# Cell phone reception



## Zorro2017 (Jan 9, 2017)

Hello, we all know that out of the larger cities cell phone towers are few and far between. Does anyone here use a high gain directional antennae such as a Yagi and a signal amplifier to improve reception? There are two towers near our home (about 2 miles) but with brick walls and a security wall the only place we can get a signal is by a window and that is spotty.

I have been doing some research and think a Yagi mounted higher than our wall will not only vastly improve our cell phone reception but will possibly also pull in wifi such as Infintium.

Does anyone here use such a setup?


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

I do not but I would love to hear about it more. I have zero reception out of my house in San Cristobal so I sure can use all the help I can get..


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

I am assuming you don't have any options for wired (or fiber) internet. If you have an always-on wired internet connection, you have IMHO a better option: buy a home wifi router, and set your cell phones to use "wifi calling" - bypassing the cell towers completely. Doing so cuts down on smartphone data plan usage as well. Or is the problem that your phones aren't able to do that?

My dad was a HAM radio hobbyist, and I know his antenna was a yagi, with a 10 or 12 foot wingspan. His was mounted on a mast that went up about a dozen feet above the peak of the roof and had a remote-controlled motor that he could use to aim it from his "shack" in the basement (the mast would rotate, changing the aim of the yagi). His house was in the Washington DC suburbs, and was once able to hold a conversation (voice, not just Morse code) with a military radio operator on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, just about the other side of the world. He could basically get to almost anywhere in the world if the conditions were just right, and that was with a pretty ordinary hobbyist transmitter, nothing over the top as far as power.

So I highly recommend a motorized mast that you can tune without climbing up on your roof, as you will probably want, from time to time, to switch cell towers you are aiming at, and the mast will probably twist a little in high winds so you will need to adjust for that too. I don't think it will add much to your cost. Maybe what you're envisioning is much smaller all around, though, like a little 3' deal. Anyway, just something to think about.


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## Zorro2017 (Jan 9, 2017)

citlali said:


> I do not but I would love to hear about it more. I have zero reception out of my house in San Cristobal so I sure can use all the help I can get..


A Yagi is a very directional high gain antenna. Like flashlight, it has a very narrow beam up close but spreads out some with distance. The internet is full of "How to" videos on building your own but they are relatively cheap to buy a professional made one. 

I experimented with an omnidirectional antenna before I read up on it but that type takes in signals from all directions so there is a lot of noise. A Yagi is a very narrow, slightly long antenna that points specifically one one narrow direction and results in a gain of an otherwise weak signal. Then a coaxial cable brings the signal into your home to a signal booster that amplifies the signal so you should be able to get a good signal anywhere in that room and possibly in the other rooms, depending on your construction.

But the devil is in the details. Not knowing much about radio signals you have to match the antenna and possibly even the signal booster to the phone service which is why I am asking. Moviestar is our cell carrier and they advertise 3g which we have as W-CDMA 850 1900. I am hoping that we have a HAM radio operator here or someone else who knows more about antennas and can translate that into common English or uses such a setup.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

sorry, just son of ham.

lol


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

eastwind said:


> sorry, just son of ham.
> 
> lol


Sorry also, just brother of a ham.


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## Zorro2017 (Jan 9, 2017)

eastwind said:


> I am assuming you don't have any options for wired (or fiber) internet. If you have an always-on wired internet connection, you have IMHO a better option: buy a home wifi router, and set your cell phones to use "wifi calling" - bypassing the cell towers completely. Doing so cuts down on smartphone data plan usage as well. Or is the problem that your phones aren't able to do that?
> 
> My dad was a HAM radio hobbyist, and I know his antenna was a yagi, with a 10 or 12 foot wingspan. His was mounted on a mast that went up about a dozen feet above the peak of the roof and had a remote-controlled motor that he could use to aim it from his "shack" in the basement (the mast would rotate, changing the aim of the yagi). His house was in the Washington DC suburbs, and was once able to hold a conversation (voice, not just Morse code) with a military radio operator on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, just about the other side of the world. He could basically get to almost anywhere in the world if the conditions were just right, and that was with a pretty ordinary hobbyist transmitter, nothing over the top as far as power.
> 
> So I highly recommend a motorized mast that you can tune without climbing up on your roof, as you will probably want, from time to time, to switch cell towers you are aiming at, and the mast will probably twist a little in high winds so you will need to adjust for that too. I don't think it will add much to your cost. Maybe what you're envisioning is much smaller all around, though, like a little 3' deal. Anyway, just something to think about.


