need help getting phone reception

[nickfox]

Hi

I live in southern France and I use my samsung phone on the Orange network. My house is down in a small valley out of sight from the cell tower and I get no cell phone reception in my house. If I walk to the top of my property, about 40 meters, I start to get reception there. Next to my front gate is a small concrete light post and I want to put an antenna up there (I think) and then run a 40 meter line back down to my house and put something in my house so that I get phone reception there.

Can you please help me figure out what I need to buy.

[Seán]

For mobile phone reception, you will need a repeater in addition to an antenna. Unlike getting an antenna for a router, the repeater must be compliant with the EU Radio Equipment Directive, so you will need to get it from a reputable supplier, such as OfficeEasy, One Direct, etc. in France.

As Orange operates on multiple 4G bands, you will need to figure out which band you are getting your signal on. With a Samsung phone, walk to the area you pick up a signal and dial *#0011#. It will show the band # near the top of the technical info shown.

I suggest going for a StellaDoradus repeater that does both the 900MHz and the 4G band you picked up as this will cover voice, SMS, data and VoLTE (if your plan and phone support VoLTE). Alternatively, you can go with a 900MHz only repeater, which is cheaper, but just provides voice and SMS capability, where you can use your home broadband Wi-Fi for data, such as WhatsApp, Facebook, etc. The StellaDoradus repeaters are the most sensitive I'm aware of for weak signal areas that are RED compliant, i.e. will not emit noise that could result in an unwanted visit from an RF interference inspector. The antenna has a 12 metre cable, which you can mount as high as it can reach, then aim in the direction of the mast. You can extend the outdoor cable up to about 10 metres further without a preamplifier with a good quality SMA male to female extension lead.

The following is the StellaDoradus 900MHz GSM repeater (voice/SMS only) on OfficeEasy: https://www.officeeasy.fr/stella-home-900.html

The following page on One Direct has various multi-band repeaters: https://www.onedirect.fr/telephonie-mobi...ble_orange
(Choose one that mentions 900 in addition to the band shown when you dialled *#0011# - Band 1 = 2100MHz, Band 3 = 1800MHz, Band 7 = 2600MHz, Band 8 = 900MHz and Band 20 = 800MHz.)

I suggest trying the repeater with its included cabling and antennas first before considering getting an extension as the extension kit will likely cost more than the repeater again. There is a good chance the repeater alone will work with the very weak outdoor signal, as long as the antenna is mounted reasonably high up.

[Patrick]

Is another option to try, if possible to get a usable 3G/4G signal on a broadband router with external aerial. Then use wifi calling on your mobile. This way you will have broadband and phone. This is a cheaper option also I think as any phone repeater equipment is expensive. What are the pros and cons to both methods?
Obviously your mobile handset and plan need to be wifi calling enabled.