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How To Improve Cell Service Inside Office Building?

Posted on 3/10/26 at 9:30 am
Posted by Mark Makers
The LP
Member since Jul 2015
2413 posts
Posted on 3/10/26 at 9:30 am
Our company is on the first floor of a smaller 2-story wood framed office building. The cell service is great outside and absolute shite inside. We have tried a lower end self-installed cell booster with no luck, our IT has also tried installing something to increase the Wifi signal throughout the building so that we could use Wifi calling, both have not hardly helped.

We really like this office/building location but are on the verge of wanting to move locations just so we can have better cell service. Any opinions on what we should try? Are there local companies on the Northshore that might specialize in installing some sort of cell boosting equipment that can help us with this problem?
Posted by Dallaswho
Texas
Member since Dec 2023
3548 posts
Posted on 3/10/26 at 9:45 am to
Just get a proper WiFi setup. Omada is the best bang for buck. Have a guest network for phones.
Posted by BottomlandBrew
Member since Aug 2010
29703 posts
Posted on 3/10/26 at 10:35 am to
This may seem random, but how old is the building and how old are the windows? If it's less than 20 years old, are there a lot of windows?
Posted by jmorr34
Baton Rouge
Member since Sep 2004
3430 posts
Posted on 3/10/26 at 1:56 pm to
Look at Cel-Fi by Nextivity
This post was edited on 3/10/26 at 1:59 pm
Posted by Mark Makers
The LP
Member since Jul 2015
2413 posts
Posted on 3/10/26 at 4:10 pm to
Building was completed in 2009 according to Google Earth.

About the same quantity of windows around all sides of the building.

Posted by BottomlandBrew
Member since Aug 2010
29703 posts
Posted on 3/10/26 at 9:38 pm to
I don't know much about those types of walls (I'd be curious if they have a metal mesh in them?), but I do know you have low-e glass in the windows by the tint on the blinds behind them. Low-e glass can significantly block cell signals. It's actually a pretty big issue that goes under-reported.

Anyways, that may not be your only issue, but it could an issue you're having. They make antennas and boosters you can install.

Back to the glass issue, for anyone that cares. Low-e glass is essentially glass coated with small metal particles to reflect back energy (or in some cases keep energy in). The metal particles block the signals. They are starting to develop insulating glass units that have built in technology to transmit signals through the glass (super expensive), and builders are also starting to integrate internal distributed antennas systems to transmit cell signals when buildings are made up of a lot of glass. Pretty much all new-construction uses double or triple glazed low-e units these days.
Posted by LemmyLives
Texas
Member since Mar 2019
15208 posts
Posted on 3/11/26 at 8:19 am to
If IT can't fix a wifi problem on one floor of that building, they need to call a company that knows how to do it. That's.... bad.

Even if there are plaster and lathe walls (metal mesh,) two access points hardwired in should fix it right up. If you have an upstairs neighbor, their Wifi may be broadcasting with channels that are too close to yours or conflicting.

Easy issues a quick WiFi site survey would figure out. There can be other issues like a leaky microwave, or wireless landline phones (lol) but this is not an insurmountable problem.
Posted by Mark Makers
The LP
Member since Jul 2015
2413 posts
Posted on 3/11/26 at 8:43 am to
The Wifi seems to work fine on our phones for everything else though.

quote:

If you have an upstairs neighbor, their Wifi may be broadcasting with channels that are too close to yours or conflicting.


Could this cause Wifi calling to not work but internet/texting/etc to work fine on our phones? Quick speed test on my phone shows 25.9 mbps download and 27.2 mbps upload.
Posted by LemmyLives
Texas
Member since Mar 2019
15208 posts
Posted on 3/11/26 at 11:14 am to
quote:

Could this cause Wifi calling to not work but internet/texting/etc to work fine on our phones?

Do you all have the same wireless carrier? iOS?

One of you try this:
quote:

To reset network settings on your iPhone, go to the Settings app, tap on General, then select Transfer or Reset iPhone, and finally tap Reset Network Settings. This will remove all saved Wi-Fi networks, passwords, and other network configurations.
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