Waveform CEL-FI GO G41 3G/4G (Soon 5G) Smart Signal Booster for cellular signal

We’ve recently covered a few booster products from Waveform that focus on delivering a stronger 5G signal to your T-Mobile 5G Home Internet Router. A valuable tool for those who don’t quite get the signal they need for a more fulfilled experience, delivering a more usable connection so they can actually enjoy their service. But how about general cellular service as well?

The company provides several products that focus on boosting cellular signal and it isn’t just limited to 5G home internet. Waveform also focuses on general cellular activity as well. Including its CEL-FI products. One of which, we have been testing for a little time now to see how well it improves signal to mobile devices within a home that greatly lacks sufficient network coverage.

It is the latest Waveform CEL-FI GO G41 Smart Signal Booster. It currently focuses on boosting 3G and 4G signals (5G coming soon) from a nearby cell tower using a complete kit of parts that are pretty straightforward when it comes to installing everything thanks to user-friendly instructions. As long as you have at least one natural bar of signal, to begin with.

The kit includes a number of parts that start with grabbing a signal from the cell tower, amplifying it, and then rebroadcasting it throughout your home or office using one of two different antenna configurations (it comes with both to help guarantee suitability for any home/office environment).

Starting with the first part, it comes with a directional antenna that should be installed on the outside of your home (preferably). It should be aimed directly at the nearest compatible cell tower to your residence This information can easily be found online by using online cell tower map services like CellMapper (to name one).

The company provides a pipe mount solution so that it can easily be mounted and aimed in the direction it needs to. Everything comes together easily and without any guesswork.

Cables are provided to take the captured signal from this antenna and route it down to the booster. Including a small surge protector that is installed in-line along the way to help protect against lightning strikes (it is used to create a proper ground).

The various cables and adapters help everything to make its way to the amplifier (above image) that contains all of the brains that make everything possible. This is where the signal is processed (including which bands, and for which service, it is looking to amplify). Everything is controlled by connecting to it via Bluetooth and configuring everything using the Wave app (supporting Android or iOS devices).

From the amplifier, the cable continues toward the antenna that rebroadcasts everything into your home. Providing up to 100 dB system gain, covering space up to 15,000 sq ft depending on the configuration of your environment and home. This antenna (or antennas, depending on which kit you get), should be installed a certain distance away from the main antenna that is pointed toward the nearest tower. There has to be a certain level of separation and it will let you know if you haven’t provided enough (within the app).

As mentioned, two different types of antennas are included in the kit to make sure you have the best for the job. One is more of a directional antenna (left image) while the other dome antenna provides more of a bubble (for multiple-floor situations).

The latter focuses mostly downward while providing a little signal upward as well. So choosing the best location to install one of these is vital. Making sure you get the most coverage possible within your installed space.

If neither antenna is going to cover enough space, the company provides kits with multiple antennas using a splitter to get the job done. The price point starts around $1,699.99 and works its way up to $2,049.99 depending on if you need to upgrade to a high-gain antenna or multiple antennas for inside.

A full manual breaks everything down and helps to explain how the whole process works. It focuses on compatibilities (both now and to come), discusses signal quality and strength, the various frequency bands, and setting everything up in various conditions. All while including detailed images and diagrams to make the process easy to understand.

There is a heavy focus on contact information and making it easy to reach out for help if needed. The company seems to be very hands-on and wants to make sure customers fully understand the product and how it works.

The App

The app is just as easy to understand and set up. As mentioned, it connects via Bluetooth and doesn’t require any account registration (user login, etc). You just access it via Bluetooth, it syncs everything to the app when it comes to current settings, and you start adjusting from there.

There is a strong chance that you will have to select your network of choice from the settings. For example, we chose T-Mobile (and eventually switched over to AT&T to test that as well). This requires the phone to download updates that are sent over to the unit, updating it to fully support the given network. It will install the updates and reboot.

It will break down your current configuration to let you know how your signal quality and strength, as well as the quality of your antenna separation (as previously mentioned). If it reports anything as fair or less than fair, you’ll want to see what you can adjust to compensate for a better result.

Registration

Now I had just mentioned that no user registration was required to use the app, so you might wonder why I led right into talking about registration. In this case, no user account is needed to log in and out of the unit. However, you have to register the “device” itself with some simple information about the user (name, address, etc) to appease regulatory agencies like the FCC. This only takes a few moments to fill out.

So what does this mean? The first time connecting to it and setting it up via the app over BT will result in a registration required error. The information in the app claims that you will be asked to fill out a simple form (in the app) the first time connecting but this isn’t the case. You want to wait until you get this error. Then completely close out of the app and then reopen and reconnect. It will then ask you to fill said form out. A little odd, but it doesn’t cause any headaches. Once you have submitted the form, you don’t have to fill anything out again.

