Use antenna to improve 3G reception

[Guest iskander]

Hello

I am unfortunate enough to work in an office that is about 700 yards away from the border of the 3G coverage area. I find the GPRS connection extremely slow.

I tried buying a GSM antenna hoping it would boost the reception enough to get 3G (HSDPA even).

I bought an average antenna with the following specs:

-Covers all UK/EU GSM and 3G frequencies (900, 1800 and 2100MHz)

- 2.1dBi gain

The disappointment was that it barely increased the reception with at most one bar, not even close to getting the 3G I wanted.

Did anybody have any similar experiences? Can anyone recommend an antenna or something that would give me the reception boost I need?

Or does anybody have the confirmation that it is impossible?

[Guest SGH-i620]

I often use \Windows\Testmode.exe to look at the numeric reception values (instead of relying to the slow and inaccurate antenna bars). Good values (all bars) are around -85 dB, bad values (no bar but still connected) are around -106 dB. That means (very roughly spoken) that every bar (5 total) represents about (106-85/5) 4 db. So when your antenna really amplifies the signal only 2 db you'll most likely see no bar change...or am I wrong?

I noticed extreme local changes of reception inside of buildings. But as the antenna bars in my device react with 10-15 seconds delay they are quite useless. Maybe with the use of testmode.exe you'll find a place where you still get a 3G signal. Start testmode.exe, click "1 debug", then "1 Basic Information", then look for values in the range of -85 to -108 ...

Just my thoughts, any more expert advice appreciated ;-)

[Guest iskander]

I often use \Windows\Testmode.exe to look at the numeric reception values (instead of relying to the slow and inaccurate antenna bars). Good values (all bars) are around -85 dB, bad values (no bar but still connected) are around -106 dB. That means (very roughly spoken) that every bar (5 total) represents about (106-85/5) 4 db. So when your antenna really amplifies the signal only 2 db you'll most likely see no bar change...or am I wrong?

I noticed extreme local changes of reception inside of buildings. But as the antenna bars in my device react with 10-15 seconds delay they are quite useless. Maybe with the use of testmode.exe you'll find a place where you still get a 3G signal. Start testmode.exe, click "1 debug", then "1 Basic Information", then look for values in the range of -85 to -108 ...

Just my thoughts, any more expert advice appreciated ;-)

Thanks. will try