Improving Indoor mobile reception

Gunner3629

Apologies I’m sure this might have been asked before.

Where my parents live, there is little to no phone reception indoors but not too bad outside. As they have Wi-Fi, I don’t really need to improve 4G or 5G reception for data, I just need to improve 3G right?

If that is correct, I believe its the band 8 I need to improve for the Three network.

I have seen repeaters that repeat and boost multiple frequencies, do I need one of those or can i just get a cheaper repeater that will help.

How do I know if I should get Directional or omni antenna?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

The Cush

Stella Doradus 900 MHz repeater for 2g/3g calls will do the job. My brother has been using one for maybe 4 years now without issues.

It comes with a flat panel antenna as standard, a directional Yagi costs an additional €60, the panel antenna should suffice.

Have a look at Comreg's Siteviewer page to see what masts are available at your location and test each direction for signal strength before installing the unit and fixing the antenna

Gunner3629

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119441966#Comment_119441966

Thanks alot.

I see some countries are shutting down their 3G. Should I be worried about the possibility of 2G/3G services being shutdown in the next year or two. I just don't want to waste money on something that will be shutdown soon.

What will operators use for calls if 3G is shutdown, voice over LTE isn't even available on Three yet?

https://www.irishnews.com/magazine/technology/2022/05/10/news/three-to-switch-off-3g-network-by-end-of-2024-2707311/

The Cush

2g will probably be around for a long time yet, well beyond the 3g shutdown. The UK iirc has set 2033 as the end date, Ireland has no end date.

4g will replace 3g in this band most likely and the MNOs will follow the standards.

In any case repeaters are standards blind and will continue to provide the frequency band indoors be it 2g/3g/4g/5g.

Gunner3629

I’ve realised there is also 5G signal in some area’s outside aswell. Is that just a data frequency (band 28), or will I get calls on that too if I just boosted that? I tried making a call when I had 5g coverage on my phone and it worked. My ‘network cell info lite’ app didn’t seem to change to band 8 when I made the call.

Doesn’t look like Stella Doradus have a single 700 MHz (band 28) repeater anyway.`

If not, how do I know what calls are on vs. What is just data freq?

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119455371#Comment_119455371

I assume your calls are still going via 2g/3g, beyond that you're looking at VoLTE.

As regards Band 28, this band is operating under a temporary Comreg covid licence until the beginning of October, at this time all operations in this band are to cease until this band and others are auctioned off late this year or early next year. Delayed due to an on going High Court appeal by Three Ireland on the auction rules.

Not sure if the MNOs are using Band 28 for 5g atm but I believe they are in the 2100 and 1800 bands.

If you want a single band repeater for calls go with the 900 repeater, it will be used for calls for many years to come.

Glaceon

Sorry to hijack this but it seems to be on a similar wavelength (pun not intended!).

I moved into a new house recently in south Drogheda. Vodafone's 4G isn't great indoors, getting -100 dBm or worse on band 20. But on 3G, my phone shows band 7 is in use. From what I'm reading that's 2600 MHz. The iOS 15 field test app doesn't seem to give me a true signal strength reading on 3G (looks to be a lot more restricted than what I remember) but based on the "bars" (which is all I have), it appears to be better than the 4G signal.

Are Vodafone using 2600 for 3G now? Since they're meant to be closing 3G soon, I wonder if I'll be stuck with a poor signal here when they do?

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119637790#Comment_119637790

No licences were issued for the 2600 MHz band unless they're on a test licence. The band is to be auctioned as part of the MBSA, whenever that happens.

Can you check with another app, something like Network Cell Info Lite?

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119637856#Comment_119637856

I'm on iOS so no joy there unfortunately. Might have to nab my wife's phone to do some tests.

waynescales1

Apologies for hijacking, but, somewhat related. Do different mobile providers have their own masts from which they transmit their signal? Or do they all share the same masts? In which case, changing provider would be a waste of time if coverage was an issue?

The Cush

Mixed, single operator and multi operator masts/sites.

On multi operator masts there are 2 or 3 sets of antenna stacked.

Depending on the height of the mast the upper antennas may have better coverage than the lower antennas

Gunner3629

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119809638#Comment_119809638

https://siteviewer.comreg.ie/#explore

This site might be a helpful. You can zoom in on any region and see where the masts are and what operation and service are provided.

waynescales1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119810272#Comment_119810272

Useful site, thanks. Looks like the sites surrounding where I live all have multiple antennas, one for each provider. Coverage will probably be the exact same regardless of provider.

If you’ve Wi-Fi in the house, just use one of the networks that offers Wi-Fi calling. Vodafone, Eir and Gomo definitely do and solves those issues.

As for 3G shutting down. It’s not the protocol that determines signal propagation, it’s the frequency used and the density and proximity of masts.

As most handsets are now 4G and 5G, it’s making little sense to continue supporting 3G, so its bands will just get moved to modern services.

2G is still used for various odd services like meters and remote telemetry etc, so might remain on air. The 2G networks however would just be virtualised. It’s only an over the air protocol. So the transmitters can deliver a 2G signal, but the whole thing would be a running on the same modern IP based network infrastructure. A lot of the more recent radio equipment can spin up any protocol from the same site without much fuss.

There’s a possibility they might only retain GPRS too and ditch 2G voice at some point.

If LTE is on all the bands though it will provide excellent service.

I honestly don’t know what is going on with 3. They’re way behind the other two networks on VoLTE and other modern services.

Gunner3629

This booster says its for Eir and VF (Not Three) but it seems in my area 900 MHz is also used by Three. Is that possible?

Three phone calls is what I want to boost.

https://www.irelandbooster.com/product/gsm-signal-booster-voice-300-sq-m/

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119815464#Comment_119815464

A word of warning about that website - https://www.comreg.ie/media/2022/02/Non-Compliant-Supplier_Installer_List-1.pdf

The mobile repeaters they sell are non-compliant and could end up being confiscated from you if they cause network interference issues.

Have a read through this - Mobile Phone Repeaters | Commission for Communications Regulation (comreg.ie)

On the question you asked mobile repeaters are multi-operator band specific, so if an MNO has licensed spectrum in a particular band the repeater has access to it. In this case Three Ireland has 3 blocks of spectrum in the 900 MHz band while the other two MNOs have 2 blocks each.

The site indicates in the spec for this repeater [890-915 MHz Uplink - 935-960 MHz Downlink], if this is so it rules out reception of eir/Meteor frequencies [880-890 MHz Uplink - 925-935 MHz Downlink]

Unit and website best avoided.

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119637856#Comment_119637856

Finally got to check this. My wife’s phone shows -79 dBm on band 8 (900 MHz), that makes more sense. Meanwhile mine still says band 7. Shows how useless iOS is for this sort of thing.