I live 5 miles from Boston. I work 20 miles away in Weymouth. I get 4G service (according to the screen of my Samsung S III) virtually all day long. Until I get home. I literally walk in the front door and my 4G service from the street is reduced to 3G molasses. There is literally one spot in my first floor apartment that gets 4G: the CORNER of one window sill. That's it. I cannot hang out by my window to play with my phone, careful not to move the phone from the 4 inch wide space that connects to 4G.
Anywhere else in my home other than that prized window sill I sit waiting for my phone to connect to the internet and I watch as the signal sits at 3G then down to 1X then the "O with the slash thru it" down to nothing. All without moving an inch.
How can this be? What on Earth knocks such a strong signal down to nothing in my home? Is it the landlord living above me? How are they shielding me from 4G surfing? Can I withhold rent for it?
signal cant penetrate the structure you live in it sounds like. network extender
The current VZW network extenders are 3G only. They will not help provide a 4G LTE signal.
If you are in a house where 4G is not able to penetrate your walls then you are out of luck. You must wait for the next generation of Network Extenders to launch that would offer this kind of functionality. With a network extender you can re-route your 4G LTE signals through an existing cable broadband connection.
There are 3rd party network boosters and antennas that you could look into. For example 3GStore and Wilson Electronics offer a few early products that can boost VZW 4G LTE signals. The cheapest device would most likely be the sleek from Wilson, but it will require an In Home Accessory Kit and addtional antenna to direct the boosted signal to your dead zone. Anytime you deal with boosters or amplifiers there must be a pre-existing signal for you to amplifiy, you cannot boost a signal that does not already exist.
I suspect interference from either the electric lines in the place or cable line, bad ground somewhere, even in another apt.
Have you tried in any nearby apartments to see if the same thing occurs, especially on the same floor and same side of the building?
Thanks for the replies..
I live in a regular house where i live on the ground floor and the landlord lives in the floor above me. So I have access to all sides of the house and no consistent 4G signal to speak of.
I'd really like to avoid the Network Extender if I can. $250? gross.
How old a house? I would try to eliminate the electric line being an issue.
If you have access to the breaker box and it only controls your half of the house, I would kill power to everything.
If not an option, begin unplugging items, disconnect the cable line coming in (if you have cable) from the cable box and disconnect from you tv as well. You may find what is causing the issue with a little troubleshooting.
Keep us updated
yeah pretty penny. but they work. i live in a large metro area but basement apartment. i have home internet so i just use wifi in my apartment. without wifi though i would probably save up for a NE
Would aluminum siding matter? This house has it.
It may, but I have lived in and visited friends with aluminum sided houses before without an issue
rgavinf,
I've got to admit, indoor coverage is a bit tricky. But hey, it's nothing we can't tackle. Based on your description of things, the issue does seem to be with building material. In these cases, I'd normally recommend a network extender, however, those are made for 3G data connections and voice only. Now, indoor coverage cannot be guaranteed but to help where I can, I'd recommend making sure data roaming is enabled http://vz.to/176BgrV .
EvanO_VZW
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In reference to your link,
Step 6
Select which option? None had helped anyway but thanks.
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