Boosting Cell Signal in Cave
October 8, 2013 9:21 PM Subscribe
I've searched ask, and other than this question, I'm not really seeing my issue. Even that question doesn't have all the twists mine does, and it didn't really have satisfactory answers. Basically, I work in a blast-hardened cave, and I need to get a cell phone signal to preserve my sanity.
Moved into new office building. All connectivity in the building is hardwired for security reasons. Our web browsing is severely limited by filters. My iPhone is my only connection to the outside world - email, facebook, text messages - if I can't use my iPhone, I'm cut off from the world for nine hours. The building is literally half-underground as it is built into a hillside, and the site is somewhat hardened - even more so than your average bear of a federal facility.
At my desk, my AT&T iPhone 4S gets 1 bar of E, if I'm lucky. Most of the time there is no signal at all. If I walk towards the only window, about 40 feet away (and faces an interior courtyard), I can get two or three bars of 4G. As I said, everything is hardwired - there is no wifi - so a femtocell won't work. What *will* work? I looked at this, which has an antenna which can be taped inside a window. Assuming the powers that be won't shit their pants if I try to do that, will it even work?
Am I screwed? Should I just wait until all the bigwigs with AT&T bitch about their signals and the whole building gets a solution? (May never happen since the bigwigs have window access.)
Help! I'm in a cave and I can't call out!
P.S. If you recognize my location, give a shout out, so we can share our misery.
Moved into new office building. All connectivity in the building is hardwired for security reasons. Our web browsing is severely limited by filters. My iPhone is my only connection to the outside world - email, facebook, text messages - if I can't use my iPhone, I'm cut off from the world for nine hours. The building is literally half-underground as it is built into a hillside, and the site is somewhat hardened - even more so than your average bear of a federal facility.
At my desk, my AT&T iPhone 4S gets 1 bar of E, if I'm lucky. Most of the time there is no signal at all. If I walk towards the only window, about 40 feet away (and faces an interior courtyard), I can get two or three bars of 4G. As I said, everything is hardwired - there is no wifi - so a femtocell won't work. What *will* work? I looked at this, which has an antenna which can be taped inside a window. Assuming the powers that be won't shit their pants if I try to do that, will it even work?
Am I screwed? Should I just wait until all the bigwigs with AT&T bitch about their signals and the whole building gets a solution? (May never happen since the bigwigs have window access.)
Help! I'm in a cave and I can't call out!
P.S. If you recognize my location, give a shout out, so we can share our misery.
There isn't a lot to be done. The things that speak to signal improvement are all things impeded by your building. The fact that you can get ANYTHING at all is testament to the physics and math of digital signal processing.
You'd need a repeater of some sort, a good location for it, maybe permission to use it. The Wilson thingie looks like that, but who knows? $217 and you can find out. Worth a try if it's that much of a problem for you. Other than moving your desk, frequent trips to the window, changing jobs... you really don't have too many alternatives that are easy enough for someone with no test equipment. Find out what the return policies are, give it a shot, and send it back if no good. The thing is, you know how bad things are now. It should be evident in 10 seconds if you have a solution. Hardly a difficult experiment.
posted by FauxScot at 2:29 AM on October 9, 2013
You'd need a repeater of some sort, a good location for it, maybe permission to use it. The Wilson thingie looks like that, but who knows? $217 and you can find out. Worth a try if it's that much of a problem for you. Other than moving your desk, frequent trips to the window, changing jobs... you really don't have too many alternatives that are easy enough for someone with no test equipment. Find out what the return policies are, give it a shot, and send it back if no good. The thing is, you know how bad things are now. It should be evident in 10 seconds if you have a solution. Hardly a difficult experiment.
posted by FauxScot at 2:29 AM on October 9, 2013
When I had Verizon I tended to have better service when I could keep the phone in secured buildings around here, I don't know if that's still the case.
I think the powers that be would shit their pants if you do anything too openly to improve the reception.
I saw these people mentioned in a Lifehacker post this spring, might be worth reaching out and asking them. (For some reason I can't link, it's http://www.ubersignal.com/)
posted by mrs. taters at 6:27 AM on October 9, 2013
I think the powers that be would shit their pants if you do anything too openly to improve the reception.
I saw these people mentioned in a Lifehacker post this spring, might be worth reaching out and asking them. (For some reason I can't link, it's http://www.ubersignal.com/)
posted by mrs. taters at 6:27 AM on October 9, 2013
This is certainly something that you can raise to your facilities staff to see if they have a solution or a plan to correct this problem. If you have reasons to be reachable via mobile phone that makes your case even greater. You'll also want to see what your co-workers do especially if some of them use a different carrier then you. It would be a pain to switch providers but if that is what it takes to get service than you might consider it.
posted by mmascolino at 6:48 AM on October 9, 2013
posted by mmascolino at 6:48 AM on October 9, 2013
From what you describe, it sounds like the lack of connectivity is the point of your building, and not an unintended consequence. Trying to monkey with it will probably bring more trouble than it is worth to you.
If you need to be connected that badly, build the occasional 10 min break into your workday and go out to the parking lot.
posted by pdb at 9:31 AM on October 9, 2013
If you need to be connected that badly, build the occasional 10 min break into your workday and go out to the parking lot.
posted by pdb at 9:31 AM on October 9, 2013
Can you reach a wordpress/blogger blog through your web filters?
If so, maybe you can create a private blog site for yourself and use IFTTT to take inputs from SMS, email, facebook and duplicate as blog entries for your perusal at work. You can answer from the parking lot.
posted by crazycanuck at 9:46 AM on October 9, 2013
If so, maybe you can create a private blog site for yourself and use IFTTT to take inputs from SMS, email, facebook and duplicate as blog entries for your perusal at work. You can answer from the parking lot.
posted by crazycanuck at 9:46 AM on October 9, 2013
Get a little hotspot, and park it by the window. Connect your phone to its wifi signal.
When the signal-hunting droids track you down for placing it there, claim ignorance and apologize profusely.
If you want to slow them down a bit, position a metal pie-tin to one side of it, about two inches away, which will perform a bit of signal ventriloquism and maybe give you time to notice them sniffing around, and turn off your phone, before they realize its true location. (This will frustrate RSSI-based, but not TDOA- or doppler-based, approaches.)
posted by Myself at 1:21 PM on October 9, 2013
When the signal-hunting droids track you down for placing it there, claim ignorance and apologize profusely.
If you want to slow them down a bit, position a metal pie-tin to one side of it, about two inches away, which will perform a bit of signal ventriloquism and maybe give you time to notice them sniffing around, and turn off your phone, before they realize its true location. (This will frustrate RSSI-based, but not TDOA- or doppler-based, approaches.)
posted by Myself at 1:21 PM on October 9, 2013
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