My $2,000 iPhone 3GS

My contract just expired for my two year old Sprint HTC Mogul SmartPhone. This has been a good Windows Mobile SmartPhone but time marches on. Been eyeing the new Apple iPhone 3GS so I took the bait to "try one out for 30 days".

I really like this "phone". Just the internet browser capability alone is such a jump over previous SmartPhones. At 15 days into my 30 day money back trial I realized there was a problem, I wanted to keep this "phone" but I got "no bars" in the house. To make a call I had to climb a hill up the driveway. No way was I going to be defeated. I want this phone. My old Sprint SmartPhone could handle calls in some parts of the house but I had regular dropped calls.

Next step, I go to AntennaSearch.com to find out where the cell towers are in my area. With the help of Google Earth I determine there is a cell tower farm on a hill about 3 miles west of my house beaming ATT, Sprint and Verizon. Those were the towers I picked up on my driveway. Doing some elevation shots on Google Earth it looks like I should have a signal off the top of the hill hitting my roof.

So I climb up on my roof (tile roof, this is not easy) and hold up my iPhone at the top of my roof (I wish I had a picture): Bingo, 4 bars, 3G signal. Thirty feet below this spot in the house I get "no bars" just "Searching".

Back to Google to solve this problem where I discover Cellantenna.com. After talking to Jonathan Feuer (954-340-7053 ext 206, tell him I told you to call) at CellAntenna we determined that I needed a CAE700 Building Repeater Package. But wait, I was really "lucky" because it was on sale for $1,699. So I ordered it.

The installation was pretty straight forward for anyone who can learn Perspective. Biggest challenge is the LMR400 low loss cable which is hard to hide and tuck into corners. You can order additional splitters and internal antennas to better distribute the system. I added a second internal antenna. I am also going to add a very directional "yagi" antenna on the roof to improve the signal from my nearest tower 3 miles away.

Bottom line in my office 30 feet below the roof where the signal was great I went from "no bars" to a full 4 bar 3G ATT signal. iPhone is getting about 1000 kbps down on the internet and the phone works great. In other parts of the house my internet degrades eventually falling to ATT Edge then ATT GPRS as I get farther from the internal antennas but that is for data. The "phone" works fine all over the house.

So if you have cell phone reception problems in the house but have reasonable good coverage over the house there is a solution, but it is not cheap.

But wait, there is more. I have a Sprint EVDO modem card for my PC. That EVDO card really struggled in the house. With the new repeater that Sprint EVDO is really cooking at 1300 kbps down and 500 kbps up.