Building structure prevents cellphone signals – get an external cellphone antenna
Question:
Found your site when I was checking out the use of those antenna boosters [the reader is referring to my review of cellphone antenna booster stickers]. Myself and my coworkers are in need of some sound advice.
We have just moved into a new office building, brick with tin roof. We are located right in the middle of the building with no windows, etc.
We have no signal or bars at all on our cell phones since we moved. We are with Suncom in Conway, SC. Contacted them and they said they did not guarantee indoor service, how nice for them. LOL We do have signals and service as soon as we step outside.
Do you have any advice or suggestions on something we could do to help us get network service inside our building?
We are not able to afford to put an antenna inside and mount one outside, the ones I have looked at cost $400 or more, and our boss is not going to pay for it.
We all have new phones, several of us have the Nokia 6085, some the Kraz, Razor, etc.
Answer:
That’s a tough situation: your cellphone signals are being blocked by your building structure, but you’re not able to spend any money on a building-mounted cellphone antenna!
The best solution, of course, would indeed be to purchase an antenna booster that would mount on your building, and route signals to cellphones inside. If that’s not an option, I’m a little short on ideas. I know that if your cellphones have external antenna jacks, you can purchase or build an external antenna. The thing is, I’m not sure if this will fix your problem (all the more important to find a the cheapest external cellphone antenna possible!)
Here are my thoughts:
1) Contact your cellphone retailer, and ask to see if they have any external antennas that will work with your cellphone. These will be short antennas that will plug into your cellphone’s external antenna jack. This will improve your cellphone signal. Will it improve the signal enough so that your cellphones will work inside your office? I don’t know – it might be a good idea to ask if you can return the antennas if they don’t work will enough to suit your environment.
2) Build your own external cellphone antenna. This option is obviously for someone comfortable with basic electronics design, but would be your last option if nothing else works out. Such design is outside my experience level, but you can see these links for instructions and further advice:
Shadowmite Hacker Team – Use this forum for cellphone hacking advice and tips.
Build your own cellphone antenna – These instructions are for how to build an external cellphone antenna for the Treo cellphone, but could be modified for other cellphones that have an external antenna plug.
