Improving signal strength for Optus mobile hotspot

[T1 Terry]

I was reading about some device that you can plug an aerial into that will improve the data signal part of the mobile phone, Android in our case. Problem is, the computer decided it was a good time to do an update and closed all the sites I had open before I could save them.
So, anyone clued up on this stuff? Anyone using these things that can give me an idea if they really do work or are just snake oil type products.

T1 Terry

[Vik351]

Me thinks if it wasnt snake oil, woulda been on the grape vine yonks ago ...!!!


vik...

[bagmaker]

Grab a carbon fibre telescopic fishing pole from aliexpress, tape the phone to it in a ziplock bag. Fit appendage to side of rig. Voila.

[Grandad]

Off topic Terry, but if you use Chrome as your browser you can set it's startup instruction as "Continue where you left off"
In that way, if it closes unexpectedly it reopens whatever tabs you had open when it closed.

Jim

[Busman]

Telstra has one that reportedly is very good, but at $700 for device and the same for installation I will continue to stand on one leg in the one position in the house where the phone works to take cell calls !

[BruceS]

Terry I think you probably can do something to improve reception in places that might 'drop out' but I'm not sure you'll improve data rates as in download speed.
Most times it's simply a tower that is over subscribed and until the company increases either the feed in capacity or install another in/out transmitter on the tower not much can help.

[T1 Terry]

I found the site I was reading before, should have thought to look in browser history eh https://boostersformobiles.com.au/blogs ... out-signal
Anyone dealt with these people? Any success?

[Noggins]

Their sales script says it won't improve your reception, only the send / receive speed.
It's a dual pole system that receives on one antenna and sends on the other.

I use a 6DB gain aerial attached to the wind up TV mast and connect that to a Telstra Elite Modem , then WiFi the phone to that for better reception. The phone is then using V.O.I.P for calling etc.

I had switched over to Optus just after Christmas as they were offering a good deal on phone and data.
The phone was a Huawei nova 3i . Big phone, so good screen size.
Then a few months later I took a trip from Mandurah WA to FTGully Vic.
Optus service along the way was a disaster , my old Telstra Elite that I use for data etc out performed the Optus service hands down.
The phone made mystery calls by its self to people that were not in my contacts but had called me , sometimes a month ago !
Then when talking to WA it was like I was talking under water , as well as a few crossed connections thrown in for good measure.

I went to Optus to make a complaint and to cancell their service , no matter what it cost, I ended up with a "return authority" ( and another saga of failed service and billing )

Then I found J.B HiFi has a bonus Data added to their Telstra mobile plan providing I was porting from another service via JB HiFi .
I ended up with Telstra and 50G of data on a small plan.( after Optus managed to hold that up for a week due to their bungling a simple R.A. )

This may be the way for you to go and drop Optus as a provider.



Ron

[T1 Terry]

I have a dual sim phone, so I could put a Telstra card in as well, but the booster thing has a different aerial for Telstra and Optus. Telstra is hopeless at our workshop and house, yet Optus works fine, we found the same at Wagga Stone The Crows festival. We both use our phone for our mobile hotspot for the computers at work and use the 2 phones to gain streaming at home for the TV. We ditched the NBN and wireless to base internet that was Telstra based, both Aussie Broadband. Our speed is better than what it was before with only 2 bars at either address, yet a fraction of the cost. The NBN fibre to the premises would have been great, but not even a possibility at either the workshop or the house.
Getting two systems, one for Telstra and one for Optus is just a tad too much $$ outlay., we plan to take the set up from home travelling with us when we are on the move so only the one system would be purchased ... maybe an addition aerial for the RV use.
Do we switch to Telstra or Boost mobile probably or even Aldi, or just stay with Optus and add a Boost mobile sim to my phone for when we travel and hope the signal strength will be enough in the outback areas?

[Noggins]

From what I've heard on the road is that although Boost and a few others use Telstra their limited to areas covered and signal strength outside any metropolitian area and only work in the larger towns where Telstra allow the extra signal strength.

If you want to use Telstra because of the better signal, register your business with them and then take out a Casual Plan and being casual you can cancell it any time.
My last outing over 6 months I had a sim with 40G data and on a Small Business Casual Plan.
When we got back home I just used up the left over data and then cancelled the casual plan and went back to the NBN

I also found that trying to use Telstra Air was as useful as trying to roundup cats................. pretty bloody useless and only worked once in the S.E of Melb.
And that was directly in front of my sisters house where the signal was coming from.


Ron