Resolved Inconsistent Cell Phone Signal - Rural Area

My son uses AT&T wireless for his only phone in a rural, central Virginia location. His reception inside his house is very inconsistent - often must go outside to complete important calls. I have looked at cell phone signal boosters but most of them require a broadband connection and indicate that if the broadband is satellite, as his is, the operation is not too dependable. I am hesitant to have him invest $300 - $400 dollars if this is not a dependable option. Anyone out there have any experience in this area?

One option may be to use Walmart/Vonage which you can get for about $20 a month. I used this set up in my urban location with a wired broadband and it worked very well.

 

I have a Micro Cell which was purchased from AT&T. I complained about my signal to the business office and got a $100.00 credit from them. Then went to an AT&T Store (not Wally-World or Radio Shack) and complained to them. Got them to give me a $100.00 discount and it worked out that I just had to pay the total of what the tax was as the unit was $199.00. It plugs into my router. I use DSL from Centurylink and I have 4 or 5 bars all the time in the house. My first old cheap phone (not a smart phone) didn't have a problem. These new ones don't have as good of an antenna in my opinion.
I have seen Micro Cell units on Craigslist before that were cheaper than what AT&T wanted. Used of course.

 

TonyT and MrBill,

Arie just reminded me that I left this thread dangling - sorry about that. We searched a lot on the internet but most of the equipment that looked promising was not compatible with satellite broadband. Whenever I searched for "signal booster repeater" I was always brought back to the broadband powered units that were incompatible with satellite. And our knowledge in this area is so limited we were hesitant to spend bucks for a unit that might or might not work. So we may just take another look at Vonage. We had it for a while and it worked relatively well. Thanks for your inputs.