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  1. #1
    User
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Eastern Cape
    Posts
    1,028

    Default Cell phone booster setup and change of Service provider

    My property is in a valley with poor cell phone reception. Cell C installed and Antenna booster (Outside antenna, Amplifier and Inside antenna) at my property when I moved in. I changed to Vodacom a while back. The Tech came in and change some settings (GSM frequency?) on the Antenna Amp to work on the Vodadom network. I recently change to Telkom for a service provider. The reception with the Antenna booster was always poor but now nearly non existent with Telkom. Telkom map coverage says good reception, but because I stay in the valley it is not.

    Marking on the Antenna Amp is as Follows (photos here https://imgur.com/a/LMCLlUq)
    Back. Model BDA GSM/UMTS 13 22 XBy the y is scrtach out and corrected to a C with a velt pen.
    Front Cellvine Dual Band GSM/UMTS Pico Repeater

    When I look on cellphone towers in my area on the map I found out that the Antenna is pointing into a direction where there is no transmitters. The nearest transmitter is about 90 deg right from current location. The Telkom map doesn't show any Telkom transmitters, only Vodacom. When the antenna was installed originally I ask the Tech why the antenna is pointing to that direction and he states his phone is showing that is where the strongest signal is. The Antenna is pointing perpendicular to the valley. The nearest Cell transmitter is 90 deg right which means the Antenna will point to the side of the valley.

    How do I change the settings to work now with Telkom reception (Telkom frequency) and what is the gain setting need to be. How do I check the direction of the antenna to make sure it is the strongest signal

  2. #2
    User
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Randburg, Gauteng
    Age
    38
    Posts
    1,281

    Default Re: Cell phone booster setup and change of Service provider

    I'm on my phone, so can't check the amp model details, etc, but Telkom does use completely different frequency bands fro. Voda, MTN and Cell C. It might be that the antenna, amp, or both don't support the Telkom frequencies.

    Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

  3. #3
    User
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Cape Town, Brackenfell
    Age
    30
    Posts
    247

    Default Re: Cell phone booster setup and change of Service provider

    Good luck trying to get Telkom to install a booster.

    I've had technicians come out 3 times since October. I have been promised a booster but to this day they haven't come to install it.

  4. #4
    User
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    Noord van die biltong gordyn.
    Age
    56
    Posts
    9,116

    Default Re: Cell phone booster setup and change of Service provider

    Your explanation lets me think you live on a farm or similar, away from the bigger urban areas.

    Hellkom don't have cell towers in the rural areas, they piggyback on the other networks. Since bandwith and network capacity is severely limited in rural areas, they suck on the teat no 11, on a bitch with only 10 teats. A friend who used to work for them and was thus forced to use their network explained this to me when I inquired about his poor cell reception in our area.

    I find that generally MTN and Vodagone have the best coverage in rural areas. That being said, their coverage is not nearly as good as their published coverage maps seems to purport. Topograpy plays a major role, but in our area, while I have 2 Vodagone towers clearly visible from my house, there are times when the reception is still Zero. That is simply because there are more users on the particular towers than the number of "lines" it can support. So we wait for our turn to make or revieve calls. The data network is worse.

    If anyone ever starts a cellular network that is not gubbermunt or chinese owned, has no race-baced policies (bbbeeee) and can actually get their accounts department to function properly, I will be very interested.

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