Customer Reviews

Wilson Electronics Desktop Adjustable Gain Cell Phone Signal Booster for Home or Office - For Multiple Users

5 star:		(119)
4 star:		(41)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

No matter whose providing our cell phone service, dead zones still seem to be an issue. The overpriced and underachieving booster that my service provider billed us for was absolutely worthless. In short, after four days use I boxed it up and sent it back for an account credit. When the opportunity came along to take the Wilson Electronics 801247 Cell Phone Signal Booster for a test drive I had some serious doubts.

Opening the box, the first thing I noticed was the hard plastic body casing for both the exterior antenna and the amplifier. Speaking from personal experience I know that the exterior antenna unit will have a short lifespan against the elements unless it is weather proofed. Corrosion will definitely have an effect on the connectors. Vulcanizing tape, electrical tape and Scotch coat is a must if this product is installed outdoors. My other gripe is the design of the cradle. Its a given that the cradle will accumulate standing water which could result in damage to the unit.

That said, I did a quick inventory of hardware that included the DT amplifier, amplifier antenna, exterior antenna, mounting hardware, barrel connector, ac power supply, and both 20' and 30' coaxial cables. Kudos to the folks at Wilson for providing a detailed and readable instruction manual. Tools that will come in handy if mounting outdoors including the protection that I mentioned earlier are a drill, 3/16" bit, phillips head screwdriver and an adjustable wrench. After determining the location of the strongest signal, I opted to mount the exterior antenna inside on a facing window.

Just a reminder to mount the front of the antenna so that it faces outside (which is the logo side) and not in the direction of the amplifier. To keep the system from oscillating and shutting down, I placed the amplifier about 20 feet away from the antenna. Always point the onboard antenna backwards towards the exterior antenna. The flashing of the red light means the gear is too close to each other and the unit will shut down. The green light means all systems are go. Luckily we got this model up and running after only two tries.

Now the important test. In the same space and about 10 feet away from the amplifier I opened my cell phone and got a surprise. Instead of getting the customary one bar for this location, I had the full compliment. That has never happened here. Conversations were crisp and clear. Instead of turning up my volume to hear the other party, I had to lower the volume on my phone. That is a first. To further test this system, I left the office, closed the door and walked down the hall to the soda machine which is about an additional 30 feet away. Even though I lost a couple of bars, my reception was still clear.

It goes without saying that this product is far superior then the overpriced piece of junk that my cell phone provider shipped out to me. The Utah based manufacturer backs this system with a one year warranty and also a 30 day money back guarantee. The company website is somewhat basic but offers great links to various product operating manuals, tech support and a toll free customer service number.

In closing, my only disappointment remains with the overall design of the exterior antenna and cradle. Still this booster delivers on a great signal. With proper installation (weatherizing) this Wilson Electronics product may just be the right choice for those of us that can't hear you now.

I switched from a verizon cell phone to the iphone 4 and at&t. Coverage in my area, Sedona, AZ is not that good with at&t. In my house I was getting 1-2 bars and a few dropped calls with my new phone. When I went up on the roof, I discovered that I could get 5 bars on my phone. So I bought the Wilson unit and installed it as per their clear instructions, putting the antenna on the roof and the amplifier in my living room. It raised my bars in the house to 4-5 bars. Calls are clear and strong now. Very happy.

Important point: what you need to understand is that this unit will only amplify an existing cell signal. It cannot amplify a non-existent signal. In other words, you have to find a place in your house, probably on the roof, where you get good strong cell reception. Then the unit will bring that strong signal into your house. The unit cannot create a signal where none exists.

Wilson's Electronics, a company out of St. George, Utah has been producing a number of products that enhances the performance of many of the digital devices that we use and rely upon. "The Cellular Signal Booster" is a powerful amplifier system that's used to strengthen the reception of the radio waves to/from a cellphone and Internet data cards.

I've tested the product for two weeks using my Blackberry Curve (T-Mobile), The Novatel MiFi 2200 Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspot Modem (Sprint) for Sprint and to measure the signal strength, the on-line site, Speed Test dot Net.

* First Impression
** Battery of Tests
*** Results and Interpretation
**** Pro's and Con's
***** Conclusion

* The product comes as a three-piece kit: the Outside antenna and cradle, the base unit "Signal Booster Amplifier," and the Desktop antenna (which recently replaced an attached "Arm antenna.") The kit also includes 50' of coaxial cable and an assortment of installation tools that allows for installation in several ways.

** Blackberry-- This isn't the recently released 3G Curve, so when I get a WiFi connection, it's the only time I can get a reliably fast signal for phone and internet connection. (This was why I eventually opted to upgrade my USB data card to the MiFi.) The MiFi gives me the WiFi signal I prefer, but the MiFi is limited to a range of 30'- 40'. When I'm on a call or picking up my email, the signal defaults to Edge beyond that 35' or so.

With the Signal Booster on, the range jumped from 35' to about 115- 120'. That's almost one full block away from my apartment. I also noticed clearer phone conversations.

