Mobile signal boosters

As far as I know, illegal now. 

Go with EE if you can, and the wifi is used for calls and texts. Flawless. And free.  

Tony Lockhart posted:

As far as I know, illegal now. 

 

Go with EE if you can, and the wifi is used for calls and texts. Flawless. And free.  

Unfortunately we're both tied to O2 through work contracts.

I'd read that cell repeaters were ok. Not sure what the difference is though.

In the past I've used one supplied by Vodafone and currently use a Three supplied femtocell. Much better than wifi calling. With the Vodafone one I had it on a timer to physically reboot every night. The Three one needs a reboot every 5-6 months on average. Otherwise they have been very reliable and behave just as intended giving us a localised 3g hot spot. Of course if your broadband goes down (BT, need I say more) you're back to standing on the shed roof. Only problem I've had is with my Nexus 6 sometimes not connecting automatically though that seems to be more to do with running android N beta software.

Willy.

When with Orange I used Blackberries that routed the signal through WiFi (UMA). EE stopped supporting this so we went to O2 and got a Boost Box. Problem solved.

Wifi calling absolutely is the best option, if available from your carrier.  It may require you to buy new phones, but when it's set up, the quality (can be) is phenomenal.  

Three support both the dedicated signal booster (femtocell) and wifi calling. In my experience the femtocell is better in terms of quality (indistinguishable from normal cell whereas the WiFi calling is of lower quality) and reliability (excepting the issue with android beta software on my phone it always works seamlessly whereas the WiFi calling doesn't always work, indeed it won't work at all with my daughter's Sony phone).

Willy.

My business contract is with O2 which has a terrible signal where I live, so I asked O2 for a Boostbox, which enables me to send and receive calls fo/from my mobile - it works very well most of the time 

I've been using three wifi calling for a while now as calls in our thick walled house usually fail. The app is basic and not well integrated into the phone, but it works. The more recently introduced EE, and now O2 versions look like they are better designed.

As for their being free, there is an argument that they should pay us for the use of our network when calls are routed through it to make up for the inadequacies of theirs. 

Thanks for the replies. Sounds familiar; TuGo wifi calling VERY unreliable and not available on business contract.

Harry, how did you get the boostbox? Guessing you're not a retail customer?

I opened a business account with them. It was actually a very good deal by any measure but my focus was on getting the Boostbox. Cellular coverage where I live is zero. Orange gave me calls over WiFi, EE dumped the lot and me with it. I was forced to choose another provider but after only a few months with EE I couldn't jump fast enough. O2 do a WiFi app but it's pants. The Boostbox has been nearly faultless and well supported - a big plus point.

ok, thanks. I'll see if I can follow that up with O2.