Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening in Alltel Axcess http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r20211523 en Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:52:14 EDT Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:52:14 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20370972 anon : Another thing I noticed.

This may seam stupid, but.. I think it's overheating lol.

I keep it powered basically 24/7 and disconnected when I sleep, but when I touch it.. it almost burns.

I put a fan right next to it and also tried an icepack in a bag. Once it was cooled down to the point of being cold to the touch. It's as if I maintained 100KB/sec at all times.

I guess heat effects its performance as drastically as head effects graphic cards. Looks like I'll need a new spot for the modem that's a bit cooler.

This also explains why it suddenly started doing this as the weather just recently got much hotter.

I've been monitoring the diagsmsi info and I notice that once Tx and Rx Power increase my Max Index decreases. While doing a large download I noticed when this happens the speed drops. So I'm going to assume it's power AND heat related.

With this info I'm going to try and keep it cooled as well as keep it powered enough and see what happens.

BTW If I don't feed enough power to the modem it's as if the antenna isn't even plugged in. So that deff seams to be a factor if you have an antenna.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20370972 Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:42:59 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20370759 anon : I think I've solved some of my problem.

If anyone else has an antenna and has the same issue. This might be why.

I'm guessing this powerful antenna of mine is sucking a lot of power outa my lil modem. Well it runs by USB2.0 and there's only so much data and power that can travel through it all at once. My guess is the power drain from the antenna was negatively impacting my modem. So much so that when I did large downloads my signal would randomly go all over the place.

What I've done to solve this is take 2 USB extension cables (due to where the modem is at) and the USB combine cable that comes with the UM150. I then plugged both USB extensions into USB2.0 ports. I then plugged them into the combine cable that came with the UM150 and then plugged it into my modem.

After doing this I now get -72 HDR RSSI (max is -75 on the UI, but if you use diagsmsi you can get a better read out) no matter how much stress is on the connection. Small downloads. Large downloads. It doesn't matter. That seams to be giving it enough juice to stay stable.

I'm going to consider changing my voltage on my USB2.0s through bios to see if I can make sure it maintains enough juice.

Even if you don't have an antenna. I suggest you do this anyway. Seams to be some sort of power issue IMO. It's just not remaining at a stable enough power to support the heavy load.

I now can maintain 70KB/sec or higher, which is perfectly fine. I'm getting 82KB/sec atm and it's prime time. So that's a BIG plus.. compared to the 30-40KB/sec I was getting. I doubled my speeds by simply giving it the power it needed to meet the demand.

Well my problem is solved and I hope by doing so it helps some of you out.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20370759 Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:05:23 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20370457 Yoopers : Just to throw in my two cents . . . I've also had extremely slow browsing anytime after 8:00pm est. Seems to be back to normal the next morning and throughout the day. During the night, sites will not load at all or may load painfully slow. I believe this started in March sometime.

I'm in the southern part of the upper peninsula east of Escanaba (Cooks/Manistique for those familiar with the area.)

I'm also within 1/2 mile from my tower. Probably crush my roof if it ever fell!

I'll be calling tech support this week.
--
Alltel Wireless EVDO; KR1 Router & PC5750 card.
Former Direcway and Wildblue customer]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20370457 Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:07:46 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20370281 anon : Another issue I've been facing lately is on any large downloads the stupid thing enters dormancy mode and instantly screws up the download. 1.6GBs of a 1.8GB file and BAM enters dormancy and I'll have to start all over, because the file doesn't support pause and resume.

This is really rediculous. I'm glad it's unlimited, but when you can't even download how the hell is it of any use.

Anyone know a way to keep it from entering dormancy mode EVER? ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20370281 Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:37:45 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20369730 DarwinsCE : I live in the country, so have had dial up, Hughesnet and now this. My wife and I really like it but for a week it didn't work at night so that is why I started this subject. It has been better at night usually, last night it wasn't to good though, but most of the time it is great. You are right about the FAP policy, that is crap and hope they are smart enough to just keep their equipment and lines updated to keep up with demand. Here by us, they have sold lots of these services to people so it isn't my fault it is getting slower.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20369730 Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:55:26 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20368685 anon : bah no edit button:
The connection DOESN'T say it's in dormacy, but who knows.

Also I live in Republic, MO.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20368685 Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:40:05 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20368662 anon : I know this post is kind of old, but sometimes I get the same problem.

Lately the past 3 days it's doing the exact same thing. My normal 113KB/sec turned into 30-40KB/sec. Maximum signal strength. It can't even drop due to the antenna. It's permanent -75.

Anyway, what I've noticed is if I refresh a webpage about 10ish times my downloads restore and I go back at normal speed. The connection does say it's in dormacy, but who knows. It seams to auto-correct it self.

