GSM antenna performance

Wireless & IoT
1

I have been using sparkfun’s GSM antenna CEL-00675 on the GM862 for my m2m application. I find the service reliability to be quite poor as compared to say a cell phone operating on the same network. My modules start to lose their data and SMS connection at around -93 dBm (or about 3 bars of service on the BB scale). A blackberry will have no problems making connections at this signal strength. I can only think that this has to do with antenna limitations.

Has anyone else had reception problems using CEL-00675? Would a more powerful and sensitive antenna give me proper mobile device connection reliability? Or do you think it has something to do with my module settings?

Any recommendations on GSM antennas would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

2

I notice something similar. When I first got my antennae, it didn’t seem to work at all; I had almost no signal. I re-soldered the antennae leads to the shield and made sure the beads had a flat profile and then I was able to send and receive messages. Doing the same may help you.