$400 well spent!

For those of you who follow this blog, you probably remember a story about a campsite in the hills of Ohio where I had 'No Service' and had to leave sooner than I would have liked in order to work.  That episode of our journey set another wheel in motion.  I started to seriously consider a cellular booster.

The folks over at Mobile Internet Afficiandos (MIA) are doing some field trials on various models and I was really trying to hold out for their opinion, but the episode in southeast Ohio pushed up the urgency.  I got a short reprieve while in Zanesfield as my signal was decent there, but then we traveled to Rising Sun, IN.  This was almost as bad as Ohio, but I could walk to the river and get signal at least...about a quarter of a mile away...

I took a close look at all the reviews I could find and settled on the WeBoost Drive 4G-X.  It wasn't cheap at $379, but it looked like my best option.  Of course I needed to spring for the AC adapter as well ($20 more), so all told I was in it for $400.  Luckily Amazon Prime saved me on shipping as usual!

When I finally got it and cracked into the packaging I realized how well it's made.  They could have gone cheap on wire or made the unit plastic, but they didn't...it's really solid.  The second thing I noticed is that I had some work to do.  It's a long gaggle of wires with the brains in the middle, so it takes a bit of thought to figure out how to set it up.  You need a certain amount of distance between the outside receiving antenna and the inside broadcasting antenna, so you kind of have to be a bit deliberate about how you set it up.  I have grand plans on how to install it permanently, but that's way more effort than I've had time to put into it so far, so I did my best temporary rigging with the broadcast antenna under my monitor, the base right by my window, and the antenna run up the arm of my awning and suspended upside down from the steel bolt at the end (the antenna has a magnet in its base).  

I honestly didn't have horribly high hopes for it set up this way, but the embedded video below shows how mistaken I was.  This is a serious, realtime increase from 'no service' to 4 bars just by moving in range of the broadcast antenna.  Now, realize that water can do some freaky things with wireless signal and the tower was on the other side of the Ohio River, so take it with a grain of salt, but the reality is that I could not get a call out at all, then I moved it in range of the antenna and could then make calls without any garble at all...perfectly clear.

I wanted a second datapoint before posting, so I sat on this all the way through Indy, where we had great signal.  Now we are in Garden Prairie, IL (between Rockford and Chicago) and I have 1 bar of signal and garbled conversations.  I set up the WeBoost and am instantly at 3-4 bars and clear as a bell.  

The only drawback (outside of price) is the limitted mobility when using it,  I'm used to being able to walk and talk with my wired headphones and my iPhone in my pocket, but when using the booster the phone must remain just a foot or so away from the broadcast antenna.  A nice Bluetooth headset will remedy that issue, but it's still a challenge for me right now.  

I'd have to give the WeBoost Drive 4G-X 4 out of 5 Buckeyes.  Price and limited range on the broadcast antenna being my only real complaints.  This product is a definite lifesaver if you need cell service for a living like I do.