Boosting the Cellular Signal, Inside?

Ryan Black asks: "I live in a suburban area where cellular signal strength is not what it should be. I am a Verizon customer, and while they have been courteous in addressing the issue, they have not been able to fix the situation. Is it possible to create a sort of cellular repeater to attach to the roof of my house? The signal outside is acceptable, it just cannot penetrate the walls of the building."

get an antenna outside

[KarlH420]

On my cell there is an antenna connector on the back. I hook up to it while in my car. It considerably improves the signal. I've tried the antenna inside, and it also works well. You should be able to purcase an antenna accessory for your phone.

gsm

[Zephy]

I don't know if it'll work with your cdma style phones over there, but here in the uk some mobile operators will install repeaters for you (we in our offices use o2/cellnet for our mobile services, and since inside our building has poor reception , they installed a repeater ). I think it is fairly expensive though, but effective ( i get full signal strength inside a building that is essentially a block for most other networks' signal.

Spotwave's SpotCell

[mTor]

Spotwave [spotwave.com] has a product called SpotCell and we use it at a building where I work. We had an absolutely awful cell coverage because our offices are really high up. After they installed one of the SpotCell devices, cell phones actually started to work again.

Ask them for a demo!

Check the FAQ... here's a part relevant to your question:

I work in an office building where my cell phone coverage in certain areas, including my office, is non-existent or spotty at best. How can I improve my coverage?

The requirement for reliable, always-on cell phone coverage within the office environment is increasing dramatically. It is not unusual to encounter trouble spots within a building where cell phone signals are weak or non-existent. SpotCell provides affordable and clear coverage to those trouble spots. The unit can be easily deployed and provides a coverage range of 15,000 to 50,000 square feet (2,000 to 4,600 square metres). Multiple units can be easily deployed to cover office areas and working locations. SpotCell can be deployed even without access to the roof or outside.

I suppose this is the non-technical way, but

[cinder_bdt]

I had the same problem. I switched to the "America's Choice" plan, which is a bunch of roaming agreements with other carriers, and now I don't have low signal strength in my house. Apparently I'm close enough to someone else's cell site that I'm "roaming" in my house. My bill actually went down, too.