MIMO vs Boosters: Do Cellular Boosters Provide the Best Signal & Data Performance? 

I'm an engineer and formerly cellular industry. I know all about the cellular infrastructure and technology yet you all informed me more on the end user technology needs than all the years I was inside the cell industry and all the other RU-vid videos. Plan simple understandable and practice straight truth. Plus straight forward to gimmicks demonstrations. Great advice at the end too.

three weeks, countless internet forums and youtube videos later.... you answered all my questions in one video... You guys are heroes 👌

Finally a video on the internet without the commercial magic words but real content. Thank you guys.

Gosh you guys are so helpful. We are just weekenders and not full timers but being without cell service and wifi drives us nuts. We are reliant on it for emergency work situations. This is so helpful as we try to figure out how we are going to improve this. THANK YOU

Best explanation ever for a non-techie to follow. Thank you.

just brilliant.. because it was packed full of really clear understandable information.. and also becasue your swapping back and forth was so light and fluid and lovely.. not an easy thing to do ina mostly live not overly eddited video.. really well done guys.. thank you..

The lady knows her stuff! Simple, straight forward explanations makes this a must see video.

Just the video I needed and when I needed it. I got the jetpack as you recommended and it has been incredible. Thank you and safe travels!

The mouth and ears analogy made the content easy to understand, thank you.

I help folks with this stuff all the time. This is the first time I've seen your videos and they're a perfect mix of technical and non-technical information. Liked and subscribed. Keep up the good work!

MIMO is the factor that was eluding me. It all makes sense now. Great video!

Well done! I loved how you explained the multi antenna advantage of MIMO. Way easier to understand than my old explanation when talking to people!

Wow. Been following u for a few years now is my time to hit the road. You are clear and concise for a novice.

Great videos! I send some of our customers and prospects to your channel from time to time to get easy-to-understand information! Thanks!

Thanks for your great videos, they are easy to understand! I have just started to research getting a WiFi signal when camping in the boonies and your videos are so very helpful.

As usual, great video, I recommend you to Everyone!! You make it simple to understand. Can't thank you enough.

This video is awesome and is why we always send people to yall for information. We have a 8800L and the Surecall helps about 20% of the time which makes it worth it for us as we run our business over the internet and boondock a ton. Especially uploading videos! We just picked up the MIMO and I'm excited to start testing it as well. Thanks for the great video! Safe travels! -Thomas

Wow! Great video. We are trying to figure out how best to connect from our off-grid property in the white mountains of Arizona. This video was incredibly helpful. I subscribed.

Dang! I actually learned something today! Actually more than I've learned studying this stuff for the last couple years! Thanks!

Just stumbled upon your channel, and this video provided excellent information on mobile phone access, that I had been looking for. Thank you very much.

Wow! Great explanation! I could have saved hours of research if I would have watched this video first! Thanks Guys!

My T-Mobile's has a hotspot that work for me most of time. I have certainly learned a lot from you two. 👍Thank you so very much. ✌❤

I agree with other posters...You videos offer "spot on" one stop shopping when it comes to the Mobile Universe...Thank You![

Thank you for making videos like these theyre so educational and informative your work is truly valuable to this community.

New to this channel. I’m going to subscribe and learn as much as I can and possibly join your premium group. Thanks very much.

Thank you so much for doing this video!!! I was going to do the same video as so many people ask us this question! Saved us so much time! Will share!!

GREAT VIDEO! We moved to rural GA with no internet options so for the past 2 years I have been running our businesses off of 6 different Verizon devices. I ordered my second Mifi last week and have been looking for an antenna option. It's funny, everyone I have spoken to at Verizon all said there aren't antenna ports on the 8800L. You're video blew my mind because I thought I was loosing it when everyone told me there aren't ports. Thank you for the great videos!

Thank you for all the help. You made a pretty intimidating topic very approachable.

Great video I use to work for cable company and people at the end of line would always so just put a booster on it. It wasn't a fix all.thing with boosters they get better signal but picture would go much worse. Back to MiMO I have good signal outside not great. I bought antenna small one. It really helped so much. I was focused on the bars from 3 to 4 back and forth. When I look at the DB I was only loosing like 2 db that would make it go down. Sometimes if it's back and forth may not be as bad as u think. Great video

Holy moly what is this resource I stumbled on! Thank you guys so much for thsi content!

that's the same one I have, OTR, bought it last year for the semi truck.. it's been a life saver. Really does work

Thank you I have watched this several times I really like your explanation and how you make it very easy to understand

Eggsellent! Video quality was great and content was perfect! Love that part of Georgia!

