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mc1lean
join:2007-11-18
Lincolnton, NC

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mc1lean

Member

Verizon has politely told me to go F myself

I posted about a NC/SC/TN outage last week. Well I'm still down. I've opened 3 or 4 tickets at least 6 calls. 2 techs ago closed my ticket and told me I was "in a troubled area" and that they "could waive my ETF". Techs after that at least tried to help, although at a price. Next to last told me that he agreed that something that works for 1.5 years should still work, might be my device. He was happy to send me one for $80 and a 2 year contract. After I asked how happy he'd be with that answer, he sent me a new SIM card. Called last night to have that activated (which didn't work) and the tech said 'gee, other people in your zip are having problems'. She would've opened a ticket but her system was crashing (guess she was using LTE).
Called today and 'ticket was opened', still open....
This would be funny if I wasn't the butt of the joke.
But, oh boy, I got an $18 credit. I'm sure AT&T appreciates it (since I'll be applying it to their $10/GB).
25139889 (banned)
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH

25139889 (banned)

Member

why do you need a SIM to use VZW? They're system is CDMA.

And yes you could lose service, Sprint (as an example) has recently pulled native coverage in several of their markets and moved it to roaming.
Jim_in_VA (banned)
join:2004-07-11
Cobbs Creek, VA

Jim_in_VA (banned)

Member

If he is using a Jetpack/HotSpot that device uses a SIM as well as the UM290 USB modem. This is with Verizon LTE
ke4pym
Premium Member
join:2004-07-24
Charlotte, NC

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said by 25139889:

why do you need a SIM to use VZW? They're system is CDMA.

And yes you could lose service, Sprint (as an example) has recently pulled native coverage in several of their markets and moved it to roaming.

All LTE devices require a SIM card.

mc1lean-> Make VZW send you a 3G microcell/repeater thingy.

mc1lean
join:2007-11-18
Lincolnton, NC

mc1lean

Member

I have a UML290 USB stick.

Whats a 3G microcell/repeater thingy? Will it help with LTE? I have my modem set to 4G only, if I can't get LTE, I might as well dump VZW and stick with AT&T HSPA+ and wait to see which can get LTE to work. I can see an AT&T tower from my house.
dmc271
join:2008-09-02
Stillwater, OK

dmc271 to mc1lean

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Sorry to hear that! Brings back some bad memories of my previous fights with VZW tech support.

Have you tried driving to the tower and testing the connection? When I totally lost my signal this past winter, I noticed that reception was poor all throughout town (7-8 miles from my house). It took a while, but they finally fixed the problematic tower. I think I called tech support at least 10 times over the 5 days it was down.

Another episode: Last fall, when my speeds were so poor only during the night, numerous calls to tech support got me nowhere. As a last resort, I left a very, very negative review and comments at the following VZW feedback site:

»survey.verizonwireless.c ··· wsurvey/

Surprisingly, a manager from the local corporate store called me the next day. He said he would send a tech to look at the problem. A day or two later, the problem was fixed. The 611 tech support gave me the runaround, but the local manager was able to push the right buttons. Give it a try--it may work for you too.

mc1lean
join:2007-11-18
Lincolnton, NC

mc1lean

Member

Thanks Dmc271, good idea. I'm sitting next to my 3rd tower as I type. The ones I thought were better than mine (closer to Charlotte) stunk, I could barely get 3g speeds with -57 RSSI and around 10 SINR.

My Tower (Lincolnton) is showing -53 RSSI and 15.8 SINR with this speedtest:



When I called support near one of the other towers, he did "see something strange on the network which he reset" before I could connect.

Now I have to see how I look at home. I was considering going to the omnidirectional antenna with the amp 3gstore is now hawking.
mc1lean

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Thank dmc271, good idea. I'm sitting at my 3rd tower today as I type. The two that I thought were better (closer to Charlotte) stunk - barely got 3G speeds. At mine (Lincolnton), I'm getting -53 RSSI and 15.8 SINR.


dmc271
join:2008-09-02
Stillwater, OK

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Crazy--the upload speed should be much higher with that RSSI/SINR!

The question is: Is it the tower or your modem?

