LTE signal booster on AT&T?

[E Murray]

I live in an area where AT&T has LTE/HSPA but as soon as I pull into my driveway I lose signal. Inside my home its non existent also. 30 steps down the road, LTE works though. Doesn't AT&T have boosters for this, and if so, does anyone have experience with one?

Considering a move to Verizon soon if I cannot figure this out.

I'm on the $60 a month Go plan.

Thanks

 

[B. Diddy]

re: LTE signal booster on AT&T?

I believe AT&T only has a 3G signal booster: AT&T 3G MicroCell - Wireless Signal Booster - Wireless from AT&T. But this should also boost HSPA+, which is reasonably fast. I have the same limitation on T-Mobile with the Cel-Fi booster they sent me.

 

[bearda]

I believe AT&T only has a 3G signal booster: AT&T 3G MicroCell - Wireless Signal Booster - Wireless from AT&T. But this should also boost HSPA+, which is reasonably fast. I have the same limitation on T-Mobile with the Cel-Fi booster they sent me.

I have one of the 3G Microcells and the data speeds are pretty abysmal; nowhere near normal HSPA+ speeds. Normal calls work great though. In truth the data speeds don't matter that much since a wireless access point hooked up to the same network the microcell is hooked into will work a lot better anyway, but be aware that using a Microcell to try to boost a data signal isn't going to work well.

 

[B. Diddy]

I see--thanks for the clarification. I can only speak from my own experience with T-Mobile's signal booster, which does boost HSPA+ (but not LTE).

 

[bearda]

I see--thanks for the clarification. I can only speak from my own experience with T-Mobile's signal booster, which does boost HSPA+ (but not LTE).

The CelFi that T-Mobile offers is a lot different than the Microcell. The CelFi just repeats a signal from a T-Mobile tower so your data speeds should be close to what you'd get connected to the same tower over the same band. All you need is the repeater and a weak T-Mobile signal, though. The Microcell operates completely independently from AT&T towers and pumps everything over an internet connection. On the plus side you can get a strong AT&T signal in the middle of nowhere in the complete absence of any AT&T towers, on the downside it's really built for voice calls because it depends on having an internet connection already.

I had one of the CelFi boosters when I had T-Mobile and couldn't get enough of a signal at the booster to get a reliable connection. It can't turn nothing (or next to nothing) into something. I ended up porting to AT&T which also has less-than-excellent service in my house, but the Microcell completely resolved the issue by severing as my own mini-cell-tower.

 

[Almeuit]

The CelFi that T-Mobile offers is a lot different than the Microcell. The CelFi just repeats a signal from a T-Mobile tower so your data speeds should be close to what you'd get connected to the same tower over the same band. All you need is the repeater and a weak T-Mobile signal, though. The Microcell operates completely independently from AT&T towers and pumps everything over an internet connection. On the plus side you can get a strong AT&T signal in the middle of nowhere in the complete absence of any AT&T towers, on the downside it's really built for voice calls because it depends on having an internet connection already.

I had one of the CelFi boosters when I had T-Mobile and couldn't get enough of a signal at the booster to get a reliable connection. It can't turn nothing (or next to nothing) into something. I ended up porting to AT&T which also has less-than-excellent service in my house, but the Microcell completely resolved the issue by severing as my own mini-cell-tower.

True. Depending on your phone likes / wants T-Mobile has now resolved this with wifi calling.. Turning any Internet connection basically into a microcell.