Does My Phone have an Antenna Jack? |
| Thursday, 03 September 2009 | |
Does My Phone have an Antenna Port?While most modern mobile broadband modems (aircards) tend to have external antenna ports, cell phones and PDAs unfortunately do NOT often have antenna ports - or if they do, they may be hidden under a battery cover or plastic inlay. Worse yet, neither the carriers nor the manufacturers make it easy to find out if a phone has an antenna port, or where it might be on the phone. Luckily, EVDOinfo is here to help! Below is a list of the current and recent phones from Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T that have antenna ports, along with the location of the port and the adapter cable it uses. Remember that "under battery cover" means you'll have to either remove the battery cover or drill/punch a hole in it to connect an antenna, and "under plastic/chrome inlay" means you'll have to remove a piece of plastic/chrome to access the port. IMPORTANT: Antenna ports on phones are often obstructed or difficult to access. The below list is merely a list of the phones that have antenna ports - NOT a guarantee that these ports are easy to access/use. It is the user's responsibility to verify the location and usability of the port before buying an antenna. Verizon:
Sprint:
AT&T:
I have an older phone or a phone from another carrier - how do I know if it has a port? The above lists only account for current and recently available phones from Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T. If you have an older phone or a phone from a different carrier, check out this forum thread or contact 3Gstore to find out! My phone does not have an an antenna port. Does this mean there is no way to boost the signal? No! If directly connecting an antenna is not an option, you can always boost the signal with a wireless repeater. Check out this Tip of the Week for wireless signal boosting options for phones/PDAs without antenna ports (the article is geared towards Blackberry devices, but the solutions discussed will work for other phones, too). What about those universal passive antenna adapters that velcro to the back of your phone? Passive antenna adapters that connect to your phone via a velcro patch (rather than plugging into a port) are also an option, but the gain produced by an antenna connected via a passive adapter will not be nearly as good as what you see with a directly connected antenna. If your phone doesn't have an antenna port and you want to use the passive antenna adapter, you will likely also need a direct-connect amplifer between the antenna and the passive adapter in order to see a large signal improvement. Related links:
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 08 July 2010 ) |
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