Verizon Air Card and Booster ? - Montana Owners Club

cdaniels · 09-12-2009, 04:10 PM

We have the new Verizon Air Card on the way. Our cell phone service is very limited in our stick house. Sometimes just 1 bar but can receive calls in and out with the one bar most of the time. Verizon states it will work well as long as we get a signal. I have been reading about MOC members using boosters to help with weak signals. Since this is all new to me what should I purschase to help beef up the signal to get the most speed from the air card. Is there a outside antena or antena for the lap top that I should purschase? I have been dealing with dial up for years and the frustration is not good at times. I am so hopeful this will be like night and day...... Hope it meets my expectations! Any suggestions would be helpful from all you computer experts.

DONnANNIE · 09-12-2009, 05:37 PM

Quote:

quote:cdaniels Posted - Sep 12 2009 : 10:10:43 PM
We have the new Verizon Air Card on the way. Our cell phone service is very limited in our stick house. Sometimes just 1 bar but can receive calls in and out with the one bar most of the time. Verizon states it will work well as long as we get a signal. I have been reading about MOC members using boosters to help with weak signals. Since this is all new to me what should I purchase to help beef up the signal to get the most speed from the air card. Is there a outside antenna or antenna for the lap top that I should purchase? I have been dealing with dial up for years and the frustration is not good at times. I am so hopeful this will be like night and day...... Hope it meets my expectations! Any suggestions would be helpful from all you computer experts.

First of all I am no expert. I hope that your new Air Card has an external antenna connection. If not I suggest you send it back, if you can. You need an Air Card with external antenna connection, an adapter - Air Card to antenna cable or booster cable and an external antenna and a router if you have more than one computer.
If I may suggest you contact Alex at 3Gstore.com (866) 347-8673 Many of us MOCers have purchased Air Cards, routers, antennas & boosters from 3Gstore. Reasonable prices, very good technical support. As for speed, compared to dial-up its great. I have had Air Card, router and Wilson antenna. I use it at home and on the road and I get an average of 800 KB download and 300 KB upload. I'm restricted to 5GB per month download. I average 3-4GB per month. Hope this helps.

dsprik · 09-13-2009, 05:53 AM

Alex is a great source of info and help. Another source for power boosting would be Wilson Electronics (Wilson Electronics Home Setup).

Get ready to let loose of your wallet, though. However, these systems are effective and I am looking into them for both my home and my Montana.

*On Edit~ I see that 3G (Alex) is also a dealer for Wilson Electronics. He would be the best source of info. The rough $$$ estimate for my setup is $600 for the amplifier, $70 for the external antenna, $100 for internal antenna (wireless so both my wife and I have signal), and about $50-$100 for cables/connectors. So basically it will run just a little under $1,000.00 for what I was thinking of...

sreigle · 09-13-2009, 01:18 PM

I'm not an expert either but we use Verizon aircard/expresscard with a 3-watt booster and have had usable service in a park in Connecticut where the owner told us forget trying to get a cell signal. Our phone is Cingular and had just one bar (and only sometimes). The aircard is Verizon but we don't have a Verizon phone so can't tell you how many bars on that.

Later we bought an external antenna for even better signal but we've only used it in one location and I'm not sure it was really needed there.

simonsrf · 09-13-2009, 01:49 PM

We also have the 3-watt booster connected to our aircard and an antenna. We do lots of boondocking, and like right now, we are 50 miles from a town, but we have internet.

My suggestion is to call Alex; he will be able to set you up properly.

dsprik · 09-13-2009, 07:33 PM

My problem is not internet. We have great cable internet connected to our wireless systems in our house and our winter CG. Our problem is an aggravating fringe voice service on our cells while at home. We are 100% wireless and after 7 years, I do not want to go back to a landline...

Alex Sian · 09-14-2009, 03:08 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by dsprik

My problem is not internet. We have great cable internet connected to our wireless systems in our house and our winter CG. Our problem is an aggravating fringe voice service on our cells while at home. We are 100% wireless and after 7 years, I do not want to go back to a landline...

i'm sure you've considered a voip service? if not, you may want to check out ooma

dsprik · 09-14-2009, 10:25 AM

Thanks, Alex. My only drawback is that I really want to enhance my cell phones range at home. I really don't want to replace the cells and have another phone number that everyone would have to be notified of. I'm just not sure...

Is it possible to utilize the external antenna and go straight to the internal dome antenna w/o having the amp in between? If so, that might be enough to make my life a little better.

H. John Kohl · 09-14-2009, 02:19 PM

I have Verizon Air Card and AT&T Cell phone (daughters plan). We had the same problem. Cell phone in one area only (X marks the spot) and very low or no Air Card coverage.

I purchased a Cell repeater from Alex (3G Store).

