Alabama "Pre-Newbie"

kabod · Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 12:54 pm Post subject: Alabama "Pre-Newbie"

I discovered this site last week after doing a Google search on “Wildblue vs. HughesNet” as I am fed up with Wildblue and was considering moving to HugheNet. Google led me to some forum post here and boy am I glad it did!
I didn’t know that this was a viable option until reading hundreds of post here.
I am an Audio/Video Technician with over 30 years of experience but completely missed out on keeping up with the advances in wireless broadband.
I consider myself to be a “pre-newbie!
I live across the bay from Pensacola, FL in Alabama at the end of 3 miles of dirt road. No hope for cable or dsl. I have a Verizon Blackberry from work and have never had more than 3 bars of 1X inside my house, usually 1 or 2. After reading some suggestions here I went up to my roof and walked around and low and behold found 4 to 5 bars of 1XEV! Went into the status screen and found -80db pretty steady. Did some more research, including talking to Vanessa at the 3G Store and ordered the Verizon UM175, Cradlepoint CTR 500 and the Omni External Antenna…should be here by Friday. Also ordered 100 feet of Cat 6 cable and the wall plates from monoprice.com (where I get all my cable).
Since I have a metal roof I will install the modem and router in a room upstairs and run the Cat 6 to my office downstairs and connect to my Linksys Access Point.
By this time next week I hope to call Wildblue and tell them, in so many words, to shove it!
I’m sure I will need some help along the way………I’ll keep ya’ll posted.

grandmsue · Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 2:02 pm Post subject:

Welcome from another ex WB user! I also live in a rural area with no hopes of cable or DSL in the forseeable future. I have been using Verizon's EVDO RevA service since the end of December, and it is like night and day. Of course, I thought that when I went from 24.4k dialup to WB.

If you have one of the newer WB modems for WB1 satellite, be sure to ask when you call to cancel about their return policy. The sent me a packing box with instructions for shipping it back to them and a received a $50 credit on my CC bill.

kabod · Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 6:45 pm Post subject:

I'm 3 months past my contract and was the 1st Wildblue install for a company that is no longer in business..(wonder why!??!)
I have one of the original modems. My only hope is to find some poor sucker...er I mean uninformed consumer to buy it off of eBay.

colebert · EVDO Junkie Joined: 26 Jan 2007 Posts: 170

Maps show you have Alltel AND Verizon 3G in that area. This might be a little much for a pre-newbie, but understand it is possible to roam onto Alltel with your Verizon card. The Alltel signal/speeds may be better for you than the Verizon.

colebert · EVDO Junkie Joined: 26 Jan 2007 Posts: 170

Also, to further complicate things for you it seems that AT&T 3G is in Pensecola and near your area. I can't say for sure, but I would guess with a little bit of work you could have that.

AT&T 3G (HSDPA) is really fast. Way faster than EVDO. I've used every flavor of EVDO and AT&T's 3G. I like the speeds of AT&T but I like the reliability and speed combo of Verizon's Rev A. But you may not be in Revision A.

kabod · Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 6:16 am Post subject:

Thanks colebert – I had a friend at work suggest I check out AT&T and so I tried. Very frustrating trying to get any info from their website. After 10 minutes of searching, finally found the AT&T USBConnect Mercury, but no other info on plans except with a phone. I do some website maintenance and have little patience with a site that takes a lot of work to get even the basic information I’m looking for.
They “might” have great speeds and “might” work in my area but darn if I can find that out….
I have Alltel cell phones and a Verizon Blackberry from work. The Verizon gets a better signal at my house so that’s why I ordered that. I want to put it through its paces and see what kind of speeds I get. Of course I would like the carrier with, not only, the best speeds, but the best support as well. Just my short time on this forum suggest that might be Verizon for me…

colebert · EVDO Junkie Joined: 26 Jan 2007 Posts: 170

I didn't mean to try to sell you on AT&T. I just wanted to mention that it was an option if the Verizon or Alltel services don't workout for you.

I've worked with every carrier's 3G service across many different areas. The thing I've learned is that each area (down the the tower, really) is a special and unique snowflake. You can only know if it will work out by trying. Personally, I hope you get your stuff and find you have Revision A out there and get awesome signal strength, speeds, pings, and low packet loss.