No, I have no option of a wired system as Telmex ends it's wires quite a distance away. I can pick up Infintium, Telmex's wifi system in a nearby area though so with a Yagi I should be able to pick it up in my home. I'll rotate it by hand during the installation as there are only 2 towers nearby and one of them may be transmitting Moviestar as well as Infintium, if not I'll buy a rotator. I do have insurance on my home for lightning strikes as the combination of a Yagi, signal booster, rotator and pole will run about $600.00 but it will be well worth it to stay in touch with my family and have good internet service.

If and when I get the system installed I'll update the installation.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

eastwind said:


> I am assuming you don't have any options for wired (or fiber) internet. If you have an always-on wired internet connection, you have IMHO a better option: buy a home wifi router, and set your cell phones to use "wifi calling" - bypassing the cell towers completely. Doing so cuts down on smartphone data plan usage as well. Or is the problem that your phones aren't able to do that?


How does one set their cell phone to do "wifi calling?" And what cell phone have this option?


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

joaquinx said:


> How does one set their cell phone to do "wifi calling?" And what cell phone have this option?


Use Skype? Are there other ways?


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

TundraGreen said:


> Use Skype? Are there other ways?


I was wondering how you would set it up to do wifi calling. There doesn't seem to be an option to do this. I use Skype frequently, but I have to open the Skype app to do this rather than pressing the "telephone" button and have it default to Skype. Although I can set the dialing up to use Skype per individual, I can't do so for everyone. Skype will default to wifi if it is available, but if there is not wifi and there is a data signal, Skype to use data as access to complete the call.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

I'll answer the wifi calling question, but it's not applicable to the OP since it requires internet.

I'm not a cellphone expert, I had a dumb phone until last year when I got a samsung S7, so I really only know anything about that one model. I got it from T-mobile, because I was on T-mobile already and because they have that roaming arrangement with TelCel that's been mentioned in other threads. The roaming is wonderful, it let me keep my US number so nobody I know had to change their contact info and they can call me as if I'm still in the US and no one pays anything extra. (But you need a US billing address on your t-mobile account)

I did an internet search just now and found a video with instructions: 




(edit: wow, I just thought I was embedding a link, not that big huge in your face thing above)

It claims that the feature is t-mobile only, but my search also turned up apps that claim to do this, and the claim may be out of date as other carriers may have added the feature.

Here are my instructions, which parallel the video, in case you prefer text.

You need an internet connection at your house. It should be a typical internet connection that gives you unlimited amounts of data at some guaranteed rate of up/down speed. If for some reason you have a strange connection that charges you by the byte then that defeats the whole purpose of this, and you won't want to bother.

You also need a wifi router. A good wifi router isn't cheap, but if you have a laptop you probably already have the wifi router so you can carry it around the house without having to have a wire between the laptop and your internet modem. You probably already know how to set up the laptop to talk to the router, and know the SSID (wifi id) and password you've set up on the router to connect your laptop to it, or at least can find out how you did it from whoever helped you set it up.

1. Connect your smart phone to your home internet for data traffic, using the same connection you use for your laptop. On my phone, under settings, the first category is Wi-Fi. You go in there, see the SSID you set up for your router in the list, pick it, and enter the password. It should connect, and the phone remembers the password forever so when you walk too far away, and the connection drops, and then walk back in range it should automatically reconnect. You should verify this, and you can use the icon in the notifications area like in the video or just go back into settings -> Wi-Fi. Now when you use your phone to browse the internet, you are not using your cell-phone's data plan quota, you are using your internet connection. Surf City! This is especially great for being able to download music, video and apps to your phone without blowing your data quota. Even if you don't want to use wifi calling, you should do this first step if you have the internet connection and router.

2. Next you set up the phone to make calls over the internet. In my version of android, under settings, there's a category named "more settings". I should mention that I'm not using "easy mode", if you are, you might not see this category. Under "more connection settings" there is a sub-category named "wifi-calling". Under "wi-fi" calling there are two things to set. First, there is an on/off setting at the top that enables or disables wi-fi calling completely. It should default to off, and you have to turn it on. If I recall they give you a screen of terms and conditions to accept when you first do, but this doesn't cost anything unless for some reason your internet connection charges you by the byte. 

Once it is enabled, below the enable/disable toggle there is a choice setting with 3 options (one of the three is always chosen). The three are: 
- wi-fi preferred
- cellular network preferred
- never use cellular network

If you've never used this feature before, I think you start out on "cellular network preferred" and you want to change it to "wi-fi preferred". Once set, if you have wifi access your phone calls will use the wifi access, simlar to skype but not requiring any other accounts, to send your conversation over the internet and then onto the phone network at the other end. 

