Finally getting one of these this week, but how do they work?!

I don't get how it boosts your signal being plugged into your router - especially how it works with sending texts?! I presume it boosts signal for Calls, Texts, and 3G Internet?

Its basically just a mobile phone mast in your house and that uses your internet to connect back to three. Everything will work as normal.

I guess it's the same as the Vodafone one.

They are just like a mini telephone mast but insted of connecting to Three via their network it uses your broadband connection and the Internet to do it.

You then have to tell them numbers of the Three mobile phones you want to allow connection to it.

Mark.

Does it tend to slow down your internet connection? Only have a 4MB broadband connection at home.

I just don't get how it works sending texts?!

Why don't you get how it works sending texts? Its like any other mobile phone mast just that it uses your internet to connect back to Three.

It doesn't really slow down your internet connection, it uses a very small amount of data.

Becuase how can you use an internet connection to send a text message?! It's just weird.

Not really. A normal phone mast uses a dedicated network link back to the Three network.

A home signal box broadcasts using the same (relatively) 2100mhz 3G frequency normal Three masts use except it uses your broadband line to establish a secure VPN link back to the Three core network instead of having its own dedicated link. Its not difficult.

Ok so that makes sense. So with this box, all I'll see different on my mobile is full signal? And this signal can be used for Texts, calls and 3G Internet? Not that you'd need 3G with wifi.

Correct. The box doesn't put out a massively powerful signal so it does drop off fairly rapidly with distance but should be enough to give excellent signal in an average family home.

We only have a small house anyway.

What I'm hoping is that our batteries last longer too as currently our handsets are constantly searching for a network which uses up power.

I presume then when you leave the house and lose connection to the box, it'll then start searching for networks again until it finds the standard 3 signal?

WiFi will get faster data and won't count towards your mobile usage allowance (if any).

As for leaving the house - yes.

I live in an "above average" family home and with careful placement of the HS it is surprisingly good how far the thing covers, and that's with granite walls everywhere which play hell with wifi (I have two enterprise-grade wifi access points to cover it). Covers all of the house, some of the garden and I can be sat in the car across the road and it is still getting a signal from it.

It's worrying and slightly impressive that 3 do whatever process it is to push out locations of their femtocells to location providers. Netmonitor on my phone seems to think that the cell site is a few house numbers around mine (and it's not GPS, because when it kicks back onto the main network, it places the cell site as being in the neighbouring village or the one in my village)

Why get a signal box and use your home broadband to make amends for a network's deficiency. Join a network that has decent coverage where you live.

If they offer it to you for free, what's the issue.

+ in some places this isn't an option. In my old house you couldn't much of a signal (Orange had 1 bar that would come and go) on any network and this was in a city.

All good and well with this piece of advice but what about us folk that live in a village with no coverage in the home and 1 bar at best outside? The Vodafone sure signal is the best bit of kit we have

Because the network which has "decent coverage" in my house may not have it elsewhere. O2 may well have the edge on coverage for me (pun not intended), but as soon as I leave the house I'll be stuck on EDGE or GPRS, so no thanks. On the whole, all of the networks aren't that good in my house.

Meanwhile on 3 I can have the great coverage when I travel or am not at home, and a free femtocell to give me coverage in my house. Best of both worlds, and at no extra cost to me (other than the marginal cost of electricity to power it) - possibly lower, as what I pay on 3 might well be less than I would pay on other networks.

Yeah but in effect you're paying them to use your own broadband connection...

Which is surely what you use in your house anyway? No point paying for broadband at home and not using at home.

A mobile phone is what the name says, mobile.

I can't get any coverage with anyone in my area!

My HS box will be placed in the corner of the lounge. Should be good enough.

I have a Three homesignal (the black NEC variety)

Although it is better than the 0-1 bars of unreliable 2100 signal from the nearest 3 mast, it does have its own issues, in my experience.

There is a slight, but noticeable delay on voice calls and I often find I end up talking over the other person and vice versa. I suspect this is because of it using consumer grade ADSL as backhaul to Three's core network as opposed to low latency fibre links / leased lines.

The other thing is that data through the homesignal box is very ropey. Often it doesn't work and when it does you get timeouts. Only when I leave the homesignal coverage and onto real coverage I start to get e-mail push notifications from Outlook and so on.

Before someone asks why would I want to use data through it, well the answer is ... believe it or not, not everyone has wi-fi. My network and router is wired.

Getting a wifi AP for a fiver would probably give you faster and more reliable data though.

Yes, infact I probably have an old wi-fi router that could be used as an AP.

But the annoying thing is, if I strategically place my phone, like on a wardrobe or something (yes I'm that desperate) and tether to my laptop / pc then I have seen 10Mb/s download which is twice as fast as my ADSL. Admittedly, tops of wardrobes aren't ideal for phone calls

Hah, I had to do the same in the last place I lived. Bluetooth headset comes in handy for that

Got my black Home Signal box today. Has taken me from no signal, to full signal including 3G. Very impressed with 3.