gerrshel's Posts

John, this was the original post ...https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/735676 Towards the end JerryF links to a new post(his) which tells about the smart phone app.. I did not find any local towers for my area looking at the "cellreception"  site Side question: Copy/paste does not work for me to add a link to a post, I seem to have to use the "insert link" function.... is that your experience also? Also, I was going to add some input to an "antenna" thread we had both posted to earlier, but I cannot find it since the new forum went into action...

The Cradlepoint MBR95 has been up and running now for about 3 days.  Working well, no big problems getting all my devices(wireless and cat cabled) connected. Took a bit of "fiddling around" at first, mostly just figuring out the user interface, security mode, etc.  Still don't have a real clear understanding about channel selection, seems everthing works well enough with it set on "auto" in channel management. There is a 122 page PDF manual where I'm guessing the answer is.... I don't think it has quite as powerful wireless broadcast range as the Cisco/Linksys WRT54G, which has 2 external antennas on it.     Set up the omni antenna yesterday with 20' of cable on an outside wall towards where I think my signal comes from. The  MiFi 4510 reports a fairly steady -70Db signal, SINR changes from 11to maybe 14. Before the antenna would range a lot, lower/mid -70s to -100+.  Seems a bit quicker as far as web page loading, more consistant.  Couple of Speedtest.net tries had anywhere from 2.7mbps DL on wireless laptop connection to 6.7mbps DL on a cat cabled desktop. Uploads are always faster yet 6.2 to 9.2 mbps.  guessing that is as good as it will get.(Seems there are a hundred reasons why the speedtest would only be so accurate, lots of variables.)  Way better speeds than what I had, although costs a bit more in terms of data volume. Also, if I connect wirelessly to the MiFi directly, the speed test shows better results.  So there does appear to be some loss with the WiFi to router connection. Hard to see the difference as far as average web page loading...  Might be better to have a USB modem connected directly.  I am going to keep the 4510,tho. There is a post by JerryF here about a smartphone app to determine which cell tower you are connecting to, sorry I don't have the link handy to post here.  I don't use a smartphone, but looked handy for those with fringe reception issues thinking about antenna placement. Also, $20 mailin rebate on MBR95 thru Jan.  3gstore was a real pleasure to deal with, I would certainly would steer folks their direction.

that does look pretty cool... dang, might have to move up into the world of the smartphone! What kind of phone did you use with your original post? and did it all work for you? thanks, Gerry

tried the #878# routine after I had seen your post onthe EVDO forums last week. dialed it on my cheapie VZW phone (LG - VX5500)....didn't work, just got a "call cannot be completed..." message, followed by " announcement 4, switch 222 dash 1" ... guessing maybe the phone needs to be 4G or??  Davidoo's post would seem to make sense. It would be nice to know... guessing there are 2 towers in line of site for me not counting trees The subject is of interest as I am going to try an outside antenna with a MiFi 4510L ...http://3gstore.com/product/3047_3g4g-full-band-outdoor-omni-antenna.html when it arrives next week. VZW 4G has just arrived here in the last couple weeks but seems to be up and running fairly well after a few false starts.

Ordered the MBR95 router with an antenna and adapter cable.... http://3gstore.com/product/3047_3g4g-full-band-outdoor-omni-antenna.html  ...  ran thru the suggested antenna site survey found at the 3gstore. My improvement with the antenna may not be a bunch as it seems the signal has gotten better with the arrival of the LTE service, but I'll be able to place the 4510 in a location that should work out pretty well with the router.   The balancing routers look like more than I need.   Thinking I'll keep the 4510, it has been working well for quite a few days now... WildBlue only seems slower now than ever.  They just announced a new satellite going in service ... supposed to offer 12 Mbps service to east/west coasts, 5 Mbps for everyone else. Takes all new gear(dish/modem) and will cost more for less data volume. Plus install fee and new 2 year commitment. Go figure... I'll post back how this all works out, thanks for all the advice.

So I replied to Matt by email at 3Gstore and asked for a return phone call to ask further questions and he called me back ... what a pleasant surprise!  He told me about the Cradlepoint MBR95:  http://3gstore.com/product/3029_cradlepoint_mbr95.html?gclid=CI39oJvotK0CFQSFhwodmzMikw  about $100 + shipping I had been looking at the MBR1400, more like $300+ It doesn't show up on the page referenced above:http://3gstore.com/waw and he wasn't sure why, said they would get that fixed.  His take was get rid of my Lynksys and use the MBR95, rather than add the Pepwave to an old router, will cost about the same.... for both the reasons mentioned above.... he did not think I would notice any latency/speed differences that were noticeable. The broadcast range is less with with the MBR95, but seems like it will do the job for me.  Figure i'll sleep on it for a day or two ... looks like "WiFi as WAN"  is what I'm looking for in a router, don't know if there are other choices.  Side note: Matt at 3Gstore thought there was a version of the Novatel 4510(probably a slightly different model #) from/for Sprint that would tether by cable.  He seemed to think that firmware was the only reason why VZW 4510 cannot connect by USB.  Maybe somebody at VZW is paying attention.... thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it.

