Looking for Cell Booster Installer Help

[Jim202259KL]

I'm looking for someone to help install a cell booster on a Travato 59KL, specifically, to do the roof work (mounting a magnetic sharkfin antenna, drilling a hole on the rear side of the pre-mounted roof-to-cabinet box, help run the cable (I'm told it's much easier with two people), and caulk the hole made in the box. I can do the inside work myself though if the person has tips and suggestions that would always be welcome. Willing to pay a fair compensation. Where? Any place in the west/northwest/north Philadelphia suburbs. Thanks. When? Week of July 25 or later (but hopefully before the summer ends). Note: no ladder mounted on RV, my stand-alone ladder isn't high enough so I'd need someone with a better ladder.

[creativepart]

Just about any mobile RV Tech can handle this easy job. Just search out one near you.

I assume you’ve researched Cell Boosters, their usage and real world limitations?

I have had cell boosters in my RVs for 7-years (multiple models over the years) and don’t find then useful enough now to buy another or to recommend them to others.

Years ago, before cell carriers coverage was as fully built out as it is now we got great usage out of them. But each year we see less and less benefit. So now we barely ever plug in our WeBoost Drive 4G-X.

[Jim202259KL]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Just about any mobile RV Tech can handle this easy job. Just search out one near you.

I assume you’ve researched Cell Boosters, their usage and real world limitations?

I have had cell boosters in my RVs for 7-years (multiple models over the years) and don’t find then useful enough now to buy another or to recommend them to others.

Years ago, before cell carriers coverage was as fully built out as it is now we got great usage out of them. But each year we see less and less benefit. So now we barely ever plug in our WeBoost Drive 4G-X.

Thanks. I didn't think of constructing the search using "mobile RV tech" (rather than what I used). Good idea.

I figure on the booster giving me anywhere from almost nothing of a boost in some places to hopefully a one bar increase in other places, maybe, if I'm lucky, here and there two bars. But that will make a difference for what I'm doing.

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by Jim202259KL

I figure on the booster giving me anywhere from almost nothing of a boost in some places to hopefully a one bar increase in other places, maybe, if I'm lucky, here and there two bars. But that will make a difference for what I'm doing.

Are you looking to boost a cell phone's signal to make calls? Or a mobile broadband device like a MiFi/Jetpack for dedicated internet access? And, what carrier or carriers are you hoping to use. Lastly, do you want or need 5G access?

I was going to post a Video from the Mobile Internet Resource Center about cell boosters to give you some more info - but just about all the videos are 3 to 5 years old. There are a couple of 1-year old videos but with this type equipment even one year old is out of date.

Here's my experience:

1. Cell boosters have such limited range inside the RV that unless you are sitting within 12" or less you won't see any benefit at all with a cell phone.

2. Using a mobile broadband device (MiFi/Jetpack) where you can place it right next to the booster's inside antenna can help boost data access in a very few areas - but rarely that is needed and helpful. For us, perhaps 5% of the places we visit

3. Installing advanced outside antennas - MiMo and even 4-way - connected to a MiFi/Jetpack's multiple antenna ports can provide much better cellular internet than the booster can.

5. The best cellular data performance for internet is with roof mounted cellular-based routers and multiple antenna connections. Such as a Peplink or similar product.

6. Lastly, none of the current booster products cover the common newer 5G frequencies and are really 4G devices.

It all depends on what you want to do with your cellular devices - make calls, light internet usage or heavy internet usage/video streaming.

[Jim202259KL]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Are you looking to boost a cell phone's signal to make calls? Or a mobile broadband device like a MiFi/Jetpack for dedicated internet access? And, what carrier or carriers are you hoping to use. Lastly, do you want or need 5G access?

I was going to post a Video from the Mobile Internet Resource Center about cell boosters to give you some more info - but just about all the videos are 3 to 5 years old. There are a couple of 1-year old videos but with this type equipment even one year old is out of date.

Here's my experience:

1. Cell boosters have such limited range inside the RV that unless you are sitting within 12" or less you won't see any benefit at all with a cell phone.

