Can you use a weBoost Drive Sleek in your home?

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Everyone needs better cell service. And let’s be honest, not everyone is made of money. So, I understand when people want to look for the lowest possible price. I understand they need to get things done. And that’s why I totally understand when a customer asked us,

I’m on a tight budget. Can I use the weBoost Drive Sleek that’s in my car to get better cell service in my home?

The answer is “yes but,” and I hope you’ll let me explain.

About the weBoost Drive Sleek

The Drive Sleek, the most affordable booster in weBoost’s large line of cell phone signal boosters, is designed to give better cell service to one person inside a car. It does this very well, and its only limitation really is that it works with one phone at a time. Most cell boosters will work with at least eight devices at the same time. Some will work with an unlimited number.

But, for those folks who only need one at a time, this is the one to get. It installs easily, looks cool, and even lets you charge your phone over USB using the same power adapter. My reviews of it have been very positive.

Using the Drive Sleek at home

It isn’t hard to turn the Drive Sleek into a single-user cell booster for home. But it will take a little bit of ingenuity on your part. Here’s what you’ll have to do:

Provide power

You’ll need to provide a 12-volt power socket for the booster, but you’ll need to plug into your home’s power. If you’re handy with a soldering gun, you can probably adapt any old 12-volt power supply you have handy. If not, there are options available on other web sites which will let you plug one end into the wall and have a standard “cigarette lighter” type socket on the other end.

Get the antenna outside

You’ll still need to route the outdoor antenna outside and mount it as if it was on the roof of a car. The cable is thin enough to go between a window and its frame, and there’s probably enough wire to get to the closest window.

The outdoor antenna needs to be outside because, well, if you had enough signal for the antenna to reach insider, you’d have enough signal for your phone.

Mount the booster

The Drive Sleek’s cradle is intended to work in a typical car’s vent, but you’ll need to find a way to mount it so the phone can be inside it. This really shouldn’t be a problem. You can have the cradle sitting on its side and it won’t hurt the performance of the booster.

Bluetooth is probably your friend here

I would expect that the biggest challenge of all is just putting your phone close enough to an outlet and also close enough to a window. But remember, the phone also needs to be in its cradle to work. So, this is where a decent set of Bluetooth earbuds are going to help you. Generally you’ll get 35-50 feet distance between the phone and the earbuds and that’s going to make this whole thing a lot easier.

 

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.