Poor cellular service in different room from Cell Booster

Coverage in and around our 3500 sq.ft. home is fine with the Cell Booster. Are all the lights on the Cell Booster a solid white and did you receive a text from AT&T saying you were ready to go? How is it setup? Is your phone set to LTE?

Thanks for the response, @OttoPylot  - yes, all of the lights are solid white although the 4G/LTE light does occasionally blink. I’ve also received messages, both text and email, indicating the Cell Booster was registered and activated.

i also tried to reset the unit to its factory settings by holding the back button for 20 seconds and after about 10 minutes, the unit was back up and running but the problem persists. As I move away from the unit (and have successive walls between me and it), the signal strength goes down.

 This is seen with two different iPhone models and I’d say the distance is actually less than I said earlier, perhaps 35 feet before the signal drops out completely.

I suppose the Cell Booster might be defective in some way although I was able to use it when I’m close to the unit. I did notice the unit in question had a bit of dust and appeared to have some wear on it or perhaps it was refurbished?

FWIW, the app reports all is well although I wish it provided a way to see more detailed statistics although perhaps AT&T are able to see into the unit remotely?

@davidcomay Do your iPhone's work as expected (clear call, FaceTime, etc)? The signal indicator will fluctuate but it is not a real accurate representation of signal strength. Our iPhone's fluctuate as well sometimes (iPhone 7 and 12). There is no say to "see" what is going on in the Cell Booster, either at home or on the AT&T side other than what is listed on your setup page. You can check the Field Test Metric in your iPhone and that will be covered in my Tech Guide which will be available hopefully by this time next week.

How is your Cell Booster setup? That can make a big difference.

Oh I forgot to mention that at least with one of the iPhones that exhibit the issue has LTE enabled. The other is running iOS 15 and I believe that option was removed for AT&T customers so that I’m unable to view it (this device is carrier version AT&T 49.0.2).

@davidcomay The only reason that the option to choose which band to use was removed is that if you don't have a 5G capable phone, then 4G/LTE is the only connectivity option so there is no option to choose between the two. It's also dependent on which FCC licenses have been awarded to AT&T for your area. 4G may not be an option so the LTE bands/frequencies are what you have in your area that the Cell Booster can transmit to. 

My wife's iPhone 7 does not have the option to choose anymore but my iPhone 12 has 5G Auto 5G Only, and LTE. The non 5G-capable phone will always connect at LTE (or 4G if available). The iPhone 7 is running carrier version 49.0.2 and the iPhone 12 is running carrier version 49.0.1.

Please explain your setup.

Physically, the Cell Booster is roughly in the middle of our single level ranch house. It’s next to the window, roughly 4 feet off the ground. We have fairly low ceilings so I could perhaps move it 2 additional feet off the ground.

Network wise, it’s plugged directly in a MoCA Ethernet switch which is on a coaxial backbone with our Eero that’s connected to our ISP.

With the iPhone running 15.3, I was able to verify it was LTE by temporarily turning off Wi-Fi on the phone - the “AT&T” in the upper left corner finally had enough space to fully spell out “AT&T LTE”. 😉 Alas still only being close to the Cell Booster but at least it confirmed that.

4G is 3G and is going away.  It's either lte or 5G.

@davidcomay I would try connecting the Cell Booster directly to the Eero to rule out any issue with the MoCA switch. I use a standard, powered 8-port gigabit switch with no issues.