Wireless / Mobile → Millenicom > Slow Speeds on 4620

Slow Speeds on 4620

Lately I've been having speed problems with my device, the kicker is that I have a VZW iPhone that doesn't have these speed problems while my 4620 is acting up.

What happens is that after rebooting it I get fast speeds for about a minute or two, then the speeds drop into the low double digit B/s range and don't increase until I reboot the device again.

I've tried resetting it via the button and logging into it. I've called Mcon and got a line about tower issues, but that doesn't make sense since my phone uses the same network and doesn't have this problem.

Does anyone have any idea about what I should look into now?

I've had the same issue. When I turn my computer on and first try to surf, it's fast for the first few minutes. Then it starts in with long waits. I hit the enter button, then sit and watch and wait. Eventually it will either move to the proper page or it will time out and require me to hit enter again. Sometimes if I reboot the 4620L it will speed up but it is usually only temporary. I've made the call to technical support, they made me run a speed test. Of COURSE it worked perfectly while on the call, 40ms latency, 15mb download, 12mb upload. The guy told me to call back another time when it is actually occurring. It's not always that convenient....

upgraded the firmware?

Mine is up to date:

MiFi4620_3.20.11_3.20.16_Real

When it happens again next time try going to these ip addresses and see if they load with no problem (you should bookmark some sites by IP address or store them for when it's not working):

google random ip »173.194.115.7
yahoo 404 page »98.138.253.109
microsoft home page »64.4.11.42

If they load but ones with names (google.com, yahoo.com, mit.edu etc) don't then it sounds like a DNS issue.

Are you using custom dns servers, or the ones that they assign via dhcp?

If you think you are using custom dns servers, have you tested to see if all your dns requests are being blindly proxied by verizon?

To test for a blind proxy, make sure you have your system configured to use opendns or googledns or whoevers dns you choose to use. Then goto this page:

»www.grc.com/dns/dns.htm

scroll all the way down and click "initiate standard spoofability check". Once the test is complete look at the DNS servers that replied. If they are not the company you set them to, but are instead verizon or cellco partnership then verizon is re-directing your dns to theirs no matter what you have set.

If its being re-directed you can run a dns proxy on your machine or router to bypass the blind proxy and see if the problem goes away.

One proxy many use is acrylic DNS proxy. The key is to use a dns server that is not sitting on the standard DNS port so you will go past their blind proxy. Opendns runs alternate port 5353.

You can also use opendns dnscrypt and tell it to use port 443 to bypass the blind proxy.

If you have a cradlepoint router you can bypass the blind proxy by logging into the admin page and selecting: Advanced, Webfilter, select "Minimal" radio button then checkmark the "Enable OpenDNS ISP filter bypass algorithm" save and after reboot (as of version 2.0 they might have moved it on later firmwares).

If you have Tomato by Shibby on your router you can also use opendns dnscrypt on port 443 by logging into the admin page and selecting: Basic, Network, and placing a tick in the "Use dnscrypt-proxy" under the LAN section.

If you can't get to any sites by IP address then dns is not the issue, and I wish you luck on finding the problem.

Got the same problem on 4620 !! MIXED ...and mixed is the word, for speed/performance !
It's been like that for a couple weeks now !
Everything is "default" on the unit ... Looks like we need a wake-up call to VZ !!

There must be some commonality between the three of you. I wonder if the problem might be on the wifi side? If you have multiple wifi devices at your disposal, see if the prob persists among all of them. Or see if the prob might be related to using multiple wifi devices simultaneously.

Speeds on mine have stunk since I got it. 1 week at first when all was good. Then dismal most of the time. I've taken it all over a couple states and it's dismal everywhere. I've tried external antenna and amp. Lots of bars, but slow.

I think if you get a good one of these mifi you are happy. The rest of us aren't. Doesn't matter if it's 3G or 4G connection. 4G is slow and 3G is damn slow.

If I switch over to another wifi connection, I get good speed on the PCs. Yeah, tethering to my old Droid or my newer S3 gives great speeds relative to 3G and 4G. So, I vote it's the mifi that stinks. Close to the end of the month and with the slowness, only have used a little over 6GB. This is not for lack of trying. Someday if they come up with something new and I'm over paying $100 for a slow modem, I might get a new device.

Yes, I have the latest firmware.
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Are YOU just a turkey voting for xmas?

I had the same issues with the 4620. Google 4620 and uml290. There is a lot of information out there on moving the sim card from one device to the other and using a Cradlepoint router with the USB modem.