Recently, SureCall released a new and improved version of their Fusion5X cell phone signal booster… creatively called the Fusion5X 2.0. The Fusion5X 2.0 is part of SureCall’s line-up of products for midsize-to-large homes and offices. The original Fusion5X has been discontinued and replaced with the Fusion5X 2.0.
The major difference between the Fusion5X 2.0 and the previous is that the newer has much higher downlink power. Because of this increased downlink power, the Fusion5X 2.0 has the ability to cover about double the area of the original. Not only does it cover more area than its predecessor, but the Fusion5X 2.0 can also cover double the area of it’s closest competitor.
What is Downlink Power Anyway?
The downlink is the signal that the cell phone receives from the cell phone tower. Now, the Fusion5X 2.0 is capable of up to +16 dBm of downlink power. Most competitor products, and the previous Fusion5X model are only capable of +10 dBm of downlink power. So, this new Fusion5X booster has +6 dBm higher downlink power than anything comparitive on the market.
So, what does an extra +6 dBm get you? In theory, it will give you about twice the coverage area. That means more of your home or office area will be swimming in great cell phone signal. Of course, like with all cell phone signal boosters, you will need to have as good an outside signal as possible to truly take advantage of all the gain and potential that the Fusion5X can provide.
Other Features
The SureCall Fusion5x 2.0 has what SureCall is now calling SureIQ technology. Basically, SureIQ technology is a fancy new version of the internal software that allows the booster to perform better in urban environments. This new technology prevents the booster from prematurely shutting down or backing off power when it’s not absolutely necessary. It uses a better method of self-adjustment that works constantly in the background to make sure that you are getting the most out of your signal booster.
Also, the Fusion5X 2.0 is compatible with the SureCall Sentry monitoring system. The Sentry system allows for remote control and monitoring of the cell phone signal booster’s performance and status.
Where to Use
The SureCall Fusion5X 2.0 is a great booster for mid-size to large offices and homes. Conveniently, this booster is available in several different kits, depending on the area that you are trying to cover. These kits come with all the antennas, splitters and cables that you will need for a complete install.
The kits come with either an Omni or a Yagi outdoor antenna, and options for either one or four indoor panel or dome antennas. While SureCall will no longer tell you a square footage that this Fusion5X kit will cover, past spec sheets have placed the amount of square footage in the range of “up to 20,000 square feet.” And with the extra +6 dBm of downlink power, it is feasible that this Fusion5X 2.0 booster could cover up to 40,000 square feet.
Do you have an application that you think might be a fit for the Fusion5X 2.0? I’d be more than happy to sell you one here in my online store. If you have any questions or concerns, I would love to hear from you. Drop me an email to [email protected] and I’m always happy to help out where I can.
Recently, SureCall announced the release of their new Fusion2Go 3.0 mobile cell phone signal booster. Normally, a company releasing a new version of a product wouldn’t be that big of a deal. But when the Fusion2Go 3.0 came out, the folks at SureCall knew that they had really hit a home run. So, they hired an independent lab, CKC Laboratories, to run a detailed comparison of their new Fusion2Go 3.0 booster against the more popular WeBoost Drive 4G-X. The results were pretty awesome! As a nerd, I see this as a sort of virtual MMA fight. A virtual bout that I am inventively calling SureCall Fusion2Go 3.0 vs WeBoost Drive 4G-X.
SureCall Fusion2Go 3.0 vs WeBoost Drive 4G-X
With the deep booming voice of a ring fight announcer:
“In this corner… wearing red trunks, formerly known as Wilson Electronics. Hailing from the southwest corner of the state of Utah, the WeBoost Drive 4G-X.”
“In the opposite corner… wearing teal trunks, with an amazing backstory of fulfilling the American Dream, the SureCall Fusion2Go 3.0”
Then the “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble” guy, who by the way, has made over $400 million for trademarking the phrase says, “Let’s get ready to rumbllllle!!!!”
If you head over to the neat little raiseyourbars.surecall.com best vehicle page that SureCall set up, you can see a brief overview of the comparison test results. If you’re a total nerd, like me, you can enter your email address and download the complete report. I did. It’s 51 pages of complete nerdvana. Therefore, it’s interesting to only the biggest of RF nerds.
