Weak mobile signal, static caravan: Budget options?

Hi, I'm wondering if there's cheap options to sort out weak mobile signal to a static caravan. There's a reliable but very weak signal outside the caravan (-120dBm according to my phone), inside that translates to unreliable calling, and slow or interrupted browsing. Fixed line is possible, but a lot of hassle, and as the 'van isn't heavily used is relatively costly in the longer term. Are there any reasonably priced legal, and effective ways of boosting the mobile signal? Say around £150 or lower? Plenty of stuff advertised to fix weak mobile signal, but I've little confidence in the legality and effectiveness, so I'm hoping someone round here will have first hand experience. All my household phones are on Three/iDMobile, so that's the primary usage, but if possible I'd like support for other networks.

I am aware there's some expert companies who offer package solutions that they warrant to work - but those look to be rather more pricey and so more suited to situations like a permanent residence. I'm not looking to move the kit around or take it away, so if there's drilling and fixing of external/internal aerials I can do that.

Any ideas? Thanks,

A

I would get SIM cards for all the other major networks (EE, o2, voda) and see if any are better to start with. You'll probably find one network has much better coverage and no other solution needed (assuming you are happy to switch).

Otherwise some sort of router with external aerial, others will know best models etc.

Other option is Starlink? You can get the kit for £150 and its £75/month but I think you can stop and start it at will. May work if its just used a few months a year?

I also agree to try another SIM card, you can use the checker here first which may help:

https://checker.ofcom.org.uk/en-gb/mobile-coverage

Do what a couple have mentioned - try some freebie sims, do a speed test. Then go from a phone to a lte router such as the NR5103E which should boost your speeds. EE for instance will give you a couple hundred megs for free to test the sim.

use https://bidb.uk/ as this is easier to use than the ofcom site for mapping

also cellmapper.net is very good to find your nearest masts.

Come back with some information then we can help you further, atm you have a problem to solve with little information for us to advise further.

In reply to a post by mr_mojo:

I would get SIM cards for all the other major networks (EE, o2, voda) and see if any are better to start with. You'll probably find one network has much better coverage and no other solution needed (assuming you are happy to switch).

You only need access to sim cards for two of the four different networks.

When you do a manual network search on a phone, it will list all the networks it finds, in signal strength order, except that the home network is listed first, as long as there is any signal, however weak.

So do the test on two networks to compensate for that.

Thank you for all those responses. We've used phones on different networks at this location, 02 and Voda have no coverage, EE and Three are about the same. Based on the advice and further reading, what I'm currently thinking is that a network repeater is probably pricier and less flexible than a cheap 4G router, such as a TP-Link TL-MR6400, and an appropriate high gain external 4G aerial.

Any thoughts or experience on that setup?

In reply to a post by AGinWorcs:

such as a TP-Link TL-MR6400, and an appropriate high gain external 4G aerial.

Any thoughts or experience on that setup?

The tplink you have mentioned is only a cat4 lte modem, it can't do carrier aggregation which massively boosts your signal. I'd try (and which i did personally) get something like the Three 4g Plus Router, test signal and go from there, the 5103e which i mentioned is a very very powerful 4g/5g-lte router.

Edited by Taras (Mon 03-Jun-24 14:10:46)

How about a Mikrotik LHG LTE6 kit - I used an earlier model before I could get FTTP, and it worked well. It is aimed at remote locations with poor signal - only downside is that it is directional, so you are tied in to one tower (although in remote locations that is all you are likely to see anyway).

Thanks - I think for my use case the 5103e is more expensive and greater capacity than I need. If this was for my main residence and I had to use 4G/5G for broadband, then I'd be willing to pay top dollar for a gold plated solution.

Not only do I now want to spend too much even it works, I'm thinking that worst case (whatever I buy) is that I find it simply doesn't work as I hope. In that case it'll be appearing on EBay and I'll be taking a modest loss on the price difference, and that loss is likely to be bigger if I spend more.

If you buy from a supplier by mail order then you get 14 days statutory period for returns - as long as you test it within 2 weeks you can return it if it doesn't work as required.