On our last trip out west we decided to take along a cell phone booster made by Anycall, which we got as an “open box” special on eBay for $150. After seeing other campers with cell phone amplifiers, who were able to make calls and get data in areas where we could not, we thought it would be nice to have one as well. The large black antennas that we see on overland vehicles are typically for WeBoost amplifiers, made by Wilson Electronics, but these weren’t in our budget, costing almost $500 for the antenna and amplifier.
The Anycall model we purchased is advertised to work with all cell phone carriers. Our cell phones are with AT&T, which works best in our home area, and our wireless hotspot device is with Verizon, which generally offers better coverage in the Western U.S. With the Verizon MiFi hotspot we can use AT&T’s WiFi callling feature, effectively giving us a phone that works on both carriers.
We installed the amp when we got to Kanab, Utah, in the parking lot of the Best Friends Roadhouse and Mercantile hotel, which, by the way, is a great place to stay if you have dogs and need a break from a few days of dry camping.
Our First Test Of The Anycall Cell Phone Booster
In Kanab, Utah, we had a couple bars of AT&T coverage in the parking lot and a five full bars of Verizon coverage. Plugging in the Anycall booster gave us five bars on AT&T, but this proved to be fleeting and decreased rapidly as we drove out of town. Apparently the cell tower that was providing AT&T in Kanab has a very limited range, and at the edge of town there was only one bar of signal strength. When we unplugged the Anycall amplifier, our phone went to zero bars.
As we drove on out east of Kanab, toward the Paria ghost town, we still had a couple bars of Verizon signal when we left the highway, heading toward the ghost town. With the amplifier turned on we had one bar at just about 5 miles off the highway, but zero bars after we unplugged the amp.
Later on during our trip we did an unscientific test of the Anycall booster in the Lincoln National Forest, near Cloudcroft, NM using an app called Signal Strength . At our campsite just north of the research facility at Sunspot, NM, we were able to get three bars of signal where we’d only had one bar, and we had good data speed while using the Verizon MiFi hotspot.
Does It Work and Was it Worth The Money?
The preferred choice of many truckers, RV’ers and overlanders are the WeBoost Drive Reach OTR cell phone boosters, which are made by Wilson Electronics, a long time maker of CB antennas for truckers. Their amplifiers feature a long black antenna with a short black “beer can” looking protrusion on the end, which I still can’t decide yet if I really like or not. It’s a bit nerdy looking for sure, yet serves its purpose, as the WeBoost antennas offer higher signal gain than the ones that come with cheaper boosters, like the Anycall model we purchased.
There’s no doubt that the WeBoost Drive Reach OTR model, which costs around $500, has more sophisticated electronics, more dB gain, and is probably more rugged than the Anycall boster, as it’s designed for use in semi-trucks. We can’t really compare models though, since we’ve only used the much less expensive Anycall amplifier, so far.
What we can say is that generally, if you have one bar of signal strength, after turning on the Anycall booster you’ll usually 3 or 4 bars, and faster data speeds. If you have zero coverage or no bars on your phone, it generally won’t give you any coverage, since there is no signal to boost.
We repeatedly plugged in and unplugged the unit, to see if it was really helping our signal, and the bottom line is that it was. We had fewer dropped calls, clearer calls, and faster data speed on both our AT&T phone and our Verizon hotspot.
You can see a YouTube video of our test of the Anycall booster below.
Magnetic Antenna Needs Modification To Work on Ford F-150
Our truck’s body is made of aluminum, therefore the magnetic mount antenna included with the Anycall booster wouldn’t stick to it. To mount the outside antenna on top of the cab, we used two Command Strips, which are made for hanging pictures on walls. I don’t quite trust this method of installing the antenna, but so far, after 4,500 miles, it’s still stuck and holding strong. The Anycall booster has a second inside antenna, which is a small plastic bar, that you stick to the area where your phone is kept. You’ll want to place this small bar antenna as close to your phone as possible, and keep it as far away from the outside antenna as you can to avoid electronic feedback.
Supports Multiple Users
The Anycall cell phone booster increases signal up to 45 dB and supports multiple phones at one time. We have used it with two AT&T phone and a Verizon hotspot at the same time and it still boosted the signal for all three simultaneously.
Where To Find One
The Anycall Cell Phone Booster is available used on eBay used and new with warranty on Amazon*. We also saw one for sale in the display case where CB radios were sold in a Loves travel stop near Salt Lake City, Utah.
*We may receive a small commission from purchases made from links on this site.
Update:
After our trip out west we drove down to the Texas coast, to the Padre Island National Seashore, which is the longest barrier island in the world. From the park headquarters you can drive down a four wheel drive road beside the shore for almost 70 miles. With the Anycall booster we were able to get 2-3 bars of AT&T coverage in areas where we barely had one bar with it off. So far, so good. We’ll post some more results as we travel more with it.
