My 800 mHz Paraboloic grid results for VZW

onedavester

After talking to several nice folks in this forum and showing many screen shots of my efforts to get Rev-A with about every antenna there is except a panel, including two different 2400mHz Parabolics, I just received and installed my 800mHz from Hyperlink.

Unfortunately my Rev-A efforts have been futile. I am going to call VZW for support one last time and then I am going to have to give up. I have been working on this since July and have spent way too much money and time.

Worts part is that I was able to get Rev-A on my deck with no Antenna for 3 hours at -93 one day about two weeks ago. Where did it go?

Here are my results:

As you can see I have terrific 1RXtt signal.

and a lousy Rev-A signal

Bottom Line is I am stumped as to how I could have gotten a good signal with no antenna about 10 days ago and earlier this summer I had it every evening. If you look at some of my earlier posts, I had great pings as well. It is like my local cell tower itself is consistently inconsistent. I was on the phone with VZW last night and they told me I was the only one in my zip code to complain about this and they could not help me. I am going to call one last time so I know I did my best before call it quits.

onedavester · Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 5:18 pm Post subject:

I just got this text message to my hotmail account from VZW level II support:

I am on hold with tech now.

This is encouraging.

onedavester · Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 5:55 pm Post subject:

Just got off the phone 75 minutes later. Tech said "I am in a known troubled area and unfortunately there is nothing we can do at this time"

He finished by telling me that I am on the 1900Mhz EVDO coverage area so I am about done with these clowns.

Jim_in_VA · Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 6:17 pm Post subject:

can you get Sprint up there?
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onedavester · Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 7:29 pm Post subject:

I used to get 1 bar on a Spring phone. I am wiling to try. Do you know if I can use my VZW USB727 on Sprint since I own it?

onedavester · Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 7:43 pm Post subject:

I just got off the phone with Sprint. I supposedly have broadband coverage here and my existing equipment would work according to them. However, I would have to sign a 2 year contract even though I own my own gear so I decided against that.

I guess I will be selling a lot of equipment cheap on E-bay soon. If anyone wants some gear that is almost new and has been well taken care of, just PM me as I have all kinds of "goodies"

LiveOnline · Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 9:03 pm Post subject: Have you requested a new card?

Have they offered to send you a new card?

Have you tried the card where you know you should get EVDO (although you probably are within their coverage according to their map)?

More than likely you have.

I share your frustration with VWZ.

I'm trying to find an economical solution to boost my signal with my v740 and Motorola RAZR. I too use to get a decent where I live and like you, have spent too many hours trying to figure out what happen to it.

No help from VZW.

Peterfield · EVDO Heavy User Joined: 09 Mar 2008 Posts: 132

Jim_in_VA · Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:38 am Post subject:

If VZW is telling you "you're in a known troubled area, and there is nothing we can do" it would seem your current service is pretty much worthless. So if you want EVDO that works, Sprint is your option in spite of the contract. Try them out for 30 days and see if its worth it. You already have external grids that will greatly help achieve a good signal. Kind of a waste to be paying for something now that is not going to improve. Besides, with their statement, you've probably got a good reason to opt-out of the VZW contract.
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onedavester · Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 9:30 am Post subject:

Thank you to everyone who has helped me through this. I actually am in a month to month with VZW. This is because I was in an extended trial period and 3 days before the trial was over, their new month to month started so I quit and rejoined. The only good thing here is that I am not stuck in a contract.

I will however not join Sprint as long as they have only a 2 year contract available.

I almost want to try them for 30 days just to see if it will work here.

I was able to use VZW at -93 for quite a while so that is the biggest frustration. I have read that VZW is famous for lowering their tower gear in heavy usage ares where they don't have adequate coverage and I really believe that this is the case.

I am going to the tower this afternoon to see what kind of service it gives when I have it in site. I can only get within 1/2 mile because it is on a private access road but I can see it clearly . This is just to see if it functions when I am close by.

I just want to say that all the level 1 VZW people have been good to me. They just hit a wall of attitude and noncaring when they try to go to bat for me with LII support.

widgetman101 · EVDO Junkie Joined: 02 Apr 2008 Posts: 211

Sorry your not having good results. Its strange that you had Rev-A on your device with no antenna. At my house I never not once even had the card hint at Rev-A access.

But you got Rev-A with no antenna and can't pick it up with the grid now. That's crazy! When they said it was a trouble area did they mean the tower was having issue's?

I saw you were taking your card out to run some tests at the tower. I guess I'll look for a report back.

I am just curious have you tried rotating your antenna in a 360 degree pattern. Its possible you have another tower in the area that your just not aware of and you have your antenna aimed the wrong way.

When I originally got into Evdo and got my first antenna I struggled for like 2 weeks trying to get a usable signal. The only reason I found a better tower was because I got mad the one day and just spun it. Came back in and there it was.

One other thing are you putting the grid up level or are you tilting it? I've got mine mounted completely level with the ground.

onedavester · Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 6:25 am Post subject:

I traveled to the tower and it is fine when I am almost on top of it. As I get closer to home obviously the signal gets weaker. The difference is now it is either completely gone or so weak that I cannot stay locked. Believe me I have tried everything with aiming, lowering, raising, turning antennas, as well as getting a better low loss cable.

On a good night I might be at -111db and this is on channel 630 so it is quite obvious that the EVDO is at 850mHz.

I just signed up for another sprint reseller. This forum has the name filtered out so I cannot post it here. So far I have had 2 or 3 very flaky conversations with them and their ability to answer basic questions about their service is almost a zero but others on several forums stated that they are dependable and no contract. They are also still claiming unlimited as well so I will post back with my results. I should be getting my card by this Saturday.

Back to Verizon:

It puzzles me that every other Tech says I am on 1900 or 850. Also, you would think that they would want to check out if their tower is not functioning up to par for their own sakes, not just mine.

onedavester · Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 6:27 am Post subject:

I am puzzled as well about the "this is a known troubled area" statement since they claim I am the only one in my entire zip code complaining. Maybe I am the only one using EVDO here...not

n6gn · Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 7:31 am Post subject:

onedavester · Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 8:02 am Post subject:

It was working well for almost two months. My problems started when the signal just went away a few weeks ago. My Parabol worked fine until then. I was getting -93 up to -87 and staying locked even when it got down to -100.

One Sunday afternoon for about 3 hours, I got such a strong signal that I didn't need an antenna at all. VZW stated that they may have been doing "some adjustments on the tower" at that time.