Millenicom → Re: Not looking good so far

XP desktop with 802.11n wifi. Vista laptop with 802.11b/g wifi. Cradlepoint MBR1000 router. No cable/no DSL. This is my first home networking since the days of WFW 3.11 and W95. RG-58 cable with 10baseT connectors and terminatiprs on Ansel cards. This new home wifi network works great with speed 54 and 72 Mbps and good signal. Security level WPA/WPA2 - Personal.

Novatel MC760 Verizon using standard Mobilink drivers and software do nothing when installed and used as a standalone to run the mobile connection (with wifi disconnected). Says it connects but can't decide if it's gonna do EVDO Rev A or 1XRTT. Either way, it will Tx or Rx nothing. Zero bytes. Running "Activate" fails with advice to try later or call wireless provider.

Closing Mobilink and installing the modem in the MBR1000 gives only the errors as mentioned above. I've seen signal as good as 59% and -85 dBm without even trying hard. Connection is always stated as CDMA and offline.

Tonight, most of the time the modem diagnostics page and any useful network status info has disappeared. It's like they had the radio running for a while today but since I was tuned to the wrong station, they shut it off.

You would think Millenicom would have a clue but after speaking with two of their tekkies for an hour or so, I don't think they know a whole lot about this black art of wireless internet. The blind leading the blind. Not unexpected for the Friday b4 Labor Day.

I never did hear anything from Millenicom but the server or tower or what ever the problem was got fixed this afternoon. The Network Status changed to "Established" and the Carrier Status went to "Up". Now I just have to figure out how to reliably connect to EVDO Rev 2 without putting the laptop on the roof of my truck. Finding that spot got me a speedtest d/l of 1.34 Mb/s off a Mobilink signal of -115 dBm

have never seen a 1.34 d/l with -115 dBm ...that signal strength is at the very edge, and close to NO Signal. I don't see how it is possible.

This is all a mystery to me. I took a computer and the modem down to another place we have, very near the I-10 freeway, and set up in a barn to do some testing. It's 6 crowfly miles closer to what may be the Verizon tower. There, I was able to hit EVDO with one-two bars and a signal of -105 to -95. The Mobilink Connection Log said I hit a max throughput of 2698.1 kbps. Speedtests gave me 2.09 and 2.27 Mb/s. I used another testing program to do straight 5 MB file download tests and got 1.85, 1.74 and 1.45 Mbps.

After I got home, I walked around the yard looking for an EVDO signal and found that -115 dBm with my laptop sitting on the roof of my truck. The 5 MB download test there gave me 0.94 Mbps. The same test inside the house gave me 0.10 Mbps.

Just now my Mobilink says my signal is -107 on 1xRTT. The 5 MB test speed is 0.11 Mbps and the max throughput this session is 167.2 Kbps. Heh, I guess tomorrow me and the computer go up on the house roof to see what we find... after I make me one of your cantennas.

I'm posting another question for you in a new thread.