Y'all are an invaluable source for people like me in rural areas that can't get internet for nothing I spent 500 bucks on the surecall fusion 4home yagi/whip antenna and it barely gets me 1-3 MBPS and I get nothing when it storms

I'm so thankful you made this video!

Good Explanation of the Differences, and the Pros and Cons. Current cellular (sim card) router doesn't accept external antenna's. All of its own antennas are internal too. I only have one tower that I can really reach, and its a little over 6 miles away. Can barely get a cell signal outside, often can't text. With a booster inside the house (with outdoor pole antenna), get decent signal inside the house. Currently have panel style outdoor antenna (as that is what the booster came with) which doesn't make sense for my situation, due to there only being one tower I can reach. I only get about 8mb download, 10-12 up (which I do need upload speeds for uploading videos and other at times). No reason to spread the signal out like a panel antenna does just for one tower. So I ordered a directional antenna which I can point to that one tower. Have yet to install it, but hope it brings in better signal/high down speeds.

Thank you for your explicit gestures it helps a lot when English is not your native language, I don’t think it is stupid I think it is very helpful Thanks

I'm so glad I found this video. I've been pulling my hair out all weekend trying to figure out why every time I turn our booster on, our download speed drops to nearly 1 Mbps even though our signal strength was going from weak to very good! I did notice it made our upload speeds somewhat better, but the whole point in buying the booster was to improve our crappy download speeds. I bet I've been on the roof 10 times moving this stupid yagi around. Hopefully I can still return it.

Thank you so much for this video. I'll be moving into my Promaster 2500 next week. I don't need to upload any videos or spend much time doing video calls. I'm just hoping to have a strong enough signal to check my emails and do pretty basic things on the internet. After watching this video, I think I will be trying one of those reasonably priced MIMO antennas. Currently my cell phone service provider is Google Fi. I'm still thinking about switching my phone service to Verizon, or getting a jet pack, mobile hotspot, or using my Google Pixel Slate laptop with Verizon's unlimited plan. I'm still pretty confused about everything, but at least this video helped me understand a lot more than anything else I've seen or read. Thank you.

Good information. I'm so grateful that you took the time and explained this so well.

From a fellow cruiser looking for a straight forward simple solution, you made my day with the hands on comparison. Great job on cutting through the hype.

Your voice is perfect for radio or podcasting.

Good stuff. My limited experience agrees - I have only needed my booster 2 times in 40plus campgrounds.

that was awesome. I completely understand now what I need for our RV. Thank you.

Excellent video and exactly what I was looking for. Thank you for doing this!

Great video. Came across it while looking for an external antenna. We have a cabin up in the remote part of Maine so this will be great for getting the optimal signal. Keep up the great videos.

Thanks you guys for all the work you do

"bars are meaningless" ... unless you're looking for a drink! :-). Seriously, great video!!

You guys seem so sweet. Plus I've been looking everyone for info on this stuff (I'm an IT guy an pretty good at internet research) but only paid articles seem to show up on Google. Crazy thing is, you guys just showed up way down on my recommended list, I didn't find this on a search. (You should put all the names of cellular providers in your descriptions/titles. That might help with search.)

Another great video guys! FYI - I believe you are missing the "rv" in the domain name from your example links for the weBoost and Netgear links. Existing links route to a different company.

EXCELLENT VIDEO! Thanks for making this simple

Thanks for helping us to figure out our options! So we’ll explained

You guys are awesome! Thanks so much for the info!

Thanks for all the information. In our case, our new homesite was to far from any towers to make calls. If you did get out, it would drop the signal or the connection was so bad, nobody could understand me. Internet would time out. The only thing we could do was text but you couldn’t attach anything. 1tx was the best signal. Decided to spend the money and try MIMO. Bought a Omni directional (inexpensive) antenna and got a 8800L jetpack from Verizon. Attached it to our barn (house under construction) turned it on and we’re getting 4g (2 bars) clear phone calls, and internet at 12-15 megabits. Couldn’t be happier. Once the house is done, I’ll get a directional antenna.

I have a netgear m5. After using a directional antenna the internal antennas do not seem to be working correctly there after, have you seen this issue?

Just found your channel. I like it. I live off grid and have a RU-vid channel but have been having a hard time uploading..

Great video. I have been waiting for there answers.

Great video, you guys are the RF kings! Great analogies to put things into laymen's terms.

thank you for the simple explanations!!

I Just returned a 550 dollars booster because a 10 dollars MIMO antenna outperform the booster. So know everything makes sense. Thank you guys

Great video and just in time for me!

