Mobile phone car kit and antenna value?
Submitted: Saturday, Jan 17, 2015 at 20:32
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Sam39
We are looking to spend more time in rural/remote areas moving forward than we have done in the past. We are now seem to be more often in
places where there is little or no phone reception for where we are camped.
I started looking for a car kit with a decent antenna to help improve our current reception limitations. After a fair bit of reading it seems that a car kit and antenna may be of marginal benefit and maybe NOT worth doing. While driving I can see there could be more value to having a hands free kit/antenna but this is not so important to us as we use the phone and internet more when stopped. The reasons for this seem to be:
- phone and data reception is predominantly about line of site and the distance to the tower and the arial on the roof of the
Ranger is only a bit higher than a person standing. If it is all about line of site, if I walk or drive up a nearby
hill or climb a tree or sit on the roof rack I am more likely to get better or just as good reception than using that car kit/antenna
- for email, web browsing etc with laptop/ipad we use Bluetooth to the mobile phone and use the mobile as a hotspot and its data plan to connect to the internet. A car kit/antenna may help this but it seems that if I connected the mobile to a telescopic device such as a GoPro stick and attached it to the roof rack as we needed it we would be better off (except when it raining). We have at least 5 metre bluetooth range from the handset when doing this.
- for phone conversations I have a bluetooth headset so again we do not need the handset within about 5 metres of where I am standing. i can make and answer a call from the headset.
In short I am struggling to find reasons to get an external car kit/antenna, this was not the conclusion I was expecting to reach. Am I barking up the wrong tree or is it not really worth doing in our situation? Thanks for any advice.
Other considerations that are as or more important than the car kit/antenna:
- be on the Telstra network (we are)
- get a handset that has a 'blue tick' or is rated good reception. I am in the market for a new phone so this is doable
- use the Telstra coverage maps to work out where we are likely to spend time and if there will any reception at all in these areas in the first place
Reply By: Member - Mark (Tamworth NSW) - Saturday, Jan 17, 2015 at 20:53
Saturday, Jan 17, 2015 at 20:53
Sam This comes up regularly and if you use the search function you will find the responses.
There are some phones without a Blue tick which provide good reception according to annual research conducted by Choice and the Kondinin Group. Have a look at that.
Unless you are going to get a big, ugly broom stick aerial (some one will help me with the proper term for one), an external aerial through a passive coupling offers marginal benefit (I've have one , with a couple of different phones).
I've found external aerials have lost their "extra range" as phones reception has improved and the loss of direct couplings/ patch lead phones
Most Ag people I know who work in marginal reception areas don't now bother aerials on their vehicles for extending range.
AnswerID:
544438
Reply By: TomH - Saturday, Jan 17, 2015 at 20:58
Saturday, Jan 17, 2015 at 20:58
For internet browsing we used one of the old blue Maxon"Toaster" modems.
Would get reception where the Iphone 3 didnt You can probably just stick your phones sim card in it when you want to use it. Or get a $10 a month data sim
Ours sat on the mudguard roll under the table in the van and worked away in most
places. You can pick one up on Fleabay pretty cheap.
They are not fast but they work.
If you are going really remote you could buy an Iridium sat phone and also use your Telstra sim card in it. Calls are not cheap but better than nothing
Account needs to have roaming enabled to do this.
Dont believe coverage maps We live 3km from a
Telstra tower and have bad reception permanently
AnswerID:
544439
Reply By: Sam39 - Sunday, Jan 18, 2015 at 10:58
Sunday, Jan 18, 2015 at 10:58
Thanks for all the replies, I am reading as fast as I can to understand/investigate the responses. I found this which was really ueful and helped me make sense of many of several of the replies so far.
Improving mobile phone network guides
Like Motherhen I also have a business that works better if I can be more available for the odd time that I am needed to help make a decision but just generally be able to review and keep an eye on what is happening. In the past our routine seems to work better if I can do this in the first part of the day (I am a early riser), 30-60 mins every couple of days does the job. In theory if I can do about 4 hours a week connected to the Internet we can be away more often and for longer which is our goal. Our systems tend to be online these days so we need a web browser, chat or IM, Skype (nice to have), Dropbox and email to work.
