FYI: The Cel-Fi signal booster's 4G is NOT LTE.....

[LeoRex]

OK... this isn't a complaint as much as it is a heads up...

The coverage inside my house has been spotty since I moved to T-Mobile.... I called up T-Mobile and they were pretty cool about the whole thing and I was quickly transferred to a tech who arranged to send out a signal booster. Got it delivered within a week, free of charge. Thanks T-Mobile!

Comes in two pieces, a base unit that you put where you get the best signal and a transmitter that you stick somewhere else and it acts as your new 'tower'.... Hooked it up, got a good, strong signal on the base unit and when I put the transmitter online, my signal went from next to nothing to a full bars.... really strong. But the best I got was H/H+.... No LTE even though I do get a (weak) LTE signal to start with.

Well, long story short, I actually looked up the Cel-Fi booster online and it does not support LTE, only H+... Now, granted, a good strong H+ signal isn't exactly slow, by any means, but in case anyone else ends up getting one of these boosters, keep in mind that you won't get LTE through it. Not that it matters... I mean, a strong H+ signal is obviously better than, well, nothing.

 

[Closingracer]

It's for people who don't have a cell phone signal at all so this way it boosts the signal so you can get service mainly for calls or texts

Qualcomm supposedly made a inexpensive chip that goes in routers or something that will work as mini radios or something that will work with LTE. I read this article on Engadget or maybe technobuffalo

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

 

[Almeuit]

Yeah.. It won't boost LTE. .

Sent from my T-Mobile Note 3 using AC Forums.

 

[LeoRex]

Yeah. It's not that big a deal to be honest with you. I'm more interested in the phone signal at that point since I have my wi-fi. It had such a weak signal that it's attempts to keep connected to the tower was causing a modest battery drain. So now my phone works AND it doesn't contribute to wasting that charge away... win/win.

But a strong LTE connection with T-Mobile hauls... I get a little bit better throughput than my Wi-Fi.... was getting a little greedy I guess.

Still, kudos to T-Mobile for sending out the unit free of charge... No shipping, no fee added on to my account. Sure, I have to give it back if I leave T-M or don't need it (obviously).

 

[Joseph Schmelzer]

Hi there,

Disclosure: I work for the company that makes Cel-Fi.

The newer product you should be getting from T-Mobile now absolutely DOES support LTE. So, please make sure you're connecting the right (online or ?) product info to your actual unit. (Our previous generation did not support LTE: is it possible that's what you have?)

The above notwithstanding, there are a variety of network conditions, both outside and inside your space, that effect how the Cel-Fi system works, what signals are boosted (LTE vs HSPA+) etc.

I hope you have a great experience, and thanks for the review!

Joe

 

[raptir]

Joseph: This thread is from six months ago, before the new LTE Cel-Fi was available.

 

[Joseph Schmelzer]

Yes, but coming up in searches today.