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Which cell tower to use for booster?

mrkaterman
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Hello,

 

I'm installing a booster in my home and trying to figure out which tower to point it.

 

Using cellmapper, I see there is a 4g tower closest to where I live, and if I change the option to 3g network, the 4g tower disappears and a 3g farther away appears.

 

So do I point it at the 3g or 4g tower?  From what I understand data is at 3g speed, which is fine.  But for voice will it go through the 4g tower?

 

I can post more info if that helps.

 

Thank you

37 REPLIES 37

thanks for the update @Pawprints1986   

 

My friend is looking for one, too.  Not sure which one is good and easy to install

 

So, which one you got originally?

Pawprints1986
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

I did... But I ultimately returned it. It's designed for the roof of a house, but being ground floor apartment it didn't work right trying to mount the outdoor antenna in my balcony door, my phone itself kept reverting back to the weaker tower signal vs the booster. Maybe the parts were too close together or something?. I feel like with proper install on a roof it would have worked out well though! 

 

I've wondered if they make ones made for apartments that don't need the outer part, or are meant to sit in only a window vs a roof, more of like being able to repeat the signal in the best areas of my apartment vs full on booster, not sure if such a thing exists?... Especially for in a couple years when they kill wcdma here which is the better of the 2. It's tricky ground level of a 3 story, fairly close to another 3 story. Decent trees too

darlicious
Mayor / Maire

@softech 

I believe @Pawprints1986  tested a $100 signal booster for their poor signal at home.

@darlicious   really?   LoL

 

Trying to help a friend with her signal in the basement, but $600, I am not sure if it is worth it

 

darlicious
Mayor / Maire

@softech 

Lol...how did you manage to pull up this thread an hour after I referred to it in another thread? Weird?!!

softech
Oracle
Oracle

@mrkaterman   I am asking for friend, how the SureCall Fusion4Home going?  worth the investment?  It's now like $600.  How much you got it for?

 

mrkaterman
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

@Korth 

Good to know about the Koodo promos.  I've never got one before, hope I get one in the future.  I noticed their postpaid plans offer VoLTE.  I've been looking at their plans, as I decide what move to make next.

Anonymous
Not applicable

 @darlicious : The _best_ ideal cell range is upwards to 40km. As it goes up in frequency, the lower the range too.

@Korth 

Ye of little faith......look at the map the installer pointed the booster to the north west the least cell tower (bell) serviced area all around the OP. Nearly every other direction has a bell cell tower within about 30 km or so except north west. The OP has a signal just not a very good one.

 

@mrkaterman 

What is your signal strength outside of your home? Go to your settings on your phone..... Settings>>about phone>>status>>SIM card status>>signal strength


@Anonymous wrote:

Keeping it All in the Family -> Koodo anyway.


Koodo does have some information about HSPA vs VoLTE in Manitoba ...

https://www.koodomobile.com/en/help/volte

 

PM does sporadically offer Koodo migration promos which can be quite attractive. But they're basically random - you can't predict if/when you'll ever get one, whether or not you're even "selected" on their list, and whether it'll even involve a phone plan that's appealing to you.

Anonymous
Not applicable

@Korth wrote:

It seems like there's no point in subscribing (paying) for yet another service when it might be cheaper and better to simply migrate to another (Rogers or Bell 4G) network instead.


Keeping it All in the Family -> Koodo anyway.


@darlicious wrote:

Taking another look at the map the installer couldn't have chosen a worse direction to point it in...


If it works, it works. If not, then it's useless to keep around (and useless to keep paying an ongoing cost to keep around).

 

I still advise checking out other phones. Watch other people around you whenever they pull out their phones, ask them what devices they use, which carrier they use, how much they pay, and how well (or not well) their voice calling works for them. Maybe there aren't any good options in that area. Maybe one of them will happily get a referral bonus for signing you up on their carrier.

 

It seems like there's no point in subscribing (paying) for yet another service when it might be cheaper and better to simply migrate to another (Rogers or Bell 4G) network instead.

@mrkaterman 

Telus was made painfully aware of the sudden non-renewal of some 3G sharing agreements with bell that affected some pm customers in Brandon and Winnipeg and has accelerated the roll out of voLTE service for PM customers however that means we may see it in 2 years rather than 5 years. Although it is likely that Manitoba customers would see it first since telus' 3G network is more vulnerable in that province than others where they have more of their own infrastructure.

 

Given that you do have some signal a properly installed booster in the correct direction should greatly improve your reception vs a poorly made wild guess in the wrong direction.

 

Edit:

Taking another look at the map the installer couldn't have chosen a worse direction to point it in... with the nearest bell tower north west of you is close to Clear Lake at least 80 miles away whereas the tower to your north with a wide range of 850MHz ( likely both 3G and 4G signal) is about 18 km. Your nearest tower to the east 12km and a well served Portage la Prairie about 25km away.

mrkaterman
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Thank you @Korth @darlicious  @Anonymous  and @computergeek541 

 

Looking at the maps, I also think the one to the East will be my best bet.  If not, could try the tower to the north.  Flat here so topography should not be an issue.

 

I had the booster installed a few days ago by a professional installer, however he pointed it the wrong way (North West) because he was sure a Telus tower was close by, despite it not showing up on any cell tower maps.  My wife and I are both on PM, signal did not improve at all.

 

He had not heard of PM, so we decided to both do some research, then he would come back and try a second time to point to the right tower.  The business/installer is one of the few that does these installs, and this guy has been with this company for 17 years and says he never had to install a booster in MacGregor and was surprised I needed one.

 

I will have to decide what to do this weekend.  I have the option to return the booster, but I would much rather stay with PM and use a booster to get good signal.  However if 3g is being phased out in southern Manitoba, I may need to go to a carrier that provides VoLTE.

