Cel-Fi GO Mobile Phone Signal Booster – Understanding How It Works

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For many, a mobile phone signal booster is essential. Once you’re away from capital cities, mobile reception in Australia is often patchy or non-existent. How can you minimise this and what are your options?

The best option available in the signal booster market is the Cel-Fi range of products.

A Cel-Fi GO For Every Occasion

Cel-Fi offer a range of Cel-Fi GO repeaters. The GO range covers three broad market segments:

• Fixed building installations for both indoor and outdoor areas. A workshop on a farm with cattle yards behind is an example. The Cel-Fi will provide reception both inside the workshop and in the cattle yards.
• Portable repeaters in a crush-proof case for industrial and mining applications. An example might be where a company has a fleet of vehicles which occasionally go to places with poor mobile reception. The case can be easily swapped between vehicles.
• Vehicle repeaters for boosting signals in caravans, emergency vehicles or for vehicles on the move, like interstate trucks for example.

You can buy a Cel-Fi GO package for Optus, Vodafone or Telstra here.

It’s the vehicle repeaters we’re interested in.

A quick look at vehicle repeaters on Outback Equipment’s website reveals a range of options. We chose the “Cel-Fi GO Trucker/4WD EDGE Pack”. Why this one?

Well, we go to many remote places and this pack has the most powerful external antenna. We’re running an outback travel website, www.topwiretraveller.com and an online copywriting business, www.topwirecopy.com while on the road full time. So we need the best signal possible… which means we need the best signal booster available on the market.

Now what exactly is a Cel-Fi GO repeater? Let’s look at what it can and can’t do.

The (Not So Obvious) Benefit Of Boosting A Weak Signal

Firstly, and most importantly the Cel-Fi GO units are approved by Telstra, Optus and Vodafone to boost weak signals.

The units are legal and tethered to one service provider. So make sure you buy the Cel-Fi model suited to your carrier.

Unlike most other illegal signal boosters, the Cel-Fi does not interfere with the network or degrade the signal for other users.

Be aware, the Cel-Fi can’t perform miracles. If there’s no signal at all, then clearly a Cel-Fi can’t magically create a signal.

However, if you’re in an area with poor reception the Cel-Fi GO will boost the signal. So you’ll be able to send and receive phone calls, texts and go online.

And if you have a boosted signal, your data usage will likely be less. The reason is, you get charged for blocks of data. If your signal keeps dropping out, you’ll be charged for one block of data, regardless of whether it downloaded to your device or not. So you’ll be paying for data that you haven’t actually downloaded.

With a signal booster however, dropouts will be reduced… therefore your usage charges will be lower.

Now, what do you get in a Cel-Fi GO package and what does each part do?

A Neat Package

There’s not much to them… on the surface at least. You’ll get an external antenna, an internal antenna, a Cel-Fi GO repeater unit and 12V power cord. And that’s it.

The external antenna mounts on the outside of your vehicle while the internal antenna mounts inside the cab. The Cel-Fi Go repeater sits somewhere between the two, inside the cab and close to a 12V outlet.

Cel-Fi recommend you use an authorised installer and with good reason. You see, the internal and external antennas really don’t like each other much at all. They have to be isolated from each other… a bit like fighting siblings. And the external antenna needs to be mounted in a location with minimal interference.

However, I chose to install the Cel-Fi GO package myself.

I’m technically minded and really wanted to understand how the system works, by trial and error. With just a basic understanding of digital mobile signals, I jumped in feet first… and wow, what a learning curve!

So away I went. Brisbane company Powertec (Australian Cel-Fi distributors) used to have a fantastic Support page. Tom the virtual assistant would lead you through the installation step by step.

But for some reason, Tom’s been made redundant.

So, I had a helper that unfortunately you can’t access any more. My mate Tom, help from Powertec, and lots of online research all helped me understand the ins and outs of installing a functional Cel-Fi GO package.

What did I learn along the way… what did I learn that you really should know about?

Antenna Isolation

First up, I learned that Cel-Fi antennas are loners. They love isolation. The more isolation the better. What exactly am I talking about here?

I’m not suggesting you should take your external antenna out to a humpy in the bush and leave it there, off the grid and happily living the hippy lifestyle. No, the external and internal antennas need to be isolated from each other. The best way to achieve this is to have a metal roof or metal firewall between the two.

The more metal the better. Forget plastic dashboards or seat backs or windscreens. They simply won’t cut it.

