WeBoost Antenna/Wire Routing?

Starting to look into WeBoost solutions for next camping season, just trying to get ideas of 1. Which model others have gone with, and 2. How you mounted the antenna, routing the wiring, etc.

These are the two I'm considering mainly for that big antenna in an attempt to grab the best signal.

https://www.weboost.com/products/drive-sleek-otr

https://www.weboost.com/products/drive4g-x-otr

 

Funny how we can all be different, when I go camping, I go places where my phone will not work

 

This is the better one the x OTR is the previous version. the Reach is also 50db but has a higher uplink
https://www.weboost.com/products/drive-reach-otr-fleet

Need to find the post but there is a sight that may still have having a deal. Coupon gets you 20% off and they were on sale. I got it a couple weeks ago. May still be in play.

 

I have the drive reach with upgraded OTR antenna, I have it in my glove box and wire though my windshield channel.

 

Here some pics the OTR wire is 2x bigger than the shark fin. You want to run the wire in the channel where the arrow is pointing, and use some hot glue on the very top and bottom to hold it in place.

 

There it is! Just received mine too.

 

Gotta pump out those 'grams.

 

It's pretty nice to have some Data before bedtime hAHAHA

 

Is it worth buying a weboost?

 

I got you beat.!
I don't even have a cell phone to know when I'm far enough away, have been camping that way for 30 year so why start now.

 

For anyone looking into WeBoost, my advise is to not do it unless you live very remotely 90% of the time. This will not be very helpful once the 5G rollout completes.
Currently 5G is at Non-Standalone at sub-6Ghz frequencies. But when mmWave is ready, and backhaul becomes Standalone mode, these antenna's cannot pick up frequencies between 24.5Ghz to 40Ghz.
mmW would be mostly indoors anyway as hotspots, and require phased array antennas. Sub-6 frequencies aren't supported by WeBoost either, so unless your coverage fallback to 4G/3G UMTS always, it won't be of much help with newer 5G phones.
I work in this field, RF Engineer. This antenna is mostly for picking up 3GPP frequencies between 800Mhz ~ 4.484Ghz. On the bright side, 5G rollout has been pushed back largely due to Covid, Trump and lack of available providers for basestations.

Edit: the newer reach model claims to support 5G, but didn't mention 5G Sub-6 frequencies... Existing 5G network requires 4G as an anchor for backhaul and signalling and operates in Non-Standalone Mode as required by the 3GPP spec.
So current version of 5G cannot work without 4G, but that will soon change when 5G/networks switches to Standalone Mode. They say their booster supports 5G, because 5G relys on 4G for now and this booster/antenna is calibrated and tuned for 3G/4G frequencies, but networks will upgrade to standalone mode in 5 years time and won't need an LTE anchor, and then these boosters won't help.
Either way, these antenna's won't work for 5G mmW as they'd require beam steering phased array antenna's, but then again, no network is going to have mmW outdoors anyway. mmW is strictly indoors only.

 

I tip my hat

 

That's what I was gonna say. They need bean stirring phrases.

 

I love TW. A thread comes up about a very specific thing, and I guy looking for help, and some people just feel the need to chime in about themselves. "What?! Someone wants communication abilities when they offroad!? He obviously needs me to tell them how the way I do things is much better!" Reminds me of the comedian Brian Regan

Anyway OP for your actual question. I would get the Reach with the OTR antenna, and then for wiring I'm going to attempt to route mine through the Thin Fin. https://www.uptopoverland.com/products/uptop-thinfin

I have the Reach, but I'm going to upgrade to the OTR antenna because it sticks up a little higher and that can be a factor. I did however talk to the weboost people about the difference between the magnetic small antenna and the OTR antenna and they told me there is no difference in power, just that the OTR can go higher.

 

Primitive camping FTW. I don't feel like I'm camping if technology is distracting me. And I love technology. But when I want to relax out in the woods, I want to isolate from the rest of the world. Granted, not everyone has that option.

 

Same, I love that me and my gf can’t get on social media, text, tv, etc. There’s something nice about being disconnected In a world so connected.

btw, how well do these work? Is it a barely noticeable difference or significant?

 

I hope all of you realize that when you want solitude, you can just turn off your phone... I know its a strange concept but it can be done.

I've actually been curious about these boosters lately. Move my work from home "office" outdoors. Would be a nice change of scenery and get to enjoy some camping while punching the time clock. The only thing I don't like about these boosters is the range. May or may not help your cell signal but then you're limited to just the cab? or 3-5 feet from the boosted antenna. Maybe if if gave me a 10-20 foot bubble, then I wouldn't have to be stuck in the cab, I'd be down. Until then, I'll just continue to research.

 

It works fairly well. I use it when I go between Austin and Colorado, and there are no longer any dead zones. The best thing you can do is have your device as close to the interior antenna as possible so I have a hotspot that I basically leave on it, and let me other devices connect to that if the phones aren't getting a signal. One tip is if you do lose all connection you can switch your phone to airplane mode then back on to regular signal and see if the phone picks up a different tower. It seems like sometimes a phone can get "stuck" on an old tower and not give you a connection.

And yes, this seems like it's offensive to some people on the thread, but I did it so I'm not stuck at home and I can work from the outdoors, and it's fantastic for that. Wake up by a river, check email and see if there's any pressing work, otherwise go for a hike or fishing.

 

That's odd. I usually like to play on my phone and check email while i'm out there

 

LOL spot on, It is definitely to be expected at this point though and seems to be a polarizing thing for the campers on TW.

Someone else mentioned you can just turn off your phone if you want solitude, you can also flip the weboost on and off...

I guess there are a lot of folks here that single car camp or solo camp all the time, because comms are insanely useful when you're trying to coordinate a few other cars who don't know the area or the trail and you want to make sure they're still on the way and not stuck on the trail somewhere when they miss the agreed upon check in time.

The majority of the time I show up to a spot in the dark with people trailing a few hours behind me. Now if I find a spot, I have to mark the coords, drop some gear to claim the spot and drive way back down the trail until I Get service, send the coordinates to everyone, detail any splits in the trail, objects to watch for, etc. Then I sit there to confirm everyone has seen it, THEN I get to drive back to camp and set up and wait. Sometimes their ETA is spot on, some times they have trouble and get lost, then I'm playing edge reception phone and text tag trying to get their location to find them or drive back to reception again to check in. But yes, everyone with a weboost antenna sticking off their truck must be constantly uploading to the gram, yo!