Adding to this frustration Santa Fe isn't to hot on allowing cell providers to install new towers. (fwack) I'd have to check a reliable source-it might be possible root a iphone to improve it's signal strength- but glad to here the repeater scenario is somewhat of a improvement. I here good things about google voice- haven't used it myself.
On Wed, Dec 21, 2011 at 7:34 PM, Steve Smith <[email protected]> wrote: > Just to follow up on this thread for those who care: > > I finally got around to ordering (and then got around to installing) a > Wilson Electronics DB Pro with a directional (Yagi) outdoor receiving > antenna and an omnidirectional indoor antenna. It is a dual band > "transciever", essentially taking in whatever signal it finds in those bands > from the Yagi and retransmitting them (after amplification) on the omni (to > be placed at least 20 feet away and not in "front" of the Yagi). > > I'm testing against T-Mobile on an iPhone4 (not 4s). My wife is still on > ATT with her iPhone 2g (soon to be replaced with a 4s), I'll do some testing > there as well. For those of you who followed the earlier thread, my > location near Otowi bridge on NM 502 at the Rio Grande has almost zero > effective cell coverage. We are down low and all the known towers > (espanola, pojoaque, white rock, pajarito mountain) nearby are either > marginally line of site or completely blocked by intermediate topography. > My goal is to get good enough coverage to delete my wired landline service > (which we hardly use even with cell phones not working)... I expect to use > my wireless (900Mhz from Tewacom) with Skype to provide a backup alternative > to the Cell coverage. I'm testing Google Voice to integrate it all (hah!). > > Using the aforementioned "field test mode" on my iPhone4 I was able to > verify that I was getting a modestly better signal... using the RSSI > (received signal strength indicator) measure in the field test mode, I was > able to roughly map the net strength of signal to my phone with and without > the repeater turned on. > > The Yagi is about 15 feet above the ground (a permanent installation will b > ecloser to 20) facing roughly due East which is both my best guess as to > where the tower I'm most likely to use is, and corroborated by some ad-hoc > direction testing with the RSSI. The Omni is roughly in the center of my > 30'x30'x20'(tall) stucco-mesh-frame faraday cage of a house. > > At the location of the Yagi, my signal strength is roughly the same whether > the system is on or not (not surprising as one step in the installation is > to reduce the retransmit strength until there is no detected interference). > At the opposite end of the house, the signal is similar with the system on > and virtually zero without it (far end of my faraday cage of a house)... > at ground level, I normally see from 0 to 1.5 bars which means I get the > occasional incoming call that i can't answer and can rarely call out (to the > point of never trying). With the system on I get a very usable signal > equal to 3 bars... As I wander away from the house outside, the > rebroadcast signal drops off fairly quickly but it appears I might get > useable signal on most of my 1.5 acre property where previously I had a few > hot spots where I might get enough to catch an incoming call for a few > seconds. > > I am testing with data as we speak and so far, so bad... in fact, the whole > signal dropped out in the middle of my attempt to get to my favorite > speed-test site (speakeasy.net) and of course, when I got there, I am told > that my favorite method requires Flash 7, apparently not on my > Safari/iPhone4 (not surprising). So I'll have to find a better solution for > testing... meanwhile anecdotally, Google Maps loads at least as slow as I'm > used to *anywhere* without wifi. Well, fortunately I don't care so much > about Data, or at all at home where I have WiFi. > > Overall I'd say the Wilson system works well, mostly as expected and seems > to meet my needs/desires. Internet research suggests that Wilson is the > best system with only a few spurious compliants while all the other options > have many complaints (though many of those sound spurious as well?!). > > FWIW, it is also worth noticing that Wilson Electronics is a small-town > company out of St. George Utah... the quality of their engineering, > packaging, documentation, online support rivals that of any large scale > consumer product supplier I know of. That said, there may be little going > on in St George beyond shipping... the parts and primary packaging may come > directly from China and there may be nothing more than a small warehouse in > St. George, but indications are that the engineering and support may > becoming from there as well. A business article linked from their website > suggests