Heh, I like that you guys did this off the coast of GA. I'm really glad you showed the difference between two of the biggest carriers. As a resident of middle GA, it is the complete opposite in my area. Two bars of AT&T is not the same as two bars of Verizon. AT&T walks the dog on Verizon for data speed in my area. For example, I can get 12MB/s on AT&T with two bars and with Verizon it's about 3-4MB/s. No boosters just with device antennas.

I'm all ears... hahaha I bought the WeBoost booster about 2 weeks before you sent an announcement to wait, as you had some news. $500 bucks... but I am often in the mountains of Colorado and where I had such a weak signal as soon as I tried to do anything it would go away. With the booster, I could actually make calls and some Internet, but it wasn't good enough to use my phone as a hot spot, which I often do. I only have Verizon. Bottom line - for those weeks I had it, it helped tremendously. Before the booster in that location, I had to drive a couple miles down the road and sit in my car to make calls or get on the internet. I am a MIA member.

I live in a valley in a rainforest in Eastern Australia, 20 km (about 12 miles) to the nearest tower (and the jungle canopy behind our house is in the way at my end.) We get barely a bar of signal in a few places outside, nothing inside. I put an 18Dbi yagi antenna outdoors on a 3 meter tall mast, I attached the mast to the eves, connected the antenna to a booster with the right bandwidth, pointed it at the tower and used a small 4db paddle antenna indoors. The booster sees 3 bars of signal coming in, the phones and other devices see 5 bars of signal from the booster. The 5 bar reading on the phone is "meaningless" in the sense that it is only showing the signal it's picking up from the booster's indoor antenna, but the three bar signal input on the booster's LCD shows the input signal the booster receives. So I'm really getting about three bars of signal indoors now. With the monsoons coming, this is going to be a much better system than the old one of leaving the phone on the roof of the car in the yard to send or receive a text and waiting until I'm going out for something to make voice calls. Reason the booster makes sense in my situation comes down to two things. One, distance, two, we're a house, we don't move around like a boat so a directional gain boost is perfect. On a boat you want good signal in all directions, so yes, a MIMO panel antennae is a good move, one with two offset dipoles is even better. You want it as high as possible. You could even hook that up to the cell booster as the outdoor antenna if you wanted, if you were cruising somewhere more than a few miles to the nearest tower. Stationary setups like cabins or rural homes that are a long way from the nearest tower would be better served with a setup like mine. *IF YOU'RE THINKING OF GETTING A SIGNAL BOOSTER, FIRST OF ALL FIND OT WHAT BAND YOUR PHONE OR MODEM IS USING BEFORE YOU BUY ANYTHING!* On iphone you dial *3001#12345#* and press the call button, then click Serving Cell Info. On android there's an app called LTE Discovery that tells you what band you're on among other things.

very good explanation for non techie guys. Thank you!

awesome video ...learned a lot.. becoming a member tonight! thx

Great stuff! Do you think cable lengths factor in? I loved that part of Georgia when I worked boats.

Great video. Thanks. What were the speeds with your phone alone?

Super helpful explanation. Thanks!

I have a Netgear att nighthawk mobile router, using a mimo 4G-Antenne, it was working great for months. But then AT&t did something, so now when I plug in my antenna I get disconnected from the network! Do you guys have any ideas on what might be going on? Thank you for your great videos and help.

First, fantastic information. But sincerest apologies for this second point, OMG you are the luckiest man I know. Holy Smokes. OK, just had to say that. And thanks again for the great content.

Excellent video. Easy to understand and very beneficial.

Very good explanation. Thank You!

Hey there! So what would you suggest for a home? We live in Scottsdale Arizona in a good sized city. We have full bars in most all rooms except one main room where we have a single bar and choppy download speeds. Would you suggest any particular setup to increase and optimize data speeds and strength? Also, Our WiFi is via Ethernet however, the fastest plan in this neighborhood is pretty slow (no fiber yet) and so we don’t use Wi-Fi calling on our phones. Just FYI. Thanks much ! You guys do an awesome very informative job with your videos! 😊

Great video guys, such an easy explanation! I have a quick question for you, I am moving to an area with no hardwire hookup and very bad 3g/4g reception.. I can get 1 or 2 bars of 4g on the roof, I'm thinking if I were to set up a mimo antenna, put my modem in the roof space and run a data from the modem to a switch where I plan on a full Ubiquiti router/WAP setup. This would take care of my data, then for voice calls I could get a cheap booster online and use this for extending my signal into the house, as I wouldn't be using this for data it could work fine. Does this sound like the best option? Thanks guys

Nice video guys))) well done !!!

