Verizon Network Extender

[grumpy]

Has anyone tried this with the new Exede service? If so, did it work well and does it use much bandwidth.

We lose cell coverage in the house but can get it if we are in the driveway.

[wm4bama]

My daughter lives next door and they have the extender installed and works great with their Exede12 services...they only use it for outgoing long distance calls, very little effect on usage...they have the normal AT&T land line service for incoming calls and for emergency use should they lose satellite connection during the many thunderstorms we get here.

As of right now the 911 service does not totally work well with their VOIP, so it's still a good idea to keep a land line for emergency uses..

[grumpy]

Thanks for the quick reply. I was hoping it worked with Exede and did not use much bandwidth. Sucks having people call your cell phone and not hear them...lol

[wm4bama]

It also works fine on incoming calls...I called my daughter just to check out the service and even with the 600ms latency I could not detect any lags during our conversation..it sounded no differently than when she's in an area with normal cell phone signals.

[Dave W]

I know this in an older thread, but I wanted to add my experience.

We have never had cell service in our house and had to walk to the bottom of our driveway just to get one bar on the phones. We have been using the Verizon Network Extender of over a month on Excede and it works great, usually 3 bars on each phone. There is a slight delay but you get used to it quickly. We have been using our phones for every call, both outgoing and incoming, text, etc. and there is very little bandwidth usage. A cellular call uses 40k, we would have to make more than 26,000 calls just to use 1gig. The only problem we encountered was that we have to dial the area code for local calls, the Verizon network thinks we are in Texas (or where ever our gateway is) instead of NY.

[Bobbin]

Thanks for the quick reply. I was hoping it worked with Exede and did not use much bandwidth. Sucks having people call your cell phone and not hear them...lol

Mine has been in place for almost a month. Two big plus marks; all the visitors here can't believe how well their phones work in the house. The four bars keep all the phones from scanning for service therefore battery life is greatly improved. I can't measure the increase in bandwidth, but it's not much.

I'm happy with it. (when they call one another though, the delay due to the satellite is VERY evident.)

[grumpy]

I am on my second one in 3 weeks. For some reason it works great for 3-5 days and then the system light goes red and will not come back. just happened again an hour ago.

[Dave W]

I am on my second one in 3 weeks. For some reason it works great for 3-5 days and then the system light goes red and will not come back. just happened again an hour ago.

Mine did that until I used the mini coax cable and put the antenna right in a window.

[wm4bama]

Mine did that until I used the mini coax cable and put the antenna right in a window.

I think you're discussing two different types of network extenders..

The type of network extender that uses the Exede internet is a device that connects to a router and converts normal cell phone signals to/from a protocol and that is sent/received over the internet...the device acts like a cell tower that's located in your house...putting it in a window does not extend its range or increase the signal strength. This type of extender will use both your cell-phone minutes and add usage to your Exede account...you get double-dipped...minutes used on your cell-phone account, and bytes used on your Exede account...

The second kind of network extender does not involve the Exede internet service...it's designed to receive a very weak signal from a cell tower, amplify it, and re-transmit it inside the house...this kind of network extender will probably work better in a window or from wherever the best "hot-spot" is inside the house. This type of service only uses your cell phone minutes and does not add usage to your Exede account.

Dave, I think you need to specify which type of extender you're discussing..

[grumpy]

i do have the external antenna taped to my window. It worked perfect till last night. I am using a Linksys E2000 router. might have to try another brand or ship this unit back