I recently re-insulated my shop. The facing has a foil back that appears to be blocking signal. I wonder if there is a device I can put in my shop that will receive the signal and transmit to my phone. I've done some searching, but not sure if what I've found will do what I need. Any help appreciated.

Sprint has such a device but it must hook up the Internet. I looked into it some five years ago. Didn't have home internet at the time, so abandoned the idea.

I have one of the sprint repeaters. Work really well and are free.

I had a verizon one a few years ago.
Like they say, it needed an internet connection to work.
The only concern I really had with it was handoff.
If you started a call while on that signal there was no smooth handoff to a normal cell tower if you walk/drove away. The call would simply get dropped.

Yes they do make cell signal boosters. There are some very inexpensive ones that are of dubious value depending on your specific circumstances. weBoost by Wilson Amplifier is a very popular brand and they have various price ranges again depending on your needs and circumstances. Primary considerations are how strong is the signal outside the structure, how large is the interior of your structure and what are the interior wall of the structure made out of.

These units have an outside antenna that picks up cell the signal and routes it to an indoor repeater via a coaxial cable.

I have one at my lake house and it does in fact work. But you need to be prepared to spend some money to get a decent unit. Probably in the neighborhood of $500, again depending on the circumstances above and your needs.

On the ship, we use weboost. The model we have is the weboost 4G-X which is a bit pricey. They have other units for smaller applications. We have been pretty happy with it.

https://www.weboost.com

We are out in the country. I have ATT at the house but we do not have cable. Their coverage map says I should have good service here, but no. They have MCell which works great to boost the signal but you need cable for it to work. I called ATT and complained about cell service and they gave me a credit to buy a booster for the house. Once we got the antenna high enough on the house and aimed at the nearest cell tower our service in the house is now acceptable.

https://www.att.com/att/microcell/

We have one of these and it seems to work up about 500 feet from the house. They are available from the major carriers too.

Do you have solid wifi in the shop, or can you put in solid Wifi there?

if so, just use wifi calling which is standard on many cell phones such as Samsung with AT&T.

problem solved.

quote:

Originally posted by HayesGreener: We are out in the country. ...

It could be worse.

You could live in Holt.

Here's a link to check out if you have Wifi in the shop...

https://www.att.com/shop/wirel...es/wifi-calling.html

Use Wi-Fi Calling to talk and text over an active Wi-Fi connection. Wi-Fi Calling lets you talk and text from indoor locations where it’s hard even for a strong cellular signal to reach.

These products by Wilson are the real deal:

https://www.wilsonamplifiers.c...cbZubfRoCZUEQAvD_BwE

They act as a repeater, receiving signal from an outside antenna and transmitting it inside. If you have good signal strength outside, this will absolutely take care of your problem with the metalic insulation. There is no need for internet service.

Read the descriptions, as they tell you the area of coverage you should get based on what your outside signal strength is.

If you don't have good signal outside either, then if you have good internet, enable wifi calling as radioman suggested.

I tried a Wilson repeater. Sold at Best Buy. The Antennas must be a great distance apart or "feed back" will result.

Took it back for refund.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
https://www.att.com/att/microcell/

We have one of these and it seems to work up about 500 feet from the house. They are available from the major carriers too.

My Dad was complaining about missed calls and poor reception in his basement man cave and I installed one of these in his living room and the issue went away.

I have had an ATT microcell for years as I live way out in the boonies with no service at all.

I just turned it off.

I just discovered that on our Iphones there is a call over wi-fi option. I turned that on and turned off the microcell. Works great, my phone calls are much clearer than with the microcell, and no extra charge.

quote:

Originally posted by GWbiker:
I tried a Wilson repeater. Sold at Best Buy. The Antennas must be a great distance apart or "feed back" will result.

Took it back for refund.

Not so great a distance apart but definitely must pointed in opposite directions.

quote:

Originally posted by honestlou:
These products by Wilson are the real deal:

https://www.wilsonamplifiers.c...cbZubfRoCZUEQAvD_BwE

They act as a repeater, receiving signal from an outside antenna and transmitting it inside. If you have good signal strength outside, this will absolutely take care of your problem with the metalic insulation. There is no need for internet service.

Read the descriptions, as they tell you the area of coverage you should get based on what your outside signal strength is.

If you don't have good signal outside either, then if you have good internet, enable wifi calling as radioman suggested.

I use Wilson in my truck (adapted my phone cradle) and it gives me the quoted 3dbm boost, need to change the antenna to pick up the 600mhz band though.

 
I have had good luck with Wilson amplifiers. You need to place the antenna outside where it can receive a good cell signal, and then that is transmitted to your inside house.
 

Thank you for the suggestions so far. I'm leaning toward a device with an antenna outside...