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Peggy asked: “I have trouble getting phone calls in my house. I used 2-3 different phone services. Not sure if it has to do with having a metal roof on my house. Can you help me?”
If your cellphone signal was a little on the low side to begin with, a metal roof can definitely take you to the point of losing all service inside.
Your best bet would probably be a signal booster that can take whatever signal you get outside, and pick it up using an antenna that your mount on the outside of the house and broadcast it to the inside of your house like a router would do with WiFi.
Obviously, this requires that there is any kind of signal to repeat, so make sure you can make and receive phone calls outside before you spend any money.
If that’s the case, have a look at a company like WeBoost for hardware, they used to be Wilson Electronics until they bought their competitor zBoost and merged them into WeBoost.
You’re looking at a fairly considerable investment, think a few hundred dollars, so absolutely make sure that you have a signal to repeat in the first place.
You’re looking at a fairly considerable investment, think a few hundred dollars, so absolutely make sure that you have a signal to repeat in the first place. If you drop calls even when you’re standing outside your house, then the problem might be elsewhere and you may be better off finding a service provider that can get you better service.
Some carriers will let you route calls via WiFi, you may want to ask if yours will let you do that. If they will, that’s a free and easy solution if both the carrier and your phone allow it.
Some companies also offer a picocell, which is a device that acts as it’s own cell phone tower inside your home. The prices of those will vary, but expect them to be in the hundreds too.
Those devices wouldn’t require a signal from an outside tower either, but they would benefit from having one, so that they can hand off calls to them when you step out of your house.