Good wifi boost extender?

[DianeD]

Hi! Can anyone please recommend a good wifi boost device for poor cell reception areas (for working off of a cellphone hotspot)? Thank you!

 

[Neal]

Hello @DianeD,

There is a difference in WiFi vs. Cellular, obviously you're asking about a Cellular booster. There are boosters out there such as by Weboost but in my opinion if you have a good cellular system it's not needed. I personally use a Pepwave MAX Transit Cellular router with WiFi, it is the preferred system these days, in my opinion. Since I switched to a Pepwave over two years ago I haven't used my Weboost system and have never been without cellular connectivity. If you need recommendations of what you should get either ask here or call 5Gstore.com, 4G/5G Routers, Antennas, Boosters, WiFi, IP Switches and they can work with you.

 

[DianeD]

Hello @DianeD,

There is a difference in WiFi vs. Cellular, obviously you're asking about a Cellular booster. There are boosters out there such as by Weboost but in my opinion if you have a good cellular system it's not needed. I personally use a Pepwave MAX Transit Cellular router with WiFi, it is the preferred system these days, in my opinion. Since I switched to a Pepwave over two years ago I haven't used my Weboost system and have never been without cellular connectivity. If you need recommendations of what you should get either ask here or call 5Gstore.com, 4G/5G Routers, Antennas, Boosters, WiFi, IP Switches and they can work with you.

Thank you so much! You are correct - I mistakenly said wifi....I work while in my rv and my cell hotspot is not strong enough to support Zoom calls on my laptop and I am desperate to find a solution. Thank you for your help!

 

[Neal]

I work from my RV as well and that's why I only use the best. Internet is critical to my RV lifestyle.

 

[docj]

Another point to make is that you will have far fewer problems maintaining internet access if you maintain accounts with more than one of the cellular carriers. People don't seem to understand that even in an area where a carrier is supposed to have service, the quality of that service can vary greatly, from poor to excellent. Rather than worrying about adding a booster, many times you would be better advised to get a second, or even a third, cellular account.

 

[Neal]

I use AT&T primary, in my opinion it's been the best in my travels across the nation. Verizon is marketed as the most coverage, that may be true but their service has not lived up to that reputation, they are backup and rarely used by me. I recently added T-Mobile with their 100 GB hotspot plan which comes out to about $50, it has been on par with Sprint I've used in the past which has not been great. I'm not sure I'm going to keep T-Mobile. Verizon has improved over the past year but AT&T continues to win in all of my tests and travels.

 

[lemondrop9344]

Peplink CAT-18 user, living full time & working from our RV. I use AT&T (primary) & Verizon SIMs. I've been using my setup since May, 2020 & if I had it to do all over again, I would make the same decision. So far, I've yet to install the external antenna as the supplied paddle antennas have proved to be more than adequate.
The price differential between a high end cellular booster & a commercial grade (like Peplink) cellular modem is not that significant.
Please keep in mind, there are multiple factors which could impact cellular performance. Would encourage you to visit the Mobile Internet Resource Center if you are not that familiar with the variables associated with cellular internet connectivity. As others have said, redundancy is important.
Safe travels.

 

[Joe Hogan]

We use a Pepwave router with a roof mounted antenna with a Verizon service. We get good signal most anywhere there is a any signal. We have traveled East coast to West coast, CA border to Mexico border and have had good signal. The router is a powerful tool where you can combine various signals to get good through put. After many attempts, I have never successfully navigated the ATT voice prompt decision tree to get the ATT Sim activated. Even tried to go to a ATT Store which ended up an expensive waste of my time.
Glad to hear others have been able to get good service with ATT.