Hello -

Hope this question doesn't make me look TOO ignorant - but I was told there are no such things as dumb questions.

2 of my users, one on BES, one not, (may even be irrelevent anyway) have been moved to our lower level which is a bunker for any wireless signals. One asked me (she's not on BES, and doesn't wish to be) if she could use her BB to access a wireless point to extend her signal/service so that she does not miss calls from vendors to her BB. And whenever any of us have mtgs downstairs we just turn off the antennas or else batteries drain. Is this even possible? Are there any setups or scenarios existing to extend coverage for people in "dead" spots?

Thanks as always!

This isn't possible. The only thing you can do is set your network to manual to look for another tower but the chances of that increasing signal in a bunker is pretty much zero.

This is possible with the 8320 devices which have Wifi enabled and has UMA enabled.

Automatic switching although is not possible AFAIK. If UMA isn't enabled they will only be able to send/receive messages and browse the web, no phone.

I'm retarded, if she is on the BES and wants service downstairs she can use the access point. You can't use an access point to increase cell reception, although there are repeaters available which would do so.

Forgot about the WiFi devices. You should be able to point to a wireless AP but only WiFi devices can do this.

Great, thanks guys! I'll look into pointing to an AP for the BES service at least.

Here's something that might work:

Sprint AIRAVE™

If the link doesn't work, search for Airave on their site. I've not used it and am unsure if it will work with other models...

Good luck.

Thanks KOR!

Tmobile has the same sort of thing which is the UMA I had previously mentioned. In their case, they use a modified version of a WRT54G router, most likely with QOS for phone service so you can maintain decent voice quality.

There are always wireless signal amplifiers/repeaters. I've seen some homebrew ones that work really well.