And be careful about pathways where waves can bounce between antennas. For example, waves can bounce off a metal bonnet. So if your internal antenna is up behind your head in a ute and the external antenna’s mounted on the bull bar, they can probably still “see” each other.

If you can draw a straight line from the internal antenna to the bonnet, then a second straight line to the external antenna… well, you’re in trouble. As we said above, plastic or glass is no barrier.

If the two antennas aren’t properly isolated from each other, then the Cel-Fi GO won’t boost your signal as much as it should.

Why does this happen?

The internal antenna is effectively a mini mobile tower. And the external antenna’s job is to find mobile signals. So if it can see the internal antenna’s signal, it’ll try to use it.

This creates a destructive feedback loop, which degrades the signal. The outcome is a weak or no signal from the internal antenna.

It’s difficult to overstate the importance of antenna isolation. After all, why do you want a signal booster? To boost a crappy mobile signal. So what’s the point in getting a Cel-Fi GO if you don’t install it properly?

Once you have antenna isolation sorted, everything falls into place.

Remember this… and save yourself lots of headaches.

Clear Space

Secondly, the external antenna needs clear space around it. Some great mounting locations are:

• On a bull bar if your vehicle has a bonnet (beware of reflections off the bonnet from the internal antenna, as we just discussed),
• On the roof,
• On top of a ute canopy,
• On the top bracket of a truck’s door mirror.

Some poor mounting locations are:

• On the bull bar of a cabover engine (flat nose) truck. The metal face of the truck will interfere with the incoming signal.
• Down low, say between the cab and tray on a ute. Again, the metal will interfere with the incoming signal.

The external antenna is omnidirectional, meaning it doesn’t need to be pointed to face a certain direction. It’ll pick up a signal from any direction… as long as there’s no obstruction.

One slightly annoying feature of the external antenna… the cable is relatively short (4 metres). So you need to really think about where you’re going to mount both the antenna and the Cel-Fi GO repeater unit.

This is probably not an issue for a car or 4WD, but it is with a truck.

I cover installation in detail here. However I did discover how to check if your antennas are properly isolated from each other…. use the app!

Get The App…

You can set up the Cel-Fi GO using a few simple buttons on the repeater unit. However it’s much easier to use Cel-Fi’s free phone app, called Cel-Fi Wave. It connects to the Cel-Fi GO via Bluetooth.

When you open the app, it will search for and connect with your Cel-Fi device. The first time you open the app, you’ll need to register the Cel-Fi GO.

Then you’ll see a Dashboard with an overview of what your Cel-Fi GO is doing.

Wave App Dashboard

The first thing to notice on the Dashboard is the “Welcome” message. In this case, it’s followed by “Things look good”. The green “good” means everything’s working as it should be.

When there’s an issue, the message colour will change to orange or red, and the message text will change accordingly. For example, “Things look ok”…

Operator is your service provider (Telstra, Optus or Vodafone).

Coverage is whether you’re receiving a 3G or 4G signal, or no signal.

See the three doughnut charts at the bottom of the screen? They provide a lot of useful information. Like the Welcome message, they’re colour coded red, yellow or green. This way, you can see at a glance what’s happening.

Signal Quality is the quality of the signal being received by the external antenna.

Signal Strength indicates how powerful the incoming signal is.

Of the two, Signal Quality is the most important. If you have a high Signal Quality but low Signal Strength, you should still have a stable connection.

Why is Signal Quality more important? Well, a Cel-Fi GO can boost a high quality signal internally to make it stronger. But it can’t magically improve the quality of a signal being transmitted from a tower.

Antenna Separation is a measure of how well isolated the internal and external antennas are from each other (see the “Antenna Isolation” section earlier). Anything lower than 99% is an issue… you’ll need to relocate one or both antennas.

Tip: When you use the Wave app, keep in mind what you’re looking at. Just remember, the Signal Quality and Signal Strength are the strength of the signal being received at the external antenna, not at your phone.

In other words, the Wave app is only concerned with the status of the Cel-Fi GO. It doesn’t tell you anything about the signal coming into your phone.

The proximity of your phone to the internal antenna will determine signal strength at your phone. Think of the internal antenna as a mini-cell phone tower.

Any device within range of your mini tower can connect (if they’re using the same carrier). Why? Because your internal antenna is a mini tower… if a device finds the internal antenna’s signal, it will connect. So if you’re camped near someone, they may well be using your Cel-Fi GO signal booster without even realising.

They don’t need the Wave app on their phone. Remember, the Wave app is simply a tool to access settings on the Cel-Fi GO.

