Improving mobile signal at home, in order of cost
Free changes first, then hardware. What works, what is a waste of money and what is illegal in the UK.
2 August 2026 · 8 min read
Turn on Wi-Fi calling. It costs nothing, works on almost every modern handset and solves indoor coverage for calls and texts entirely.
Find where signal is best in the building and note which band it uses. Low bands travel through walls; high bands do not.
A 4G/5G router with external antenna ports, placed at the best window, will usually beat a phone by a wide margin.
Passive repeaters and unapproved boosters are the two things to avoid. The first rarely helps; the second is illegal to operate in the UK unless it is an approved model.
Editorial note
This article is editorial guidance. Where a result depends heavily on location we say so rather than reporting a single number as universal.
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