Also some websites such as CNN could be having a lot of traffic, which will cause those sites to give slower speeds. Thus being an issue with the website and not your connection. So keep that in mind as well when you download from a website or visit one. Some sites I download from give me half my speed, while others work just fine. So that is a big factor.

Hell as I'm speaking now I'm getting 160KB/sec, which is about 50ish KB/sec faster then normal.

They're also upgrading towers and will be switching to RevA soon from what I've heard. I know one of the guys at the alltel store that I bought this service from and apparently "Soon" actually does mean SOON for once. He also said it will cause outages and slow downs while they prepare for the upgrades, etc. So watch out for that as well.

It just seams like an off and on kind of deal. Sometimes it's slow. Sometimes it isn't. It's 12pm and I'm getting a good speed, but 5minutes from now I could get a slow speed. Just seams so random.

But lets be honest.. it beats hughesnet or dial-up any day! I just PRAY they do NOT introduce a FAP... I can't stand going through that again.. no way.. I'd start a local petition and boycott their service if they put in FAP.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20368662 Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:36:57 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20325505 pioneer56 : I'm in the middle/northern part of Michigan around Traverse City so I am not by you, but I've heard that others north and south are having similar problems also.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20325505 Sat, 12 Apr 2008 23:58:28 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20325192 DarwinsCE : Where are you from pioneer56? Alltel is checking this site to see who else is having problems. The local Alltel service tech was out by our house and knows we have a problem in the evening. I don't have an answer for you on the evdo and rtt though, someone else might know that. Alltel thinks they might know what the problem is so we will have to wait and see what the outcome is.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20325192 Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:37:54 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20324969 pioneer56 : Any updates? We have a the same problem. It seems from around 7-10 pm it runs like crap at times then it is fine and so on. I have an almost perfect signal as the tower is only a mile away and have consistant rssi in the -75dbm to -80dbm range. I am using the UM150 AL btw.
How can I tell when I am evdo and when it switches to rtt? When it is working good, it is blazing fast. but for 3+ hours a night it slows way down.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20324969 Sat, 12 Apr 2008 21:50:14 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20283515 DarwinsCE : It only downloaded at 48kbps last night at 9:30, sure hope they figure this out, sixty dollars a month for this?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20283515 Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:36:17 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20277420 DarwinsCE : Two nights ago the service tech from Altell was parked on the road in front of our house, he said there is a problem yet that they are trying to figure out. He said it shouldn't be that slow in the evening. At least it works now at night instead of only email working. During the day our downloads are between four and seven hundred k and in the evening it slows to less than 250.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20277420 Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:19:29 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20274997 anon : Yeah, mine has been working well for about a week now. They must've corrected the problem, but of course they don't like to admit to any problems... ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20274997 Thu, 03 Apr 2008 08:30:51 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20244123 DarwinsCE : The internet has been working now for the last three days, I was told they had 11 cell towers with problems.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20244123 Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:06:31 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20235936 DarwinsCE : TJinMI, I took my card to Alltel last night because they were going to give me a new one to try, but since I have a repair order number they couldn't until the OPS people check it out, whatever that means. But, last night it worked good all night, we'll see how it goes tonight. If it is congestion then they need to keep up with the demand, that is what we pay for.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20235936 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:50:10 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20234518 anon : I use a phone and tether(Moto V3m with usb cable). The strange thing about all this is that it just started happening like a week or so ago. Whenever I call in to Alltel, they just chalk it up to network congestion. Well, you can't tell me THAT many people JUST started using Alltel internet in the last week to make it so much slower. Something has changed... Keep posting and I'll keep calling to see if I can get anywhere.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20234518 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:33:22 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20229627 DarwinsCE : The guys at Alltel said to ask you guys how you connect to the internet such as with a phone and tether or with an aircard and what models to see if it might be my card. I use a Utstarcom 5750. Thanks]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20229627 Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:18:47 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20225533 DarwinsCE : They updated my 5750 card but it hasn't helped at all. I can on this site but most other ones don't load up. Sure hope that everyone that is having problems contacts Alltel so they know that it isn't just me.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20225533 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 21:19:24 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20223731 DarwinsCE : I'm going now to real close to a tower and they are going to try and update my 5750 card with a different PRL. I'll let you know how that goes.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20223731 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:00:04 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20221667 anon : I'm experiencing the same problem and I'm in lower Michigan(1/2 hour south of Lansing). Evening the internet is SLOW, but works fine during the day. I called Alltel this morning, but tech support said nothing could be done until it wasn't working properly. So, I'll call back this evening when it slows down. Seems strange this problem is so wide spread...]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20221667 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 09:48:36 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20221267 DarwinsCE : Trot, make sure you call them and ask for tech help with the internet, they have opened up a repair ticket and I'm supposed to hear from a local person within three days. They said they didn't have any other complaints which I can't believe. It works great until 6pm and then doesn't work good again until after 10pm. If we keep hitting the refresh button the page might load after while. The rest of the day it works great.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20221267 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:40:20 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20221162 anon : DarinsCE,

