dmc271's Posts

No offense, but did you not tell the OP "solutions are YEARS away"? Wouldn't you be at least little disturbed if you were getting hr2's slow speeds, and someone just told you "Mobile data is SHARED"?  All I'm saying is, how about a little sympathy for the OP?  And a little encouragement that AWS is going to help in the near-term.  Just trying to have a positive outlook, that's all.

AWS is not 3-7 years away. It has already been launched in many major cities, and even some smaller cities. Lots of useful info on this in HowardForums. If I were seeing h2r's speeds, I too would be upset. It's not viable to just wait 3-7 years for a fix.

Solutions are not that far out: Carriers can always add more towers/sites and/or microcells.  Carrier hesitate to do this due to cost. Supplementing with the AWS spectrum (Band 4) is what VZW is currently deploying in major cities. Hopefully VZW will deploy it in Boise soon.  This should relieve some of the load off of 700 MHz Band 13, and thus you should see improved speeds even if you don't have an AWS-capable phone.  VZW has been silent on its AWS deployment schedule, however.

I know this question is old, but in case others are wondering, do a Ctrl+D or Shift+Ctrl+D in Verizon Mobile Broadband Manager or in the web UI for the UML295.  It will show a new page that allows selecting LTE only.

B33: No need for apologies--I sincerely appreciate your replies. There is actually a tower in Perkins, I believe fed via microwave backhaul. Speeds are great during the vast majority of the day; it's just during these peak hours that it can't seem to keep up with traffic (yes, tested with multiple servers). It's quite disappointing that a relatively new technology is already overloaded. Seems like poor planning.

B33: I appreciate your reply. However, I think you're missing my point. Yes, the speeds do go back to normal after 1am. But, how does that help me when I work online from 7pm until midnight? The VZW network is only supposed to be reliable from 1am onward? Stillwater is a college town, but I live on the outskirts of town and connect to a more rural tower (in Perkins, OK). Plus, it's summer anyway, so the student population is less than 10% of what it normally is during the school year. Like I said, this happens on multiple devices. Customer service just closes my tickets, repeatedly.

Great graphs! (Well, it's not great to see such declining stats, but your documentation is enlightening.) Sadly, I think VZW is suffering from the same overloaded network that stained AT&T when AT&T first gained the iPhone. A simple online search will reveal many, many users from across the country complaining of abysmal 4G LTE speeds.  There are multiple threads across multiple forums regarding this issue (see, e.g., the " Verizon 4G LTE Speed Test Results" on HowardForums). I too have noticed declining speeds over the last two years. Of course, we expected the speeds to drop as more users transitioned to 4G. However, I don't think anyone expected the speeds to drop to 3G-type speeds. BTW, as I'm sure you know, don't hold your breath on that call back from tech support.  They will most likely just close your ticket and never bother to call you back.

Marquia_VZW: While your desire to help is certainly appreciated, I must say that this type of scripted solution only serves to discourage current and future customers.  Mclean1 is a regular on this forum and has clearly been receiving 4G service for many years at the same location.  Now, all of a sudden, he is supposed to switch to 3G?  Wouldn't it be more helpful to open a ticket so that someone can investigate what is clearly a tower issue? Are you also saying that Verizon customers can expect slower than 5 Mbps during heavy traffic times?  How low should we expect this to go?  3 Mbps?  1 Mbps?  56 Kbps? Again, I appreciate your willingness to help.  Your answers to the above questions would further help clarify things.  Thanks.

If you're using Windows 7, then I recommend not even using Verizon Access Manager and instead using the new "Windows 7 Mobile Broadband" feature. First, you'll need to install the latest version of Verizon Access Manager and the latest firmware update for the UML290 (.248). Then, after these are installed, reboot your computer.  After that, you won't ever have to launch Verizon Access Manager to connect to the Verizon data network. Instead, the Verizon data network will appear in your list of "Available Networks" in Windows, just like it would if it were a regular WiFi network. To connect, just select the Verizon data network and click "Connect."  (You can even have Windows connect automatically, if desired.) I've found this feature to be much less buggy than Verizon Access Manager.  The main requirement, however, is Windows 7.

