A common complaint among cell phone users is the inconvenience experienced because of a dropped call. At a time when many households are eliminating traditional land lines in favor of cell phones, dropped calls in the home can be troublesome. A number of low- and high-tech solutions have been developed to address poor reception in the home.

Low-Tech Solutions

The quality of cell phone telephony is greatly impacted by signal path conditions. Large structures, trees, topographical changes, and phone-to-tower distances impede cell phone signals and are the primary causes of signal degradation and dropped calls. One way to help ensure strong cell phone signals is the selection of a service provider who has a cell tower close to the user's home. Numerous Internet resources provide cell tower location databases that are available for public use. If calls continue to drop in the home, physically repositioning the cell phone may relieve the problem. Raising the height of the phone by moving from the "dead zone" of the basement during a call to a "hot zone" of the first or second floor, for instance, can greatly improve signal strength. Walking closer to a window or to an outside wall may also help. Any cell phone position change that clears the tower-to-phone path of physical impediments may help prevent dropped calls.

High-Tech Solutions

In cases where cell phone reception is adequate outside the home but then degenerates to dropped calls inside, the use of a cell phone amplifier may boost the signal to acceptable levels. Based on the radio repeater principle, an antenna attached to the outside of the home receives the signal from the nearest cell tower, then sends it by way of shielded, low-loss coaxial cable to an amplified resending unit inside the home. From there, the stronger signal is retransmitted by way of an in-home antenna to all of the cell phones inside. Added signal strength may also be gained by carefully orienting the exterior antenna towards the closest cell phone tower. In larger homes with basements and shielded wall partitions, signal strength is further boosted through the installation of signal splitters that accommodate additional interior antennas. Individual cell phone service providers have addressed the in-home dropped call problem by introducing "femto cells," often referred to as cell phone base stations. The cell phone's signal is transmitted a short distance to the in-home femtocell, then sent over a broadband Internet connection by way of voice-over Internet protocol, or VoIP, to the recipient's telephone.

Source:

MobileDia: Cell Phone Towers

UnwiredSignal.com: Cell Phone Booster

Mobile Burn: Femto Cells

More Information:

FCC: Understanding Coverage Areas

Digital Trends: How to Get Better Reception