External Antenna

External Antenna

If you are looking to boost your cell phone service in your home or place of work, an external antenna is an essential component. To ensure that you are getting the best possible increase in reception make sure you are purchasing a directional external antenna.

Placement of the antenna is essential. It needs to be attached outside and orientated to give the best possible signal. This is usually in alignment with the nearest cell phone tower. To find the optimal location, you can walk around your building with your cell phone looking for the place where you note the greatest increase in cellular reception. This may not be necessary for some models as the package may include a signal strength monitor to help you locate the area.

It is usually the case that the larger the external antenna is, the greater the boosted signal will be. But even the smaller sized antennas should give you a noticeable increase. It is important that you do not mount the external antenna any closer than 3 feet from the nearest metallic objects. Any closer and the metallic objects will interfere with the device's ability to successfully pick up a signal.

Should you feel uncomfortable attaching an antenna to the exterior of your home or business, there are many professionals who will attach it for you and ensure that it has been installed in the perfect location. Your antenna will send a signal to an amplifier that will increase the received signal and then send it on to the internal antenna that will evenly distribute the amplified signal around the property.

There is no point having a large external antenna without having the appropriate amplifier. A model that provides 50dB gain or more is recommended. The less expensive models will offer an increase of gain between 20dB and 50dB, although this will give you an improvement in reception, it is worth buying the more expensive models to really benefit from the technology.