And there's one more bonus feature that I've discovered for t-mobile people roaming in Mexico. With T-mobile roaming using TelCel, I can't normally dial US toll-free numbers. When I do I get a spanish voice message (from telCel) and can't get through. There's supposed to be some kind of translation where you change the 800 to another 3 digits, or 877 to a different set of 3 digits, but that wouldn't work for me either. However, if I'm using wifi-calling, US toll-free numbers work just like I'm still in the US. At least I think they do, I've only made a couple calls that way to toll-free US numbers.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

eastwind said:


> I'll answer the wifi calling question, but it's not applicable to the OP since it requires internet.
> 
> I'm not a cellphone expert, I had a dumb phone until last year when I got a samsung S7, so I really only know anything about that one model. I got it from T-mobile, because I was on T-mobile already and because they have that roaming arrangement with TelCel that's been mentioned in other threads.


According to the video, it is only available for T-Mobile and not for Telcel. I am running Android 6.0.1 and don't have that option.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

I looked into wifi calling a little bit. Before this I had never heard of it. Apparently, it is provided by the telephone carrier and is not available for all carriers. I don't think it is available for Mexican carriers. I have cell service from ATT Mexico and I don't see the option on my phone.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

TundraGreen said:


> I looked into wifi calling a little bit. Before this I had never heard of it. Apparently, it is provided by the telephone carrier and is not available for all carriers. I don't think it is available for Mexican carriers. I have cell service from ATT Mexico and I don't see the option on my phone.


From what I've read, it requires a special cell phone with the OS modified for this option. The drawback (only one that I see) is that you can not receive calls. Just place them. Skype and other of this genre permit receiving calls one way or another. Skype offers you a real telephone number at a monthly fee. For me, living in Xalapa, the nearest number that I can get is in the Port of Veracruz. That is not an attractive option.


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## ffejcat62 (Sep 9, 2016)

Another great wifi app for making calls and text is what'sapp. In the states I've made and received phone calls to/from Mexico even when I only had cellular.


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## Zorro2017 (Jan 9, 2017)

ffejcat62 said:


> Another great wifi app for making calls and text is what'sapp. In the states I've made and received phone calls to/from Mexico even when I only had cellular.


Wassap is great, it works well with Mexican and American numbers, we use it a lot.


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

ffejcat62 said:


> Another great wifi app for making calls and text is what'sapp. In the states I've made and received phone calls to/from Mexico even when I only had cellular.


We use WhatsApp all the time with family between Mexico and Canada, for free WiFi calling to anyone else who has the app, and free international texting, including pictures and videos, and voice memos. When we use the phone call feature while at home it uses our WiFi, when out and about it will use our data. 

WhatsApp is included with many (most?) Mexican cell phone plans. If you have a smart phone, download the app. It can access your contact list and will show anyone in your contacts who is also using the app. Then when you click on that person's contact a phone icon appears at the top, press it and _voilá_. You can also set up family (or other) groups, so everyone in the group gets any message/photo sent to the group.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

I use whatapp with Europe and it works great so I can communicate with my family in Paris from my house in Jalisco and cannot communicate with anyone from my house in Chiapas why??


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## Zorro2017 (Jan 9, 2017)

citlali said:


> I use whatapp with Europe and it works great so I can communicate with my family in Paris from my house in Jalisco and cannot communicate with anyone from my house in Chiapas why??


We can use it from America to the smallest of villages in Mexico and back. 

I assume that you get a cell phone signal there?


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

citlali said:


> I use whatapp with Europe and it works great so I can communicate with my family in Paris from my house in Jalisco and cannot communicate with anyone from my house in Chiapas why??


That is very strange. Do you have WiFi at your house in Chiapas? At our house in Tepoztlan we don't yet have Internet/WiFi, so we have to rely on the cellular signal to be strong enough for the data aspect to work. Usually it's strong enough for regular cell calling, but often not strong enough for decent data/Internet use. When I send my husband a WhatsApp when he is at our house in Tepoz, I monitor the little check boxes in the lower right hand corner. The first grey check means my message has been sent. When a second grey check mark appears, I know it's been delivered to his phone. When both checks turn blue, it means the messages have been seen. Often there is a delay in the messages I send showing up on his phone, then a whole bunch will come in at once when the signal gets stronger again.


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## rohbear (Feb 28, 2017)

joaquinx said:


> I was wondering how you would set it up to do wifi calling. There doesn't seem to be an option to do this. I use Skype frequently, but I have to open the Skype app to do this rather than pressing the "telephone" button and have it default to Skype. Although I can set the dialing up to use Skype per individual, I can't do so for everyone. Skype will default to wifi if it is available, but if there is not wifi and there is a data signal, Skype to use data as access to complete the call.


I'm joining this conversation rather late, but I'm guessing you don't have a "Smart Phone". A smart phone will have settings to activate WiFi when a network is available. If you have an older style phone, it probably doesn't have the capability, but check in Settings.


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