Verizon Wireless Network Extender

We’ve all been there. You pull up to a business, you’ve got great cell service, you’re in the middle of a phone call (or sending a super-important email or Facebook status update). You walk in the door, and bam! The signal immediately drops when you step inside.
Pain in the butt, right?

Now imagine how it is for the people who work there. All. Day. Long.
Sad to say, this is our veterinary clinic. The Verizon Wireless 4G signal outside is amazing! But when we did our renovation and new construction on the building, we put up metal siding and a metal roof. So no signal inside.

I have to admit, it’s sort of nice to not have to fight with an owner’s cell phone for attention when you’re trying to figure out what’s wrong with Floofy. But our cell phones are constantly searching for service all day long, which means the batteries run dead. Which is a big problem for our doctors who are on call at night. (Ever try to talk to a worried owner on a cell phone with a dying battery? Not fun.)

So we hooked up with the folks at Verizon Wireless to get one of these babies to try. This Network Extender sits in a window, and that little antenna grabs the Verizon Wireless signal. It hooks into our wireless internet router, and boosts the signal through the whole building!

(Chap Stick included for scale. It was the only thing I had in my pocket.)

I won’t pretend to know how it works. I don’t really have the foggiest idea. But it does boost cell signal (so we can now make and receive cell phone calls from our office) and Verizon’s 3G signal. I went from no service to 3-4 bars on a regular basis!

It’s really easy to install – all you need is access to a window, a power outlet, and your internet router. Plug it in, wait for all the lights to turn blue (anywhere from 10 minutes to 1 hour), and you’re in business!

There is a very short delay when you answer a call that is using the Network Extender. You’ll hear a little beep (the person on the other end doesn’t hear it) that means you’re using the Network Extender service, and then you can start talking. Other than that, you’ll never notice a difference in your service!

Except that now your battery lasts the whole day. And you can take emergency calls without having to find that missing car charger first!

Everybody loved this so much (and got a little spoiled), we had to buy one we got to keep before I could pack this one up and send it back!

{Thanks to Verizon Wireless for the use of this Network Extender. All thoughts and opinions are my own.}