external or in-building repeater antenna that is compatible with the 6700
OK so I absolutely love my PPC-6700 and when I'm near a tower the EVDO is awesome. But I have a problem; in my house the coverage is spotty. The weird thing is that it's not spotty based on where in the house I am, it's spotty from moment to moment. I can sit in 1 spot and watch the signal bounce from nothing to 5 bars over the course of a half hour. I can get EVDO in my house that peaks over 900k with less than .6 latency one test and then under 50k with over 3 latency the next.
So the question becomes can I get an in-building repeater that helps me lock on a signal without paying an arm and a leg? That supports EVDO passthrough? And if you're wondering why I would need EVDO passthrough while at home (don't you have wifi erikk?) it's because EVDO is my backup broadband if my cable modem goes down (and it does often enough that it's something to consider or at least rationalize why buying a repeater is worth it).
BTW thought of one other thing, should I be concerned that it's the phone being spotty and not my service here? I don't think so because I haven't really noticed that many problems anywhere else but then I haven't really checked if the phone gets fluctuating coverage in the same spot anywhere else.
I live in an area where the Sprint signal outside is very good. My problem is that our house is made of 8 inch limestone blocks. Not much signal penetrates the stone. I put in a repeater that uses a directional antenna outside and wires into a repeater inside so the inside signal is now as strong as the outside signal. I purchased ours from jdtech.com, its the cheapest they have and it works fine. The more expensive models will cover a larger area with signal but we really didn't need that.
1. Your tower is in need of tuning for your location or,
2. Your location is on the edge of service and you could use an amp like this with a directional antenna that will hold the providing tower session. I work in a computer room that is in the "dip" of the microwave side lobe and at times I can get great signal and other times nil.
3. Call Sprint and let them know.
4. The folks at the link above also have EV-DO repaters that we've installed for the public in our building.
The Wilson antennas look interesting but they also appear to require a hard (cable)connection to the phone. The one we use requires no connection, it just repeats the signal wirelessly inside our house. The jdtech that we purchased can have up to three phones on it at the same time, more powerful units can have more phones online and reach more interior areas depending on need.
Well it looks like I'm looking at about $500 for a repeater set up at best. I guess that's not terrible but it's definitely not as good as I was hoping. I guess these things actually cost that much but damn it seems expensive for a signal amplifier and a coupler antennas.
I'll definitely be contacting Sprint and see what they have to say about the issue (tuning tower, etc etc). Maybe I'll get lucky and Sprint will have some sort of deal on repeaters.
I'm more than willing to hard-wire an antenna from my roof to inside (not to the phone). Hell I already have RG6 run up there for satellite that I'm not even using.
I'm amazed there aren't more players in this field for the home market. I mean there are tons of ones for cars I'm amazed someone hasn't introduced affordable ones for the home.
I don't use the cell as a landline replacement but many people do have my cell number for business calls. Missed calls, dropped calls or choppy conversations aren't a good thing.
The reason I'm not looking at the entry level model is because I have a larger house and 1200 sq feet isn't enough to cover the whole house.
We only use our phone in two rooms so the smaller unit works just fine for us. I guess we're in a minority on this. Phones don:t belong except in a phone room or alcove or in the office no phones in kitchens dens or any other rooms and especially not in bedrooms.
Originally posted by erikk No cell phones in the bedroom? What if there is an emergency? Different folks ...... but I'd say that is the minority.
comma is the same key as period with the red dot.
Thanks for the comma!
The Wilson amp, from the picture, looks like it has an omni antenna, that would be very odd but it would work, just a lot less efficientaly than a directional.
As for our phones, I said we would probably be a minority. But take a look around nowadays, everyone seems to have some type of electronic noise (ipods and other mp3 players) stuck into their heads. I would much prefer to read and plow through many dozens of books a year. I use a pda/phone because I have to and I have it with me at all times but the only people that have my cell number are my wife and a couple of close friends and NO ONE else. I hate phones, they are a necessary evil so I have no intention of bringing them into any other room. Same with TV's.
I called Wilson - they won't have the correct unit for the higher band for another month. If you call them please post the model - I can't remember what it was but it might help people here.
The part from Wilson is 801306 - but they say it is a ways off - 6 weeks. Has anyone found anything else?
BuggyPilot, you mention calling Sprint - they have so many departments and no one seems to know which department to call about this - what department/number should I call?
If you're looking for a repeater you can look where I bought ours. That is http://www.jdtech.com. They have different models for different needs. I wanted just a basic unit that would get a signal in our house in a couple of areas and their lowest priced model does just that and does it well.
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