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Cellular Phone Boosting For Maine Properties

So, you are looking for Maine homes for sale and land for sale to get away from all the crowds.  One of my favorite parts of my job is helping people achieve their dreams of owning Maine real estate.  It is a balancing act to find the parcel that has the privacy you are looking for but still stay digitally connected to the world.  If you are among the few that don’t need to be connected, I envy you!  To the majority of Maine real estate buyers, read on…

First, you need to pick the right cell phone carrier.  This is easy, because we don’t have many options for reliability in Maine.  My first choice is U.S. Cellular and the following link is to their coverage map.  https://www.uscellular.com/coverage-map/coverage-indicator.html

The second and last choice is Verizon. The following link is to their coverage map.  https://www.verizonwireless.com/featured/better-matters/?intmcp=INT-SEA-NON-SE-coverage-051614-DE-SR-LP-T#maps

I was recently talking with a friend of mine, Brian Curtain, owner of NDC communications, https://www.ndccomm.com/construction/   207-852-9325. 

NDC installs cell towers throughout New England but they also have a residential division that can build your new Maine vacation home or Maine cabin.  From lot clearing, driveway installation, septic systems and the building of your Maine dream house, they are your one stop shop.

Just because you have a tower nearby, that doesn’t always mean you have access to the signal unless the tower is owned by your carrier.

The FCC has limited the boosting gain from 64 dB to 72 dB.  A single carrier booster can go up to 100 dB.  The gain comes from two sources, the indoor amplifier and outdoor antenna.  At the end of the day, you can’t boost what you don’t have.  You need to have some signal from the location. 

The bar meter on your phone is not always accurate.  Most people think it measures signal strength, which it does, but it also measures the quality of the signal.  Your phone may pick up interference from another nearby tower or the topography of the land between your current location and the cell tower.  Apple and Android have different ways of entering the field test mode to check on the signal strength you are receiving.  I don’t have time in this article to get into details but you can google the information.

One room systems start around $400 and whole house systems start in the $900 range.  Some of the popular boost companies are WeBoost, HiBoost and SureCall. 

I personally installed a WeBoost system at my off-grid vacation home.  I had weak signal outdoors and could rarely hold a call indoors.  After installing the system, I was able to use my cell phone as a hot spot.  I could log onto the net with my laptop and work from the location.  I was able to accomplish owning a very private, three season Maine home but still have access to the internet.

 

 

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