Poor signal in your home? Free signal boost! Read!

fofjjsr

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Aug 18, 2011
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So when I got my Epic Touch, I loved it. Even in the building at work it got decent signal (2 to 3 bars). However at home, it was 1 bar, roaming and very poor data signal that barely worked most of the time. So I called Sprint after reading maybe my phone was not programmed properly. They went through all the steps on the phone and on their end to make sure everything was good. Still no improvements. I explained to them I was getting txt messages sometimes hours after people sent them to me, and missing calls completely. Here is what was suggested next.

The gentleman from tech support suggest a signal booster. Of course my first question was how much? $125 he said. I explained to him how I didn't have the money to be spending on such things so close to Christmas, especially something to make sure my phone received a signal that it should already be receiving in my opinion.

So, he told me next was that they did have a program that if I met certain qualifications I could received it free of charge. Here are the qualifications.

1) Poor signal in home
2) Broadband internet service

A few others as well, but minor. He said I met all of the qualifications and all I had to do was talk to his supervisor and answer a few more questions. I spoke to the supervisor for all of 20 seconds with her asking the same questions, and boom I was done. 5 days later I received the booster via UPS. Now I get 4 to 5 bars constantly, no missed calls and good data connection. It was literally that easy. Just thought I would share this with people who might want a better connection at home.
 
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Gator352

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It should be called an airave. Sprint offers it to people with crappy signal in thier home and is offered mostly free of charge. Been around for awhile now.

Thanks for the info though!
 

fofjjsr

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It should be called an airave. Sprint offers it to people with crappy signal in thier home and is offered mostly free of charge. Been around for awhile now.

Thanks for the info though!

Yes it is called the Airave. I Just thought I would put the info out there, since it doesn't seem to have info widely available. Especially about it being available free of charge. I know I had no idea, until I called and they offered it to me. :D
 

MannyZ28

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Yeah the trick is that your house is located in an area that is considered "good" on their coverage map. If you live in a roaming area they probably won't give it to you. It's a nifty little thing, but within your own house, depending on where you locate the device you might lose signal too. Also, it's not recommended leaving your house in your car when you're on a call you started from within your house since the phone can't switch fast enough from airave signal to pick up a tower.

All in all, it works well, just have to keep those little caveats in mind.

Thanks for sharing with the people that didn't know.
 

MannyZ28

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thank you I just got off the phone with sprint and I'll be receiving an airave soon completely free! :)

Enjoy. Setup is easy. Plug it in and wait. It might take a while. Also, you know it's working when you see increased bars and also, when you make a call, you should hear a little beeping noise when the phone call is first placed.
 

sfhub

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It's NOT a big deal, but it isn't completely free as you pay

1) adminstrative surcharge, probably $1.50/mo
2) electricity, probably $1-$2/mo

So I would estimate it costs you $36/yr on top of your service fees to workaround Sprint's issues.
 

Gator352

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I'm glad sprint is still offering this for free to people. It's one of the only things that's still free anymore! Glad it's working for you guys though and Merry Christmas!
 

HeavemyTreo

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I have had a Airave for about 2 years. I had a problem with antenna access to the sky because I live in a condo and my office window does not have sky access because of the hallway overhang. If you can't get a GPS signal your Airave won't work. I found if I pulled the antenna wire out the window and across the hallway far enough to get sky view it would work. It takes about 5 minutes to lock on to a satelite, but as soon as I get the GPS lock, then the Airave works. If I pull the antenna back into my house and shut the window the Airave continues to work. If I lose power or unplug the Airave for any reason I have to repeat the process. Hope this helps someone, just like someone helped me with this problem.

One more thing, when I am in my office in the back of the condo and then walk to the end of my unit I start to get crappy low service (less than 1 bar), if I walk back to my office I find the Airave will not relink until I am off the call. As soon as I am off the call the bars go back to 5 bars :).
 

voidcomp

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Unless your signal is so poor that it affects voice why would you need one if the internet connection is ok? Voip options are available.
 

k1dude

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I have an Airave and I'm not impressed. It constantly needs to be reset. It might last a day or 2 and then reset time.

Even when it's working it performs poorly. I can be standing 3 feet away from it and only get 3 bars out of 5. If you get more than 20 feet away, forget it. You won't get any benefit from having one. Right now I'm about 25 feet away from it and I only have 1 bar out of 5. That's what I used to get without the device.

I also don't believe it gives you a 4g signal, only 3g.
 

sko580

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Yes, I the Airrave is only for 3G.

As for the cost, Sprint had waived the monthly fee. They issued the device when the local tower was down for a month and damaged by a powerful storm during the spring. They did tell me I needed to returned it when and if I canceled my plan, otherwise they would charge me $150 for the device. I decided to keep the Airrave and now have it at my weekend home in the Catskill region of NY. Since Sprint does not cover the specific area where my home is and they recently put a cap on roaming, now I can use my phone without worrying about usage issues.

For those with performance issues with the device, you can adjust the power levels via your online account. You would click on "manage device" and from there you can set the power level from low to high. You can also restrict specific phone numbers that can use the Airrave, otherwise you will be sharing the Airrave that is within coverage of the device.
 
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