Cell phone booster for View/Navion

jcurtisis · 11-08-2018, 12:15 PM

Does anyone have a suggestion for adding a cel phone booster? I have a 2018 Navion 24D, and our recent travel experience is that there were many times it would have come in handy. It looks like the WeBoost is the model that is most recommended. I'm looking for suggestions as well as info on installation: professional or "do it yourself" & expected costs.

rarebear.nm · 11-08-2018, 03:01 PM

It depends. If the signal needs just a little boost or larger boost, like very weak signal in the first place. Keep in mind no booster can create a signal where there is none to start with. For a small boost I guess most of them may get the job done. If you operate in the fringe areas and need a good signal you'll need a higher end unit. You pretty get what you pay for with boosters. WeBoost has been around a long time and is thus well established in the market and gets many reviews, but that does not make it the best. After spending six months studying the issues I bought a Maxsignal unit and have been happy with it. (https://www.maximumsignal.net/)

Regardless of the brand the key is to have one antenna on the roof and a second antenna inside the RV. There must be a minimum distance between the antennas depending on the model, otherwise you get feedback issues.

WeBoost and Maxsignal models operate very differently.

powercat_ras · 11-08-2018, 04:37 PM

Weboost Drive Sleek 4G, $ 199 , newer design compatible with the voice and data frequency bands that the major cell service providers use.

Antenna roof mounts, cabled to a small electronics box mounted in the RV. Cables from there to a 12 volt power source and to a small light cradle. Phone or Mobile Hot Spot is laid in the cradle. Can hold both phone and cradle in your hand and make/receive calls if need be.

I have one in my Vista and have installed on a Travato. Personally have seen it work and improve signal on ATT, Verizon, and Sprint cell networks. Device has to be in or very close to the cradle to get it's signal improved.

Antenna is magnetic, on my Vista I had to sticky tape a metal plate to the roof for the antenna to grab to. It also comes with a double sided adhesive disk to mount the antenna to the roof , but I did not want to make mine permanent. I wanted the option to move it to my toad when I wanted to boost cellular in the toad from time to time.

Beware of boosters at lower prices. Chances are they are obsolete models that won't work with the current carrier 4G networks. There are some sellers that have old stock with older models that sell for less but they are not 4G compatible.

rarebear.nm · 11-08-2018, 05:44 PM

Powercat raises a good point. Some boosters require the cell device (phone) to be next to or very close to the inside device. Others, such Maxsignal allow the cell device(s) to be anywhere within like a 35 ft radius of the interior antenna, depends on exact model. So it can easily cover the entire RV for multiple devices at the same time and an area outside the RV. There's no real limit to the number of cell devices, a couple of phones, tablets and/or a MiFi unit. We enjoy being able to sit outside with our phones and computers at the same time all using the same cell booster. As I said you get what you pay for.

jcurtisis · 11-08-2018, 09:08 PM

It sounds like you did the installation yourself- how did you route the antenna cable to the inside cabin?

jcurtisis · 11-08-2018, 09:10 PM

It sounds like you did the installation yourself- how did you route the antenna cable to the inside of the cabin.

rarebear.nm · 11-08-2018, 09:36 PM

Yes, I did the installation myself. I do all my own service and mods.

In this case the roof top antenna is attached to a 10" x 10" steel plate that serves as both the ground plane or sometimes called a base plane and the steel for the magnetic base of the antenna. Painted it and attached with Dicor. The coax antenna cable runs along the luggage rack to the center back edge, just above the compartment for the DVD player, etc. I have 12 V power there. Used stainless steel cable ties to secure it to the luggage rack. I drilled a hole through the roof into this compartment. This cable plus some others pass through an entry plate (Winegard CE4000 Cable Entry Plate) which is set in Dicor and screwed down with more Dicor.

The cell booster itself lives in the DVD compartment. The interior antenna coax cable runs from there though the ceiling AC duct work to a point about mid-length in the coach. Everything inside is concealed except for the antenna.

I know some people are terrified about drilling a hole in the roof for fear of a leak. Look around the roof and see how many other roof penetrations already exist. As long as it is sealed properly there's no real issue.

Hope this helps a little.

Jaeger · 11-15-2018, 02:04 PM

I installed a WeBoost Drive 4G-X RV booster in our new Minnie a few months ago...and it works as advertised. We took the trailer to several campsites with either poor (one or two bars of 3G), very poor (1 bar of 1X) or "No signal" and had excellent Verizon LTE in each location. Emails, web pages, etc all downloaded at as good a speed as any urban LTE location.

It is necessary to have the phone as close to the indoor antenna as possible. But I mitigate that necessity by "hot spotting" my iPhone with it plugged in to a USB port right next to the indoor antenna. I then use an iPad or laptop that gets it data via WIFI from the iPhone. The range of the phone's WIFI signal is sufficient to sit outside and browse the web while watching the sunset with the iPhone in the trailer.

The worst part of the install was drilling the one inch hole in the back wall. WeBoost supplied an excellent drill bit specifically for that purpose which I thought was a nice touch and it worked great. I used a good carpenter's stud-finder (not the cheap magnetic kind, but rather the advanced sensor variety) to locate the support structure in our back wall and I drilled the hole just above, but not through, the support for the ladder.

The hardest part of the install was fishing the antenna cable through the rig. For this, I bought a cheap wire "fish tape" from Home Depot that was indispensable for this purpose. I then used the fish tape to run a double-long length of orange 550 paracord from opening to opening. Finally, I taped the antenna cable to the paracord, pulled the cable through, and pulled the surplus paracord back so I've already got it in place should I ever need to pull another wire or cable through.

So, yes, the WeBoost works great for us. We use Verizon and I know from my backpacking days that the unit makes a tremendous difference. It takes a virtually useless level of signal and makes it good.