I Hope The BoostBox Improves My Signal!!

[dehavillandl]

I have had appalling reception on my Samsung Note 8 phone for the past 2 years when inside the house.
I approached O2 and said I wanted to end my Business Contract on the grounds that I was paying for a service but not receiving it.

For a week I was given the run around and fed incorrect information. I was told I could use wi-fi and 4G calling once it was enabled.  I therefore asked O2 to authorise it.  The long and short of it was that after a week of endless calls and turning the phone on and off as instructed, the option to turn on Wi-Fi and 4G calling wasn't appearing on my phone.  At one point I was told to contact Samsung as it was their fault!!!!!!!!!!

Finally a well informed fellow told me I wouldn't be able to use Wi-Fi and 4G calling because I had purchased my phone directly from Samsung and not O2.  Apparently, O2 install their software in the phones they sell, but don't or can't install the software on phones purchased elsewhere!!!!!!!

I decided to leave and called them and was then told about the Boostbox...

Would I like one at £100.00?

[Removed] Off, I replied.  I'm paying for a service that isn't there and you want me to pay more money to possibly obtain the service I should be recieving already!!!

I was offered the Boostbox at the discounted price of £70.00, then after discussions with his superior, at £40.00.

I said no, I'd prefer to leave, whereupon I was offered the box at no charge.

I am now waiting for it's arrival and hope it works.

One point to remember.  The Boostbox only works at one location and cannot be taken out of the house.
If a new sim is installed or a number changed O2 have to reset the box.
The box has to be connected to the wi-fi box.

Here's hoping it arrives soon and works.

[MI5]

They do work well, but as you say, they have limited range.

[Scorrieholm]

Fantastic. I mow have some ammo and leverage. Here's to onward and upward

[Bambino]

Good luck @dehavillandl. Please come back and let us know if the boostbox works for you. If it doesn't, then you would probably have grounds to leave your contract. Before you do that though, check to see what coverage you would get with the other providers. There's the possibility that it wouldn't make any difference who you were with, but that your location is the issue.

[jonsie]

The boost boxes do work well but to be quite honest, I would be checking other networks out now.

[Marjo]

Hi @dehavillandl, welcome to our community. Sorry to hear that you've been having poor signal in your house. Hopefully the boostbox will help, please do let us know how it goes when you receive it.

[Anonymous]

Choice of networks could be limited by location of course.

For example, where I live O2 is the best as the other networks tend to be unusable.

@dehavillandl

What O2 are sending you is classed as a femtocell which works as your very own base station with the traffic being routed over your Internet connection so there should be no question that it'll work if your connection is good.

Same rules with any wi-fi device apply, for maximum bandwidth make sure the boostbox and your router/wi-fi access point don't have too many obstructions between them (line of sight is best if possible) and be very aware that if you have a slow broadband connection caused by a long line/distance from the cabinet it can affect call quality if you are using streaming services or heavy downloads (for best quality you need 3MB at least spare in such conditions to maintain quality).

Also as you have probably been told or worked out, it only works for any registered numbers so won't boost anyone on O2 coming to your home as it'll just block the connection attempt.

[dehavillandl]

I have an update on the BoostBox.

I recieved the box a few weeks ago and initially it wasnt working because O2 didn't have me registered!!!!!

Immediately afterwards my internet went down and I signed up with Sky.

I have been using the Boostbox for two days now.

I had to speak to the BoostBox team to get started and they told me switch off the phone and then switch on again. I did this and no joy.  I was then told to change the network mode to 3G.... this worked.

My only gripe was that I didn't want to have to keep changing network modes each time I arrived and departed.

I therefore restored the network mode on my Samsung Note 8 to LTE/3G/2G (auto connect) and it continued to work for the rest of the day.

The first day in use and it was a revelation!!!!!!  For the first time in two years I had a full signal when making and recieving calls. In the past I was missing as many 30 calls a day and couldnt make calls, unless I switched the network mode to 2G and it was still hit and miss then!!

The next day wasn't so good.  An emergency occurred in the night and the person calling me at 1am was unable to get through as the call kept being dropped!!!!  They sent a text which I read upon waking and immediately tried to call them back.  Despite calling about a dozen times I was uable to reach them as the call didn't connect. I looked at the BoostBox and the telephone image wasn't illuminating, indicating my phone wasn't connecting.  The person I was trying to call also repeatedly called me and the calls were immediately dropped. I changed the network mode to 3G and that didn't help either. I eventually cut the electricity to the Boostbox, changed the network mode to 2G and made the call. 

I reset the Boostbox, switched my phone on and off, made the first call using the 3G network mode, then changed to LTE/3G/2G (auto connect) and I seem to back to normal again.

I recall the Boostbox advice chappie saying I may have to do this each time I leave the house and return as some phones don't automatically connect with the Boostbox!!!!!!!!  

No mention was made the same might occur overnight whilst I was in the house.

That will eventually become a huge pain in the butt, but at least I can make calls finally.

I can't recall if I mentioned it initially, but O2 tried to sting me for more than £100.00 for the box, then lowered it to £70.00, then £40.00 then sent it out for free when I said I was already paying for a service which I wasn't recieving and why should I pay more to recieve a service I should have already.... 

It's early days yet, so hopefully, it will settle down.  I'll provide an update in about a week.

[MI5]

Sounds promising apart from the disconnection glitch.
Hopefully this will improve over time too.

[Cleoriff]

Thanks for posting @dehavillandl

It gives us all a greater insight into the workings (and problems) of the boostbox.

Not sure anyone has posted about the boostbox in this depth before.

Good to know and I look forward to hearing from you again:smileywink: