Wireless Communications
How I got mobile phone reception where there was no signal
Well, not me. At least not yet. I'm starting to collect information here I hope will be useful in helping me improve my cell phone reception. I have a T-Mobile cell phone which won't receive a signal reliably here at home. I'm thinking of finding a way to boost the signal and ran across this article by Graeme West (posted on his weblog July 29, 2006) who built his own biquad directional antenna:
How I got mobile phone reception where there was no signal
I found a reference on the Airstream Forums by someone who uses Verizon wireless broadband with a Novatel card in his laptop. Claims to have never been without a signal. He also uses a 5db gain antenna to get a better signal in the Airstream and a cellular amplifier to increase range to over 40 miles. For WiFi he uses a 5db gain WiFi antenna to access more WiFi hotspots. For cell phone amplifiers and antennas check out www.wilsoncellular.com for long-range cellular use.
Wilson Cellular - "On the road, at home, or in the office, improve your cell phone coverage with Wilson Amplifiers and Antennas"
How to locate US cell phone towers
The comments to the above article reference this helpful list of cellphone towers overlaid on GoogleMaps:
Mobiledia Cell Phone Tower Search
Or one can always go directly to the source:
FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau's Universal Licensing System
"The database downloadable files for the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau's Universal Licensing System (ULS) radio services are available as downloadable zip files and are updated weekly. To stay abreast of the daily changes to the databases, you may download the daily transaction files."