that they sell 200,000 units per year and hired 50 new employees in > the last quarter... clearly a big deal for a small town like St. George. > > Let me know if you are interested in more specifics. > > - STeve > >> Gil - >> >> Thanks! Very Interesting! >> >> My iPhone does have a "field test mode" (*3001#12345#*) which does expose >> the alternate towers that it sees (and might use). I see no indication >> anywhere that I could influence it's choice, nor have I been able to find a >> concise description of the algorithm/heuristics likely used to decide. The >> most obvious of course, would seem to be signal strength, but that ignores >> issues such as congestion. >> >> Since GSM is a Frequency Division Multiplex hybridized with Time Division >> Multiplex, it seems like there would be almost immediate feedback to the >> mobile device as it tries to connect as to whether there even *was* an >> available time/frequency slot to use... the heuristic could be as simple as >> "try the strongest signal you see, if it is full, try the next, repeat". >> >> Along with a dB indication of (useable?) signal there is something called >> RSSI (received signal strength indicator) which seems useful for recognizing >> how much interference in the band there might be. It tops out at about 50 >> underneath a tower but is as low as 5 when still useable. Multiple towers >> competing and/or possibly other sources of interference run this number up >> without running up the "useable" signal. >> >> There are two very cryptic numbers, C1 and C2 which from the mumbo jumbo >> I've found, might relate to the heuristic which I was seeking above... but I >> don't know yet... this is subtle and complicated stuff and it appears that >> short of finding a professional training course, there isn't much >> information laying around for the motivated layman. >> >> See what we have become in this Internet/Google/Wikipedia age? We DO >> expect a LOT! >>> >>> Depending on the phone there might be a # code to get it to search for >>> more frequencies. Might take a bit of diging though. My oold Cinguluar >>> phone for instance used #689# that let it borrow other towers in >>> range. I'll check for the potenial andriod # codes to see if there's >>> something simillar. >>> >>> On Fri, Oct 7, 2011 at 12:45 PM, Steve Smith<[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>> I'm hoping *someone* out there knows more about this than I do, though >>>> none >>>> of the earlier discussion seemed to bring any of that out. >>>> >>>> I took up Gary Nelson's question about Cell Towers/Coverage, my own >>>> frustrations, and the other resulting conversations to do a little >>>> research >>>> and see if I could learn more and maybe even fix up some of my own >>>> problems/challenges. >>>> >>>> I'm testing iPhone 2, 3G, 4 against ATT and T-Mobile SIMS right now. >>>> Mostly >>>> at my house (very marginal signal if any) but will be doing other >>>> places. >>>> I'm looking at Cell Repeaters (primarily for my home, but maybe also >>>> mobile). I'm therefore *mostly* sorting out GSM related issues, but >>>> there >>>> is a lot of overlap in general RF issues, repeaters, tower locations, >>>> etc. >>>> >>>> I started trying to write up what I know (so far) and discovered that >>>> (as >>>> often is the case) the more I know, the more I know I don't know. My >>>> 3rd >>>> Class Radiotelephony license from 1974 and a BS in Physics provides >>>> just >>>> enough background to get me in trouble. I wrote a long, rambly overview >>>> of >>>> what I know (dominated by what that made me realize I *didn't* know) and >>>> decided most of you don't care. >>>> >>>> So, if there are others trying to make actionable sense (or merely slake >>>> your curiosity) about the issues of Cell Reception and the potential use >>>> of >>>> Repeaters, ping me and we can discuss offline. Maybe once we learn >>>> enough, >>>> one or more of us can write up a (more) concise "lessons learned". >>>> >>>> My long-winded ramble was useful (to me) already, as trying to explain >>>> it to >>>> the larger crowd caused me to dig just a little deeper than I was for >>>> more >>>> "practical" reasons. Now to get my nose back on the practical >>>> grindstone. >>>> >>>> - Steve >>>> >>>> -- >>>> >>>> ============================================================ >>>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >>>> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >>>> >>> ============================================================ >>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >>> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >> >> >> >> ============================================================ >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >> > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
