Mobile phone signal booster / aerial ?

[joidevie]

Hello..

I was wondering if anyone knew of any type of device which could improve reception on my Leclerc SIM signal.. Currently it's patchy in the village but hoped there could be some form of aerial/dish/booster I could rig up to help. I believe Leclerc uses SFR and my handset is a decent Sony ..

Or are these things a waste of time?

Many thanks.

[tonyinfrance]

Not sure if it helps but in UK the booster you need is provided by the network operator - it's called a femtocell (effectively a miniature base station in your own house).  It's a fairly new technology and not all operators have it yet but it might be worth checking with SFR........

Cheers

[joidevie]

Thanks Tony.. I'll have a sniff around..

I've also seen these little micro circuits you can stick in your battery compartment which claim to give you a bar or two more signal, but I'm not convinced, though at £1 a go must be worth a try..

[AnOther]

I know it's only £1 but if you want to waste one drop it in the street for a child to find, it will do more good than putting one of those ridiculous antenna 'booster' devices in you phone !!!

Any genuine booster will rely on decent reception in the first place (10x nothing still equals nothing) so to do anything meaningful you will definitely have to arrange for some sort of external antenna.

I had a similar problem at my last house in UK, stood by a front window with the wind blowing in the right direction I could just about pick up a Vodaphone signal and similarly by a back window a sniff of O2, move a couple of foot away from either and zilch.

As a solution I erected a proper yagi antenna outside on the back of the house and bought in Germany a coupler for a spare Nokia 8210 I had. This connected to the coax from the antenna and with the Nokia placed into it gave me a good usable signal. I was of course tied to the spot, or at least within the range of the spare cable which was not much.

Google mobile phone antenna coupler to see what might be available for your particular phone.

 

[joidevie]

Great tip..

Would you know if i need just a coupler like this or an additional cradle as well?

Many thanks... This could be very helpful indeed

[AnOther]

You just need the coupler which suits your particular phone and which can be coupled to an antenna.

Edit: I note the one you indicate seems to be for use with a mobile mount so may not be suitable on it's own.

[joidevie]

Thanks.. And a "mobile mount" is what exactly? The lead/unit seems to clip onto the back of a handset with a coax cable running from it - does this then not in turn hook up to a suitable aerial?

And regarding positioning the aerial itself - do we locate the nearest mast and go from there or is there a much more scientific approach..?

Many thanks again..

[AnOther]

A mobile mount would be for sticking the phone to a car window like a Sat Nav. If the coupler does fit directly onto the phone then you wouldn't need that.

If you get an antenna and know which direction the nearest phone mast is then just point it that way, if you don't then slowly rotating it until you pick up the signal on the phone then maximising it should be quite easy.

[joidevie]

Thanks very much.. I think this may be the one to try..

Is a "Yagi" antenna the only one to try, or will a TV aerial have an effect? There seem to be different Yagi aerials around, from modem one to things to have you spotted from miles around! Or even a GSM car aerial? What are the specs to look for.. Mhz, db etc..

Cheers..