[geeks] Opinions on T-Mobile and Verizon

[Phil Stracchino]

Dan Sikorski wrote:
> Phil Stracchino wrote:
>> Michael Parson wrote:
>>   
>>> One thing I've found recently is that personal cell-phone repeaters are
>>> surprisingly affordable.  You can get one for your house for <$300.
>>> Both Fry's and Thinkgeek have them for $249 for the single-band or
>>> $349 for the dual band units.  Google/products found them for cheaper
>>> elsewhere.
>>>     
>> Unfortunately they can only amplify and rebroadcast signal that's there
>> in the first place.  We don't have reliable GSM signal here even
>> outside.  It's highly typical around here for me to pull out my phone at
>> the school bus stop, see three bars, think "Aha!  I have signal!", try
>> to dial a call, and watch the signal drop to zero and stay there before
>> I can even finish dialling the call.
>>   
> The one we have at our office has a directional antenna.  Point that 
> antenna and your nearest cell tower, and while the low gain 
> omnidirectional antenna of your phone near ground level might not get 
> any signal, a higher gain directional antenna can.  I'm not in that 
> office very often, so I cannot comment on how well it works first-hand, 
> but my coworkers reported a big improvement when it was first installed 
> about eight months ago.

Hmmm.  Interesting.

Of course, it'd still only help in the vicinity of the house, where I
have landline anyway.  What I really need is cell signal when I'm *not*
at home.


-- 
 Phil Stracchino, CDK#2         ICBM: 43.5607, -71.355
 Renaissance Man, Unix ronin, Perl hacker, Free Stater
 phil.stracchino at speakeasy.net   alaric at caerllewys.net
         It's not the years, it's the mileage.