How Cell Signal Boosters Improve Fleet Communications

Between Rally, Rallycross, and the show program, the Vermont SportsCar/Subaru Motorsports USA fleet operates eight heavy-duty trucks that require a CDL. These are active during a race season. Around a half dozen smaller pickup trucks and company cars aid in the racing effort or transport personnel.  

Seth Alarie is a Motorsport technician and truck driver for Vermont SportsCar/Subaru Motorsports USA.

Work Truck caught up with Alarie to find out more about his fleet and how his use of weBoost by Wilson Electronics has helped improve the fleet’s communication.

WT: How do you utilize your fleet?

ALARIE: The larger service rigs (Nascar style truck and trailer combinations for Rallycross and straight trucks with stackers for Rally) are the core of our racing effort.  Especially on the rally side of things, you find yourself out in the middle of nowhere in rural towns, out on logging roads, or up in mountain towns, that time forgot. 

Stage rally takes place in locations that are often miles from civilization. Dirt roads, water crossings, and big jumps are hard to come by in downtown Manhattan. It is just the nature of the sport.

WT: What challenge were you facing that caused you to turn to Wilson Electronics? 

ALARIE: As you can imagine, finding reliable cell service has always been a struggle with this type of rural setting. A bunch of us bounced around between different carriers, but there was no magic cure-all. Different carriers worked at various events, but none covered the whole circuit, and some events were still a total blackout. 

I was very optimistic when I started hearing about weBoost and what it could do for our company. 

At events, communication is critical. Cell phones are how we communicate with the racecars when they are out of range of our team radio. This has been problematic in the past and led to a few awkward instances.

At one event, a driver and codriver were found sitting with a disabled racecar on a back road somewhere in Missouri, throwing rocks at an empty water bottle to pass the time while waiting to be discovered. They were unable to relay their location back to the service area due to poor cell phone service.

(Events do have emergency beacons for accidents and situations that require immediate response, just not if you need a ride home)  

WT: Can you share any successes, savings, or improvements since implementing their product? 

ALARIE: First trip out with weBoost installed in the cab of the truck was a night and day difference.

The first thing I noticed was that I had a usable signal on stretches of highway that I knew were dead zones in the past on the drive out.  This makes it much easier to stay in contact with everybody while you are over the road.

Once we arrived at the event, which happened to be in southern Ohio, also somewhere I know from past experiences has terrible coverage, the difference was clear. Places that I just had just enough service to entertain the thought of sending a text, I could now make clear phone calls. 

We have weBoost installed in the cab of the trucks, in the box (workshop area), and in the competition cars themselves. There has been an incredible difference in the reliability of our coverage no matter what carrier you use.

We can now communicate with the race crew, each other, and our loved ones back home. I can’t even begin to quantify what a relief it is when you are on the road as much as we are.