Lab Results
With the right amount of caffeine, I was able to make it through all 51 pages of the report. These two amplifiers (or signal boosters) were both given the same 8 tests in identical environments. The results of each of these tests would provide real insight into the actual performance capabilities of each signal booster. You are welcome to go over the test results if you want, but I’m going to paraphrase it all below.
WARNING! Things are about to get technical!
The different tests were:
Downlink ripple in the pass band – which, as the name would suggest, tests the amount of ripple in the pass band. A lower ripple is desired. Lower ripple means that the booster is more evenly amplifying all frequencies in the frequency band being tested. Winner = Fusion2Go 3.0
Output power uplink – measures the output power for the signal from the booster back to the cell phone tower. Better uplink power means you can get a better connection further away from the cell tower. Winner = Fusion2Go 3.0
Downlink EVM – measures the Error Vector Magnitude of each RF path received from the cell phone tower. Basically, the EVM is the difference between the expected signal and the received signal. A lower EVM percentage is more desirable. Winner = Fusion2Go 3.0
Uplink EVM – the same test as above, but it measures the EVM in the direction of the signal from the booster to the cell phone tower. Winner = Fusion2Go 3.0
Uplink sensitivity – measures how well the booster works at really low signal levels. The signal was turned down until the EVM reached 13.5% for each amplifier. Lower sensitivity is better. Winner = Fusion2Go 3.0
Uplink adjacent channel power – measures how much of the amplified signal “spills into” the neighboring channel’s path. The amplifier that can get to higher power and still remain within spec is better. Winner = Fusion2Go 3.0
Uplink mask emission – measures the uplink signal and verifies that it is operating within the emission limits. This is a pass/fail kind of test. But SureCall passed at at higher power level. Winner = Fusion2Go 3.0
Intermodulation – measures output power of the booster at two-tone input signals where the intermodulation products of those tones are operating at the FCC consumer limit. Higher power at limit is better. Winner = Fusion2Go 3.0
Real World Results
Clearly, test results in a lab don’t always equate to better results in real-world applications. I know that a while ago I tested the Fusion2Go 2.0 booster at a remote cabin location and I was greatly impressed with the results. It would seem logical that with much better test results, the Fusion2Go 3.0 amplifier would do even better, right?
I have every intention to create a comparison video of my own to compare the SureCall Fusion2Go 3.0 vs WeBoost Drive 4G-X as soon as I get some free time. But for now, I found a SureCall comparison video that beat me to it. Check it out!
My Thoughts
Fusion2Go 3.0 winner in Fusion2Go 3.0 vs WeBoost Drive 4G-X matchup
So, who wins in this virtual matchup of the SureCall Fusion2Go 3.0 vs WeBoost Drive 4G-X? Clearly, looking at all the evidence above, the SureCall Fusion2Go 3.0 is the unanimous winner. I was pretty impressed by the test results. I’m super excited to break out my fancy network analyzer and do some independent testing of my own.
If you’re sick of dropped calls, dead zones and terrible data speeds and you’d like to stay connected while on the road, the SureCall Fusion2Go 3.0 Kit is the best mobile cell phone signal booster on the market. Don’t forget that I am always happy to sell one to you in my online shop here!
If you have any questions about any of the products that we sell, I’m always happy to help out. Just drop me an email to [email protected] and I’ll get back to you as soon as I am able.
Every once in a while, the stars align. When you turn on the music in your car and notice that your blinker is clicking in perfect beat with the music. Or maybe you might hit every single stoplight green on your way to work. It’s days like those that you take a deep breath and thank the Lord for life. You realize that life is actually pretty great, and things will be just fine. SureCall’s recent announcement that they are offering a mail-in rebate on a few of their products is like one of those great days. Mail-in rebates from SureCall equates to a SureCall discount. Discounts are good!
What’s the catch? What are the details of this so-called rebate? Let me break it down for you.
For a limited time only, you can take advantage of this mail-in rebate on select SureCall products. You’ll get the awesomeness of SureCall cell phone signal boosting with a side dish of money back!
Until March 15, SureCall is offering a mail-in rebate on the Flare and the Fusion5S signal booster kits.
