The 395 and Owens Valley-Eastern Sierra Region

Thanks everyone for the replies so far about WeBoost. The knowledge here about electromagnetic radiation from the heavens, whether RF from towers or from satellites, or visible light from stars billions of miles away, is amazing. I do understand the basics of how WeBoost works, and my experience with AT&T out there has been that it could be worth it. For example, last week at AH, I had consistent 1-2 bars reliable service at camp outside our (ahem) van, but one to zero inside. We call the van our big metal tent and as such it’s a pretty good Faraday cage. So with an outside antenna and internal repeater plus WiFi I feel like I should be able to stream movies on my iPad. Or catch up with TW.

On the other hand, at Saline Hot Springs where in perfect atmospheric conditions I can get maybe one bar of AT&T between Lee’s cabin and the outhouse, I don’t think WeBoost would be useful unless I haul the gear and a battery up there and walk around pointing the antenna at the sky like a divining rod. @Stuck Sucks your speed tests kinda show what I thought I could expect in a lot of spots. Last week the friend I was traveling with had Verizon and pretty much between DV Junction and Baker he had nothing while for me, AT&T was strong enough to be useful. That matches my experience in the Southwest when traveling with other Verizon users. Of course, AT&T doesn’t actually work at our house so we always use WiFi calling there.

 

Thanks for real world data!

For the “without” test where was your phone? (e.g. inside vehicle, near windshield, outside, etc.)

 

That sounds like exactly the case WeBoost is designed for. So as you say, as long as there is some reception outside the vehicle it should give you much more useable connection when hanging out in the van.

 

For the record, the OEM travel case is 25.5" long x 17" wide x 13.5" thick/tall. It's bulky.

 

I THINK I was sitting in the driver's seat (the broadcast antenna is stuck to the center console, under the e-brake handle -- it only broadcasts ~3')

btw I'm AT&T

 

I'll chime in, AT&T coverage is sparse in the desert except along freeways and highways. However, hill and mountaintops pretty much all get service. So, camp might be no service but I san scramble to a hilltop to check in with the wife. Or tape it to the flying camera to send / receive texts, except in the national parks.

 

So if your out camping on vacation why do you need the phone to work? Remember the 1980's or 1990's?

 

Some do, some don't. And yeah, I lived through bad hair and bad clothes. lol

 

Sometimes having a phone that works means you can go camping and still be "working" which is better than not camping at all.

 

There are days when I would like to have a trailer parked somewhere and work from there.

 

I'm looking forward to the Breakthrough Direct-to-Cell Service from low-orbit Satellite, should hopefully this year be able to have text service, for some subscribers, using regular LTE phones. Here is another initiative. And then I get this feeling like the days of old with the Motorola 929 MHz pagers.

 

As someone who enjoys astrophotography and astronomy in general, I'm not liking the addition of thousands of LEO satellites. SpaceX, plans on "tens of thousands" of new satellites. Others plan on hundreds of huge surface area devices. At some point these things also die and fall back to earth--hopefully, burning up in the atmosphere. Who knows how long that takes?

 

my windows here in santa barbara have rattled on average about every 2 weeks for quite some time now (& just last night at 10), with space x launching their junk from vandenberg...not a fan

 

Actually I remember the 1960’s and 1970’s also, and I may even have a few memories of Fifties too. But I don’t miss bias ply tires and ignition points and carburetors - and I like my cellular access too. But I get it, and it is good to unplug once in a while.

 

I don't really care much about whether my phone does or doesn't work but if I could work from anywhere, I would like that in camp.

 

I remember a little about the 50s.
I like checking in with my wife, if she isn't with me.
I don't work, so there isn't any of that.
At home we have AT&T DSL. 2.5 speed on a good day. Life in the mountains is good, but has its own dilemma.

 

I text my lady through Garmin inreach like others have said.
Otherwise, I love getting away from electronics and "civilization" whenever possible.
And people. People suck. Lol

 

I'm not too worried about the satellites falling back to earth the vast majority are small and burn up on reentry, the stations are a different story. As someone who lives in a dark sky area I completely agree about their effect on the night sky. I got to witness the train of Starlink satellites two nights in a row this last fall and it was something to see but as you mentioned that's only a small percentage of the number they plan to launch. It's off the radar for many city dwellers since most don't have a night sky except a moon once in awhile. Personally I think they should be made of non reflective material in areas where it doesn't impact the satellite. The low earth orbits can get crowded and are easily seen, we try and regulate it but there's nothing really stopping anyone from sending something up into a visual orbit. I read somewhere that Bezos also has some plans to launch a large network of satellites.

I could easily envision the day were the rich guys have their own router in the sky (personal geosynchronous satellites).

 

Not to get too far off track but there are a couple of thousand StarLink devices in the sky today. Reflectivity is problematic but when we see 10,000 devices in the night sky, terrestrial observations may suffer. And that's just StarLink. If other cellular providers litter the skies with 700sf satellite arrays (that makes it over half the square footage of my house!!), that will only add to the astronomy issue.

 

Having seen the Starlink "train" in dark sky areas in Utah and Colorado both of the past summers, it's simultaneously cool and annoying. As it becomes more widespread and commonplace, I expect the cool factor to decrease and the annoyance factor to increase.