Cell Phone Signal Boosters?

[Ben]

I seem to recall some of you that are in the sticks are using cell signal boosters in your homes. I did a search for posts, but only found stuff from years ago.

I don't know what the heck is going on around here, but for the last few months, my cell signal has gone from (I know it's not an accurate measurement) 3-4 bars to 1-2 bars, and people are constantly cutting in and out during conversations. Even when I'm outside, I can't seem to get more than 3 bars anymore.

Anyways, it's getting to be a pain in the ass and I'm looking at maybe getting a signal booster. Anyone that uses one wanna chime in? I'm on Verizon.

[Kingcreek]

I checked with Verizon a couple years ago and I believe they were no longer available then.

[charby]

Welcome to 5G.

Looks like you can boost your receiving signal but not your transmitting power. Also, it doesn't look cheap either.

[Ben]

Welcome to 5G.

Looks like you can boost your receiving signal but not your transmitting power. Also, it doesn't look cheap either.

I was wondering if 5G had anything to do with it. I'm on a 4G Samsung S9. The last time I checked the Verizon coverage map a good while ago, there was no 5G out here. Checking it just now it shows 5G in my area. I don't know much about the transition other than they will apparently stop doing 4G at some point down the road. I wonder if they might be phasing out "excess" 4G towers?

[Cliffh]

My phone used to work just fine the entire drive home.  Since the change over to 5g there are about 4 miles of road where the phone will sometimes work just fine, other times it'll break up or drop the call completely.  What used to be 3 to 4 bars at home are now 1 to 2 on a good day.

Does anyone else's phone call sound like they're underwater?  It doesn't matter if I'm calling a landline or another cell phone, it'll sometimes become unintelligible and it sounds like the other party is talking underwater.

[230RN]

Signals that high in frequency are prone to reacting a little like light, reflecting here, shadowed there.  You may find moving around will improve incoming signals.

I'm in kind of a radio dead spot and on my old cell phone, before the latest and greatest technology became mandatory, I used to have to slowly wave my cell phone around, up high, so it would grab a signal, then it would hold onto it while I made my call.

My new 4G one is consistently 3 bars signal strength here at the house.

I'm also exclusively on Over The Air (OTA) for television entertainment, and my reception is dependent on how wet or snow-laden the pine trees right outside my apartment are. It's also somewhat dependent on them waving around in strong winds.

Again, reflections and absorptions of the TV signals were very evident. 

We're used to electromagnetic (radio) signals being kind of ubiquitous, but the higher you get in frequency, the more they start acting a little like light. They can even be concentrated like light in a parabolic mirror:

     

          This ^ is a "telescope."

Terry, 230RN

Pic credit in properties