Couple more thoughts/questions... Would I possibly be better off with a USB modem that WOULD tether directly to a current router?... (Haven't studied the current offerings for the USB modem choices)... I don't anticipate much traveling with the MiFi, and when we do, 1 computer is all we carry.  Thinking I could still bail on my VZW commitment until the 15th, or possibly I could trade equipment. If I use the Pepwave, it looks like Windows file sharing does not work with it as a router?  We do plenty of file sharing/ moving, etc. with the existing Lynksys router, it's been pretty well behaved for maybe 5 years now.  So, to basically replace the WildBlue but continue our network as we are used to(file sharing a must),  we would have this arrangement... MiFi4510>>>>wirelessly connected to >>> Pepwave Surf MIni >>>> ethernet cable connected to>>>>> existing network: Lynksys WRT54G (or newer/later model router)  sound correct? Or a better way to do this?  Does concern me to sacrifice any noticeable speed with the additional wireless connection Do the older Samsung MiFi units(2200?) tether by USB cable? are they not as good for some reason?   thanks

My answer arrived from 3gstore, here it is(in bold), as you guys already knew...: "Hello, No, the MiFi 4510L doesn't support direct tethering at this time in any of the routers. What you'd need to do is get one of our WiFi as WAN routers here - http://3gstore.com/waw You'd connect the MiFi via WiFi to the router that would then create a larger WiFi network and give you access to Ethernet out to connect all your hardware. - Matt" John, is the pepwave you have the "Pepwave Surf Mini"?  http://3gstore.com/product/1813_pepwave-surf-mini-200.html and if it is, do you have it connected to a router by ethernet cable? Or am I missing the best way to consolidate 2 networks into 1?  And the also, from above post: "One consideration for me:  I would want to be sure I had 802.11 "g" available as that is what I have on 2 laptops and a printer...." Guess I need to do some more learning here.... thanks for the help.  Gerry

Thanks, I suspect that you are correct, unfortunately.  I am also hoping somebody will prove you wrong . I just posed the question to sales @ 3gstore.com, guessing I won't get an answer for a day or two.  I'll post their answer here. Meanwhile, the VZW 4G service seems to work fairly well for us, not nearly as fast as advertised but much better than WB by far, maybe 2 -4 Mbps reported by speakeasy.net.  Unfortunately, we don't have any other decent choices for internet service where we are located. When I said "WildBlue router" in OP, I meant modem... guessing you knew that. Thanks               

Just an update ... 4G LTE did indeed become available ... a few days after my last post. I am not sure exactly when since I had restricted MiFi4510 to "CDMA/EVDO only"... finally occurred to me to change it ... So now I've had it set to CDMA/LTE and the diagnostic section does not even show any signal except for LTE - about-80 Db+/- ... has been pretty much consistant and it has worked fairly well, there have been a few freeze-ups but not for about a week now, usually would amount to a restart on the MiFi. Don't know about the claim of 10x faster, but beats the satellite speeds bigtime.... Not sure that I will need an antenna at this point. Guessing I will ditch the WildBlue by the end of Jan. I would like to figure out how to replace the satellite feed into my existing home wireless network with the VZW signal. As it stands now I am jumping back and forth between 2 wifi(1 the MiFi, 1 my existing wireless network with the WB modem feeding it) signals in order to use wireless printers and network to a desktop the does not have a wireless adapter ... Happy New Year

Seems we are on our own when it comes to technical support.  A "tier 2" tech guy told me: "there is absolutely no reason to go into the user interface".  Kinda ended the conversation right there.    Guess I need to learn  how to use the quote feature, my prior post (#10) didn't read like I thought it would and does not appear I can go back and edit it.

John_Getzke wrote: Interesting.   You say you are in a 3G only area but your device is recieving a 4G signal.  When I review my MiFi the LTE signal displays as "Not Available".  Perhaps something has changed in your enviornment or Verizon is testing a new tower in the area.  You might want to try restricting your device to 3G only to eliminate the hand-off scenarios that so many are having problems with.   The next day(15th) there is an article in the local paper touting the fact that VZW will have 4G running in all of it's current markets in Northern Idaho/Spokane/Eastern Washinton by December 31st.  .I am in Sandpoint, Idaho. Assume that has something to do with showing a LTE value.   Meanwhile I have restricted my 4510 to "CDMA/EVDO only"... when it works it works reasonably well, when it stops, might as well go do something else.  Since you've educted me about signal data, I've learned that when it gets really slow, the Evdo sigal changes from -75 /-80 range to something more like -100 or higher.  Moving the unit around doesn't really help when this happens. A restart does sem to help....My wife is ready to give it back(or toss it out the window), I think it is much faster than WildBlue when it is working good, but certainly not very consistent... maybe an antenna would help, there is a good read on the above referenced website about deciding if an antenna will help. I  haven't had the time to research it more yet ,...  Also hoping 4G doesn't just mean more problems like so many others report.    

Thanks, John... appears that I have a pretty good signal already without external antenna. I don't see exactly "3G/CDMA" line.  Would the EVDO line be the only one that would mean anything to me, being that I am 3G service only? What do the other entries mean?   I copied/ pasted what I see in the diagnostics that looked like signal information ....   FWIW, I have until Jan. 15 to bail out on the contract, holiday promotion of some sort.  My knee jerk is that I'll keep it at this point,   although I do have a few other questions to ask regarding router abilities and firmware....  Thinking I should start a new thread for that? thanks again    Gerry     Signal - EVDO:  -80 dBm Signal - 1X:        -85 dBm Signal - LTE:     -80 dBm SINR - LTE:           4 dB Ec/Io :              -7.00 dB

Thanks, that one works.  So, the TS9 connector will plug directly into the MiFi4510?  Also,I am in a 3G only area, generally can get 2 bar signal, sometimes 3. I am not sure if I would benefit any with the addition of an external antenna.  What would I be looking for in the internal settings in terms of signal stregnth, etc.?   I am new to using the MiFi, I've only had it about 2 weeks.  I am hoping it will replace the WildBlue sattelite we've used for about 4+ years now (not any other good choices where I am located), but I haven't quit the WB service yet, want to be sure this will really work well.  When the VZW MiFi works, it is definitely quicker than the satelite service, but it's had plenty of slow/stalled episodes so far.  Don't want to give up on it yet, have been reading a fair amount in these forumns, I sure I have some more questions when I get time..... thanks