SureCall Flare Mail-in Rebate
The following product qualifies for the Flare mail-in rebate:
The Flare signal booster is great for locations where you want to cover 1 – 2 rooms of a home or office, up to 2,500 square feet. Its unique design combines the amplifier and the indoor antenna into one unit that is good-looking enough to place on a centrally located counter or desktop. You will only need to run a single cable outside for the outside receiving antenna.
Rebate Rules:
Purchase a SureCall Flare booster kit between now and March 15, 2018.
Chances are that you’ve never heard of a public safety signal booster. Or even less an in-building public safety radio enhancement system, like NIST calls them. But for the millions of people in the US brave enough to be counted as “First Responders” a public safety signal booster could be the difference between life and death.
Lessons Learned From the 911 Tragedy
I clearly remember where I was and what I was doing on the morning of September 11, 2001. I was a student at Weber State University. My wife was getting ready for work. She was working as an Ophthalmic Assistant to help put me through school. She was watching Fox 13 News that morning while getting ready for work. I had been up most of the night doing homework, so I was still asleep. She woke me up to tell me that a plane or something had just crashed into a skyscraper in New York.
Perplexed, I stumbled into the living room and laid on the couch in front of the television. I had just wiped the sleep from my eyes when the second plane hit its target. Right away I knew that this wasn’t just a random accident like the commentators were initially reporting, this had to be something much more sinister.
Reports started filtering in about other plane crashes. A plane hitting the Pentagon, and another hitting the ground somewhere in Pennsylvania. I was shocked. I skipped school and stayed glued to my television for the next 48 hours. As the reports later began to call this a terrorist attack, I wanted to enlist in the military and ‘return the favor’ to those terrorists that had ended so many thousands of innocent lives. My wife was vehemently opposed to me enlisting in the military. I was too madly in love with her to risk losing my marriage over the fight. So I sat and I watched the television, and listened to the radio, and did nothing.
Communications are Vital
As I worthlessly sat in front of the television, 70,000 first responders sprang into action at ground zero. Firefighters were running into burning buildings! They were sacrificing their own lives to try to save the lives of whomever they could… strangers.
As firefighters rushed into the smoke-filled stairwells of the burning towers, they noticed that visibility wasn’t the only thing that they were missing. They had also lost reliable radio communication. They were blind, and they had also lost the ability to receive help from their colleagues calling out the shots from the vantage point of the command post.
My brother is a police officer. For him, there is nothing scarier than being out of radio contact. Radio provides a life line. Eyes where you have none. Information that is critical to the successful completion of your job. Without radio contact, you lose all advantage and the balance tips in favor of the bad guys… or the disaster.
Hindsight is Always 20-20
After the 911 tragedy, as with every tragedy, there was a call for answers. People wanted to know WHY so many people had died? Why weren’t the fire suppression systems sufficient to put out the blaze? Why weren’t first responders able to get reliable communications?
The government commissioned NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) to answer some of those questions. NIST conducted a very thorough review of the tragedy. One of the many NIST recommendations was recommendation 22:
NIST recommends the installation, inspection, and testing of emergency communications systems, radio communications, and associated operating protocols to ensure that the systems and protocols: (1) are effective for large-scale emergencies in buildings with challenging radio frequency propagation environments; and (2) can be used to identify, locate, and track emergency responders within indoor building environments and in the field.
Do I need a Public Safety Signal Booster?
Great question! A question that isn’t really easy to answer. Chances are that if you are searching the internet for a public safety signal booster, most likely, you already know you need one. ( I am happy to sell you a SureCall Guardian3 QR public safety booster here in my shop ) If you aren’t sure if you need one, there are a few determining factors to figure out if you have to have one.
Generally speaking, in most cases, newly constructed buildings with an area of at least 10,000 square feet per floor, and at least three floors high are required to have signal strength of -95 dBm or better in designated critical areas – elevators, stairwells, etc. – in order to receive a certificate of occupancy.
If you are the owner or architect of a new building under construction, you really should engage the services of an RF engineer to determine if you will need a public safety signal booster. There is a long, long complicated list of requirements that really make it difficult to say “yes” or “no” for any particular situation. As with most things dealing with RF (radio frequency), it depends.
If you are the “Authority Having Jurisdiction”, or the fire chief signing off on a new building so it can receive it’s Certificate of Occupancy, it might be worth your while to spend some time exploring the building and making sure that there’s a reliable signal throughout the property. Check the stairwells, elevator shafts, basements and other areas that you’d really not enjoy being without a signal. If it leaves you nervous, you might want to request that the owner provide a public safety signal booster.
