Carver Owners Forum

The VHF thread got me thinking about cell boosters for the boat. Is there anything out there that improves weak signals that actually works?

I think the problem is the antenna needs to be omnidirectional since the boat is obviously changing directions constantly. I get fair to excellent signal everywhere I boat so it's not like I'm looking to boost a non existant signal. More like improving fringe signals.

Where I boat mainly the Detroit River and lakes Erie and St. Clair cellular service is very good. I've yet to be where there is no signal out on those waterways.

Not sure if you're still looking for an answer, but this is the cell booster that I use. The lake that I keep my boat on usually only has 0-1 bars. With the booster on, I get anywhere between 1-3 bars. I'm able to stream TV and movies while anchored and underway. https://powerfulsignal.com/marine-weboo ... ter-470154

Thanks for the post, always good to have someone with hands on experience of a unit. I ended up going with a dedicated 4G/LTE router with sim card. Use it for almost everything including occasional Netflix. Gotta be able to connect to the web today.

I often read seabits.com, he has some great articles about technology on a boat, but I am always envious any time he brings up the unlimited cell plans from the States. I did go with a Peplink unit based on his suggestions but I didn't bother with one that will accommodate cell signals because I'm too cheap to have a SIM just for my boat.

The peplink does connect to the Wi-Fi and rebroadcast it inside the boat (peplink calls it WiFi as WAN), and it does work pretty well. For the cost I'm not sure I would do it again.