I have a problem in the basement with very poor cell phone coverage. In the utility room where I am most often working I show 1 bar of coverage, but every time I try to take a call it drops. So when the phone rings I go running up the stairs to take the call.
To solve this problem I got a cell phone extender. This is a device that you put in your house that has an antenna attached directly to it and another antenna connected via a wire that gets mounted someplace with better reception. In my case I mounted the base unit down in the basement on the utility room wall and the other antenna in the very peek of the house. When I mount my TV antenna to the roof I will move this antenna outside.
The way this type of device works is rather than your cell phone needing to communicating with the cell tower which can be several miles away, it only has to link up to the base unit of the extender which is in your house. The base unit then relays your conversation to the cell tower via the remote antenna. It is almost like having your own mini-cell tower in your house.
The unit I chose is the Wi-Ex zBoost SOHO YX545 from Solid Signal. It is supposed to cover a 3,000 square foot house, but my real need is in the basement. So far it is working real well and my phone battery last longer also. Below is a short video of it.