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What is happening with 3G?
Chrsmith11's profile

New Member

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1 Message

Friday, May 6th, 2022 10:45 PM

Is the booster working?

How can I tell if my phone is going through the new 4G booster rather than the local ATT tower?  With the old booster, my phone would read MCell near the bars—and I could get 2-3 bars. Now it reads ATT, and I’m getting one bar. I get one bar without it! 

ACE - Expert

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24.9K Messages

2 years ago

@Chrsmith11  If your phone is making a connection, you should see the 4G light flash. Or, you can disable WiFi on your phone (if it's an iPhone) and see what the cellular signal indicator is. If it displays LTE, then you are connected to the Cell Booster. The reason to disable WiFi is that, at least on iPhones, the WiFi indicator "covers up" the cellular signal indicator so you can't see what the connection is.

If you don't see LTE, and 5Ge for example, then you are not connected to the Cell Booster. You might want to take your phone to the same room that

the Cell Booster is in, disable WiFi and turn the phone completely off, wait about 20 seconds (guesstimate) and then turn your phone back on. You should see the LTE light on the Cell Booster flash and your phone should indicate LTE. Turn WiFi back on. The phone may just need to register the Cell Booster as part of its cellular neighborhood. Some phones are better at maintaining a Cell Booster connection than others.

Is your phone WiFi-C (WiFi Calling) capable? If it is, I would try that as well to see what give you better coverage. Just power off the Cell Booster (disconnect the power cord) and setup WiFi-C (leaving WiFi on). I've finished my testing of the Cell Booster for AT&T and have gone back to WiFi-C for now. Call reliability and connection reliability is much better. 

The problem I encountered with the Cell Booster was maintaining a connection when we would get out of range and then come back into range. Depending on where and how you have it setup, the connection range, unlike the MicroCell, can be really variable. Part of that reason is the difference between 3G technology and LTE technology.

Oh, and always leave WiFi on. That way your data will be used via WiFi leaving the Cell Booster for voice only.

See my Cell Booster Tech Guide, link is in my sig line, for all things Cell Booster related.

(edited)

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