SIGNAL BOOSTER

[JennyvdM]

I am moving to the platteland, our farm is midway between Stilbaai and Riversdal in the Southern Cape. We have a Vodacom Tower on one of the hills surrounding the farm I estimate about 5 - 10kms away. I can see it from the house on the farm.

I am moving to the farm permanently and visiting my Cape Town office bi-monthly for 4 days.

Presently when I am away from Cape Town I use Vodacom 3G/HSPDA to connect to my server/workstation. At the farm, I can do this as well but do not seem to get sufficient signal strength at times. I connect to the internet well, but to work on the data on the CT server proves very difficult at times when I can only get GPRS.

How could I improve signal strength. I have heard about boosters and routers but am not sure how to go about finding out where to get these or how they would work.

Can satelite be used

Please help.

Thanks
JENNY

 

[morkhans]

Look at a high gain 3G antenna from Poynting. Give them a call, they will be happy to advise you on what to get.

 

[cvbs]

You can make a cheap modification,if you are using a usb Stick modem,you can buy a extension for the usb cable 5m,put you Dongle in the middle of a parabolic dish and point it at the tower you should have a increase in signal strengh,i also struggled with signal and built one and now i have 3G-HSDPA

http://www.usbwifi.orconhosting.net.nz/

 

[riscbroker]

Just check first with Vodacom if the tower is in fact enabled for 3G - not all of them are. No antenna/booster will help you in that case

 

[ting]

Have a look on the Vodacom coverage map for that area. Like riscbroker mentioned an antenna will not give you 3G if not in the coverage area. An antenna will boost the signal that you are getting to its max.
3G/HSDPA would be the best though you would still be able to download and work on say your banking without disconnecting on the EDGE frequency. An antenna kit will definitely make a huge difference on whatever speed you are or will be getting there. For your interest I have included the speed of the different frequency ranges for you. (I am however not 100% sure of where you live exactly; please have a look on the following web link. Vodacom Coverage Map
GPRS 64kbps
EDGE 200kbps
3G 380kbps
HSDPA 1800kbps

Have a look at this external antenna kit - Poynting
We'll be happy to assist you