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w1ley
EVDO Fledgling


Joined: 06 May 2005
Posts: 21

PostPosted: Fri May 06, 2005 6:24 am    Post subject: new antenna Reply with quote

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I just purchased an antenna from antenna booster for my 620. It
arrived last week with the wrong connector (I was SURE it was wrong).
So I emailed antenna booster and they said "use force luke", so I
did......

Embarassed
Now it fits fine, and in fact now that its gone in a few times its
super easy to put in, but doesnt fall out. Antenna booster was quick
to respond and said that they DID send the correct adapter, but if it
was wrong, that they would send the right one. Cant ask for more than
that.

I will post a review of the actual antenna performance today or
saturday, still testing.....

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w1ley
EVDO Fledgling


Joined: 06 May 2005
Posts: 21

PostPosted: Fri May 06, 2005 6:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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wierdness on the edge of andover, ma.......

Signal strength as reported by the vzaccess manager floats between
50% and 70%, the antenna has no effect on this. Plugged in or not,
its about the same, moving the antenna seems to make the number
change ever so slightly.

HOWEVER, running speed tests from speak easy
([url]blt.speakeasy.net[/url]I see a dramatic improvement in DOWNLOAD
speeds and NO improvement in UPLOAD speeds. Download speeds go from <
100k (usually < 50k) to 100-300k.

Having said that.....
Sometimes the antenna-less speed is comparable to the speed WITH the
antenna. Unfortunately there is no option other than testing testing
testing and noting trends.

while typing this, have been plugging and unplugging the antenna and
noting results. Dam. NOW it appears that the antenna increases signal
strength by ~15-20%, but before it wasnt. I was hoping to be more
definitive, but RF is a coy mistress..... If FEELS like the antenna
helps, I guess the thing to do is sit here and test test test and
graph the results.

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Michael
Site Admin


Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 5045
Location: Cary, IL

PostPosted: Fri May 06, 2005 8:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The name of the game is performance and doing benchmarks will tell you how things are working.

This review was posted on Booster-Antenna.com yesterday:

Quote:
This antenna saved my data card! Although the VZW service was quite strong almost everywhere I tried it, when I got my laptop to the main spot I wanted to use it, I had poor performance. The building I was in made it impossible to get a good signal. My signal strength would alternate between 1, 2 and NO SERVICE. The best signal strength I could get was 22%. After purchasing this antenna, I now have 50 and even 60+% signal strength and a constant Internet Connection of about 6-800K. Awesome! Well worth the money and Mike was very helpful in getting it shipped overnight.


So, you may not see the signal bars increase, but you will the signal percentage and more importantly, the performance.

Here are a few antenna tips:

- works best if you are in 1 -3 bar coverage area.

- if you are in a 4 bar / 100% coverage area, there isn't much more improvement that you can get.

- if you are in no signal coverage, it isn't going to help (zero times anything is always zero)

- works best to "aim" the antenna in differnet directions, wait 10 - 15 seconds and retest the signal percentage (better to use percentage vs. 1- 4 bars). Once, you find the direction that gives you best signal strength - that is the best place to "aim" the antenna, however, it is omni-directional, so it will work no matter which way it is aimed.

Here is a link that shows you how to view the signal percentage:

Measuring EVDO Signal Strength using VZAccess Manager
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w1ley
EVDO Fledgling


Joined: 06 May 2005
Posts: 21

PostPosted: Fri May 06, 2005 8:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Yup,
my testing so far pretty much confirms what you said Michael.
ss= signal strength.

Code:

                                     Andover
      with antenna              without antenna
            up  down    ss    up     down    ss
5/6/2005    7    110    77%    8      224    61%
5/6/2005    5    353    77%    16    263    64%
5/6/2005    6    182    67%    9      47     54%
5/6/2005    5    33     77%    12     275    64%
5/6/2005    8    28     77%    52     18     70%
5/6/2005   27    239    77%    88     11      54%
                            
Average    9.666667    157.5    75%    30.83333    139.6667    61%
STDEV    9    126    0    33    127    0


the really odd part is that the upload average is HIGHER WITHOUT the
antenna. ??

