Eagle Ford Shale Cell Phone Reception Problems? A Booster Can Help.

Let's just cut to the chase. I'm not in any way affiliated with the company, but the best cell phone carrier for oil rig workers in the Eagle Ford shale area of South Texas, overall, is AT&T. The reason for this that they own most of the 800 MHz towers in the region. Other phone carriers, such as Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint, must use shorter - range, 1900 MHZ towers. A long time ago, when the cellular "turf wars" were being waged in South Texas, Southwestern Bell owned most of the 800 MHz licenses. History: "Originally Cingular Wireless LLC, a joint venture between SBC Communications and BellSouth, the company acquired the old AT&T Wireless in 2004; SBC later acquired the original AT&T and re-branded as "The New AT&T". Cingular became wholly owned by AT&T in December 2006 as a result of AT&T's acquisition of BellSouth". The end result was that one company, AT&T ended up with the most of the 800 MHz towers across a wide area of South Texas, which just happens to be where the Eagle Ford shale oil play is located.

Why Your Phone Doesn't Work In South Texas

If you use a Verizon or Sprint phone, chances are it is a dual band phone. It is capable of using both 1900 and 800 MHz. The problem is, that AT&T won't let Verizon customers roam on their towers. Even if they did decide to do so, the two phone systems use a different language and therefore the towers are incompatible. (AT&T uses GSM and Verizon uses CDMA).

Even though Verizon Wireless and other companies such as Sprint are building new towers in South Texas to capture some of the Eagle Ford shale oilfield traffic, they will never be able to cover all of the back country the same way that AT&T and other companies such as Cellular One, (which also uses 800 MHz in South Texas), can. Cell towers such as AT&T's which use 800 MHz, have a working radius of about 21 miles. There is a "hard line" at which GSM phone signals cannot operate, because a timing signal must be received by the cell tower every few milliseconds. A GSM phone, even used on a cell phone repeater, may not work past 21.7 miles away from the tower. The problem with 1900 MHz towers, regardless of whether GSM or CDMA is used, is that they are basically designed for "line of sight" operation, or about a 7 mile radius. If you want the technical advantages and disadvantages of different cellular protocols, see this Wikipedia article.

Why Some Oilfield Workers Have To Use Two Cell Phones

Many oilfield workers are familiar with this type of situation, where one company owns most of the "long range" towers in an area. Out in the western United States, from about Abilene, TX on to the mountain states, Verizon has far better coverage. Out west they own most of the licenses for the 800 MHz towers, which cover more real estate. For oilfield workers who work part of the time in places such as New Mexico and also in South Texas, having a both a Verizon and an AT&T phone may be necessary. As a former oilfield worker, I had to carry two phones, plus a cell phone booster to cover the areas where I worked.

Cell Phone Boosters Help In Remote Oilfield Areas Such As The Eagle Ford Shale

A cell phone booster will help reception quite a lot, especially with phones using 800 MHz. If you are located about 21 miles or less, line of sight, from a cell tower, then a cell phone booster can help you pull in a GSM signal. (GSM is used by AT&T). For Verizon users in areas where there are 800 MHz CDMA towers, you can use a cell phone booster to extend range up to 70 miles or more, by using a directional antenna or being on a mountain. The fact that CDMA signals travel farther are most likely the reason that Verizon is such a popular carrier in the less populated Western United States. Down in South Texas, there are no 800 MHz CDMA towers, so Verizon users are out of luck.

What To Look For In A Good Quality Cell Phone Booster

There are several brands of cell phone boosters which do not have to connect directly to your phone. Wilson makes a very good quality "repeater type" booster. A small antenna picks up your cell phone's signal from a couple of feet away, sends it through the booster, and out to another antenna mounted on the roof of your vehicle. Digital Antenna also makes such a "repeater type" cell phone booster. Both of these will help get better cell phone reception in the Eagle Ford shale oilfield area. I'm using a Digital Antenna model with my iPhone. iPhone's don't have the best internal antenna, and the DA -4000 booster helps me get a signal in places where I had no bars at all on the phone.

Problem Cell Phone Reception Areas In The Eagle Ford Shale

Poor cell phone reception exists on just about all the large ranches in South Texas. Once you start to get more than 5 miles from the tower, reception suffers. LaSalle, McMullen, Webb, Dimmit and Maverick counties are among those with poor cell phone reception. A booster will help greatly in most of these places, but not that much if you are using Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile or Nextel.

Problems With Oilfield Workers Being Charged By Telmex

If you are working along the Texas - Mexico border, your phone may begin to roam on Telmex. You may receive hefty charges on your AT&T bill if you don't have international roaming. If you are going to be in an area where the two countries coverage overlaps, contact customer service and ask about adding international roaming to your plan. Doing so could save you hundreds of dollars in charges.

Tips On Choosing And Using A Cell Phone Booster

It's important that you choose a cell phone booster that can support multiple users. These can allow you to use up to five phones inside the car (or laptop internet air cards), and boost all of them at the same time. Another tip is that you should keep the space between the outside antenna and inside "pickup antenna", as far apart as possible. Most amps have a feedback warning indicator. Pay attention to it for the first week or so when using the cell phone booster to ensure that your antenna is the correct distance away from the amp. Lastly, but not least, please don't buy any of the $1.99 "signal boosters" thinking they will work. They don't.