Wave App Settings

The Settings screen is where you make changes to the Cel-Fi GO’s internal settings.

To change the Cel-Fi name, tap on the Booster Name.

Then check the Software Version. It’s a good idea to check this every time you open the app. 

Antenna Settings is more for fixed Cel-Fi installations on buildings. They use a uni-directional antenna, meaning it has to face the direction the signal’s coming from. These antennas have eight increments at 45° apart, hence the reason why the Antenna Position Test shows eight positions when you open this setting.

The idea is to rotate the antenna to every position, capture the signal then choose the best orientation based on the highest score.

For a vehicle installation, the Antenna Separation doughnut chart in the Dashboard is the best way to check antenna isolation. Aim for 100% and no less than 99%.

We cover off Band Settings below. It’s an ideal way to get maximum coverage under certain conditions, as we explain below.

In Channel Settings, you can select which 3G and 4G bandwidths the Cel-Fi Go searches for. This is not something you’d normally change.

Band Settings – Switching Coverage

Band Settings is a powerful feature of the Cel-Fi GO. It allows you to manually select 3G only, 4G only, or Auto. Auto tends to select the strongest available signal, which may not be the best option.

Here’s a quick story to give you an idea on how useful the Cel-Fi GO can be as a signal booster.

Due to a minor family crisis (think 20 year old son + party with mates + mucking around with mates at said party + alcohol = broken bone in hand), we had to return home to Wollongong NSW for 10 days. So we camped at Bulli Caravan Park.

Now we’re only about 70km from Sydney CBD and we’re smack bang in the middle of a region with a few hundred thousand residents. So you might think our mobile signal would be pretty good.

Wrong.

Our mobile signal was atrocious, pretty well unusable. Web pages were taking up to 10 minutes to load. Then I had the bright idea to use the Cel-Fi as a signal booster… and this is when I discovered a simple trick.

The Cel-Fi GO was picking up the 3G network. Using the Wave app, I looked at Band Settings. The Cel-Fi GO was set on Auto and was picking up the 3G network in this mode, presumably because it had a stronger signal.

By manually selecting 4G, my phone was now showing 5 bars instead of 2. So I simply set up my phone as a hotspot and connected the computer via Bluetooth. Download speed on my computer went from around 100kB to between 1 and 2 MB and stayed there.

How do you know whether the Cel-Fi GO is using 3G or 4G? Go to the Advanced tab in the Wave app and tap on Network Strength. It will display what band its using and whether it’s 3G or 4G.

Without the Cel-Fi GO as a signal booster, my computer was pretty well unusable. And this is in the middle of a large regional city!

We’ve been using our Cel-Fi GO daily for over 5 years, all over Australia. There’s no doubt it has earned its keep. If it detects any signal at all, we’ll have phone reception.

But you might be wondering, why bother now Starlink is everywhere?

Has Starlink Killed The Cel-Fi GO?

Cel-Fi resellers must be struggling now that Starlink’s on the scene. Starlink offers coverage across the globe, no matter where you are.

Rural areas in particular are moving to Starlink in droves. And you can’t blame them. They’re sick of over-priced, unreliable, and cripplingly slow internet and phone services.

We’ve used Starlink many times now in Outback places. It’s a game-changer. You can be in the middle of nowhere and have fast, reliable internet and make phone calls via wi-fi.

But I think there’s still a place for the Cel-Fi GO, particularly for travellers.

If you spend a lot of time in regional areas with questionable mobile reception, then you probably just need to boost the signal. It’s hard to justify Starlink’s high monthly charges for occasional use.

The other issue is bandwidth. As more users pile onto the Starlink network, will it slow down? But then again, it’s unlikely to ever reach the glacial “speeds” of the NBN. And will Starlink jack up its prices once it corners the market? Who knows.

What you do depends on your situation. If it makes financial sense to switch to Starlink, then maybe that’s the way to go.

For now though, we’ll sit on the sidelines and see how it all plays out.

Isolation Is Key

What’s the number one takeaway from this article? Make sure your external and internal antennas are properly isolated from each other. With this sorted, you’re well on your way to achieving fantastic signal boosting from your Cel-Fi GO.

And if you’re having trouble connecting online, see if 4G is available and use this instead… even when you’re in a city.

Next time we’ll look at installing a Cel-Fi GO repeater, how to check whether your external antenna is performing to its maximum potential and ways to ensure good isolation between the external and internal antennas.

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