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Here's the kind of problem that I hope to have some day. I hope to have a boat so big that I need to worry that one cell booster isn't going to cover it. It sounds like the stuff that dreams are made of, right? But the struggle is real, and I've been asked this very question multiple times. In order to understand the answer, you need a little background.

Why boats have bad cell reception

It is, in fact, a myth that boats have bad cell reception. Cell reception on the water is much better than it is on land. Where you need to be 1.5-2 miles from a cell tower on land, you can often be as much as 10 miles away from a tower if you're on the water. It comes down to all that open space between you and the towers. The signal isn't being blocked by hills, trees, or buildings. So it comes in loud and clear.

The problem comes when trying to get cell service in the cabin. The construction of the boat blocks a lot of signal, as do the wires and conduits that are in the walls. And, if you're below the water line, you're almost always out of luck.

That's why I recommend cell phone signal boosters for boats.

The magic of a cell booster

A cell booster takes signal from outside, massively amplifies it, and brings it inside where it's blasted out through an antenna. It does the same in reverse, sending stronger signals back to the tower than your phone could. Best of all, it's a buy-once, use-always solution with no monthly fee and no data cap. It sounds almost too good to be true, but it isn't.

There are two kinds of cell boosters: vehicle and in-building. Vehicle boosters aren't designed to be upgraded, while many in-building boosters can be scaled to fit spaces of 100,000 square feet or more. Vehicle boosters are only approved to amplify the signal about 10,000 times, while in-building boosters can amplify it an astounding 10,000,000 times over. Vehicle boosters have a lower amount of amplification because vehicles are typically smaller than buildings, and because they could conceivably be right next to other vehicles with boosters. You don't want to cross signals with another booster… both devices will cut power before there's a problem. That just means you don't get the bang for your buck that you should.

The boat problem

Generally speaking, boats are considered vehicles not buildings. That means that even if they are the size of a building, they're limited to using vehicle-level cell boosters. These systems aren't really designed to be scaled up, so there will be spots with great service and spots that are still dead.

There are two ways of dealing with this, and they're pretty predictable.

The illegal way

The first thing you could do is buy a large building cell booster and install it on your boat. Technically this is illegal and I'm not advising it. However, I'm completely aware that the FCC isn't going to sail out to your boat, measure the signals, and board it looking for contraband cell boosters. In other words, you're not going to get caught. This is especially true if you don't turn the booster on while your in the harbor.

The legal way, which is still pretty good

The other option is to use multiple vehicle-level cell boosters. Yes, it does work even though it's not really designed for it. The key is to put the boosters as far apart as possible. If they are too close, they will step down their power to avoid causing problems. This will probably cause worse cell service everywhere

Here's how I'd do it if I were doing it

I'd put the indoor antenna for one booster at one end of the boat. I'd put the other indoor antenna on the other end of the boat. Then I'd turn them both on and see what you have. If you need to put a third booster in the middle of the boat, do that.

A lot of people ask if you could just run multiple antennas from one booster. A vehicle cell booster isn't really powerful enough for that, and what will happen is that you'll get worse service everywhere.

Need to know the next steps?

If you're ready to get a cell booster for your boat, call the experts! Signal Connect has more marine electronics experience than anyone else. We've been working with marine tech for 20 years and we hae experts ready to help! We'll recommend the best hardware for you. Along the way we'll talk about other upgrades for your boat if you'd like. We can help with a lot more than just cell service.

Give us a call at 888-233-7563, fill out the form below, or use the chat button at the bottom right of your screen.


The post Can you have multiple cell phone boosters on a boat? appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.

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