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Michael
Site Admin


Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 5045
Location: Cary, IL

PostPosted: Fri May 06, 2005 9:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the stats!

The upload stream is the 1xRTT stream. Max 144K burst, real world 40k - 80k

The download stream is the 1xEVDO stream. Max 2mb bursts, real world 300K - 500K. Since many are getting much better than this, Verizon is now saying on the average you will get 400K - 700K.

Strange that uploading is slightly less. I would keep testing, especially at different locations and at different times.
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w1ley
EVDO Fledgling


Joined: 06 May 2005
Posts: 21

PostPosted: Fri May 06, 2005 9:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Yeah, I am going to test from home and my boat as well, but the early
numbers make me think that the antenna is certainly worth having.

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jettamatt13
EVDO Fledgling


Joined: 20 Apr 2005
Posts: 12

PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2005 7:56 am    Post subject: Seperate Antennas Reply with quote

If this card is anything like the 650 there are sepeate plugs for a send and recieve antenna.

That's part of the reason (maybe) you are only seeing gains on the dowload side.
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brkeller
EVDO Newbie


Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Posts: 1
Location: New York

PostPosted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 5:06 pm    Post subject: Thanks for the dirty work. Reply with quote

You all are true geeks. And I truly appreciate it Wink

Thanks.
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imanogre
EVDO Newbie


Joined: 04 Jan 2007
Posts: 4

PostPosted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 3:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Question,

I purchased the booster antenna from antenna-booster and I do not notice a difference in latency or speed when plugged in at all. Is there a way to tell if it's plugged in incorrectly? I think I may have the wrong adapter cord (I remember reading that the u720 cord was a different length). I get 2-4 bars consistently at home with DL/s in the 1100's. Plus, I'm less then a mile from the antenna.

Another reasonI think I may have gotten the wrong cord is the paperwork sent to me doesn't mention the USB modem. It's only reflective of the PCCards (in so far as how to attach the cable). I'm able to lift up the sleave and slide the adaptor cable in, just don't see a difference in speed nor latency.

Anyway, help would be appreciated.
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Cynagen
EVDO Newbie


Joined: 24 Feb 2008
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 10:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

imanogre wrote:
Question,

I purchased the booster antenna from antenna-booster and I do not notice a difference in latency or speed when plugged in at all. Is there a way to tell if it's plugged in incorrectly? I think I may have the wrong adapter cord (I remember reading that the u720 cord was a different length). I get 2-4 bars consistently at home with DL/s in the 1100's. Plus, I'm less then a mile from the antenna.

Another reasonI think I may have gotten the wrong cord is the paperwork sent to me doesn't mention the USB modem. It's only reflective of the PCCards (in so far as how to attach the cable). I'm able to lift up the sleave and slide the adaptor cable in, just don't see a difference in speed nor latency.

Anyway, help would be appreciated.


The speed is going to be whatever is available on your source antenna, so if there are a lot of data users or digital cellular calls going through said antenna, it's not going to have much in the way of bandwidth for every single customer.

The latency will most likely never be affected by a booster antenna, this is communication dynamics, not radio band dynamics. A booster antenna just increases the sensitivity to multiple bands, it doesn't shorten the distance from you to the antenna, or clear out congestion on the antenna for your latency ping to get through to the router at the bottom of the antenna. You might see a slightly lower latency (ping) (See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lag) if the extra bands you gain more throughput on aren't as used by other devices in the area and are thus more like express lanes for you. Less traffic means faster communication, faster communication means lower latency (ping).
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jackrodgers
EVDO Addict


Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 1131

PostPosted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 4:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Can't resist:

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Isn't using security on a message posted to a public list a bit much?

Rolling Eyes
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