DIY Cell Phone Signal Booster Installation Tools and Tips

Installing your cell phone signal booster is not difficult, especially if you have got the right tools. The following video will help you make sure you have the right things on hand to ensure a successful installation.

Material & Equipment Required.

In addition to what comes in the box, here're few things to have on hand, to make sure you have got everything covered. You want a stripping tool and a coax cable crimping tool. These are just a couple of examples. You can also pick these up at your local hardware store. You want a drill with a bit at least long enough to go half way through the wall. You want some good quality masking or painters tape. Some wall covers for your entry and exit points for your cable. And potentially, some coaxial cable.

Placement of outside antenna.

One of the most important steps in your DIY installation is placing outside antenna in an area with a strongest amount of signal. But what is the strong signal? What you're looking for, is somewhere between -55 and -85 dB with -55 being the strongest. Make sure you refer to your installation manual for the best tips on installing your antenna. If you have a DF antenna within your kit, it can be used to locate the direction of the strongest signal.

Running cable through walls.

As you prep for your install, keep in mind that most of the time you're going to be running the cable through your walls. Here's a few tips to help that go more smoothly. When running cables into your home, try running it through an existing band or under a flashing to avoid having to drill into your home. If you do have to, make sure you use a proper wall plate or cover to seal everything up and make sure it is watertight.

Run cable through a window.

Another tip for running your cable into the house: Oftentimes, an easiest way is to run it in through a window. For this, all you will need a flat piece of coax cable. Always ensure there're no gas, electrical or water lines in area you select before choosing that as a site for your installation. Always cover your connectors with tape before running them through the wall because this will protect the connectors and the adapters from getting bent or damaged in other ways.

Make sure everything fits.

Before installing anything, make sure you dry-fit to make sure that everything fits properly and will reach where needed to avoid any unnecessary drilling and guesswork. This is called a cell phone booster soft installation. On that note, make sure you choose and mark your location for outside antenna before you run any cable.

From the roof, you can run the cable under the flashing next to a vent pipe; just make sure you seal up any holes. If you have a vented attic, you can run the cable through a vent and into your attic. If you happen to have a screen on your vent, just punch a small hole and run the cable through that hole. Do make sure to seal around the holes so that no pests can get in.

Drill through the wall or soffit.

If you don't have a vent pipe or a vent or a window to run the cable through, then your best option is going to be drilling through the soffit or the wall. If you're not comfortable doing this, you can hire a professional to come in and do this for you. If you do choose to drill, just make sure to seal up the holes so that no moisture or pests can get inside.

The True Cost Of A Poor Installation.

It is usually only after you have signed up to a long-term agreement with a signal carrier that you realize how difficult and time-consuming it can be to change carriers if you have made the wrong choice. Choosing the wrong signal carrier can have drastic ramifications in the field too, particularly if you consider costs associated with downtime and unreliable operations of equipment that relies on wireless networks, including smart meters, charging stations, ATMs, wireless alarm systems, and vending machines. All of this downtime and unreliable operation can add up to dissatisfied clients and, ultimately, lost revenue.

When wireless installation professionals attempt to install cellular modems, they face issues reconciling electrical and physical connections of the equipment, while also taking into account radio frequency (RF) factors when determining the optimal signal coverage at any particular location. To make the situation worse, decisions made at the time of installation may not turn out to be optimal in the long run as conditions change over time.

If new buildings are erected in the area, new cell phone signal towers are built, and even if a signal carrier changes the geometry or power of their antennas, changes can occur in the strength and quality of cell phone signals at a particular location. Even seasonal changes to trees and shadows caused by trees and buildings can be enough to cause signal strength to periodically change.

Luckily, cell booster installation tools we carry allow for easy troubleshooting and seamless periodic measurement of signal strength over time. With these products on hand, wireless installation professionals no longer need to guess as to which signal provider can offer the best signal coverage at a given location. They take all the guesswork out of the picture by measuring signal strength for each separate location before installation even begins.

If you were to choose a less expensive receiver, you would still be able to access RSSI measurements - but this will only give you half of the information you need. Some of the products we carry provide RSSI measurements but also offer RSRQ and RSRP, giving you a detailed picture of the relevant 4G networks. Read differences between RSSI, RSRP, and RSRQ.

