| MC Upgrade woes: U760 to 250U I was with the 20G plan on Verizon with an MC760, and all was well until I broke the data cap a couple of months ago, and was about to do so again this month. We use a lot of bandwidth, but none is commercial. I decided for $10 more, I'd go with the unlimited plan. Sprint's coverage map showed I was in 3G range OK.
I'm in a rural area. My setup is a Cradlepoint MBR1000, Cyfre amp, and external directional antenna. My PC runs Windows XP SP3. The modem connects via a short cable. I verified the MBR1000 supports the 250U. Sprint shows two towers in this area, one to the south in town with a lot of trees between us and the other to the north of me with more open country. Distance is about 4.4 miles to the north tower, and 3.7 miles to the south tower. The south tower is likely far more congested due to it serving the entire town. I did turn my antenna that way and never got better signal numbers.
To save some $, I bought a used Sierra 250U from a decent vendor, still in the box with CD. I went through the MC website and $125 later I was active for both the MC760 and 250U.
The first hurdle was figuring out which antenna port was 3G. Then I could not get the 250U to connect, then figured out I never loaded the Cradlepoint Wimax drivers. Downloaded & installed them (disabled 4G after reading about intermittent disconnects), and the modem connected.
I then used the Sprint SmartView software to connect to the modem. I didn't take notes during all of this, as I figured it would not be an all-day thing. Oops.
Long story shorter, I was able to get the 250U activated and get online at one point on the PC, but not via the Cradlepoint. The speeds were terrible with it, like .22 down and .04 up with a ping around 180 ms.
My MC760 (which I'm using now) does around 1.4 down and .4 up with a ping around 150 ms. The Cradlepoint modem diagnostics says I have 94% signal strength and -78 dbm.
Here is an MC760 Speedtest I just ran:
Here is what the 250U is doing on the Cradlepoint modem diag screen:
Service Display: 1xEV-DO,1X
Signal Strength (%): 72
Signal Strength (dBm): -87
Ec/Io (dBm): -4
Connection status is connected, but I cannot view webpages when it is in the Cradlepoint. I find now I can't connect on the PC either.
Using Sprint's SmartView SW, it shows on the main screen EVDO Rev A with 3 to 4 of 5 bars, or "good" signal. This is with the amp connected. Trying the Sprint test connection speed from the SmartView window, it opens an IE 8 window (I normally use Firefox 19) and I get a blank window. I can't get to my home page, a regular search engine, or just google.com. I find now that the "3G Connection" under network connections is locked up and won't disconnect, so I'll have to restart Windows.
I contacted MC tech, and was told to call. I did, and another tech ticket was issued. The thought was the 250U had not changed MDN # etc. When I check it now, it is the same as what shows on my MC account. The ESN has been verified correct as well. I'm waiting for a follow up reply from them.
After all of this happiness, I can just plug the MC760 back in, and it works great.
I've read though some recent threads that were somewhat similar, but thought I'd post here in case I'm missing something obvious.
The solution at this point is to try and budget usage and stay under 20GB.
--
Current setup: Parabolic grid, Cyfre CA-819, MC760 in Cradlepoint MBR1000.
Sprint MBB shafted me after 2+ years, went to VM "unlimited" for $20 less/month until it was "limited", now going to MC. |
|
 Jim_in_VA
join:2004-07-11
Cobbs Creek, VA
kudos:4 | so you are now on the unlimited plan with Milleincom using Sprint?
--
... need help? »evdo-tips.com/ |
|
| Kinda-sorta. I paid the money, but it won't connect, so I'm still using the MC760 to go online.
If I don't get a resolution on this tomorrow, I'm going to cancel the unlimited plan. |
|
|
|
Jim_in_VA
join:2004-07-11
Cobbs Creek, VA
kudos:4 | I am not a fan of the 250U, too many problems with that modem. If you want to stay on the Sprint plan get a 598U off eBay
--
... need help? »evdo-tips.com/ |
|
| I think I still have one of those (I never throw stuff away), thanks for the tip.
EDIT
I think I sold the 598U. I still have a Compass 597. Is it any good? |
|
3 edits | Plugged in the 597 with SmartView and it gets -91 with the amp. The 250U does the same thing.
The MC760 w/o the amp is getting -93.
EDIT
250U in PC w/ amp just now:
MC760 in Cradlepoint w/o amp:
MC760 in Cradlepoint w/ amp:
 |
|
| reply to Now_with_MC
I am replacing the MBR1000 with a newer MBR95. It will allow data usage monitoring, so I can avoid the 20GB issue.
I've contacted MC and asked to cancel the unlimited plan. |
|