The MiFi-- (casual observance) After the initial set--using the first interior antenna supplied--there was clearly a faster response time in surfing the internet. The latency effect on sites like YouTube seemed considerably shorter, same thing for downloading music video from there.

*** (Measured results)-- I ran tests for 10 days in total. I measured the test at various times: early in the morning, in the wee hours during the week ("off peak times.) And, the other times were what I called "peak times:" right after school, 8-10 pm during the week and on the weekends. The measured results were from Speed Test dot net.

Novatel MiFi's spec. sheet: The MiFi under the best conditions will provide up to
EV-DO Rev. A- 3.1 Mbps download/ EV-DO Rev. A- 1.8 Mbps upload

Without CSB (best results- off peak times)
(Jan 29, off peak hrs.) 1Mbps download/.28 Mbps upload


(Jan 29, off-peak hrs.)--With the CSB
1.37 Mbps download/ .3Mbps upload

(Jan 31, off peak hrs.)--With the CSB
1.28Mbps download/ .38Mbps upload

(Feb 14, peak times)--With the CSB
1.03Mbps download/ .49Mbps upload

(Feb 15, peak times)--With the CSB
.72 Mbps download/ .24 Mbps upload

(Feb 16, peak times)--With the CSB
.68 Mbps download/ .41 Mbps upload

**** Pro's and Con's

Pro's
+ Easy to install/ All tools needed are provided
+ System gives an extremely strong amplified signal. (I can't verify the company's claim that it can magnify the signal response by 10x, however by my own test it is clearly about 4x.)
+ Customer service and tech support are friendly and thorough in their explanations.
+ System enables a cross-platform of devices from different carriers to function simultaneously without a drop in performance.
+ The entire kit is small enough to be packaged in an average size plastic grocery bag.
+ The system has a unique technology built-in that allows for surfing around high-traffic areas to find a less congested signal--avoiding overloading nearby towers.
+ Price for the system is competitive to other brands
+ Proudly designed and manufactured in the US by Americans.

Con's
- The kit is made out of a light-weight plastic. [It is too early to tell how durable the outdoor antenna will hold up under extreme changes in weather. Here in Miami (FL), the temperatures range above 70+ ten months out of the year, during the sweltering summer months, the added humidity makes it feel well over 100. What about windy and blistery cold areas?]

- The AC adapter is considerably short for the distance it is forced to maintain. There's a minimum proximity that the indoor antenna ("Desktop Antenna") must maintain from the base and there's also a minimum distance that the outdoor antenna must maintain from the base. I found its sweet spot a bit awkward until I made a makeshift ledge for it.

- Optional add-on's that gamers might want to consider like a dedicated range antenna-- a "Yagi"--for example, are upwards of $60+.

***** It's hard to ignore a system like this that offers so much to cellphone and mobile internet users for a home-based business as well as a small office environment. The kit is relatively compact, easy to install and has few parts to be concerned with.

Durability should be a consideration as there's only a 1-year limited warranty. And, with a retail price of $300, replacement costs can be unnerving under the wrong circumstances. The other side is also true, customer service and tech support are extremely helpful and should allay most fears when it comes to their products and installation.

I can easily see this product (and some of their other products, for that matter) increasing personal and professional productivity in a number of different scenarios. That, in my opinion, makes Wilson's Cellular Signal Booster a good investment.

4 ½ stars.

Was easy to setup, the instructions were fine. We are in a problem area for reception, most phones don't get reception and those that do only get 1 bar in certain very limited, specific and awkward locations. The only method I have of locating the direction of a cell tower is moving the antenna around. The short answer is - no matter where I put the device & antenna I got no improvement. My phone got no bars before or after using. I returned the device to Amazon without any hassle.

I researched this and the competition and it seemed like this product had the best reviews (as well as the best price) so I dove in head first and bought it. I hoped the 30 day money back guarantee wouldn't be too much of a pain if I needed to use it. Well, the good - no great news is that this product works fantastically. My wife likes to chat on the phone in the basement and since switching service to T-Mobile that has been totally impossible (it was hit-or-miss with AT&T). I followed the directions as they are listed and placed the outdoor antena outside on the side of my house and routed the cable down to my basement to where the repeater would live. I plugged everything in and went from having zero bars in the basement and 2-3 in the rest of the house to having 3-4 bars throughout the house (2 story + basement Cape Cod ~ 1300sqft w/ aluminum siding). The place where I put the outdoor antena was showing 2-3 bars which was the best I was getting. Now we aren't dropping calls or "fading in and out" on our calls. I couldn't recommend this product more. Best of all I'm not getting knocked over the head by my wife anymore about not being able to chat up her friends while she's doing the laundry, etc. Marriage saver? Maybe...

Does it work? Yes. Does it work as advertised - yes. I can count on one bar in the house without the Wilson, using the Wilson, as advertised, I get 5 bars. The key is AS advertised........ this is not going to be used any other way. The location of the recieving antenna and the transmitting antenna is CRITICAL! You need to be fairly close to the recieving end of this and everything pretty much needs to flow in one direction.