If you're working with wireless 3G UMTS networks, the high end products will also give you Ec/Io and RSCP measurements. Because of this, your device will not only help you choose the best signal carrier but will also make it easy for you to complete an easy migration from the old 3G network to the more modern 4G LTE networks without needing other hardware to provide measurements to complete the migration.

Importance Of Antenna Directionality And Placement.

Never underestimate the importance of correct antenna directionality and placement. It is the antenna's position that ensures the communication link from the radio to nearby cell phone towers is optimal. Where there are physical constraints in certain instances, an antenna may need to be positioned by the installer at the highest position but where it will not be subject to wireless or physical interference.

In some instances, installers will notice that there are very limited choices for the placement of an exterior antenna. In circumstances where multiple options are available, a tool such as a spectrum analyzer that is dedicated to providing accurate measurements can save an enormous amount of money and time.

Once you have decided on which base station and cell phone network to use, it is simply a matter of disconnecting the omni multiband antenna that comes supplied with the unit and replacing this with the fixed antenna. This allows for precise alignment with the antenna and ensures that your antenna is pointing in the exact right direction towards the closest cell phone signal tower, even if you are not able to visually locate the tower yourself. If you have been tasked with installing multiple antennas across various sites, such a tool makes it easy to time-stamp and GPS-stamp every measurement you take, allowing for easy exporting of all compiled data for a full analysis of your optimal coverage.

The True Costs Of Lost Data.

Remember the last time you were stuck in a phone conversation with a weak signal? You probably suffered a lot of miscommunication and frustration as your signal came in and out, and your voice call may have even dropped from time to time. Imagine this happening at an enormous scale with, for example, several thousand bank teller machines trying to maintain a signal with a remote cell signal tower and the terminal network. Not only will disruptions and dropped signals cause frustration, but these sorts of problems could also potentially cause much further reaching ramifications including transactions unable to be completed, and even lost profits as dissatisfied customers look elsewhere.

The way to prevent this problem from occurring is to ensure that antennas and modems are placed in optimal positions so that there is no loss or interruption to the data stream. Of course, this problem is compounded by the fact that ATMs are typically placed in areas of high foot traffic or in a tiny vestibule inside the entrance to a building, where it is usually difficult or almost impossible to maintain a visual line of sight to a nearby cell phone signal tower.

When a wireless system breaks down completely, it is usually easy to fix. For example, an ATM with a broken modem becomes an obvious problem and can be rectified by installing a functional modem. However, wireless systems with poor signal strength technically are still technically operational, so the problem can be much more difficult to recognize and repair. This causes lost and sometimes irrecoverable data and a frustratingly slow delivery rate of connections and data.

But the problem doesn't just include slow connection speeds which can frustrate people in our fast-paced society. Slow connections can corrupt data while it is being transferred, just as a poor data connection in a video call can result in periods of no video connection altogether. Information that is ultimately transmitted may turn out to be incomplete, inaccurate, and ultimately unusable.

Of course, information that is transmitted will usually be significantly delayed, which can cause anger and frustration for customers - and also potentially dangerous situations if someone is forced to wait too long at a bank ATM. Other costs can include lost revenue caused by downtime; costs associated with purchasing new network gear, antennas, and modems; costs associated with performing studies of new sites for wireless connections; and costs associated with equipment, travel time, and human staff to conduct repairs.

In a perfect world, every data collection point would be set up perfectly, with seamless data transfer to the closest cell phone signal tower via a clear line of sight path and directly to headquarters or the monitoring station. Unfortunately, real-life usually doesn't resemble the perfect scenarios we envisage. That is why we need products and services to help us to create the best possible solution in an imperfect world. That solution is Machine to Machine signal boosters or Internet of Things signal boosters. These're simply known as M2M signal boosters or IoT signal boosters.

Need professional tools like a signal meter to install signal boosters?

Checkout cell phone booster installation tools ranked at the top by installers as the best products that complement any cellular amplifier kit.

Does DIY Installation seem a bit too difficult for you?

Consider purchasing our cellular amplifier including installation bundle. Let our installers do the heavy lifting to get your phone booster installed professionally. It is a great option for seniors and those that do not feel comfortable doing installation on their own.