Passive 4G repeater - any experience?

[The Lobster]

The cheapest/most flexible way for me to stay connected when out and about is to use my phone as a hotspot. However, quite often the metal skin of the motorhome acts as a good signal screen and I can only get a site wifi/4G signal outside the van. I'm thinking of fitting a passive repeater - the idea is you get a high gain aerial on the roof, then connect it to a simple aerial in the van - it re-radiates the signal both ways and avoids the signal screening of the van walls. And of course, it requires no power or a SIM to operate.

I'm considering something like this. The external aerial has a suspiciously high claimed gain, but even at half the claimed figure, and assuming some cable loss, I should still see an overall gain of at least 12dBi - and that's as compared with standing outside. So in theory I'd then actually get better coverage inside the van!

Does anyone have experience of using passive repeaters with a motorhome? Can you recommend anything? Thanks.

Of course, I could go a step further and add one of these if I wanted an active repeater, but don't like the idea of the additional battery drain. Comments also welcome.

 

[DBK]

If you say your phone "quite often" can't get a signal in the MH my first reaction is you may have a phone with a poorly designed internal antenna.

I only recently learned that the top of the range phones have significantly better antenna than the cheaper phones.

Of course they come at a significant price.

If you are prepared to pay around £200 then a mifi and a good MIMO external antenna will get you a signal where phones can't. There have been a few threads on this option recently.

 

[Pausim]

Looks like a good idea but I have a feeling that it is illegal in the UK for individuals to re transmit signals on the frequencies allocated to the phone networks.

 

[Geo]

Debatable.
As it's described as a "Booster" not a transmitter

 

[Addie]

I think the first product you have linked to on Aliexpress is the external and internal antenna components of an active cellular repeater. They won't function on their own without this part, if you look at the description it mentions plug-in power etc.

In a vehicle application, cellular repeaters (sometimes referred to as boosters) are of limited benefit. While Ofcom did make a concession earlier in the year to allow such devices to be used without license, the legislation is very specific that a 4G signal can only be repeated when a 2G and 3G signal is also externally present - which rules out a lot of Scotland for example where the standard has been 4G calling in many areas for some time with EE.

Likewise, the intention with the regulated repeaters is only to bridge the shielding effect of inside modern vehicles and so the performance is likely no better than putting your phone on the roof - although the perception might be that it is 'better' because the repeater would likely make your phone display '5 bars' but the speed would be no better than '2 bars' outside.

We have some experience of legal in-building cellular repeaters, which connect and allow themselves to be controlled by the host mast, but usually find an external building 4G antenna and router will outperform if its speed and coverage you're looking for.

The active repeater you post later on would be illegal to operate in the UK and EU and whatever your position on the legality and ethics of using such a device because it is unregulated/non-conforming it is potentially unsafe. I'd not want to be sleeping next to an RF amplifier from China!

As cost-effective options go, there is a lot to be said for putting your phone in a Tupperware box on the roof. It's not stupid if it works, although you might look stupid if you forget about it and drive off...

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[The Lobster]

Thanks for all those replies - I was trying to avoid a 4g mifi solution as I'd need another SIM - so that's the most costly option for me. My data plan at the moment comes from my employer, who kindly allows "free" reasonable data use - so I don't want something that means I have to pay for another SIM. I'll make do with the "plastic box" suggestion (which I hadn't thought of - thanks for that) if this is the only alternative.

I understand re regulated repeaters, and again, that's why I was particularly interested in a passive repeater (i.e. two antennas connected to each other with nothing in-between except the cable). These have fallen out of favour for wifi presumably because active repeaters (APs) are so relatively cheap - and passive repeaters don't necessarily work very well. But I'm interested in how they might function for 4G frequencies - the bands used in the UK aren't too different to Wifi. I can't find much/anything written about them... perhaps I'll just need to experiment.

Re sleeping near a Chinese RF amplifier... of course the manufacturers of even the most expensive phones source their components from all around the world, so it's a bit of a generalisation to suggest all Chinese tech is somehow "dodgy", I think.

As for cheap vs expensive phones, as it happens I use Xiaomi - a mid-range Chinese manufacturer. My wife uses top of the range Samsung devices (also Asian, but at three times the price for the same spec.) --- we both see exactly the same issue with wifi and phone signal strength in/outside the van.

 

[Sunlovers]

If you string a large dangly tassle from the "phone protecting roof positioned plastic box receptacle" and have that hanging down through your heki or similar, you surely couldn't miss the thing hanging there in front of your eyes, could you? .... I know I have often popped our MiFi on the van roof through the Heki and then been at pains to remember it once the red wine has soaked through my veins

 

[pappajohn]

Looks like a good idea but I have a feeling that it is illegal in the UK for individuals to re transmit signals on the frequencies allocated to the phone networks.

Who's going to police a mobile unit?
Not like its in someone office, house or flat.

 

[Addie]

Re sleeping near a Chinese RF amplifier... of course the manufacturers of even the most expensive phones source their components from all around the world, so it's a bit of a generalisation to suggest all Chinese tech is somehow "dodgy", I think.

As for cheap vs expensive phones, as it happens I use Xiaomi - a mid-range Chinese manufacturer. My wife uses top of the range Samsung devices (also Asian, but at three times the price for the same spec.) --- we both see exactly the same issue with wifi and phone signal strength in/outside the van.

I don't believe there is any suggestion that "Chinese' technology is in any way 'dodgy', only that unregulated RF amplifiers that don't comply with UK/EU legislation which exists for safety, legal or quality of service (interference) reasons are not something I myself would want to be involved with or indeed sat in close proximity to knowing what I know about RF.

Most of the repeaters found online are building repeaters and power output and internal antennas are geared as such. The perception is always that they 'work' because internally your phone calculates 5 bars irrespective of if any service is actually being transmitted.

What compliant legal in-vehicle repeaters that do exist cost around £1k and in reality a 4G router/antenna combination is, in fact, more useful and overall cheaper even when you factor in a SIM.

 

[Pausim]

Who's going to police a mobile unit?
Not like its in someone office, house or flat.

Probably no one but being caught might not be the only reason for staying legal. Anyway Addie says Ofcom changed some of the rules recently.

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[autorouter]

It's the metal that stops the signal, but glass allows it through. You could fix the phone to the glass, as high as possible, if you're using it as a hotspot. Not ideal for security though, maybe wrap it up or put it in a plastic box.