By Jon Crowley
We recently received a weBoost Drive Sleek Cell Signal Booster from Wilson Amplifiers to test out. I had been poking around with cell phone signal boosters and had come across weBoost before they contacted me about this test. I had been looking for something to install in our 5th wheel because we often camp where signal isn’t so great (like Gecko Road in Glamis just a few weeks ago).
Components of weBoost Drive Sleek system
The weBoost Drive Sleek is designed for cars, SUVs and trucks and is priced at a reasonable $199. It is designed to boost the cell signal for just one phone at a time, so keep that in mind. The install was super easy and most importantly I didn’t have to drill and holes in my truck or find 12v power under the hood.
weBoost Drive Sleek antenna comes with a magnetic mount
Since I was installing this on a Ford F350, I had to use the included sticky metal circle to give the magnetic base something to attach to on our aluminum body.
We routed the antenna cable through the back door and under the weather stripping.
I’ve also seen people mount the antenna up on the front fender then route the cable under the hood and through the firewall.
We mounted to boosted on the back of the driver’s seat, then ran power to the cigarette lighter and the other cable to the cradle up front.
This is a temporary installation and we can tidy it up quite a bit in the future.
The weBoost phone cradle was mounted up front to where I already had a magnetic cell phone mount.
With every installed in literally 15 minutes, it was time for a test. I had my truck parked in my shop which has marginal cell signal at best. I tested the upload and download speed with the weBoost Drive Sleek off, then on and was really please with the results.
Speed test with the weBoost Drive Sleek unit off (left) and on (right)
Speed test with the weBoost Drive Sleek unit off (left) and on (right)
Speed test with the weBoost Drive Sleek unit off (left) and on (right)
For the last test, we were camped down in the Mojave Desert. While we had decent signal without the weBoost, I wanted to see if there would be much difference. As you can see below, Ping, Download and Upload all improved with Upload getting quite the boost.
I am very pleased with the results from four different locations. As you can see, the functionality increased dramatically in these initial tests.
For more information, check out the info on the weBoost website: https://www.weboost.com/products/drive-sleek
