Success!

pahHONEix · EVDO Newbie Joined: 14 Apr 2009 Posts: 3

Greetings! I recently purchased a USB760 wireless USB modem through Verizon. Here's the story...

Six months ago I moved out of the suburbs of Iowa City, Iowa into the country. In this case, "in the country" means about three miles south out of town, far enough for the local cable provider to giggle uncontrollably when I went into town to ask about getting cable internet out in the sticks. For six months after moving here I went without internet of any kind. At first it was bearable, but then I started realizing the convenience of it. When I was living in town I used to do my fair share of online gaming (Team Fortress 2, World of Warcraft, Starcraft, etc.), and on top of that my job is rather weather-dependent (I teach people how to fly airplanes). Therefore it's a little crucial for me to know what's going on with weather in the next few hours so internet weather info sites are wonderful. My daily work schedule is also completely based on an online scheduler, so having internet became more and more important over the months.

So a week ago I caved and ordered Verizon's MobileBroadband service along with a Verizon-branded Novatel USB760 wireless USB modem (try saying that three times fast Very Happy

). At first I was a little worried about whether or not I'd be in range of Verizon's BroadbandAccess Rev. A range, but when I got the modem and connected it I got that service most of the time. My signal bounced between -92 and -83 dbm and the ping/download/upload speeds from speedtest.net were ~390/.35Mbps/.08Mbps respectively. All in all, a little "meh," especially coming from having cable internet on a 6 meg line. Tolerable, but I wouldn't have called it "great." Just..."meh."

Then I found evdoforums.com and realized that receiver location matters (!). Before I had my computer (I have a regular PC desktop, by the way) in my living room, which is probably the furthest from the outside walls and windows of my place. So I did some rearranging and moved my desk/computer so it was right up against an outside wall and underneath a window. I went back to speedtest.net and did a few tests, and there was a significant improvement. My ping/down/up speeds were now at around ~150/.47Mbps/.08Mbps and my signal, overall, remained at -83 dbm to -90 dbm. Every now and then it would drop to -115 dbm for a couple seconds but then go back to the -90 to -83 range. Things were better, certainly.

Then I noticed that 3Gstore.com was selling booster antennae/adapter kits for the USB760, so I did a little research and ended up buying a kit. I received it this morning within a day and a half of ordering it online, so 3Gstore.com deserves a pat on the back for that one. I had a chance to set it up about an hour ago and do some basic tests on speedtest.net. There's a fantastic improvement in signal strength, ping, download and upload speeds.

Before I connected the antennae I was getting ~150/.50Mbps/.09Mbps and a signal of -78 dbm (I'm not sure why I was getting better-than-usual signal this morning, go figure). After plugging the antennae, sticking it to the glass on the nearest window (and be careful with the antennae receptacle on the 760, it's as fragile as everyone says) and jumping back on speedtest.net I now get ~130ms/1.6Mbps/.43Mbps. This is even at noon on a weekday, so I'd expect the local towers to be relatively swamped. My signal strength, however, was what really jumped: I now get -61 dbm steady indoors, which is wonderful. No more flaking out between -115 dbm and back anymore, either.

So what do I think about EVDO? I think it's great! Is it as fast/good as the cable I was connected to in town? Not quite, but it's close. Is EVDO access better than no internet at all? A thousand times yes. Just in the hour that I've had the booster antennae connected and with general surfing it feels nearly as snappy as the 6 meg cable line in town. I even live about 4 miles from the nearest Verizon tower, so it's not like I'm in the greatest range of that, either.

So that's my story. I went from no internet at all to decent internet to great internet in about three and a half days, mostly thanks to the info on the forums at evdoforums.com and 3Gstore.com. I came into all of this wireless broadband stuff with no previous experience or knowledge either, and I hope this post helps anyone else who's wondering about getting connected via EVDO.

Thanks!

mclass55 · EVDO User Joined: 17 Feb 2007 Posts: 45

Glad to hear your story, very good. And have you done the speed tweak?
http://www.evdoforums.com/thread504.html

Maureen · Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:23 pm Post subject:

Thanks for sharing your success story!

The signal boosting solutions we sell at 3Gstore really do work. We have tested (and test again and again) MANY antennas and amplifiers and only sell the ones that we know are truly effective.

If anyone is experiencing weak signal or general poor performance, there is a good chance that an antenna and/or amplifier can help you! I highly recommend taking 20 minutes to do the "site survey" described in this article: Will an Antenna Help Me? and call or email 3Gstore with your results - we can help you determine whether investing in signal boosting equipment will improve your performance.

pahHONEix · EVDO Newbie Joined: 14 Apr 2009 Posts: 3

I had my TCP receive window value set to 65536 already before I connected the antennae, but the tweaking app that dslreports.com ran recommended a value of somewhere around 16000 to 40000 (not the exact numbers but close). I've got it set to 30000 (no real reason for the choice, I just like round numbers Very Happy

) now, and I'm at 2.26 down and .60 up. Ping is the same, but overall it looks like an improvement Smile

macsaphir · EVDO Newbie Joined: 21 Mar 2008 Posts: 4

I have done this so called "speed tweak". It cut my download times in half until I went back in and returned the settings to default.

pahHONEix · EVDO Newbie Joined: 14 Apr 2009 Posts: 3

I had my TCP receive window value set to 65536 already before I connected the antennae, but the tweaking app that dslreports.com ran recommended a value of somewhere around 16000 to 40000 (not the exact numbers but close). I've got it set to 30000 (no real reason for the choice, I just like round numbers Very Happy

) now, and this was the best I could do:

[IMG]speedtest.net/result/453697539.png[/IMG]