and was at 34 feet after 6 months. The dish stood up to high winds, driving rain and quarter-size hail.

Unfortunately, as a beta tester, Starlink wouldn't let me take my dishy with me to Los Angeles for the winter months, so I was using "cable-company" wi-fi and hotspots when I needed more speed. But I recently added the new T-Mobile Wi-Fi and I'm astounded at the speed and quality. For just a flat $50/month, I get an unlimited 5G speed signal that is stable and consistent.

My Starlink regularly achieved over 120MBps download, but struggled to get over 17MBps upload speed. Cable internet and phone hotspots gave me enough download speed to stream, but not enough upload speed to send video clips.

The T-Mobile Wi-fi is giving me about 400MBps Download and 120MBps Upload! That's like the fiber-optic speeds I used to have as a homeowner, but never dreamed would be normal now that I live in an RV full time.

Sorry for rambling - But I highly recommend the NEW T-Mobile Wi-Fi. It's more than twice as fast as my Starlink Dishy, half the monthly cost And WAY easier to install.

I have 3 ROKU TVs, a few Alexa devices, WI-Fi International calling, a RING doorbell and for my work regularly upload very large video files. Finally, everything works flawlessly.

When I'm driving from state to state, phone hot spots are the norm,

[rrolphe]

We just upgraded our Verizon Jetpack to an 8800. Reception is improved and speed is a little faster. I also bought an inexpensive Netgear MIMO Antenna and have it suction-cupped to the window. It seems to offer a small improved so we'll keep trying it out to see if a larger directional antenna is worth the investment. I'm sure our situation would change, depending on where we are, so we're just looking for the best all-around solution without spending a fortune.

[Mike Currie]

Sorry - Just to clarify - If you're getting a Weboost - or any other brand cellular booster - check the "bands" (frequencies) it is set to. If you look on Amazon and see multiple listings for the same item, it may say it's compatible with your cellular carrier, but scroll down in the features and you'll probably notice different Bands under multiple listings of the same model booster.

Here's what to look for in the description

"FCC and ISED APPROVED — Meets all FCC and ISED guidelines. FCC certification number: PWO460059. Approved to operate on frequency bands 12/17, 13, 5, 4, 25/2, without interrupting or harming any cell carriers' signals to and from the cell tower."

[reg11756]

I checked and we paid $650. Will take $550 and can have my son deliver it to you when they get home. We just spent 3 months right down the street from you at his place in our rv this summer!!

[Backcountryboondocker]

I have two Drive 4G-X’s in my trucks, a Drive Reach RV edition in my TT, and I use the “house” version in our work trailer connected to a 20’ extendable pole.

You won’t always have cell service in very poorly/no service areas, but they surely help. I won’t not have one, that’s for sure.