WW&F Railway Museum Discussion > Museum Discussion
Cell coverage on the WW&F
Graham Buxton:
T-Mobile has adopted an aggressive "low band" 5G expansion program which uses a combination of new 5G frequencies + existing 4G frequencies to deliver an intermediate level of 5G coverage. ATT & Verizon initially focused on pure 5G in high density metro areas. So T-Mobile could conceivably have better coverage even though Alna is not a high density market.
Note that of the 3 maps above, T-Mobile is the only one that claims 5G coverage in the Alna area. Presumably they upgraded at least some of their towers that cover Alna.
It would be nice if we could find a T-Mobile customer to join the thread. 8)
Benjamin Richards:
Within the past 3 years, I have owned devices on all the major networks:
Verizon (through Comcast MVNO)
AT&T
Tmobile (through Google Fi MVNO)
US Cellular (through Google Fi MVNO)
Sprint (through Google Fi MVNO)
I no longer have the Google Fi device, so I can't speak to the current situation with those carriers. I haven't noticed any significant difference among the 5, though I will say that I was often able to receive text messages along the line with Google Fi, whereas the other two are absolutely black holes. I never opened my network app to find out which carrier I was on when I received those messages, but I suspect it was US Cellular, which corroborates James' observations.
With Verizon I can get service at AC, but only inside the station building.
I have one of those cell boosters on my house, and I have been very pleased with it.
John McNamara:
I, too, was very pleased with the cell booster performance (at Trout Brook). The only remaining problem is to supply power to the booster. For the "proof of concept" tests I used a large deep-cycle battery and an inverter that I borrowed from Jason.
Any kind of battery would need periodic recharging, of course. Either doing so could be part of a service routine, or we could install a small pole-mounted solar panel such as are used for crosswalk warning signs. I'm researching those. I'm not too hopeful about a service routine, as the WW&F is where batteries (even deep-cycle) go to die,
-John M
Benjamin Richards:
My booster claims a 5-15VDC input range. If the one in TBS is similar, it could be hooked directly to the battery, eliminating the losses and complexity of the inverter and the wall wart.
Graham Buxton:
--- Quote from: John McNamara on May 15, 2023, 10:34:40 AM ---
Any kind of battery would need periodic recharging, of course. Either doing so could be part of a service routine, or we could install a small pole-mounted solar panel such as are used for crosswalk warning signs. I'm researching those.
--- End quote ---
I have commercial AC power at my house, but I have several situations where I have installed a panel (or two), charger and deep cycle style battery. I have been pleased with the price/performance of these 100 watt panels: https://www.ebay.com/itm/124822211844?var=425874450320
Charger: https://www.ebay.com/itm/283901873468
My most recent battery is: https://www.walmart.com/ip/EverStart-Lead-Acid-Marine-RV-Deep-Cycle-Battery-Group-Size-29DC-12V-845-MCA/20531543
In my opinion, the best battery price/performance is from one that does not incur UPS/Fedex/etc shipping, so something that can be acquired local to the purchaser.
I have previously used less expensive chargers, but not been satisfied with their performance. Most recently, I tossed two cheaper chargers in the trash when I found they were applying 16vdc to the battery in full sun. The Rover I linked performs properly, without any drama, and is designed to be able to handle multiple panels in series for better charging performance if a single panel isn't enough. I do have one setup with dual 100 watt panels in series feeding one Rover and it has been fine for 2 years.
If money was no object I might buy a AGM or LiPo deep cycle battery, but money is always an object. ::)
At Trout Brook a LiPo battery might be a more tempting theft target, so I would be wary of installing one there. I suspect that due to tree shade coverage at TBS you would need more panel wattage than would be necessary elsewhere.
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