Update: Bought a cheap signal booster for a rural install and it cost me a whole day

Had a job out past the county line last month. Customer wanted a cellular backup for their panel. I grabbed a generic booster off the shelf for about $60, figured it would do the trick. Got on site, spent hours mounting the outdoor antenna, running the cable, setting it all up. Panel still wouldn't connect. Turns out the booster was only for voice bands, not the LTE data band the alarm radio uses. Had to drive all the way back to the shop, get the right unit, and redo the whole thing. Lost a full day's pay on that one job. Anyone have a go-to brand for cellular signal gear that actually lists the specific bands it supports?

3 comments

3 Comments

max4151mo ago

Did you check the panel's radio specs first, or just assume all boosters were the same?

sarahbailey1mo ago

Saw a tech blog post that basically said mismatched frequencies are the main reason boosters fail. You gotta check the panel's output band before buying anything. Otherwise it's just a waste of money.

fiona_young25d ago

Yeah, that blog post is totally right. I mean, I learned the hard way after buying a booster that didn't match my panel's frequency band. It's such an easy thing to miss. Max415 has a point about checking the radio specs first, because the box or manual will straight up tell you the output band. If you skip that step, you're basically just guessing.