mcpopp: I can sympathize with your frustration. Even if you were in a full 4G coverage zone, tech support will generally blame your signal.  After I called a number of times to report 4G outages, the VZW coverage map was updated such that I'm now in an Extended 4G zone.  Yes, a tiny square right over my 10 acre property is now Extended 4G, while all surrounding zones are still full 4G.  It's quite ridiculous.  VZW does not guarantee anything signal-related. It's easiest for them to just change their coverage maps. Here's what might help your situation: Download an app called LTE On/Off. Then, using that app, switch your Preferred Network Type to "LTE mode."  This will force the phone to ignore the 3G signal and instead look for 4G. If it can't find 4G, then it will (unfortunately) switch to 1X. But, many users have to do this to force the phone to attempt a 4G connection under weaker signal conditions.  If, after you switch it into LTE only mode, you still see a 3G icon, then relaunch the LTE On/Off app, and make sure the setting actually took. (Sometimes, you have to choose "LTE mode" twice.)  If it still doesn't work, reboot the phone and try again. Now, if you find that you still can't get a 4G signal in LTE mode (meaning it reverts to 1X), take your phone outside (highest elevation possible), and try again. Perhaps near a window on the second floor (if one exists) will help. If that still doesn't work, you might try the setup shown here: http://www.jealousbrother.com/blog/detailed-wilson-electronics-4g-lte-801865-amplifier-compatible-antennae-304411-301111/ Best of luck, and let us know how things turn out.

Also, I noticed that you have an external adapter cable for the UML290. Have you tried plugging the outside antenna directly into the UML290 (with no amp of course)? I'm curious about the speeds because the UML290 is supposed to support MIMO, and with an external antenna plugged in, there has been speculation that the UML290 can use the external antenna + its existing internal antenna as a MIMO setup.

Thanks for reporting on your results, and congrats on getting connected! You might try locking your modem into LTE-only mode using VZAM. This should allow it to attempt a 4G connection with a lower signal strength. After locking the modem into LTE-only mode, are you able to connect without the amp, and if so, would you mind reporting back with the speeds? (Also, I wonder if 35' of RG58 is causing substantial signal loss?) Thanks again for following-up. I'm eyeing the same setup to improve the connection on my Thunderbolt. (I also have a UML290 with the 301135 antenna alone that really helps.) Cheers,

WiFiGuy: I haven't noticed a 4G outage in Stillwater recently. Is it working for you now, and what device? BTW, I've been told the same "towers are being upgraded" storyline just about every time I report an outage to the local VZW store.

I think I've seen this reported by another user as well (don't recall the forum).   I just ran a simultaneous test using my TB and UML290 hitting different servers at speedtest.net. The two devices were in different parts of the house (~100 ft apart). DL speed results are as follows:   With just one device at a time: 20 Mbps With both devices at the same time: 14 Mbps Totally unscientific test, and 100 ft is still close, but it's disconcerting nonetheless to think that speeds can be affected so easily.

Regarding the security settings, see http://support.verizonwireless.com/clc/devices/knowledge_base.html?id=39945   Also, since you have other computers that can access the internet successfully, maybe you can try verifying that the gateway settings match between your good computers and your HP laptop.   Specifically, on your good computer, go to a command line and type: ipconfig /all   You should see a bunch of info. Look for the info listed for the adapter that's used to connect to the Samsung.   Next, run the same command on the HP laptop and look for the info listed for your wireless adapter.   Do the Default Gateway, DHCP Server, and DNS Servers numbers match?

I've found Vista networking to be very buggy. Here are various things that have seemed to help me in the past...   Use Device Manager to disable all but one network adapter on the computer (all but the wireless adapter that you're using). On the computer, go to Control Panel, Internet Options, Connections tab, click the Lan Settings button.  Then, uncheck the "Automatically Detect Settings" checkbox. Disable IPv6 on the wireless adapter. Use different DNS servers (OpenDNS or Google). Can you still ping sites from the laptop even though you can't connect to web pages?   Also, have you tried disabling security settings on the hotspot?