2. Using a mobile broadband device (MiFi/Jetpack) where you can place it right next to the booster's inside antenna can help boost data access in a very few areas - but rarely that is needed and helpful. For us, perhaps 5% of the places we visit

3. Installing advanced outside antennas - MiMo and even 4-way - connected to a MiFi/Jetpack's multiple antenna ports can provide much better cellular internet than the booster can.

5. The best cellular data performance for internet is with roof mounted cellular-based routers and multiple antenna connections. Such as a Peplink or similar product.

6. Lastly, none of the current booster products cover the common newer 5G frequencies and are really 4G devices.

It all depends on what you want to do with your cellular devices - make calls, light internet usage or heavy internet usage/video streaming.

Calls, texts, hotspot if not within range of acceptable wifi. No streaming.

I don't plan to mount the inside antenna in one place. I will move it to where it works best for where I am sitting at that moment. It's a Travato so the inside space doesn't pose the challenges of, say, a Class A.

My understanding of 5G is that the frequencies not covered by the booster have a very short range and are used in densely built areas (e.g., cities) where I'm almost certain not to be.

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by Jim202259KL

My understanding of 5G is that the frequencies not covered by the booster have a very short range and are used in densely built areas (e.g., cities) where I'm almost certain not to be.

Actually, there are 3 distinct 5G services and one of them is very short range "millimeter wave" in select cities, that's true. But the others can be as ubiquitous as 4G. Including many rural areas.

4-years ago I strongly recommended a booster. 2-years ago I was seeing little benefit. In the past year, we see no benefit. Especially for phone calls and text messages.

You decide what's best for you, but if you have fairly new smartphones you may find little need for a booster.

[Jim202259KL]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Actually, there are 3 distinct 5G services and one of them is very short range "millimeter wave" in select cities, that's true. But the others can be as ubiquitous as 4G. Including many rural areas.

4-years ago I strongly recommended a booster. 2-years ago I was seeing little benefit. In the past year, we see no benefit. Especially for phone calls and text messages.

You decide what's best for you, but if you have fairly new smartphones you may find little need for a booster.

I'll find out soon enough, I suppose. In the meantime I'm searching for mobile RV tech services. Haven't found one yet.

[creativepart]

Another suggestion for the antenna installation is to call an Auto Stereo installation place. Since yours is a Class B Van it would be easy to get your RV to the installer and they deal with this kind of installation all the time.

There are quite a few around your area near Brwn Mawr/West Chester/Villanova

[Jim202259KL]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Another suggestion for the antenna installation is to call an Auto Stereo installation place. Since yours is a Class B Van it would be easy to get your RV to the installer and they deal with this kind of installation all the time.

There are quite a few around your area near Brwn Mawr/West Chester/Villanova

That's a good idea. The mobile tech searches take me to dealers, who are backed up, with multi-month waits for any sort of service. The issue will be roof access, need a big enough ladder.

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by Jim202259KL

That's a good idea. The mobile tech searches take me to dealers, who are backed up, with multi-month waits for any sort of service. The issue will be roof access, need a big enough ladder.

Yeah, when I looked for Mobile techs in your area - not a lot came up. Just Kens in NJ. But Car Audio is a different story.

You might want to consider owning a ladder tall enough to comfortably get you up to your roof - not so much to walk on it, but to access it from the sides.

The fold up multi-position ladders like "Little Giant" or even the Telescoping Ladders are easy to store and can serve many purposes. I have one of each and find the Little Giant to be the handiest.

By the way, if you're interested in DIY, I think that Home Depot rents the Multi-Position type ladder by the day.

[Jim202259KL]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Yeah, when I looked for Mobile techs in your area - not a lot came up. Just Kens in NJ. But Car Audio is a different story.

You might want to consider owning a ladder tall enough to comfortably get you up to your roof - not so much to walk on it, but to access it from the sides.

The fold up multi-position ladders like "Little Giant" or even the Telescoping Ladders are easy to store and can serve many purposes. I have one of each and find the Little Giant to be the handiest.

By the way, if you're interested in DIY, I think that Home Depot rents the Multi-Position type ladder by the day.

