weBoost 4G-X Review

[14JKURX]

I have had the older cradle type of booster from Wilson in my 14 JKU and it was in my 05 for years and have been well pleased with the unit. At my deer lease we have little to no service on our phones turn on the booster and place the phone in the cradle give it a few seconds and start calling or texting it really does work. We have used this unit all over the US and parts of Canada with great results. I have not tried the multi phone units but I would if something was to happen to the unit I have.
I have my antenna mounted on a bracket I made to fit on the third brake light above the spare tire.

 

[Rbertalotto]

The external antenna is a Ground Plane type antenna. It must be mounted on a metal roof or a piece of metal at least 12" square. A bit bigger wouldn't hurt. I cur a piece of galvanized sheet metal I bought at Home Depot and used Eternabond tape to secure it to the rubber roof of my travel trailer.

The best distance horizontally I have found is greater than 16', the more the merrier. And vertical distance should be 5' or better.

With such high gain coming off the outside antenna, feedback is a real issue if the two antennas are too close together.

If the antennas are too close and you are experiencing Feedback, Some folks have put the interior antenna (called a "Hersey Bar") under a metal mixing bowl along with their phone or hotspot and then use a bluetooth microphone to use the phone or WiFi into the hotspot.

If yopu are close to a cell tower the WeBoost will lower output and you will not see the Feedback light on the device illuminate. If you are far from a cell, the WeBoost will go to maximum performance and if there is not enough separation between the two antennas you will get a feedback signal.

This article I wrote might help a bit
TV in your RV over Cellular

 

[Rbertalotto]

and more here

WEBoost in a Travel Trailer

 

[Rbertalotto]

When all else fails, I replace the magnetic mount antenna with a high gain Yagi antenna on a 16' collapsible painters pole mounted to the side of the trailer. This antenna is highly directional and I use various apps on my phone to find the closest cell sites (do this before you enter an area where you think you will have connectivity issues because if you have no cell service, you won't be able to access app...Duh!) Then I manually rotate the antenna until I see the highest gain on my phone/hotspot. Boom, I'm in connect heaven!

Wilso Yagi Antenna

 

[waveslider]

At the risk of hijacking this thread slightly, I have a relevant question (I think) about the weboost units.

I recently purchased a weboost drive unit - this model:
(https://www.weboost.com/products/dr...pqRMigWdzVMEFp068LTQnR1EFcV0clTIaAnlSEALw_wcB)

I am also in the process of installing a new stereo head unit and speakers in our expo truck and since I was going to have a lot of panels off, why not run all the wires at the same time..

In the process of doing this, I came across the wires that lead to the existing sharkfin antenna that came with the truck installed from the factory. And the connectors would indicate that I MIGHT be able to use that antenna in place of the magnetic until that came with the weboost system but I'm not sure. It would appear that the sharkfin antenna is multi-purpose as there are two FAKRA connector wires - one signal blue and the other Claret Violet from the list attached below. The blue one seems promising for repurposing.

Is this as simple as getting an interface connector between the weboost unit and the FAKRA connector and using that antenna? I'm hoping against hope they are compatible and I won't have to run yet another thru-wire to the roof.

I'm also curious about the possibility of that antenna being compatible as a XM/Sirius antenna since I'm adding that to the new stereo as well - but that a different opportunity to hijack another thread....

Any insight/guidance is welcomed.

 

[Mgyver1]

At the risk of hijacking this thread slightly, I have a relevant question (I think) about the weboost units.

I recently purchased a weboost drive unit - this model:
(https://www.weboost.com/products/dr...pqRMigWdzVMEFp068LTQnR1EFcV0clTIaAnlSEALw_wcB)

I am also in the process of installing a new stereo head unit and speakers in our expo truck and since I was going to have a lot of panels off, why not run all the wires at the same time..

In the process of doing this, I came across the wires that lead to the existing sharkfin antenna that came with the truck installed from the factory. And the connectors would indicate that I MIGHT be able to use that antenna in place of the magnetic until that came with the weboost system but I'm not sure. It would appear that the sharkfin antenna is multi-purpose as there are two FAKRA connector wires - one signal blue and the other Claret Violet from the list attached below. The blue one seems promising for repurposing.

Is this as simple as getting an interface connector between the weboost unit and the FAKRA connector and using that antenna? I'm hoping against hope they are compatible and I won't have to run yet another thru-wire to the roof.

I'm also curious about the possibility of that antenna being compatible as a XM/Sirius antenna since I'm adding that to the new stereo as well - but that a different opportunity to hijack another thread....

Any insight/guidance is welcomed.

What vehicle is this for? I had an ‘08 Tahoe that had the factory sharkfin and it had 3 wires coming out. One for XM, one for GPS and one for cellular. I was able to use the cellular from the OnStar for my Smoothtalker cradle.

if you can verify that your shark fin is for cellular and is compatible with the bands your booster is boosting then it should work great. Otherwise you probably won’t get ideal perform out of an antenna not tuned or designed for the frequencies you’re trying to use.

 

[waveslider]

This is for a Kenworth truck. I was able to confirm- sort of - that the cellular lead coming off the shark fin works with the weboost. I tested back and forth between the OEM weboost antenna and the shark fin and got better boost with the shark fin it seemed.

I found the lead in the A pillar. I can’t find a third lead that might indicate XM capability also.

I had to button everything up for a trip and it SEEMS to be working. I got to our normally dark campsite to find a decent signal even without the booster so....