Sprint was the answer

onedavester · Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 10:13 am Post subject: Sprint was the answer

After about 8 months of trial and error with AT&T, and Verizon and buying all kinds of antennas from Wilson truckers to Dual Band Yagi's and a Wilson Amplifier I finally tried Sprint a couple of weeks ago.

I totally wish I had tried them first but they were the only carrier that showed no coverage in my area.

I grabbed a Novatel USb727 from the closest Sprint store and proceeded home with guarded expectations because of past failures. I hooked it up to my Conifer 2.4Ghz Parabolic along with my Wilson dual band amplifier and got 1 bar immediately on EVDO without Re-aiming my Grid Antenna. It was already pointed to the only known tower in this area that has EVDO on it. This tower is in a town about 10 miles away and has all 3 major carriers gear on it. As the crow flies it is about 8.5 miles away with no line of sight.

I brought a laptop outside and used remote desktop to my main computer inside and tweaked the antenna until I got a steady lock with a strength of -88db.

I have been locked ever since with no disconnects even during bad storms. On really bad days I still get about -97db to -99db and it is still quite usable.

I don't get the most stellar upload speeds, but after having WB satellite for 3 years as well as one-way satellite I can now join the ranks of people with true broadband. I can game now because my ping times are so low and downloading is a breeze.

I Just wanted to add that if it wasn't for this forum and the nice folks here helping that I probably would have given up a long time ago.

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Jim_in_VA · Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 10:29 am Post subject:

way to go Dave!!
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evdo-tips.com

xrayman · Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 11:02 am Post subject:

onedavester,

nickjacket · Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 2:47 pm Post subject:

onedavester, did you sign up before the 11-2-08 deadline for Unlimited access?
I hope so. A 5GB limit would make me feel like I'm on a timer for 10 days of use per month.

Did I hear you right when you said you're using a single-band 2.4gHz parabolic with a dual-band amp?
If you mouse-over the Sprint logo on your Smartview connection screen and type ##DEBUG, It'll give you the frequency code of the system you're on.
If it's the 1800mHz band then you can get an antenna peaked for that. Maybe you can get by without the amp that way.
I'm saying this because if you can get higher Up/Dn speeds, VOIP will be more hesitation resistant and downloads will be faster.
Maybe your parabolic doesn't roll off of usable gain figures even 6gHz away.

onedavester · Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:10 pm Post subject:

I am using Sprint through a 3rd party with no contract and no bandwidth limitations. BTW I was told I am the last one to be grandfathered into their BYOD Sprint only deal as they are working out a deal with all major carriers and changing their business model.

As far as antenna with amp versus antenna without an amp, lets keep this simple. I can only believe what I have seen personally and have a huge gain with my amp.

Pictures speak louder than words so take a look for yourselves and draw your own conclusions:

No amp top, Dual band amp bottom

3gstore sells Wilson amps and They Do Work, just not for everyone as dramatic as me.

FYI the amp(combined with a Wilson trucker on ATT) is why I was the only one in a remote campground with 160 campsites that could use my cellphone this past season.

Take care,

Dave

n6gn · Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:20 pm Post subject: