Mobile signal booster

[Dave Plowman (News]

Yup. Bit out of character for Michael.

[charles]

There's Vodaphone "Sure Signal"

[Michael Chare]

That is a common suggestion, but it has never worked on my Xiaomi phone running Android 10 with the latest update. After reading this thread I google about this problem and found the "Wifi Calling" app which does let me set Wifi calling as the prefered method of connection.

[michael adams]

Although we are close my phone can't pick up his wifi because the walls insulation uses heat reflective metal foil.

Should I use a powerline adapter to bring the signal from his router into my house?

[Adrian Caspersz]

Where I last worked in London, the company I was in had a 4G repeater system covering the three basement levels of their building. It was installed by O2, but from (dodgy) memory I think users on other mobile networks were able to use it for their mobile calls, but not internet.

I wonder if large department stores and shopping centres also have that, and who pays for it? Indoor coverage is something that mobile operators are keen to support, to keep their users happy.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Different technology.

The pico cells become teeny base wireless masts that cover a very small area with 2/3/4/5G cell signals, so any phone ill work, but WiFi Calling actually uses the internet to route calls directly not using cellular technology at all..and requires a phone equipped with the correct firmware and a mobile operators that supports it..

As wifi coverage gets more and more ubiquitous I suspect that it will in a few years become the default way to make a mobile phone call... ...while mobile phone calls decline in favour of whatsapp etc...

[Andy Burns]

Bean tins and baler twine?

[The Natural Philosopher]

Yes, It seems that not all phones and not all operators behave in the same way.

And I thought airplane mode disabled wifi and blue tooth as well?

Again seems to depend on the phone whetheryou can turn them on separately

[Jonathan]

If you have WiFi many telephones can call using that. It's what happens with my Samsung telephone on Three.

Jonathan

[The Natural Philosopher]

The staggering level of ignorance evinced by the implications of this statement...

[Michael Chare]

If he is agreeable, you should run an ethrnet cable from his house to yours. In your house you could then used an old router appropriately configured to broadcast the Wifi signal. There are ethernet cables that are suitable for use outside. In an ideal world the device in your house should be a Wifi access point powered by PoE from his house to avoid any risks from the properties being connected to different power supply electrical phases. Ubiquiti make such devices.

[The Natural Philosopher]

powerline doesn't bridge houses. It barely works on one ring main

Ethernet uses isolation transformers on inputs and outputs so there is no possibility of electrical LF connection via a cat 5 cable for precisely this reason. In offices having different rooms on different phases is commonplace. In order to render Ethernet viable in such spaces, the spec calls for mains isolated transformer coupled IO.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Followup. Power over Ethernet BREAKS the safety of Ethernet by transmitting DC power over the Ethernet, It is LESS safe than having local power

[Mark Carver]

Wifi calling is really just a cousin of the VoLTE protocol, (calling via your 4G data connection, rather than setting up a call per se)

[williamwright]

Yes, I use it a lot. Very good audio quality.

Bill

[The Natural Philosopher]

Well I am not sure what VoLTE is, but wifi calling is not VOIP as such, rather it is a way to connect to a normal mobile network across the internet

I suspect that what will in time happen is a convergence of all technologies towards VOIP and what happens to be the last half mile will be almost invisible to the user

[Martin Brown]

I think the designers of mobile phone (and TV) settings pages were fans of Zork's "maze of twisty little passages all alike exits are N/E/S/W".

They never make it easy to find some of the more important config settings. Defaults on TVs are typically burn your eyes out bright and cartoon levels of colour saturation to work in a shop window display!

[Michael Chare]

There was.

To quote "We're retiring Sure Signal from our network throughout 2021 and will switch the service off completely in September 2021. This means you won't be able to use Sure Signal anymore, or register a device to use it."

The devices failed just after two years when the warranty had expired. Some of the earlier ones used to explode!

[Fred]

The best ones don?t.

[Michael Chare]

PoE is used in offices. I would expect the equipment to conform to the same or similar standard. It would make sense for the voltage to be provided via the an isolating transformer in the RJ45 connecting chip.