If you have done your research for cell phone boosters, you will know that most of them are designed for fixed installation. Now they are fixed for a reason, one of the obvious ones is because it has two connected antennas, and a couple of wires running around to connect all the components. While you are about to buy a cell phone signal booster, you should know that wireless kits build for indoor use do not work properly in cars, because they are placed with 50 DB gains limited by the Federal Communication Commission.
Nevertheless, there are situations when portable ones can be useful as well. There are some boosters available that are inter transferable between your home and your car. The reason for this is because they are provided with 50 dB of less of Gai, which is enough for all practical intents. Some boosters are designed in such a way that their exterior antenna acts as an amplifier, however, a precaution has to be taken while placing both antennas, or otherwise you might get some oscillation.
Portable Amplifiers
Portable boosters are movable from one place to another, they also require minimal installation time. You just have to unplug that hand-sized booster from your car and plug it to your house or workplace. It won’t have any additional parts. Anyhow, you will be required to power supply from AC to DC current, while transferring the booster from a vehicle to a room.
Reception boosters are typically designed to work with a designated power supply, either for indoor use with 110V(AC), or to use in cars with 15V (DC) supply. Such conditions make it difficult to more amplifier between different places.
Limitation of Portable kits
As these handheld devices look so cost-efficient and transferable, they have their own limitations as compared to the fixed cell phone booster. Unlike fixed booster, the portable ones can only boost signals of 1 device at a time. However, on the other hand, the fixed one can amplify the reception of multiple devices. As the portable one is so compacted, it sure has less range of both receiving and emitting signals.
While we are on it, do remember that unlike these fixed cell phone boosters for example TriBand Repeater Nikrans NS250 GDW that are designed for massive areas like tall buildings and offices, if you are using plug and play kits in such areas you will only improve your signal strength within 3-5 feet of distance. Now, this distance looks good when you travel in a car or a bus, but when you are indoor, you will be needing to place that kit as close as possible to receiver clearer calls.
Which one is Better?
Before concluding, you need to know that both of these boosters are powerful enough to increase reception indoor or outdoor even in remote areas or countryside. However, these boosters will not work if there isn’t any signal at all. If there is even the slightest signal available, these boosters will amplify it many times over and make it strong enough to make a clear call. Nonetheless, the fixed have twice the power just because they have twice as much gained strength. With that, they are also more expensive as well.
We can’t say one is better than the other, it all depends upon your usage. If you are a frequent traveler then a portable one is perfect for you. And if you spend most of your time in an office or home, then a fixed one will work perfectly for you.