In-Car Cellular Signal Boosters

No doubt you have experienced a dropped call or had your data rate slow to virtually no data access while using your cellular phone or data card in your car. You might be in a rural area, far from the nearest cell site, and distance from the cell site causes a weak signal. Or perhaps you are driving where there are hills between you and the cell site, blocking the signal. If you are in an urban area, buildings can likewise block cell signals, and entering structures such as parking garages are often sure ways to end a phone call. How many times have you warned the person to whom you are talking, “I’ll call you back if I lose you here”? Cell phones are amazing devices, but cars with their metal bodies do a great job of blocking radio waves. Thus dropped and missed calls or slow data rates are all too common.

The solution to this problem is to boost or amplify the signal between the phone and the cell site. An in-car or mobile cellular signal booster consists of two components: a booster that is placed inside the car (perhaps incorporated into a cradle for the cell phone) and an antenna that is placed outside of the car. The booster amplifies both the signal that the phone receives from the cell site and the signal the phone transmits to the cell site. Thus the phone always has a strong signal (more “bars”) and dropped calls are virtually eliminated. If your phone is using its data connection, such as with a navigation application, the rate of data downloaded to the phone will be faster.