I may up going that route -- either buying or renting a bigger ladder. Might need to kneel on the roof to get to the middle of it to place the antenna, as my reach isn't four feet!

[edju]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Are you looking to boost a cell phone's signal to make calls? Or a mobile broadband device like a MiFi/Jetpack for dedicated internet access? And, what carrier or carriers are you hoping to use. Lastly, do you want or need 5G access?

I was going to post a Video from the Mobile Internet Resource Center about cell boosters to give you some more info - but just about all the videos are 3 to 5 years old. There are a couple of 1-year old videos but with this type equipment even one year old is out of date.

Here's my experience:

1. Cell boosters have such limited range inside the RV that unless you are sitting within 12" or less you won't see any benefit at all with a cell phone.

2. Using a mobile broadband device (MiFi/Jetpack) where you can place it right next to the booster's inside antenna can help boost data access in a very few areas - but rarely that is needed and helpful. For us, perhaps 5% of the places we visit

3. Installing advanced outside antennas - MiMo and even 4-way - connected to a MiFi/Jetpack's multiple antenna ports can provide much better cellular internet than the booster can.

5. The best cellular data performance for internet is with roof mounted cellular-based routers and multiple antenna connections. Such as a Peplink or similar product.

6. Lastly, none of the current booster products cover the common newer 5G frequencies and are really 4G devices.

It all depends on what you want to do with your cellular devices - make calls, light internet usage or heavy internet usage/video streaming.

Thanks Creativepart for your comments on your experience. I've been thinking of getting a cell booster like WeBoost, but I've seen other comments like yours that say if you have no bars, it's not going to help.

[dkoldman]

I haven't been anywhere near Pennsylvania, but in 4 years I can only think of handful of times where we had no 5G signal.

We use T - Mobile Home Internet in our RV when we travel. My T mobile device is inside a cabinet inside the RV, we get 3 or 4 bars most all the time. Bandwidth does vary based on location but we can always stream.

[BobC]

Before installing an external antenna and/or booster, read this article about "ground planes":

https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/gui...ular-boosters/

[Jim202259KL]

Well, got a ladder that let me reach the roof, installed the cell phone booster system (haven't yet mounted the actual booster because in all the "may be useful someday" piles of nuts, bolts, etc., can't find four matching wood screws (though there are probably more containers to dig through)). Antenna is on metal roof of the van so it has a ground plane. Phone without booster (inside van in turn inside garage), two bars. Turn on booster, three bars. Still need to try other locations to see if one bar becomes two, three becomes four. The roof access port box pre-installed by Winnebago made it easy to get through the roof. Messiest part of the install was taping down the antenna wire to the roof, using super stick synthetic rubber 2-inch wide sealant tape. Then installed a new GPS mount that is much better than the old one. Done for the day. Thanks to all for the suggestions and comments.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Jim202259KL

Well, got a ladder that let me reach the roof, installed the cell phone booster system (haven't yet mounted the actual booster because in all the "may be useful someday" piles of nuts, bolts, etc., can't find four matching wood screws (though there are probably more containers to dig through)). Antenna is on metal roof of the van so it has a ground plane. Phone without booster (inside van in turn inside garage), two bars. Turn on booster, three bars. Still need to try other locations to see if one bar becomes two, three becomes four. The roof access port box pre-installed by Winnebago made it easy to get through the roof. Messiest part of the install was taping down the antenna wire to the roof, using super stick synthetic rubber 2-inch wide sealant tape. Then installed a new GPS mount that is much better than the old one. Done for the day. Thanks to all for the suggestions and comments.

Did you say earlier what phone carrier you have? I know it is 5G, but if I got 1 bar anywhere on my 5g services I would nuts. We get at least 3 bars when traveling in our RV, with unit inside a cabinet. We have stream live TV on You tube non stop with no interruptions from Dallas to Houston. With that said, I have seen 5 bars but bandwidth may be low for that area?

Regardless, it is highly possible for what you are ultimately trying to achieve and for where, you may need Starlink Satellite?