 

For anyone else that may chime in, I'm OP and only concerned about voice quality.

 

@computergeek541 

Going by what sheytoon commented in another thread:

 

 we used to be able to tell for 1900 because the ertyu map would report the channel size correctly. Now they report everything in 5 MHz increments, which means a 3-sector site could show 850 MHz six times (3x 5 MHz 3G and 3x 5 MHz LTE) and 1900 MHz fifteen times (3x 5 MHz 3G and 3x 20 MHz LTE).

 

3G is always 5 MHz per channel, whether 850 or 1900. LTE depends, but for 1900 it's generally 15 or 20 MHz.

 

It's pretty safe to assume you have 3G on both frequencies if it's listed there. 1900 LTE is safe to assume as well. The wildcard these days is 850 LTE.

 

The bell towers to the east and indeed the one to the north when it comes to 850MHz should cover 3G signal to my understanding.

Other users might have installed signal boosters in the area, as well. The stupid things tend to be indiscriminate and public, they'll pass along any signal from any device in range. If you have the only one in town then you might find everyone else's call traffic being serviced by it. And they might find all their passwords/etc being logged on your machinery.

 

Looking at that map, I hate to say it, but Rogers network might be a better choice in that particular area.

 

(Southern) Manitoba is an oddball case these days. 3G is anticipated to eventually become fully supplanted by (upgraded) to 4G/VoLTE - most carriers hesitantly suggest 3G will be obsolete circa 2025 - but they seem to already be jumping the gun in Manitoba. This is problematic for customers who subscribe to non-VoLTE operators (like Public Mobile).

Unfortunately, the area is dominated by Bell stuff, not Telus stuff, there's very little a Telus-owned company can do about Bell-owned "upgrade" problems.


@darlicious wrote:

@Anonymous 

Correct me if I am wrong....pm uses 850MHz and 1900MHz for calling. The bell tower directly east has 850 omnidirectional. The towers in Portage la Prairie have both 850 and 1900. With topography not being an issue one would think that pointing east would give a greater chance of receiving a better signal. But of course deferring to @sheytoon expertise once he weighs in.


Yes - Only band 2 and band 5 are used for calling (on HSPA), but are also used for both data and text messaging.  Both bands are also used for the LTE network.

@Anonymous 

Correct me if I am wrong....pm uses 850MHz and 1900MHz for calling. The bell tower directly east has 850 omnidirectional. The towers in Portage la Prairie have both 850 and 1900. With topography not being an issue one would think that pointing east would give a greater chance of receiving a better signal. But of course deferring to @sheytoon expertise once he weighs in.

Anonymous
Not applicable

 @darlicious : I'll defer to sheytoon but it seems to me that's about the only 3G tower there is. Maybe I'm reading things wrong. I find that I prefer cellmapper for its interface. The OP is after voice quality.

@Anonymous 

Seeing as it's about the same distance do you not think a better signal would not come from the towers in Portage la Prairie?

Anonymous
Not applicable

 @mrkaterman : I think you might have some difficulty for voice but point pretty much due north to Woodside.

@mrkaterman 

Certainly that would help us advise you.

@mrkaterman   maybe private message sheytoon directly..

mrkaterman
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Is it okay to post which town I live in, so that someone can tell me exactly which tower I should point the booster?

@mrkaterman 

Looks like @Korth already pulled out the bat signal. When @sheytoon replies and has time available to help you troubleshoot please try to make yourself available for his/her expertise. We are very lucky to have him/her as a member of the community.

mrkaterman
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

@KorthThank you so much for the detailed reply, very helpful.

 

This is my first time posting and the prompt responses to questions and knowledge sharing in this community is awesome!

Korth
Mayor / Maire

@mrkaterman wrote:

Hello,

 

I'm installing a booster in my home and trying to figure out which tower to point it.

 

Using cellmapper, I see there is a 4g tower closest to where I live, and if I change the option to 3g network, the 4g tower disappears and a 3g farther away appears.


An excellent map here.

 

But the map won't show you everything you want to know. It's not as simple as just drawing a radius around each tower or pointing at the closest site in range. Because many (most?) radio towers are not omnidirectional - their arrays are pointed at (or away from) specific areas - you (and your phone) could be positioned right next to one while also sitting in a blind spot with zero signal.

 

Public Mobile uses the Telus (and shared Bell/SaskTel/etc) network. Telus supports VoLTE (4G voice calling) in many areas but Public Mobile only supports 3G (HSPA) voice calling on 850MHz (Band 5) and 1900MHz (Band 2). A summary of Telus cellular radio frequencies here.

 

Different phone models have different radio qualities and voice qualities, these are supposedly the most essential hardware components of a mobile phone yet they're also the most ignored features in all the advertising. Some particular phones just suck for simple voice calling, your particular phone might be one of them, and these days it's hard to get any comparison specs or decent reviews which can inform you beforehand. You can try your PM SIM card in another phone (maybe a friend's phone? maybe a new phone?) for comparison, it might magically "fix" your problem for you at lower cost than a signal boosting device.

 

Then again, your area could just have awful cellular coverage. How much signal do the people around you get when calling?

 

Weak battery is typically overlooked. If it has low charge - or it's just old and tired - then it can dramatically decrease radio efficiencies. Don't buy into the hype, the battery has the same old electrochemistry as any other, it degrades over time and use, brand names are not technomagic, they're just fashions.

 

Our resident expert on cellular radio stuff (an industry engineer) is @sheytoon 

mrkaterman
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Thanks @og2 

 

This is the booster.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07C329DCH

 

Surecall Fusion4Home 3.0

 

I think this is one of the better ones, the specs show it covers the bands you mentioned.

 

Phones are iPhone XR and iPhone 11.

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