Performance

So the installation and setup process is pretty simple. At least, as long as you have an easy way of getting cables routed to where they need to go. This includes having to have crawl space access so that you can properly run everything and install the indoor antennas on the ceiling or wall (depending on which one you use). Making sure you are pointing it directly at the nearest tower may take a few tries if you can’t physically “see” the tower with your own eyes. However, the app gives you the ability to test various angles to see what yields the best results.

The app is easy to use and it doesn’t take long to choose your network and wait for it to update and reboot. It then looks for a signal and starts to broadcast the various bands it finds. Everything is broken down so the user knows exactly what is working strongly and what could use improvement (if possible).

The only other step is to break out your mobile device(s) and check to see if you are getting an improved signal.

Now, in its current form, it is only able to amplify certain 3G and 4G bands. The product is described as 5G “ready”. This is because they are sitting on their hands at the moment when it comes to this progress since the regulators (FCC) haven’t approved third-party amplification of 5G signals just yet. So 5G will be coming in the future via a firmware update once they can make use of this function. This could be happening this summer, but the results all rest within any decisions the FCC makes and will be limited to the bands they approve.

So the product is “capable” and has what is required to support a number of 5G bands. It just can’t make use of any of this until it is legal to do so.

For now, what this means for you depends on your device. If you have just enough 5G signal naturally to have slow speeds without the system, you may not notice anything unless your device loses 5G connectivity completely. Allowing it to step down into 4G LTE. If your device is older and doesn’t support 5G, then you should immediately see an improved 4G signal. The same would apply to 3G (it depends on your device’s support for the older network and how often or when it makes use of it).

In our situation, around 3-4 years ago, we got rid of any mobile device that wasn’t 5G and had just enough signal that each device kept trying to connect or remain connected to 5G and wouldn’t step down to 4G to see anything coming from this system.

We had to get our hands on someone who had an older Samsung Galaxy S8 phone and was able to connect over 4G. After unplugging the system, the phone immediately lost signal and wasn’t able to acquire anything until we plugged it back in.

We weren’t getting the best speeds possible, but we also installed everything in what is possibly the hardest situation since there seems to be a level of interference within the area that limits all cellular connectivity despite being close to multiple towers (something that none of the providers want to investigate, strangely enough). That and 4G was never really impressive when compared to 5G. What matters is that we had a connection where we really didn’t without this and were able to make and take calls.

Thus this would be great for buildings or homes that suffer from the same. Or those located further away from cell towers, leading to poor natural coverage. Again, as long as you have at least one bar to begin with, it will (or should) be able to amplify that, leading to a much better experience. The company’s product that does the same for T-Mobile’s 5G Home Internet router also made a huge difference (we had tested this at the same location).

Our Conclusion

It is unfortunate that 5G isn’t obtainable just yet, but this isn’t an issue created by the company or its product. We are simply at the mercy of the FCC at this point, waiting for it to allow access to 5G amplification using third-party (products not supplied by your cellular provider directly). In the meantime, it is a focus on 3G and 4G until a firmware update can roll out to gain access to the 5G bands this system has access to.

The overall install process and setup using the app are painless outside of figuring out where to install and route everything (which will depend on each home or building). in our case, we did a temporary setup using a tripod to get the height we needed and eventually placed it outside on a deck that gets the directional antenna where it can face the direction of the nearest tower with minimal obstacles. We then ran the cables down and into the home. Allowing us to fully emulate what we would be able to see if we permanently installed it on the outside of the home.

The instructions are fantastic and are a normal experience with this company. This makes it easy to follow along without losing any interest, while also learning more about how everything works and what to expect to see in the future.

It will be interesting to see how it improves modern connectivity once 5G is usable. When this happens, we will have to come back to update. As it is a product that should only get better over time (assuming the regulators allow for it).

Additional Images:

Specifications:

• Frequency Bands: 2/4/5/12/13/25
• Relay Channel Bandwidths (MHz): 5/10/15/20
• Networks: 4G/5G* (5G Ready)
• Network Protocols: LTE/DSS/NR
• Network Selection: Automatically best available (WAVE App for manual setting)
• Duplex Modes: FDD
• # of Relay Bands (MHz max.): 2
• Relay Bandwidth (MHz max.): 20 + 20
• Output Downlink Power (All Bands) (dBm max.): 16
• Output Uplink Power (Bands 2/4/25) (dBm max.): 22
• Output Uplink Power (Bands 5/12/13) (dBm max.): 20
• System Gain (dBm max.): 100
• Enterprise-Grade Echo Cancellation (dB min.): 30
• Return Loss (dB typ.): -8
• Impedance: 50

Are you a manufacturer or distributor that would like us to test something out for review? Contact us and we can let you know where to send the product and we will try it out.