Why SureCall?
SureCall’s in-building public safety radio enhancement system (or public safety band signal booster) adequately amplifies FirstNet signals for crucial communications. It delivers consistent signal for First Responders and other public safety officials that rely on two-way radio communication inside large buildings.
The SureCall Guardian3 QR meets the code for Chapter 24 Emergency Communications System of NFPA72, 1221 and IFC 510.
It includes a NEMA-4 rated housing, eliminating the need for an additional NEMA enclosure.
The SureCall Guardian QR can provide reliable coverage of up to 80,000 square feet.
It supports more than 100 simultaneous users per band on 700 MHz (FirstNet ready), 800 MHz, 900 MHz (SMRS)
Boosts all public safety bands
3-year warranty
At an affordable price point of $6,669.00 MSRP (drop me an email [email protected] for better pricing), it’s really a small investment to ensure the peace of mind and safety of the First Responders that put their life on the line for us on a daily basis.
If you have questions about the SureCall Guardian3 QR (SC-TriPSBS-80-QR) or any other SureCall signal booster, I am always happy to help. Please drop me an email: [email protected] and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
A while ago, I had the opportunity to compare the WeBoost Connect 4G vs SureCall Fusion4Home. We tested the boosters at a friend’s quaint cabin high in the beautiful Cedar Mountains.
The location couldn’t have been more amazing! The birds were chirping, chipmunks bustled about and deer drank form a nearby pond. The gentle fall breeze rustled through the pine trees. Luckily, my friend’s cabin was located just beyond where the summer wildfires of 2017 had burned down a bunch of cabins and ravaged 71,000 acres of beautiful landscape.
The surroundings here were perfect, but the cell phone signal was terrible. Outside of the cabin, barely 1 bar of signal was available. Inside of the cabin, no signal at all was present. No texts, no data, no phone calls. Nothing. Which made this a perfect location to compare the WeBoost Connect 4G vs SureCall Fusion4Home signal booster to determine which was better suited for this situation.
Why would you want a booster?
If I were up there in the mountains at a cabin, why would I waste my time comparing the WeBoost Connect 4G vs SureCall Fusion4Home signal boosters?
Whenever I talk about cell phone signal boosters being used in these beautiful outdoor settings, there’s always a few people that will comment…
“If I was in a beautiful place like that, cell phone signal would be the last thing on my mind!” or…
“I go to places like that to get away from the world, why would I want a cell phone there!”
Let me tell you why… eventually.
I’m no Gaston
I’ve never been a big hunter. I went hunting ONCE with my dad when I turned 8 or 9 years old. We embarked on what I thought was an epic journey into the wild to bring home a freezer full of meat. We saw a few deer, and even got a shot off at one. It wasn’t until later, (only a few years ago), that my dad finally admitted to me that our amazing hunting experience wasn’t at all what I had thought.
Our hike “deep into the woods” was really us barely 20 feet from the road. We literally walked us in circles for about 20 minutes so we thought that we were really far out there. Then we built a campfire, because it “was cold outside and it would attract the deer that wanted to warm up.” I couldn’t quite figure out why a deer would want to come near a campfire, but I trusted my dad. He was my hero and he knew everything in the world that was worth knowing.
My dad sat on a lawn chair that he had carried in and read the news paper. Every 10 minutes or so he would rustle the newspaper a little bit and say, “Did you hear that? It was a deer. If you guys weren’t being so noisy, we probably could have shot it.” After my dad finished the paper, he jumped up and took a shot at a massive buck that was hopping through the tree line… or so I thought.
Shattered
He later admitted that it was absolutely nothing. He shot at a tree about 20 yards away. After the shot he said, “Darn it! I missed it. If you guys hadn’t of been arguing over the fire, we could have gotten that one. You scared it off. It was a huge buck! Probably the biggest I’ve ever seen.” Since he had taken a shot, all of the other deer in the vicinity had undoubtedly taken off, and it made no sense to stay, so we left and went back home.
As I later found out, there was no buck. There was no deer. It was all a ruse so that we would stop bugging my dad to take us hunting. We had a terrible time, and we never bothered him to go hunting again.
