cell phone booster

[johnmcrae]

I've got the Mcell with AT&T. You need a wifi connection and this device just plugs into your router to create its own cell network. Works great. I did have to pay for it.


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[BroadHopper]

My latest smartphone has the Wi-Fi calling feature. I turned it on and works great as long as there is a Wireless connection.

[wifi]

WOW,

I would be more interested in finding out how to make a WIFI connection when there was no WIFI available

[upthesaukee]

Originally Posted by BroadHopper

My latest smartphone has the Wi-Fi calling feature. I turned it on and works great as long as there is a Wireless connection.

BroadHopper. We have ok cell coverage at our house now with one problem. Our house started off as a 40x8 trailer with a 22x8 porch. Mom and dad did some expanding, all around and up. Now a 10 room house with the trailer still in the middle. Cell coverage drops way off in the middle out the house due to the metal skin of the trailer, resulting in dropped calls when we go in that area. Our wireless router is in that area, and we do use WiFi on our phones.
I can see how WiFi calling will help at the house. Questions: Do you leave that option on all the time, both home and away. If you do leave it on all the time does it try to connect with other WiFi networks? Is that a problem?
Thanks

Sent from my SM-G930V using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

[TiltonBB]

I have had Verizon for about 15 years. The past few days, in places in Gilford where I usually have 4 bars, I have dropped several calls. I thought it was either the weather or a tower problem with Verizon. I called Verizon and they deny any issues on their end and claim they have not heard from anyone else regarding this.

After paying them about $70 a month for many years the Google phone is very interesting. I think it would help at the other house where I currently have a range extender and even with some internet use it will still be about 1/2 the amount that I am paying Verizon now and result in better service.

I am reluctant to make the change given the old adage "If it sounds too good to be true it probably is". I would like to hear the experience of anyone else with the Google phone if you care to post it. Thank you.

[Crusty]

To expand a bit on my previous post... My first cell phone was an Ameritech bag phone. Five watts and I could call back to camp from the top of Mt Major. Next came a Sprint phone. The first attempt found no signal at all on Smiths Point (despite their coverage assurances). A replacement Sprint phone could get an occasional signal and would roam onto the Verizon network.

[I remember being at the authorized Sprint dealer, Radio Shack in the Belmont Mall, and watching them trying to activate a new phone. They had to go out to the parking lot to get any signal. The guy still bought it.]

Since I could only get a Verizon signal, I decided to switch to Verizon service about 12 years ago. Although the signal on Smiths Point was weak, I could still talk if I went to the top of the driveway and stood on the leach field.

Note that I had a flip phone, while my daughter had an Android smart phone. [She couldn't get a signal either.] Anyway, I thought that the price I was paying for basic, limited calling was pretty extravagant.

My daughter (now with a mechanical engineering degree) dumped her Verizon phone and got a Google phone. She was (and is) so happy with it that she convinced the rest of the family that lots more features for substantially less money was a good idea. We all opted for the Nexus 5X. [They have more options available now.] It is truly unlimited talk/text.

Calls automatically route over WiFi, if available (although you can force a cell connection). Call quality is excellent. Here in Columbus, if you use a particular cable system for Internet, they permit you free use of a large number of hot-spots around the area. This might be true in the Lakes Region. Regardless, many establishments provide hot-spots for their customers' use. The phone remembers the networks as you use them.

Sadly, I have not been able to get to the Lake since I got the Google phone so I can't attest to how well it will work on the available cell networks there. However, it will work on any WiFi network.

As an Android phone, there is no Apple or Microsoft nonsense to contend with. One of my favorite uses for the phone [Oddly making phone calls has become a secondary use.] is the free Kindle app. No matter where I have to wait on something, I always have my latest book in my pocket. "Older" books from my youth (I'm 68) are frequently available in multi-volume sets for $0.99. Now, if I can only find a good source of cheap butter, my life will be completely in order.

[wifi]

Crusty,

Thanks for your valuable information. One question I have is that their web site gives me the indication that the WIFI has to be un-encrypted, is this really true? I don't mind running a limited power open network at my house, but it seems like a big limitation in the outside world as there are very few open networks available anymore.

Thanks.

[Crusty]

wifi,

The WiFi at my home is protected via WPA2. The phone asked me for the access key the first time I tried to use it and again whenever I change it. Otherwise it remembers. I have also entered the access keys of several relatives' and friends' WiFi routers. as well as the name of an unprotected network at one friend's home (I've urged him to add a password).

The caveat on their website may refer to connecting to public hot-spots. The phone can't connect to a protected one unless you know the password. Also, a lot of public hot-spots will run without a password, but require you to click an acknowledgement that you won't do anything illegal, nor sue them.

They have added a lot of detail to their website since I signed up. I plan to spend some time there out of curiosity. There are a lot of neat things about this phone I haven't discovered yet.

Hope this is useful,
Crusty

[wifi]

That makes a lot more sense, basically, I can cover myself at home and work and many other places I have the security key.

One other question, if you buy some gig(s) of data and add a second phone to the account, is the data shared, or is it per phone ?

[Crusty]

Originally Posted by wifi

One other question, if you buy some gig(s) of data and add a second phone to the account, is the data shared, or is it per phone ?

They didn't have a group plan when I signed up. Investigating, I find that I can consolidate the family's phones into a single account with a shared data pool. They also knock off $5 / month for the 2nd through 6th phone.

Except for billing convenience (and the $5 discount), there's not much advantage. You establish your "data budget" (say 3 gigabytes) and prepay for that amount. At the end of the month, they either bill you for any excess you use (@ $10 / gigabyte) or refund any amount you didn't use. Whether individual plans or a group plan, it's a wash; You pay for the amount of data used.

One nice feature of the group plan though, as the "owner" you can restrict usage by the sub-accounts.

[BroadHopper]

Originally Posted by upthesaukee

BroadHopper. I can see how WiFi calling will help at the house. Questions: Do you leave that option on all the time, both home and away. If you do leave it on all the time does it try to connect with other WiFi networks? Is that a problem?
Thanks

Sent from my SM-G930V using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

Yes, I leave it on all the time. Saves on gigabytes used, as you use the wifi instead of 4G/3G. The phone will ask me if I want to connect to a network if it does not recognize the SSID. The phone builds a list of previous SSIDs connected, sort of like a 'trusted' list. So there is no concern about connecting to a network without permission.