So I might be able to run cables from my Winegard antenna on my RV roof to my T-Mobile Inseego Mifi?

What do you conect your mimo antena to... any roter.And can you conect a laptop to that rooter

This is awesome stuff. TY for the share!

Hello, thanks for your answer.. In the minute 12:10 you test the jackpot connect directly to the MIMO omni directional antenna... The question is: do You test connecting this MIMO antenna to the outside antenna port on booster to see results inside?? thanks sorry for my english..

How do I use one of those MIMO antennas if I don't have a hot spot hockey puck thingy for it to plug into and I'm using my phone cell as a hot spot and I want to be remote?

It was very informative. Thank you !

Great video, can I link to it on my website? This is exactly what I tell everyone, but most people in my area go from 2-4 Mbps to 8-10 with boosters, then think it's amazing. Then I install either two Yagi antenna's or a MIMO antenna and they get 25-50 Mbps.

Thanks for the helpful info. If I get a MIMO antenna, then hook it to a hotspot router, wouldn't I have the additional expense of cell service for the router? Maybe I'm missing something.

Would you recommend this over a HIGHFINE omni directional signal antenna that could be magnetically mounted on the roof of a vehicle? I drive a semi tractor and cant decide which would work best. Thanks.

If you for example using 4x4 mimo router and quad mobile antenna, connect 2 antenna cables directly to router, and on other 2 add signal boosters befor connecting them on other 2 ports, would you have download and upload speed increased simultaneously?

I only have a smartphone, so no way to connect mimo antenna. Could I not run 2 complete and separate boosters so the smartphone could "listen" with the internal Mimi antennas? I know that could get pricey, but would it work?

what about running multiple boosters one for hibands and one for lowbands?? would that still work in a mimo type set up?? already buying multiple yagi antennas and cables but I want to run boosters as well but have a Mofi4500 so mimo is very important

What was that Omni-directional MIMO antenna (white tall slender) that you showed and said you got from LivinLite?

Super duper GREAT video...thank you!!!

I fixed data boost with a Starlink antenna, the problem is requiring Cellular voice boost in Mexico as our Cell signal is bad to our house. Would a antenna hooked to a hotspot allow our Cell to ring and achieve voice ? We have TelCel and AT&T Mexico, neither of which appear to support using our Starlink data connection for voice though work perfect for WiFI.

Hello thank you for the vid so can you help I have a f150 4 door 2010 what is the best truck antenna going drill an mount an the best booster.. thank you

There is so much information I'm not sure which one to pick. LOL. I am trying to work on the road because we are full-time rvers and I'm having a terrible time with service and speeds. What do you suggest for working on the road?

Thank you for a clear explanation

Thanks for the detailed info. Do you know of any booster’s that work with T-Mobile 600 MHz frequency band 71?

Just finished watching this vid and while very informative, has raised further questions for me... My husband is a truck driver (we're in Canada) and he often is in the bush...far from towers. We have invested in several cell boosters previously that have helped sometimes, while other times not...with a range in prices... I was currently looking at the webeoost drive otr (with the large cylinder antenna on a post) for his truck. However, as mentioned in the vid, comes at a whopping $650+ price tag. Now, given the info in this vid, at the times when my husband is out in the bush, a booster seems to be the best choice. But will a cheaper booster work just as good as an expensive one if it has the higher and larger antenna? Now, he also gets extremely frustrated when he is in the city or just outside the city where he should have no problem with signal and it still drops calls or he isn't able to view emails, social media, get messages, etc. Now, in these instances, would it be better to get him a mifi? Or a mifi and antenna? And if so, should he "turn off" the cell phone booster to achieve the best results? Also, is it better to have a dual band mifi instead of single? Or will it not make much difference? If the coverage service from our specific cellular provider is not as good as other providers, would using the SIM from our provider cause the same issues seen on the phone as an unlocked mifi device? Sorry I know that's a lot of questions...hopefully u can help with them all!! Thanks!! :)

Hey guys, I’m planning to travel the country in my Jeep and need to be able to do zoom video calls with clients on the road. If I use a booster and it increases my upload that’s great but you’re saying it may decrease my download? How would this play out in a zoom call? What device would you recommend?

Whats the best way to increase my netgear nighthawk mr1100??? Have the we boost 4g home and only getting 2mbp max need help bad!

You guys are incredible. Thanks.

Where I am going tent camping the T-Mobile cell service is barely available because the tower is too far away. I don't any on-going monthly billing just need a device with a antenna I can point and place in a tree at my campsite so I will have better cell service. Any suggestion. I only go camping 3 or 4 times a year.