Im on t-mobile and O2 have recently switched on a new mast within a couple of hundred meters of my house (and office). As a result my t-mobile reception has gone from v.good to almost non-existent (4-5 bars to 0-1 if I am lucky).
I have spoken to t-mobile and they have basically said "Unlucky".
In looking for possible solutions Ive stumbled across these little booster sticker things:
http://www.gadgetsuk.com/Mobile-phone-signal-booster-p-16851.html
Has anyone ever used one and did it make a difference ?
I dont really want to buy/place a powered signal booster in my house but it maybe my only option (contracted for another 10months) :/
Id wait considering I think T-Mobile are using O2s equipment to provide their network. Wouldnt be surprised if all of a sudden your phone works brilliantly.
Would imagine a sticker would do bugger all.
And...
ROFLMAO
Quoteow It Works: Like a satellite dish, The Signal Booster captures stray static electricity around your phone and focuses it back to the signal, dramatically improving reception. Installs in seconds underneath your battery (so no one will even know its there). Works with ALL Mobile Phones: Works with ALL Mobile phones including digital, analog and tri-band phones. Also improves performance of pagers, cordless phones and two-way radios.
Instead... as you are at home. Use a car kit :)
I might get one of those stickers for one of my routers.. Might get a couple my range would increase loads!!!!! Might stick one on my TV too, should be able to pick up satellite tv!!! :roll:
I think those sticker things have been proven to not work.
I remember a thread on this forum about these very same stickers, guess what, its a sticker.
Placebo at best.
For all the people knocking it (and Im not saying these actually work well) the principle of putting a conducting sticker near an antenna is actually pretty sound.
Its like having a bigger aerial.
Plug a portable aeriel into your tv and walk around with a sheet of tin foil nearby. Watch the signal get better. Hell, even just put your arm near the aerial and it should get slightly better since your arm conducts slightly with such a high water content.
If it made a noticeable difference the phone makers would have them in the phones themselves. But the idea itself isnt totally absurd.
Im fairly certain my signal is not going to improve. I get the feeling that the mast went live ~3 months ago, as thats when my signal went through the floor; perhaps its not an O2 mast ?
Ive ordered one of those sticker things anyway, crap or not Im now intrigued enough to have a go :)
This was bugging me...
In theory a conductive sticker should work like they say and it should make the signal better. I couldnt get my head around why manufacturers dont just include them as standard because it seems it should help. After a bit of thought I worked out why.
A sticker underthe battery will not help in any way. the battery itself is full of metal and conductive liquids. Putting a thin film of conductive material near it will make no difference.
Then I wondered why they didnt put the sticker/conductive bit on the outside (i.e. away from the battery). If you do that you block the signal from getting in/out of the aeriel in the first place as the sticker would absorb some of the signal.
In short, if you put the sticker on the outside of the phone itll block the waves getting into the antenna and reduce the signal you get. If you put it near the battery itll do absolutely nothing.
lol. happy days :/
Well thatll be a wasted nugget then.
Although that might mean that as the antenna on my phone is partly visible on the back, if I stick the thingy on the battery below the antenna it might do something ?!
ahh, well see. I can peel it off when it doesnt work :)
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antenna_(radio)
QuoteAntennas designed specifically for reception might be optimized for noise rejection capabilities. An "antenna shield" is a conductive or low reluctance structure (such as a wire, plate or grid) which is adapted to be placed in the vicinity of an antenna to reduce, as by dissipation through a resistance or by conduction to ground, undesired electromagnetic radiation, or electric or magnetic fields, which are directed toward the active antenna from an external source or which emanate from the active antenna.
Does that mean that a "sticker" would reduce the transmitting signal ?