You need to know which general direction the cell tower is and where in the house you want to use the reciever for the cell phone. If for instance you place the transmitting antenna on the north end of the house facing south the system will not work. The recieving antenna will be in the wrong place. Its a very good system if you install it the way it HAS to be installed. Understand that the recieving antenna for the cell phone and the transmitting antenna for the cell tower by neccessity use the same frequency (the cell phone frequencies).

I will also add that I have used a Verizon signal and an AT&T signal at the same time and it worked beautifully. Worth the money if you get it installed as designed.

Larry

First off we live on top of a mountain and in our small town 4 miles below we have one cell tower which is not even my carrier's cell tower I had to extend my range to find a Verizon tower and with the help of this site [...] I was able to pin point the exact area of were a Verizon tower was then I used a another app from my Droid phone to get the general area where I needed to point my antenna. Another thing is sense we live so far up we are above the towers so I have to place the outside antenna low instead of up high.
When I had a regular cell phone you could get maybe two bars but it would be in out. Once I got my Droid smart phone it was even more iffy sometimes no service at all.
I ordered the Wilson Electronics 801247 SIGNALBOOST DT
My first impression was there is no way this thing is going to help. The included outside antenna felt just like an empty plastic box it was nothing like most of Wilson's other antennas. Wilson has done away with the attached pop up inside antenna it is now a separated antenna that has to be placed 24 inches from the amplifier.
I hook everything up as indicated in the manual very simple to figure out. The hardest thing is finding a place to put the outside antenna box with guessing where the nearest cell towers is and meeting Wilson distance requirements and trust me this will be your biggest hurdle.
Once all that is figure out and everything is power up it takes the Amplifier and your phone about 5 mins to adjust to the incoming single.
I went from bouncing one to two bars to solid 3G on my smart phone no bouncing back in forth just a steady 3G. On my PC Card it went straight to full single for Boardband.
Wilson is a solid company and has been making antennas for a long time and they have great tech support plus they even back up your purchase with a no questions ask 30 day returns. So in all Wilson knows there stuff and stands behind it. Another note the kit comes with 1-30ft cable and 1-20ft cable all white color cable and unless your house is white it will stick out so what I did was used some Krylon Fusion paint for Plastic and painted my cable brown sense my house is brown.

We live down in a "hole" so to speak in a canyon with hills all the way around us, huge trees and also have metal roofs. Needless to say we had major challenges for our cell phone service which my husband does his business by. With the help of the Wilson Electronics signal boost and installing per the manufacturer's directions, we are able to make calls out of my husband's 40'x40' metal shop which was virtually impossible beforehand. We strongly recommend this product.

I'm hugely impressed with this product. I live at the bitter end of AT&T 3G cellular reception in my area, and I often have "No Service" in my home office at the back of the house, and when I do get coverage, the data coverage seems very limited. I wanted to boost the limited reception in bad coverage areas like my kitchen and my home office. The first impressions were great: The Wilson product package included a wide variety of installation hardware: Suction cups, drywall anchors, double-stick tape, pole mounting hardware, plus 50 feet of RG6 coax (a 20-foot cable, a 30-foot cable, and a male-male adapter to connect them if needed). The installation guide was simple, yet informative. Lots of helpful illustrations of possible installation scenarios. Took less than 10 minutes to set up, once I'd figured out a good (at least temporary) installation location inside the house. The antenna is an unpowered indoor/outdoor directional unit that must be located at least 20 feet from the powered amplifier unit and the booster antenna, so I wound up installing the antenna on a bedroom window that faces the nearest cell tower. I used the included suction cups to mount the antenna to the inside of the window, then ran the coax around the base of the room to just outside the door of the bedroom where I could place the amplifier on a table near a power outlet. This window mount is the least effective installation method according to the documentation, but I wanted to try the antenna indoors first before trying to figure out how to run the coax from outside of the house to the inside. The powered amplifier unit is not intended for outdoor installation.

As soon as I turned the amplifier unit on, I got a green LED on amplifier, and AT&T signal throughout my house increased by 2-3 bars. I get 3G data coverage and 2 bars of voice coverage at the back of my house where I previously had frequent periods of No Service. Voice quality on phone calls might be slightly degraded, but it's hard to tell. The product manual says that the transmitter is intended to cover a 1500 square foot area, which would be about half of my house, but I've seen coverage improvement about 50 feet away from the transmitter and through 2-3 interior walls.

This product won't produce cell coverage if there was none in the first place, but for those of us with one bar of coverage, it makes a big difference.

I called Wilson before ordering the product. They were very helpful and courteous, however failed to realize that the system is not designed for my particular needs (despite the fact that we got into signal strength etc..)

Had it professionally installed, but there was no improvement!! a few more calls and emails later it was established that the system will not work with 3G. I wish they had told me this before I had the equipment shipped half way around the world.