Saturday, May 18, 2019

weBoost RV Connect 65


We received our weBoost about a month ago.  The box it ships in is rather large and bulky.  It was stored in our bathroom in front of the second door for a few weeks and then when we moved we unpacked it and stowed the components.  Today we set it up for the first time.  This is a cell signal booster and we purchased both a omnidirectional and unidirectional antennae.  We did get a really good result after we set it up correctly.  The best possible signal you can get is -65 dBm.  Without the booster we were getting around -110 dBm and with it we were in the mid -70s.  We went from two bars to four (out of five). 

The pole can reach as high as 25' and it comes with a 30' cord.  There is an 8" flat cord that is meant to slip in a window or a slide to bring the signal into the RV.  We were able to insert it in an emergency window.  With the cord inserted we could still put the screen back on and the window can fully shut and latch.  So the flat cord works well to bring the signal in.  The pole is awkward and it comes with two fasteners which can be adhered to the RV, but we didn't use them.  Instead we used velcro straps and strapped in twice to the rear ladder (once low and once up at the top).  We were not able to extend the pole the full 25' and still have the cord reach the window (located in the front on the driver's side). 


Inside there are two components that hook up inside, the power supply/booster and the indoor antenna.  We didn't finish mounting those components because we wanted to get shorter cable wires so we didn't have to deal with so much excess (they supply you with two 15' lengths).  Though we picked up the shorter cords this evening, we didn't finish connecting everything.  However, this is where the indoor antenna will be mounted (with command strips):


 You can also see the flat cord sticking out of the middle of the left side of the window.  The power supply/booster will also be placed along this wall closer to the outlet. 

Clearly this is something that has to be taken down and set back up at each site.  We got a good result from the unidirectional outdoor antenna and we didn't test the omnidirectional antenna.  We will have to play with that one next time.  We did download an app which points to the nearest cell tower so that you can position the antenna in the correct direction.  The app we used is called Signal Strength. 

Overall I think this will help us when working from home on the road.  We certainly can see a benefit in this location and I think we will have to keep trying it in new locations to get the full benefit.  One thing that is concerning in this location is that it is sensitive to wind over 25 mph.  This area can be really windy, so we may have to lower the pole to stabilize it if the wind picks up. 

Something we tried that didn't work was using the prewired coax cable outlet at the docking station instead of using the 30' cord -  we didn't get any signal using the RV's prewire.  I'm not sure if the wire is different or what the reason is.  We only saw the signal boost when using the wire that it came with.  When we bought shorter wires for indoors we made sure they had the same label - but we haven't tested them yet...so I will let you know how it works!


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