They had these on mythbusters for a mobile phone thing and it did show the signal being worse not better
Quote from: neXusThey had these on mythbusters for a mobile phone thing and it did show the signal being worse not better
now you mention it.... I remmber that too !
yeah, they suck :(
(sorry for posting after you bought one!)
well in my case it cannot make anything worse, after all whats worse than no reception ? Unless I suddenly create some sort of blackhole that begins absorbing all the signals from around the world :o
Just spoke to friend of mine and he has one of those in his phone, that he did notice was when working in a garage ( way out in the woods) there he spends much evning time, that the phone never cuts out as it did before but it is still only one marker for reception.
One wonder though why it is not there from the beginning,
maybe it increases radiation or decreases Tx.
Perhaps the cutting out was something to do with interference the phone was generating or similar, and the sticker, whilst not boosting signal, managed somehow to prevent the interference from interfering?
Ok, I received the sticker thingy a couple of days ago and I thought I would use it for a while before posting...
It appears to make some difference. I cannot explain why but I now get a consistant 1 (sometimes 2) bar of signal as opposed to the 0-1 I was getting before. It has also improved my 3G reception.
So, either T-mobile have uped the gain on my local mast at the sametime I fitted it or it does actually work :o
IIRC its supposed to reflect signal back towards the aerial giving it a bit more signal reception. TBH silver paper might work just as well. If the two transmitters are in different directions then try papering the walls nearest the one you dont want with aluminium foil.
Quote from: SeriousTBH silver paper might work just as well. If the two transmitters are in different directions then try papering the walls nearest the one you dont want with aluminium foil.
Erm, seriously ? Youre definitely not into interior design in anyway are you ;)
I just watched "Click" on the BBC and they had a film about a new bit of kit called a Femtocell. You plug it into your router and it provides a 3G signal around your house. Apparently several operators in the US and Europe are looking to give them to their users for free along with free calls on your mobile when using it indoors.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/7098257.stm
http://www.ubiquisys.com/ubiquisys3/index.php
Quote from: NimrodQuote from: SeriousTBH silver paper might work just as well. If the two transmitters are in different directions then try papering the walls nearest the one you dont want with aluminium foil.
Erm, seriously ? Youre definitely not into interior design in anyway are you ;)
Surprisingly not my idea, it was on an episode of click on the beeb.
Quote from: M3ta7h3adId wait considering I think T-Mobile are using O2s equipment to provide their network. Wouldnt be surprised if all of a sudden your phone works brilliantly.
No T-Mobile have their own equipment.
Three will falls back to O2 thou..... and Virgin == T-Mobile (apart from Virgin have their own billing system)
Quote from: NimrodIm fairly certain my signal is not going to improve. I get the feeling that the mast went live ~3 months ago, as thats when my signal went through the floor; perhaps its not an O2 mast ?
Quite possible, the O2 mast will be swamping the frequency range. (Since all UK operators operate within the same band)
Quote from: cornetQuote from: M3ta7h3adId wait considering I think T-Mobile are using O2s equipment to provide their network. Wouldnt be surprised if all of a sudden your phone works brilliantly.
No T-Mobile have their own equipment.
Three will falls back to O2 thou..... and Virgin == T-Mobile (apart from Virgin have their own billing system)
Which are the phone companies currently renting/leasing equipment from O2? as BT Cellnet pretty much owned everything in the past, and Ive heard that a lot of the others actually use their equipment, and masts.
Quote from: M3ta7h3adWhich are the phone companies currently renting/leasing equipment from O2? as BT Cellnet pretty much owned everything in the past, and Ive heard that a lot of the others actually use their equipment, and masts.
Well BT Mobile a Virtual Operator of Vodafone. (just to add the the confusion)
Many Virtual Operators (Virgin, Fresh) use T-Mobile although Tesco use O2.
Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Orange and Three all have their own masts (Although Three will use some of O2s masts when 3G is out of range)
W.R.T to my previous comment about Frequency then I remembered today that Orange and T-Mobile are on a higher frequency range (1800MHz) Vodafone & O2 (which are 900MHz). This is also the reason why O2 and Voda have better coverage.