Fast forward 20 some years. I had a really good neighbor that got me interested in hunting again. He assured me how amazing and fun it was. He talked me into going hunting with him, because REAL hunting was a blast.
I got my tag, and we set out hunting. It was fun. Until I shot something. That’s when my buddy, John, told me, “My dad always says, hunting’s like sex. The fun ends and the work begins as soon as you pull the trigger.” That couldn’t have been more accurate of a statement. I now understood why my dad had absolutely no desire to create a memorable hunting experience for me.
Will You Take Us Hunting?
Photo by Kaboompics // Karolina from Pexels https://www.pexels.com/photo/forest-road-6263/
It wasn’t much time later that my son started on me about the hunting thing. I decided to take him. I wasn’t going to make it a productive hunt. But I was determined to have some fun with my kids. I decided to take 4 of my 5 young-uns along for the experience.
We started out down a dirt road. Eventually the road took us down a pretty steep road with very loose rock. Then the dirt road became a trail. A trail that my truck no longer fit on. To make matters worse, two years earlier I had managed to impulsively purchase the only damn truck in all of southern Utah that wasn’t 4-wheel drive. We were stuck. The road became treacherous and very scary to navigate.
We had gone beyond the point of no return, because my truck couldn’t make it back up that loose rock without 4-wheel drive. Also, there was no way to turn around, because the ravine hugging the edge of the trail made it impossible to navigate a turn around. It was bad! On 3 or 4 separate occasions, I had all of the kids get out of the truck and wait with my cell phone just in case I didn’t make it through the next vehicular obstacle.
“Jaxon, take daddy’s phone. If my truck rolls off this cliff, hike to the top of that mountain over there and call 9-1-1, ok?”
As you could probably guess, cell phone signal was not well in the bottom of this ravine. This is just one of the many occasions that I really could have benefitted from a cell phone signal booster.
WeBoost Connect 4G vs SureCall Fusion4Home
My “hunting” experience aside, there are tons of reasons why you might want to have reliable cell phone coverage on the mountain in your cabin. So I decided to test out the SureCall Fusion4Home and see how it stacked up to the comparable WeBoost Connect 4G product. The “WeBoost Connect 4G vs SureCall Fusion4Home” title bout if you will.
First off, I expected there to be no signal at all… Even with the cell phone signal boosters. I was surprised that I was able to go from NO usable signal to some useable signal with both of the competing cell phone signal boosters.
Secondly, I never expected the SureCall cell phone signal booster to perform as good as it did. I expected them to be very close to the same. I expected the difference to be negligible at best. They both have similar specs, and I really didn’t expect to see as big a difference in the two boosters like I did. The SureCall booster was able to consistently provide about 10-20 dB better signal strength than the WeBoost product.
The Results
I had a friend video record the results of our tests of the WeBoost Connect 4G vs SureCall Fusion4Home. I will let the video mostly speak for itself, but I will tell you that the SureCall signal booster FAR outperformed the WeBoost signal booster in my field test.
The SureCall signal booster consistently provided a stronger signal throughout the cabin. I was able to get cell phone calls to work with both products. I was only able to check my email and send data attachments with the SureCall signal booster attached.
Also, I noticed that the WeBoost signal booster got really warm after a while. It was noticeably hot to the touch. Hot enough that I wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving it connected while the cabin was unattended. Surprising. I don’t know why it would need to dissipate so much heat.
Conclusions
So, looking at the results of my comparison of the WeBoost Connect 4G vs SureCall Fusion4Home, if you are looking for a reliable cell phone signal booster for a home or a cabin that will work in situations where there is little to no usable signal, I would definitely recommend the SureCall Fusion4Home. In my comparison of the WeBoost Connect 4G vs SureCall Fusion4Home, I found that the SureCall Fusion4Home easily outperformed the WeBoost Connect 4G signal booster. Which was a bit surprising. They both have such similar specs. And with the WeBoost product having quite a heftier price tag, I honestly expected it to perform better than it did.
If you are looking for the vehicle cell phone signal booster that I tested in this video, you can find it here in my store.
As always, if you have any questions or need help in figuring out which cell phone signal booster is right for your situation, please feel free to drop me an email to [email protected]. I love this stuff and I’m always happy to help out!
Omni Panel Kit
