In-Vehicle Signal Boosting: SignalBoost MP (801241) vs In-Vehicle Repeater (801201) |
| Friday, 19 March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In-Vehicle Signal Boosting: SignalBoost MP vs In-Vehicle Repeaterleft to right: the 12" magnetic mount antenna (included with SignalBoost MP), SignalBoost MP amplifier, In-Vehicle amplifier, "candy bar" internal antenna (included with In-Vehicle amp), 12" magnetic mount antenna (one of the antenna options for In-Vehicle amp) For truckers, traveling professionals, RV-ers, and road-trippers who spend a great deal of time in their vehicles, cell phones and mobile broadband devices are crucial to getting work done or simply staying in touch with the rest of the world. As many of these on-the-go wireless users have experienced, a weak cellular signal can be a major pain (dropped calls! Internet speeds slowing to a crawl!) or even a safety hazard (imagine a flat tire in the middle of nowhere... and your cell phone can't hold a signal long enough to call AAA). With wireless connectivity being such a vital part of life on the road, signal boosting equipment is understandably a major concern for many of these types of customers. For folks that just need to provide a signal boost to one device and it has an antenna port, an antenna directly connected to their device may be all they need. This isn't an option for everyone, though: many users have phones that don't have an antenna port, or want to boost the signal to multiple devices at once, or simply don't want to be physically "leashed" to an antenna. In those cases, a wireless repeater is the answer. There are a wide variety of repeaters available, and it's not always easy to determine which one best suits your needs - many products look similar and are intended to achieve essentially the same goal (wireless signal boosting to more than one device), making it hard to know which one to buy. To learn more about repeaters in general and the differences between all the different models, we recommend checking out our Repeater FAQ, but in this article we're going to compare two of the most common choices for in-vehicle signal wireless signal boosting: the Wilson SignalBoost Mobile Professional Kit (801241) and Wilson Cellular 40dB In-Vehicle Repeater (801201). The SignalBoost Mobile Pro is typically used by mobile users who need to boost the signal wirelessly to up to three devices (phones or aircards) in a small area and need something portable (for example, traveling sales reps who frequently use rental cars in rural territory). The MobilePro requires no permanent installation and can easily be transported, but it is not the most powerful option and the devices must be very close to the amp to benefit from the boosted signal. Click here to read our complete review of the SignalBoost MP. PROS:
The in-vehicle amplifier is a more powerful option than the SignalBoost MP and can provide coverage to a slightly larger area, but still offers the convenience of a portable, compact kit that doesn't require a lot of separation between the internal and external antennas like building amplifiers do. The in-vehicle amp also gives you more options for the external antenna - you can purchase a kit that includes the magnetic mount antenna (which would be the most portable option) or a kit that includes a 32" omni external antenna (less portable, but a taller antenna often provides better results), or you can even buy the amplifier alone and use it with an existing Wilson antenna if you already own one! No permanent installation required, simply attach the antennas, plug in the cigarette lighter adapter and your setup is complete. PROS:
Side-by-side testing: To compare the performance of these two popular options, we performed some "side-by-side" testing to see the gain each provided and how close we really needed to be in order to see a signal boost. The tests were completed inside of a Acura Legend (just so that you can have an idea of the size of the car) on the same day, in the same spot. Our test devices were a Sprint Sierra Wireless 598U aircard and the iPhone 3Gs. Below are our tester's initial RSSI and speed test results in the car without either repeater:
Installing either of the two repeaters in our tester's vehicle was very simple - literally just a few minutes and everything was set. The SignalBoost MP is a bit easier to carry around and slightly easier to install simply because the In-Vehicle repeater has more pieces (external antenna + amp + power cable + internal antenna). As described above, the SignalBoost MP comes with the 12" magnetic mount antenna, but the In-Vehicle repeater gives you some options for antennas - you can either purchase an antenna separately, or you can buy a kit that includes an antenna. For the purpose of this comparison, we used the same 12" magnetic mount antenna that comes with the MP for our In-Vehicle repeater testing. With both repeaters, our tester's iPhone and 598U had to be fairly close to internal antennas in order to benefit from the signal boost. This is to be expected - these two models are designed specifically to be used in a car, where range is not as important as it would be in a large home or office. In both cases, with the internal antennas positioned in the front seat of the car, the best results - obviously - came when the iPhone and 598U were also in the front seat. When the devices were moved to the back seat, the signal gain was not as great. Compare the results below: Wilson SignalBoost MP:
Wilson In-Vehicle Repeater + Mag Mount Antenna:
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