Are you using your UML290 with only the internal antenna? On one of my UML290s, the internal antenna barely works, and I see slow speeds regardless of the ambient signal. It's OK once I hook up the external antenna. Perhaps you can find a 4G phone to test with? Or, bring your panel antenna with you?

mc1lean
join:2007-11-18
Lincolnton, NC

mc1lean

Member

Sorry for the double post, for some reason I couldn't see them.
I was using my UML290 naked (internal). Here's the real kicker, I drove to a tower that south of me about the same distance. Its sitting in the middle of big pig farm. I was getting -49 RSSI and 30 SINR - 35down and 20 up!. Unfortunately, the damn thing is in a geographical hole, just a mile or 2 north I was lucky to get 2 bars (I was driving, didn't catch the actual numbers).

Anyway, from home now (back on my yagi), I'm up and getting 11 up and about 5 down again. Not sure if the SIM card change or the "something funny" the tech fixed today did the trick. I suspect the latter.
mc1lean

mc1lean

Member

Just had Carolyn from tech support call (she was the most helpful of the bunch) and she said they had found some tower problems (how bout that?).

That was great but I have to wonder why she wasn't aware of my earlier calls today and that I'm working again.

Hope they don't 'fix' the towers like the did last week. >

chip89
Premium Member
join:2012-07-05
Columbia Station, OH

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Hope sprint did't pull coverage in northeast ohio or northwest ohio.
dmc271
join:2008-09-02
Stillwater, OK

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Glad to hear it's working again! Now, go make one of my DIY Yagis and use the second port on your UML290 for a MIMO config.

mc1lean
join:2007-11-18
Lincolnton, NC

mc1lean

Member

Looks like being a PITA worked for a while.


verizonlteda
@myvzw.com

verizonlteda to 25139889

Anon

to 25139889
Because LTE is a gsm tech, verizon isn't just cdma anymore and in couple years be all gsm tech.

mc1lean
join:2007-11-18
Lincolnton, NC

mc1lean

Member

Looking pretty good today. I'd say they did a good job on the tower.


firepong
join:2006-08-08
Bay, AR

firepong

Member

said by mc1lean:

Looking pretty good today. I'd say they did a good job on the tower.

[att=1]

If you notice, your actually connected to a whole different tower. Your ISP's are different on this one from your last speedtest

mc1lean
join:2007-11-18
Lincolnton, NC

mc1lean

Member

I don't think that's me hitting a different tower. I have a Yagi and I can only get signal pointing in a very specific direction (and then only when VZW hasn't trashed my tower). On any given day, speedtest shows me as coming in from Shelby, NC, Chester SC, and sometimes Highland NC. Since my house hasn't moved since the VA earthquake ( ), I have to assume that speedtest is picking up some sort of switching going on within the VZW network.

pflog
Bueller? Bueller?
MVM
join:2001-09-01
El Dorado Hills, CA

pflog

MVM

said by mc1lean:

I don't think that's me hitting a different tower. I have a Yagi and I can only get signal pointing in a very specific direction (and then only when VZW hasn't trashed my tower). On any given day, speedtest shows me as coming in from Shelby, NC, Chester SC, and sometimes Highland NC. Since my house hasn't moved since the VA earthquake ( ), I have to assume that speedtest is picking up some sort of switching going on within the VZW network.

That's just the speedtest app picking the "closest" server. How it determines this is usually via ping tests. To compare apples and apples, you need to go into the settings and explicitly pick a server.

mc1lean
join:2007-11-18
Lincolnton, NC

mc1lean

Member

Understood. But you mentioned different towers.

I used to always pick the same server for that reason but lately I've started thinking a more accurate test is to let it go ahead and pick the server with the best ping (which tests latency). that way you always test with lowest available latency.

For a real test, you have to download something of significance and check the average transfer rate. These guys are the best for that:
»testmy.net/

pflog
Bueller? Bueller?
MVM
join:2001-09-01
El Dorado Hills, CA

pflog

MVM

latency is irrelevant unless it gets high enough that the TCP windowing algorithm cannot keep up and packet loss or high latency shrinks the sliding window.

On the other hand, I've seen plenty of times where servers are "faster" (i.e. lower latency), but give erratic and/or just slow results compared to others which may be 10-20 ms higher latency.

Sorry, I'm a stickler for proper scientific method of testing

Cheese
Premium Member
join:2003-10-26
Naples, FL

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My S3 uses a SIM

mc1lean
join:2007-11-18
Lincolnton, NC

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latency is everything to me because I live in VPN all day long.