[Jim202259KL]

Originally Posted by dkoldman

Did you say earlier what phone carrier you have? I know it is 5G, but if I got 1 bar anywhere on my 5g services I would nuts. We get at least 3 bars when traveling in our RV, with unit inside a cabinet. We have stream live TV on You tube non stop with no interruptions from Dallas to Houston. With that said, I have seen 5 bars but bandwidth may be low for that area?

Regardless, it is highly possible for what you are ultimately trying to achieve and for where, you may need Starlink Satellite?

Current carrier is AT&T (don't think I mentioned that). I rarely get 4 bars let alone 5 no matter where I am (in the RV or in the house or in the yard), but that might just be a result of where I happen to go. I have only seen it using 5G once or twice. It's mostly 4G.

There may come a time when I go with Starlink but I'm not yet ready for that. I think the satellite technology will evolve quickly over the next several years so it's worth waiting for cost reduction, miniaturization, etc.

[Jim202259KL]

Originally Posted by dkoldman

Did you say earlier what phone carrier you have? I know it is 5G, but if I got 1 bar anywhere on my 5g services I would nuts. We get at least 3 bars when traveling in our RV, with unit inside a cabinet. We have stream live TV on You tube non stop with no interruptions from Dallas to Houston. With that said, I have seen 5 bars but bandwidth may be low for that area?

Regardless, it is highly possible for what you are ultimately trying to achieve and for where, you may need Starlink Satellite?

And as I recall from my travels in the car some time ago, it's fairly flat between Dallas and Houston, whereas here in Penna. there are hills and mountains that weaken signals.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Jim202259KL

And as I recall from my travels in the car some time ago, it's fairly flat between Dallas and Houston, whereas here in Penna. there are hills and mountains that weaken signals.

Yes it is fairly flat between Dallas & Houston. But I Houston as large as it is does not offer T Mobile Home Internet. We have T Mobile Phone and the T mobile home internet. So when I talk bars it is the black box KVD21. The point is a lot of people in Houston area starting around Huntsville down to Galveston complain about T mobile service. So for kicks we ( my family anyway) watched the TV expecting to lose signals we never did. When we were stop in Texas City, I noticed one location where we had 4 bars but throughput was 5 mps. Enough to stream but barely.

I know little of PA, other than Liberty Bell and Pittsburg Steelers. I think there is another football team in PA, but I can't remember them right now But my point is that is you being bounced to 4G at times I can see why you seek any improvements.

T Mobile Home Internet was a game changer for us. I could start a new thread on that as to not derail your emphasis. But for 3 years I tried everything type of Wifi booster or Extender under the sun and it was just a big headache, I bought T Mobile Home Internet and put it in the RV and trashed everything else I had. I am sure eventually I will be someplace without coverage but thus far that has NOT happened.

[Jim202259KL]

Originally Posted by dkoldman

Yes it is fairly flat between Dallas & Houston. But I Houston as large as it is does not offer T Mobile Home Internet. We have T Mobile Phone and the T mobile home internet. So when I talk bars it is the black box KVD21. The point is a lot of people in Houston area starting around Huntsville down to Galveston complain about T mobile service. So for kicks we ( my family anyway) watched the TV expecting to lose signals we never did. When we were stop in Texas City, I noticed one location where we had 4 bars but throughput was 5 mps. Enough to stream but barely.

I know little of PA, other than Liberty Bell and Pittsburg Steelers. I think there is another football team in PA, but I can't remember them right now But my point is that is you being bounced to 4G at times I can see why you seek any improvements.

T Mobile Home Internet was a game changer for us. I could start a new thread on that as to not derail your emphasis. But for 3 years I tried everything type of Wifi booster or Extender under the sun and it was just a big headache, I bought T Mobile Home Internet and put it in the RV and trashed everything else I had. I am sure eventually I will be someplace without coverage but thus far that has NOT happened.

The T-Mobile Home Internet looks interesting. Looks like they are rolling out a Lite version for the same monthly price with a data cap. Apparently there are bandwidth limitations for T-Mobile in some areas, and I suppose in time bandwidth in those areas will increase. I'll do some exploring on this. Thanks.

P.S. Yeah, there are two NFL teams in Penna. :-) Both have been around for a long time, and one season (during WW2) they merged into one called the Steagles. Before my time.