O2 recently released their Boostbox to improve phone signal in domestic settings in particular.. This piece of equipment is similar to an O2 signal booster but works in a very different way. An O2 boostbox works by connecting to your broadband. The boostbox can provide 3G & 4G network simultaneously over the broadband connection in your house. Up to 32 O2 phones can be registered to the system, making it quite small, however only 4 of these can be used at the one time, showing the limitations of this kind of boosting system. It is worth mentioning that your phone continues to work like normal regarding your bundle or allowances you are currently using. Therefore calls, texts and data will remain the same as the tariff you are currently using.
You need a minimum connection of 1 Mb/s for your O2 boostbox to work, the router needs to support universal plug and play (UPnP) and a LAN port on the router you’re using. The majority of routers are on universal plug and play, but if yours isn’t there are ways around this. You may have to set up port-forwarding for your boostbox to work. It will need to work with access ports; 50 (TCP/IP), 123 (UDP), 500 (USP), 4500 (UDP). If you need to find out more about the router you’re using capabilities you can reach out to the manufacturer or check out portforward website.
You have now done the majority of the hard part and your setup should be complete. It will take between 1 and 4 hours for your boostbox system to be up and running but it should be a seamless process connecting your phone. If any issues occur you can contact O2 support or reset the system and try again. Depending on the colour of your boostbox, the reset hole is either on the back or the left hand side of your boostbox. To reset; push a pin into the hole, like you would with your broadband router, hold for ten seconds and release. Once you do this, the boostbox will reset itself and begin working again in the space of a few minutes. In some cases, you may need to do a factory reset. This involves the same thing only, you will need to power the system on and off while holding the reset button. Keep holding it for a further ten seconds after power comes on and this will force a factory reset. It may take up to an hour for your O2 boostbox to get fully rebooted and operational.
Only O2 phone numbers are compatible with an O2 boostbox, which isn’t ideal should you have people on other networks in your home or if you are using it in a commercial setting. As I mentioned previously, you need a certain strength of internet connection for your Boostbox to work properly. The upload speed can be 300 Kbps but the download speed needs to be a minimum of 2Mpbs. It would be quite unusual for your broadband to be slower than this but it would be in your best interest to test your internet speed before investing in a system like an O2 boostbox. You can check your internet upload and download speeds by using the ‘Fast’ website.
Begin by plugging in your Boostbox to the mains. This will give your system power to turn on. Once this is completed, attach your yellow cable between your O2 boostbox and the LAN port on your broadband router. These are easy to recognise as they are colour coordinated with the yellow cable and should be yellow themselves on the systems. This should begin the automatic set up of your O2 boostbox. It may take between 1 and 4 hours to complete but it’s unusual for it to take longer than an hour. You will know your system is the setup phase when its lights are pulsing continuously. All three lights, for power, your connection and your device status will be on together when the system is fully operational.
While the O2 boostbox is an excellent addition to the market, at Sure Signal we are wary of ever depending on an internet connection for your phone signal. Internet connections can be volatile and you will be left without any networks should your broadband be down. At Sure Signal we offer a number of solutions to poor phone signals which don’t rely solely on broadband to work. If you’d like to discuss these options contact us today and we would be more than happy to offer you advice and discuss the best option for your situation.