Is your Vodafone signal weak at home?

[seanjoe]

I had been using Vodafone for quite a bit before, but then gave it up because its signal was really weak at home. Funny that sometimes when you are at home, is when you really need your mobile signal to be high. I literally had to go out to the garden, and still I only managed to get 2 bars (and this gets really inconvenient in the winter months).

Vodafone have launched a new booster called "Vodafone Sure Signal", which is a device that uses your home broadband signal to actually increase the Vodafone signal, and thus ensure you have a better coverage in your home. Not sure if other networks have this, but if you really want to stick to Vodafone for whatever reason, this might prove to be a good device for you. Min. broadband speed required is 1MBps.

Link to this information below:

http://online.vodafone.co.uk/dispatch/Portal/appmanager/vodafone/wrp?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=templateCClamp&pageID=PPP_0161

Hope this helps some of you out there.
Sean

[petkow]

So they use their customers paid bandwidth to increase their own bandwidth!  Cheeky!

I presume they are using a Femtocell/Picocell/NanoGSM?? I suppose an alternative is UMA via your own WiFI (Unlicensed mobile access), though I am not sure which networks allow this. (I think maybe Orange?)

[petkow]

I suppose the follow up question (and anothor potential use) is whether that Sure Signal Hub could somehow be made to work abroad so that you get a signal on your home network of Vodafone UK in your overseas property!  I presume it only works with a UK IP address but of course there are ways around that!

I also note that it is 3G only! i.e. it does not transmit 2G signals.

[seanjoe]

i noticed that about the 2g, but most phones would be compatible with that right? i guess what that means is you can call and text, but not surf the net? is that right?

[petkow]

i noticed that about the 2g, but most phones would be compatible with that right?

You would just need a 3G handset to use this hub. An old handset (but also many cheaper new handsets) would probably not work. It depends on your definition of "most phones" but I think the majority of phones in circulation in the UK are still only 2G. However there are plenty of new phones, such as all smart phones as well as all on the "Three" network which are 3G compatible. You can see whether your phone is 3G compatible or not by searching for its spec on a site like http://www.gsmarena.com/

i guess what that means is you can call and text, but not surf the net? is that right?

No. The 3G only refers to the mode of communication between handset and hub. AFIK there should be no reason whatsoever that the hub is not fully data enabled as normal on 3G communications. So phoning, texting, surfing, picture msging and video calling should all work on your 3G handset as normal!