5g mobile signal boosters south africa

5G Mobile Signal Boosters South Africa

Since May 2020, South Africans can benefit from 5G courtesy of two competitive mobile operators – Rain and Vodacom. The next-generation network is a thing but, unfortunately, it is available for a handful of people living in Cape Town, Tshwane, Johannesburg, Durban, and Pretoria. Even if you are from these cities, 5G can be found only in certain places. Of course, cellular providers are working hard to expand their networks and bring 5G to as many users as possible but it will take years until it gets commonplace. Meanwhile, if you already live in an area of 5G coverage but you are dissatisfied with the strength and quality of the signal, you can improve it on your own without much hassle. The solution is to get one of 5G mobile signal boosters South Africa. These devices will strengthen your 5G signal in a heartbeat so that you can enjoy a consistent connection, fast data transfer pace, and long battery life.

Why is 5G Signal Worse than 4G?

5G radio frequencies are not worse than 4G but the problem with them lies in poor coverage. While 4G coverage in South Africa is around 75%, 5G is still extremely rare. The 5th generation networks kicked off with large cities to serve as many people as possible in one fell swoop.

Smaller cities and towns are standing by. Yet, with just a few cell sites, 5G signals won’t get to everyone. If you live near one of them, there shouldn’t be any issues with reception. But as you move away from a tower, the number of bars on your phone will drop until they disappear completely.

There is no solution to bring 5G to places with no coverage whatsoever – you just have to wait patiently for your cellular provider to install more towers. But if you do have a reception, however poor it is, a 5G mobile signal booster will come in handy.

One more problem with 5G is poor penetration through obstacles. For now, Rain and Vodacom use low-band and mid-band frequencies for their networks. Those more or less cope with the task of going through walls and other obstructions.

However, when they start deploying millimeter waves (and they are planning to do so in the near future), 5G propagation might be impeded by buildings, landscape, vegetation, and even rain. For high-band waves, it is harder to penetrate through brick and reinforced concrete walls as well as low-E glass.

Network carriers will eventually solve this issue by adding more 5G antennas but, naturally, it will take time. Until then, if your reception inside a building is much worse than outdoors, you need a 5G cellular signal booster.

5G Mobile Signal Boosters South Africa Explained

 A mobile signal booster (also known as a repeater or enhancer) consists of three main parts:

  1. A donor antenna. You need to install it outdoors (outside the window, on the roof, on the balcony, etc.) because the reception is normally better outside the premises.
  2. An amplifier. It receives signals from the external antenna and amps them up several times.
  3. An internal antenna. It gets an amplified signal and propagates it inside a building.

You need to know that cell phone signal boosters won’t work if 5G radio waves are absent. An amplifier only improves existing signals but it can’t generate them off its own bat. In the same vein, boosters can’t convert 4G waves into 5G. Therefore, if you intend to purchase a 5G mobile signal repeater, make sure there is 5G service where you live, work, etc.

Gain, Output Power, and Coverage – Everything You Need to Know about Signal Boosters

Some of 5G mobile signal boosters South Africa are really powerful. They boast vast coverage and can serve a lot of devices simultaneously. At the same time, there are compact amplifiers intended for a single user and covering only a small area. You need to tell the former from the latter to be able to purchase a spot-on device. Here are a few things to focus on.

  1. Gain. The higher the gain, the more effectively a booster will work when being far away from a cell tower. It basically shows how much your signal will be amplified. A gain of +3 dB will double the power of a signal, +10 dB will make it 10 times stronger, and +20 means 100x increase in power.
  2. Output power. It shows absolute signal strength (measured in dBm). In other words, it is a maximum level of a signal an amplifier can provide.
  3. Footprint coverage. It indicates how far you can be from an amplifier to get a signal from it. Domestic amplifiers normally cover up to 500 square meters while commercial ones are designed for 1000-3000-5000 square meters and more. Coverage is usually in direct proportion to gain. Therefore, a powerful cellular booster will be able to carry an amplified signal over longer distances.
  4. Supported frequency. Cell phone boosters are sensitive only to certain radio frequencies. If the supported frequencies don’t match those of your network carrier, you won’t see any changes in the strength and quality of a signal. For example, a mobile signal booster for Rain must be compatible with the 3.6 GHz spectrum.

Are 4G Boosters Compatible with 5G?

For the time being, South Africa’s mobile operators deploy their 5G networks using low and mid-band frequencies. Some of the 4G boosters are indeed able to pick up those radio waves. On the other hand, there are simply no 4G networks utilizing 3600 MHz bands (and other bands associated with 5G), so it is unlikely that your current repeater will support those frequencies.

Conclusion

A mobile signal booster is an ideal solution to improve the strength and quality of 5G service in your house or office. Our smart product wizard will help you choose a repeater based on your network carrier and desired coverage. If you have any questions about our products or need assistance, we are ready to help. You can contact us anytime at info@southafricaboosters.com.

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