USB 720 issues

kyxoan · EVDO Newbie Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Posts: 9

Hi all, I've had my USB 720 for almost 2 years now (2 year contract is over in Sept) and lately it has been having a few weird issues which have been driving me insane.

Firstly, it will randomly switch from Rev A to the "crap network" as I call it and stay on that network. It only goes back to Rev A after I repower on and off the modem a few times (it may just be lucky timing though).

More recently (as I just went to make this post) the whole internet dies and the modem shuts itself off and tries to repower on.

I'm wondering, what is the normal life of a USB modem, I use it pretty heavily with online gaming and I have an Omni antenna (from this store) what is the life on those? I'm trying to figure out what I should replace, the modem or the antenna or if these issues are something on their end and not mine. The modem powering itself off though leads me to believe it is the modem and not the antenna or the network itself.

I also just drove around and had similar results with no antenna so I'd assume its the modem.

I was planning on getting the USB 760 from you guys, is the number swap thing hard to do? I could never find it on the verizon website but i'm sure it's name something else. Thanks for any help you can give me.

3Gstore · EVDO Addict Joined: 19 Sep 2006 Posts: 3171

can't say that there is a "normal" lifespan of any data device.

like all electronics, some last forever, and some bust up in minutes.

we have customers who are still using 1st generation u720/usb720 with no issues.

it is easy to do ESN swap with verizon. here is the URL to the page:

https://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/secure/accountholder/esnchange/ecmx?action=esnChange

NOTE: you need to have an online account, AND be logged in for that link to work.

kyxoan · EVDO Newbie Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Posts: 9

Does a modem randomly powering down and not catching the Rev-A network mean it's bad though? Yesterday for instance... from 6 am until 8 AM it was National Access, on that network it had almost no connectivity, the modem would flash on as if it had a signal then go dark and back on and off ect. and then all day into right now it has been rev-A and has not had an issue sense then.

Seems very very strange, also I found out my ESN swap problem, you need to be tagged as the "account holder"to be able to do the ESN swap. I have someone else paying the $60 a month bill luckily but I flagged my account as the owner.

Jayson · Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 7:44 pm Post subject:

Its possible that it may just be some random tower issues or something with all the new 4g and lte rolling out... I noticed weird reactions from my modem when sprint started rolling out 4g. Although like alex said some devices just run forever and some dont, Im still using my novatel u720 that is nearly 3 years old so you may just want to give it a little time and keep trying to get that stable rev a signal back!!

ko4qc · EVDO Heavy User Joined: 08 Feb 2006 Posts: 118

My USB720 was doing this same thing a few weeks ago...NA,going dead,throughput simply goint to ZERO etc...doing this on 3 different computers so it has to be the modem,right?...WRONG...apparantly the whole thing was on Verizons end as the problem corrected itself and,while my signal isnt any better,2-3 bars,the speeds are better than ever...hit 1.7M on DL yesterday....

Lanhavoc · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 19 Dec 2007 Posts: 11

Having the same issue here myself. Been rock solid on my USB720 for a year and a half now, but just recently in the past few days, my modem periodically powers itself off, and will NOT power back on unless I unplug it, then plug it back in. So far this has only been happening 1-2 times per day, and I hope it's not an indication of a failing modem.

On the bright side, I've also been noticing speed increases since the problem began as well, I've gone from 1.1mbps speedtests to 1.5mbps, which almost makes the problem bearable.. lol.

It seems like this problem didn't start until I updated this machine to Vista SP2, although it could be just a coincidence. Has anyone else recently upgraded to SP2 and had similar issues?

kyxoan · EVDO Newbie Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Posts: 9

My modem is good now for the past week... dunno