off-grid cell reception

[supermanotorious]

So you know we have a cabin at Stoneman Lake, AZ, we're all on Verizon and have poor signal up there. I contacted Verizon to figure out how to get better signal but they weren't much help. Stoneman Lake is off the grid, there are no services, no cable, no internet, no phone. Water comes from a well, waste goes to septic, heat comes from tanked in natural gas or wood we cut and split. Verizon has a range booster which requires cable or DSL internet. Not an option up there. What have you guys figured out for better cell service in remote areas? My dad will be staying up there full time soon so we need to be sure he has a good signal.

Is there a device that can boost nearby signals and re-broadcast them? I could care less what the FCC thinks about it, I need it!

 

[J_Walker]

So you know we have a cabin at Stoneman Lake, AZ, we're all on Verizon and have poor signal up there. I contacted Verizon to figure out how to get better signal but they weren't much help. Stoneman Lake is off the grid, there are no services, no cable, no internet, no phone. Water comes from a well, waste goes to septic, heat comes from tanked in natural gas or wood we cut and split. Verizon has a range booster which requires cable or DSL internet. Not an option up there. What have you guys figured out for better cell service in remote areas? My dad will be staying up there full time soon so we need to be sure he has a good signal.

Is there a device that can boost nearby signals and re-broadcast them? I could care less what the FCC thinks about it, I need it!

Do you get ANY signal up there? or is it just weak?

if you can get a weak signal, you can indeed buy a large dish that picks up the weak signal and amplifies it, sends it down a wire into the building, and like a wifi router, rebroadcast it for inside the house. then the out going signal gets bounced back from your dish back to the nearest radio tower. you can even tweak the dish angle to aim it directly at the radio tower.

 

[supermanotorious]

we get 0-1 bars sometimes

 

[itsid]

Several options actually..

first the MacGyver version.. a big water bottle
filled with tapwater ( 1.5 gallon should do)
sounds stupid?.. indeed it does, but water (due to it's density) can focus radiowaves as good as it focuses sunlight.

lay the cellphone in the focal point of the bottle and you should have a better signal;
you can't run around with your phone on your ear, but at least you can have a reliable text message

A more sophisticated and less random tech solution would be to figure out the wavelength of the signal you need.

You can then buy or even BUILD a GSM amplifier for that specific wavelength;
within it's range (probably a good 100 ft or so) you can then have a nice and solid signal
(good for making actual phone calls)
if buying is your preferred way of solving this issue...
I think the "Nikrans MA-150C" should do the trick.. (~200 bucks I guess)

A custom taylored antenna will help as well (again knowing the wavelength is important to cut the antenna to size) to improve it even further.

The last option I know is using an old cellphone (the older the better.. best old car mounted phones) those have a much much stronger build in (8Watts compared to the max 2Watts a typical cell phone has [which nowadays can throttle down to less than 0.3 watts])
for a cabin, that's okay (treated as a land line) it's no pocket communication device like todays smartphones of course.

So.. most convenient, the GSM amplifier;
since everybody can just use his phone as usual within it's range.
No need for signal rerouting or fancy codes at all;
it'll be the strongest antenna and acts as a repeater (and your cellphone already knows how to treat it properly )

'sid

 

[chancer]

Man other than the safety concerns of your Dad staying there full time, sounds like the perfect place.
"off the grid, there are no services, no cable, no internet, no phone."

 

[supermanotorious]

Thanks guys, and yeah he loves that off-grid aspect that he's disconnected from the modern world but we want him connected for safety and personal reasons, plus I want a darn decent signal when I'm visiting, I don't have time to unplug, not with young kids that are not always with me up there plus my business, I need to be in the know! When I don't want to be contacted (which usually happens when I'm fabricating) I turn my iphone off or turn on airplane mode. I wish others would too rather than getting pissy that calls and texts are coming in.