I switched from a verizon cell phone to the iphone 4 and at&t. Coverage in my area, Sedona, AZ is not that good with at&t. In my house I was getting 1-2 bars and a few dropped calls with my new phone. When I went up on the roof, I discovered that I could get 5 bars on my phone. So I bought the Wilson unit and installed it as per their clear instructions, putting the antenna on the roof and the amplifier in my living room. It raised my bars in the house to 4-5 bars. Calls are clear and strong now. Very happy.
Important point: what you need to understand is that this unit will only amplify an existing cell signal. It cannot amplify a non-existent signal. In other words, you have to find a place in your house, probably on the roof, where you get good strong cell reception. Then the unit will bring that strong signal into your house. The unit cannot create a signal where none exists. Wilson Electronics 801247 Desktop (DT) Cell Phone Signal Booster for Home or Office - For Multiple Users
Was easy to setup, the instructions were fine. We are in a problem area for reception, most phones don't get reception and those that do only get 1 bar in certain very limited, specific and awkward locations. The only method I have of locating the direction of a cell tower is moving the antenna around. The short answer is - no matter where I put the device & antenna I got no improvement. My phone got no bars before or after using. I returned the device to Amazon without any hassle.
I researched this and the competition and it seemed like this product had the best reviews (as well as the best price) so I dove in head first and bought it. I hoped the 30 day money back guarantee wouldn't be too much of a pain if I needed to use it. Well, the good - no great news is that this product works fantastically. My wife likes to chat on the phone in the basement and since switching service to T-Mobile that has been totally impossible (it was hit-or-miss with AT&T). I followed the directions as they are listed and placed the outdoor antena outside on the side of my house and routed the cable down to my basement to where the repeater would live. I plugged everything in and went from having zero bars in the basement and 2-3 in the rest of the house to having 3-4 bars throughout the house (2 story + basement Cape Cod ~ 1300sqft w/ aluminum siding). The place where I put the outdoor antena was showing 2-3 bars which was the best I was getting. Now we aren't dropping calls or "fading in and out" on our calls. I couldn't recommend this product more. Best of all I'm not getting knocked over the head by my wife anymore about not being able to chat up her friends while she's doing the laundry, etc. Marriage saver? Maybe...
Does it work? Yes. Does it work as advertised - yes. I can count on one bar in the house without the Wilson, using the Wilson, as advertised, I get 5 bars. The key is AS advertised........ this is not going to be used any other way. The location of the recieving antenna and the transmitting antenna is CRITICAL! You need to be fairly close to the recieving end of this and everything pretty much needs to flow in one direction.
You need to know which general direction the cell tower is and where in the house you want to use the reciever for the cell phone. If for instance you place the transmitting antenna on the north end of the house facing south the system will not work. The recieving antenna will be in the wrong place. Its a very good system if you install it the way it HAS to be installed. Understand that the recieving antenna for the cell phone and the transmitting antenna for the cell tower by neccessity use the same frequency (the cell phone frequencies).
I will also add that I have used a Verizon signal and an AT&T signal at the same time and it worked beautifully. Worth the money if you get it installed as designed.
Larry
First off we live on top of a mountain and in our small town 4 miles below we have one cell tower which is not even my carrier's cell tower I had to extend my range to find a Verizon tower and with the help of this site [...] I was able to pin point the exact area of were a Verizon tower was then I used a another app from my Droid phone to get the general area where I needed to point my antenna. Another thing is sense we live so far up we are above the towers so I have to place the outside antenna low instead of up high.
When I had a regular cell phone you could get maybe two bars but it would be in out. Once I got my Droid smart phone it was even more iffy sometimes no service at all.
I ordered the Wilson Electronics 801247 SIGNALBOOST DT
My first impression was there is no way this thing is going to help. The included outside antenna felt just like an empty plastic box it was nothing like most of Wilson's other antennas. Wilson has done away with the attached pop up inside antenna it is now a separated antenna that has to be placed 24 inches from the amplifier.
I hook everything up as indicated in the manual very simple to figure out. The hardest thing is finding a place to put the outside antenna box with guessing where the nearest cell towers is and meeting Wilson distance requirements and trust me this will be your biggest hurdle.
Once all that is figure out and everything is power up it takes the Amplifier and your phone about 5 mins to adjust to the incoming single.
I went from bouncing one to two bars to solid 3G on my smart phone no bouncing back in forth just a steady 3G. On my PC Card it went straight to full single for Boardband.
Wilson is a solid company and has been making antennas for a long time and they have great tech support plus they even back up your purchase with a no questions ask 30 day returns. So in all Wilson knows there stuff and stands behind it. Another note the kit comes with 1-30ft cable and 1-20ft cable all white color cable and unless your house is white it will stick out so what I did was used some Krylon Fusion paint for Plastic and painted my cable brown sense my house is brown. - Signal Booster - Amplifier - Antennas - Wilson'
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