I live in the U.P. of Michigan and have been experiencing the same problem the past week. The problem apparently is wide-spread if it's from Wisconsin to Michigan.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20221162 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 06:36:10 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20211523 fiaranch :
said by DarwinsCE See Profile :

Last night it quit working at 6 pm and then started working fine at 10pm
Yup, after all the folks are through uploading and downloading You-Tube, watching the tv show they missed, doing video chat, etc., etc., and start heading to bed.

I thought of one possible 'out' that might improve the situation.

Go to antennasearch.com. Put in your address. After it processes, select view tower results. Look at the list and/or click on the towers around you. See what Alltel towers are nearest you. Then do the "drive test" to those towers that are near you. Would be wise to do a disconnect/reconnect at each one, to make sure the modem is locking to the nearest one. See if the result is the same for all of them. If they are all the same, it is a backbone network congestion problem.

That is good and bad. Good in the respect that you might get some action out of Alltel if you call them, since it is a multiple tower issue. Bad in the respect that, as I said earlier, it is another tick mark toward a fair access policy.

However, if you find a tower that does give you a good result, then you could take the steps (and cost) to set up a directional antenna (yagi), and possibly an amplifier (to improve your RSSI and boost your transmit signal to the tower if necessary), so that you are always connected to that 'good' tower.
--
High tech in the high mountains @8500 ft elevation|Linksys wired/wireless network across 80 acres|HN7000S|ProPlus Package|Static IP|AMC3 Transponder 1150|A place to go where you can Forget It All-www.fiaranch.com]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20211523 Sun, 23 Mar 2008 10:01:09 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20210968 DarwinsCE : Last night it quit working at 6 pm and then started working fine at 10pm, when it isn't working I can't even get CNN to open up the whole page. If they need to start restricting I won't like it but my wife has to have it for online college to it needs to work no matter what. I did drive close to one tower and it didn't get any better, I could try driving another twenty miles towards another tower and see if it changes.
Thanks for the replies guys.
--
Win XP, Alltel Utstarcom 5750]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20210968 Sun, 23 Mar 2008 04:01:13 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20208031 fiaranch : It is a rock and a hard place kinda' thing.

You can absolutely do as Max Signal suggests and try driving toward a different tower to see if it is a tower specific problem. But, if speeds are good during the day, and crappy at night, there is little doubt that you have just been introduced to standard over-subscription algorithms on an "unlimited" internet service.

The rock and the hard place is:
1)If speeds are good "most" of the time, Alltel probably isn't going to beef up the back-haul to the tower that serves you. The business case won't support it.
2) The more that folks start calling and complaining about speed drops, the more tick marks that Alltel adds to the tally sheet that tells them it is time to end the "unlimited" service and institute a bandwidth limitation policy. Yup, that good old "Fair Access Policy" that most every carrier except Alltel already has in place.

I feel rocks and hard places.....


--
High tech in the high mountains @8500 ft elevation|Linksys wired/wireless network across 80 acres|HN7000S|ProPlus Package|Static IP|AMC3 Transponder 1150|A place to go where you can Forget It All-www.fiaranch.com]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20208031 Sat, 22 Mar 2008 15:26:00 EDT Re: [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20207946 Max Signal : Definitely sounds like a tower/network issue . They may have to run additional T1 lines to the tower you are connecting to if everyone around you is using it. Try driving to an area where you are connecting to a different tower.Then you will be able to tell if it is a tower issue or network issue
--
www.MaximumSignal.Net]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20207946 Sat, 22 Mar 2008 15:07:36 EDT [General] Alltel slow in the evening http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20207747 DarwinsCE : I'm from Berlin, Wi and wondered if any of you experience a huge slow down in the evening. It gets so bad that in the last few days we can hardly get a page to load. I drove to within a mile of the tower and had the same problem. I then stopped at a neighbor that also uses Alltel and had the same problem. I've contacted Alltel and they are going to check it out. It works fine until the evening so I'm wondered if they have too many subscribers.
I'm just looking for ideas, we really like Alltel otherwise.

I use the Utstarcom 5750 card, Windows XP
--
Win XP, DW7000, 970]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20207747 Sat, 22 Mar 2008 14:22:37 EDT