As we are stopped at
camp when we want the internet (not driving), have no inverter (but plenty of 12 volt), we tend to travel slow and stay for at least a few days when travelling and space in our rig is very precious. With this in mind it would seem that we should be looking at:
- an inductive cradle (the new phone I prefer has not patch lead connection)
- some type of directional antenna
- use an 'app' before we lose signal to work out which direction the nearest towers will be when camped
- as part of our
bush camp set up attach the directional antenna
Does this sound like reasonable or best available approach for our scenario?
Is anyone doing this and do they find it worthwhile or is trying to get the antenna working more trouble then its worth? I am guessing this may be sometimes be a bit of a pain. (Our alternative is to stop and make use of the signal when we have it which is what we have done in the past)
If you do something similar, what are you using and are you happy with it?
AnswerID:
544465
Follow Up By: Gronk - Sunday, Jan 18, 2015 at 21:36
Sunday, Jan 18, 2015 at 21:36
I have used an inductive cradle with a windows phone and a broomstick aerial and got zero extra reception..
Took the aerial off and stuck it up a tree 15 ft...still zero difference..
Took the aerial off and use the cradle for charging the phone only..
If you want to get better reception, buy a Telstra phone that still has the rear port....even if its only use is outback reception...coupled to a broomstick aerial..
FollowupID:
831712
Follow Up By: Bob Y. - Qld - Sunday, Jan 18, 2015 at 21:55
Sunday, Jan 18, 2015 at 21:55
Sam,
I use a Telstra blue tick phone, a T54 I think, as we live in western Qld.
In my Landcruiser ute, I have a 900mm long 6dB broomstick, with a patch lead, and just plug it straight into the phone. Service is usually constant between cells, whereas the phone only loses signal part of the time.
On my
sedan, I bought a magnetic base, stainless steel whip, about 300mm long and 5dB, and it sits on roof of vehicle giving quite good coverage with the same phone.
Don't know whether this would suit your purpose, but definitely, imho, improves or at least maintains, coverage. Have seen a Yagi 3G phone antenna advertised......would be interesting to see how they performed?
Bob
FollowupID:
831716
Reply By: Member - John T (Tamworth NSW) - Monday, Jan 19, 2015 at 10:15
Monday, Jan 19, 2015 at 10:15
Hi Sam
I have a hard wired antenna from the bullbar of my Nissan to an old ZTE 165 mobile phone in a cradle in the vehicle.
It never ceases to amaze me where we can get service with that setup - a call came in last time we were in
Corner Country - between
Tibooburra and Camerons Corner - about 1/2 way out and the phone rang - a mate wishing us a great trip. Ran very low on fuel on the
Birdsville Track some years ago - rang the Autoport in town and Peter brought fuel out. We were about 40 - 50 k's out of
Birdsville and had full service. All with Telstra of course - no other provider has the coverage.
I've just purchased a new phone as the battery in the old ZTE has some serious failings these day (10+ years old) but will keep the old one and just put the SIM into it and into the cradle when we travel.
I reckon the external antenna is worth every bit of whatever I paid for it and the car kit years ago.
Cheers
| John T (Lifetime Member)
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Reply By: Sam39 - Friday, Jan 30, 2015 at 16:43
Friday, Jan 30, 2015 at 16:43
After doing a bit more research, it would seem like there might be another option.
Is anyone doing something like this with a directional antenna like a Yagi?
(We ONLY plan to use the antenna when camping and stationary for internet use). We would have to mount this system when we need it to the roof rack via a mount and mast and point it a
Telstra tower.
• How tricky would it be to setup, point at tower etc? (it’s a short distance from roof rack into our camper on the back of the ute via a 3 metre patch lead should be enough)
• Telstra 4G wi-fi modem for hotspot (not mobile phone), something like:
http://telcoantennas.com.au/site/unlocked-4g-sierra-wireless-aircard-760s-wifi-modem
• Directional antenna like
http://telcoantennas.com.au/site/rfi-12dbi-3g-4g-lte-yagi-antenna or something that is reasonably portable.
We no longer want to use our mobile phones as a hotspot or patch them into the antenna or vehicle, it seems to make more sense for us to look at a separate setup to get the best internet we can when camped.
AnswerID:
545077