The Signal Booster DUO (Band 12) is made of UNOBTANIUM

Here's an update to my adventure.

After getting nowhere through this Forum, tech support or the Facebook Force, I sent off an Facebook email to the T-Mobile CEO and a TWEET to the Senior VP for tech Support.  Within a few hours I was contacted by the Executive Support group and the next day I was told that they had located two Band 12 Booster units for me (for my primary and vacation residences, both of which have poor coverage provided by Band 12.  Twenty-four hours later I had my two units.

Unfortunately, getting the units to boost my received LTE signal was tricky since (as I found out later) there is a strong 3G Verizon tower nearby that was capturing the booster unit.  T-Mobile provides minimal documentation with the unit so I couldn't get the Duo combo to boost the T-Mobile LTE signal.  My calls to tech support broght no joy.  As a last resort I went to the Cel-Fi website (they make the booster unit) and found out that they had an app that provides quantitative information of what the booster devices are seeing and how they are operating.  With this I was able to find an area that was somewhat shielded from the Verizon tower and gave me a 1-2 bar LTE signal (-110 dbm).  I have been able to get signals boosted to -80 to -90 in most of my house.  Tomorrow I will call into the Cel-Fi tech support to see if I can do better.

So my friends, I learned a few lessons.

1) The T-Mobile Executive team is very concerned with customer support and can get things done that the ordinary customer facing support team cannot do

2) The T-Mobile inventory system is chaos.  I kept on getting the old Duo unit being sent to me instead of the Duo+ (for Band 12) even though I explicitly asked for the Band 12 unit.  Even after I had returned two Booster units and two mini tower units using prepaid labels provided by T-Mobile, and signed off as having been received by T-mobile, I still get 1-2 letters a week threatening me with having to pay for the units if they weren't weren't returned by March 22.  It took 1 phone call for me to realize that the Level 1 CSR has no tools that will tell them the status of the returned gear.Even though I have an official letter that states that all of my boosters and towers have been returned, I still get a letter every Tuesdaty threatening me with a bill for $138 if the unit isn't returned by by March 22.

3) The Tech Support team (even the enhanced level support personnel are no help if you have a problem figuring out where to place the units.  They appear to be unaware of the WAVE software app from Cel-Fi that quantitatively shows the network environment and the operation of the booster units as you change locations.

On the positive side - I REALLY like my new iPhone 8 and the T-Mobile service.  In virtually everywhere I go in Orange County I get 3-4 bars of signal.  Unfortunately my house in Newport Beach is just in a low signal area.  About 1/4 mile away there are 3-4 bars of LTE.  There is a new tower scheduled to be installed nearby later in the year so coverage should improve.  Having unlimited calls and data removes second thought of picking up a Face Time call from my grand children when I am out of the house.  The Tuesday feeebies are neat and I picked up a subscription to MLB-TV and save $125.

I hope others can use this info to improve their service.  Unless you are in a barren area the combination of Signal Boosters and Wi-Fi calling should provide acceptable service.  If anybody needs some help navigating the Booster DUO+ arena, just drop me a message.

Marty