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I have a Sprint HTC-EVO 4G. Today it's snowing, I'm in a downtown high-rise, and I'm only getting 3G. Would a booster antenna help (either now, or in general)?

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Was there anything in particular you were looking at? – Shog9♦ Mar 1 '12 at 1:26
No I was googling for 4G antenna, etc... and this is what I saw: thepocketsolution.com/PSI-73175/… (but it is geared for cars and car windows). Most of the time I get 4G, but when I don't, it's very frustrating. – NealWalters Mar 1 '12 at 23:01
By the way, I took out the battery, rebooted, and the 4G came back. False assumption on the bad weather I guess. But it still seems to make sense to have an antenna if it would help at all. – NealWalters Mar 3 '12 at 14:59

1 Answer

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It's hard to say without knowing what specific model(s) you're thinking of, but by and large the antennas you're thinking of are probably designed for 3G/EVDO, in which case the answer is no. Sprint's WiMAX network operates on a completely different frequency than it's 3G network, so the antenna for one will not work for the other. The EVO itself has two antennas in it for this very reason. Basically, if it doesn't support the 2.5-2.6 GHz frequency range, then it won't work.

There are WiMAX repeaters/antennas out there, but I've never seen one from a major manufacturer (or Sprint/Clear). Someone over on Android Forums also managed to make his own WiMAX antenna.

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I'm short-term renting a high-rise condo, so would need to have something to put in the window, if anything. Also travel a lot, so if such things exist, ideally I would need something to carry with me on business trips. – NealWalters Mar 1 '12 at 23:03

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