1. I have a 27 foot tower next to the house and a 15 foot mast extended from the top of the tower. (it was free) These items are available at little cost. I mounted the Wilson trucker cell antenna on the top of the mast.
2. I purchased an extra 20' of low loss cable (not cheap) to extend the outside antenna into the house.
3. I connected to the purchased repeater.
4. I purchased 20' of cheaper cable ( more loss) to connect the repeater to the inside house antenna.
5. my total cost around $600.

Yes it has helped my signal strength for the Cell Phone greatly. We can now use it around the house.

(Note: If you are have Verizon CELL phone, they have a device that may help increase house phone coverage. (Don't know cost.)

The Verizon air card works better most the time but I still have some intermittent drop outs. Verizon says yes you are in a marginal area. So this was not a perfect fix but 85% better. Still frustrating when I loose connection.

If this system is not done correctly it can cause interference to cell towers. If it does cause interference you will be visited by one of their technicians.

Critical items: outside antenna height is very important. Higher the better. Outside antenna and inside antenna must be separated by at least 30 feet.

This configuration does not require an outside antenna on the air card.

I do have an air card with outside antenna and have use the outside antenna many times in MONTY.

Link to photos of home setup.

Alex Sian · 09-14-2009, 02:24 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by dsprik

Thanks, Alex. My only drawback is that I really want to enhance my cell phones range at home. I really don't want to replace the cells and have another phone number that everyone would have to be notified of. I'm just not sure...
Is it possible to utilize the external antenna and go straight to the internal dome antenna w/o having the amp in between? If so, that might be enough to make my life a little better.

first of all, i never recommend the wilson dome antenna to anyone. the 301135 panel antenna is a much better option.

in any case, you can't use an external antenna attached direct to an indoor antenna with a powered amp/repeater in between.

before i could recommend a repeater system, i'd ask you to confirm that good signal is available where you'd locate the receiving antenna. this article explains how to do a 'local site survey'

dsprik · 09-14-2009, 06:14 PM

Thanks, Alex! The flat panel was only $20 or so more, so that would be what I would do. I have a Moto VE20. I typed in "##33284 " and then a security code screen popped up. I entered "000000" (from experience) and it gave me a "Debug Menu" with only "1. Location" and "2. MMS".

I did type the "##*" and "##343284# " shown in the other two Moto examples and I got nothing form those inputs. There must be another code for my Vegas 20 phone that will allow me to get to the screen that gives the signal strength indicated in your pdf.

*On Edit~ when sitting in my house, people on the other end complain that I amd fading in and out. If I step outside in my front yard I am fine...

sailer · 09-15-2009, 03:51 AM

If you ordered a computer with a built in verizon air card , there is no port to plug in a antenna,,,i did and they said it would work, it didn't and it went back.. in wis we have a antenna on top of a a frame type roof anf the mast is 30' above that with a heavy plastic antenna as big as your thumb and is 4' long ,, i use a 3 watt booster and the siginal is slow at best.. i have 80' of very heavy cable as big as your thumb as wilson told me that is the best but we are near a pines woods and 2 far from the signal to be fast .. the cell phones work on 1 bar but the computer takes more to get any speed . i had dell and verizon on the phone and verizon laughed at dell for telling us it would work . i put it all in the box and back it went . i am waiting for the new computer to come but woll wait till jan so the bugs are out of it ,,,,sailer

simonsrf · 09-15-2009, 05:37 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by sailer

If you ordered a computer with a built in verizon air card , there is no port to plug in a antenna,,,i did and they said it would work, it didn't and it went back.. in wis we have a antenna on top of a a frame type roof anf the mast is 30' above that with a heavy plastic antenna as big as your thumb and is 4' long ,, i use a 3 watt booster and the siginal is slow at best.. i have 80' of very heavy cable as big as your thumb as wilson told me that is the best but we are near a pines woods and 2 far from the signal to be fast .. the cell phones work on 1 bar but the computer takes more to get any speed . i had dell and verizon on the phone and verizon laughed at dell for telling us it would work . i put it all in the box and back it went . i am waiting for the new computer to come but woll wait till jan so the bugs are out of it ,,,,sailer

One more reason to find a different computer supplier....

Alex Sian · 09-15-2009, 07:59 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by dsprik

...I have a Moto VE20. ...There must be another code for my Vegas 20 phone that will allow me to get to the screen that gives the signal strength indicated in your pdf.

maybe this info i found helps:
http://www.howardforums.com/showpost...2&postcount=32

cdaniels · 09-15-2009, 03:51 PM

Got the verizon broadband today and installed it. I am crossing my fingers as it is working well. I did call Alex and got infro on how to test speeds etc before he could recomend adding boosters etc. but if it continues to work like this I am satisfied. It is only showing 2 bars but is pretty fast but then again I am only comparing to dial up! We also are in a wooded area.

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