But if you don't, just remember that AT&T 3G is out there too! As a rule it is more consistent in it's high speeds than EVDO. Of course, it's really limited in where it is so I don't like it for that reason. Verizon has been the best in my opinion, it's just you might be on a "lemon" tower. But with Verizon that's rare. Sprint and Alltel have alot more of them.

kabod · Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 1:43 pm Post subject:

No problem...I will give AT&T a shot if Verizon doesn't work out. According to Verizon's map I'm about a half mile north of their "blue" area but I'm up a 75 foot rise with a 2 story house so I think with my external Omni I should get a good signal.
I haven't been able to track down which tower Verizon is on. There are 3 towers across the bay ESE about 8 miles away (all clustered together). Another tower SE at about 6.5 miles and one here in Lillian about 3 miles south. I know that AT&T is on the Lillian tower with voice but not data yet.
I go by all the towers on the way home from work and have 1XEV with -80db by every tower! My Blackberry apparently maxes out at -80 since that is what we get at work with repeaters throughout all the buildings.
I just looked at my tracking number and my gear is out for delivery already!
It's raining today so I won't get to put up the antenna, but I might be able to take the laptop for a drive and get better numbers from the towers....

kabod · Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 6:36 pm Post subject:

UPDATE:
Couldn't take the laptop for a drive because the CD drive is busted so couldn't install VZAccess.
Installed on the main computer and hooked up the antenna which is sitting on top of my filing cabinet leaning in the corner....(my Cat6 won't be here until tomorrow, besides it's raining and I can't get up on my metal roof...)
I mostly see 2 bars with National Access but every now and then see Broadband RevA, wah-hoo!
Speeds are about 120k to 150k down right now but that is GREAT considering it's raining and Wildblue would be useless right now!
My office is on the west side of my house and we don't even get cell service on this side! We have to go to the Pensacola side to talk on the cell phones. As I mentioned before, when I was on the roof with my Verizon Blackberry I had 5 bars of 1XEV so I'm hopeful that the finished install will work fine....to be continued...

verizonrocks · EVDO Junkie Joined: 12 Dec 2008 Posts: 177

kabod · Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 6:00 pm Post subject: Frustrated and Now Confused

Started early this morning trying to test my system even though my Cat6 cable doesn't arrive now until Monday.

I had about 40 feet of Cat5 so I could run all the way to the east porch (the side towards Pensacola). I hooked up my CradlePoint CTR500, hooked up the Wilson Omni to the UM175 and set up my network to my desktop.

No matter where I moved my antenna I got no better signal than with the UM175 alone! (-92dB). Moved to the south porch where I have a Crown tower 2.5 miles south (possibly Verizon?)
I even disconnected the Cat5 and took the router to the roof and checked the signal meter on the router and no change!

BTW, I finally installed the VZManager onto my XP laptop but could never get it to connect. It would bring up a separate dial-up screen and when I would click connect the manager would freeze up...uninstall and reinstall to no avail, so have not been able to use the laptop to test with...

Meanwhile, back at the ranch....
Brought everything back to my office, leaned the antenna back in the corner on the file cabinet and had -92dB with National Access....
Disconnected the antenna and had -92dB with National Access...
Finally plugged the modem straight into my computer and had -92dB....you get the picture...
Had done some Speed Test along the way and getting right at 0.13M dl, 0.07M ul with pings around 920. (Sorry, didn't grab any images)

Now here is where it gets interesting! Took a few hours researching the forum and trying to figure out what's up with my Omni and thinking I might need to go with a Parabolic grid when I suddenly noticed I had BroadbandAccess (Rev A)!!! Ran a field test and...

I was surprised to see my speeds and even more surprised to see 1.9GHz! It has been over 2 hours now with RevA with a steady -92 but a few minutes around -84! This is with the modem sitting on a shelf in my office connected by the y-cable. My Verizon Blackberry next to it has 1X at -107! I AM TOTALLY BAFFLED! I dare not connect the Omni back up because I'm afraid it would mess my signal up.

Still thinking about going with a Grid but it looks like I need a 1.9GHz instead of and 850. I think my Omni might be DOA...it makes NO difference to my modem at all.

Any ideas.............???

Jim_in_VA · Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 8:11 pm Post subject:

You need to look at the channel number in the bottom range of that screen. You are at the top/voice area
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evdo-tips.com

ChoP · EVDO User Joined: 13 Jul 2008 Posts: 54 Location: Alabama

You need to scroll down the Field test screen untill you find HDR RSSl, that is the one you are interested in. Below it will be the "Band Class" that's the Band EVDO is running for that tower. With the Parabolic grid you can point to the tower you like. One thing you really need to do is take the labtop and card on the road and find all the towers close around and the PN's, Channels and bands they use. That way you know exactly which one you are on when at home and which one has the best signal when at home. That may help in selecting the right antenna. I use a Parabolic grid and pull Alltel Rev.A from over 10 miles non-LOS. It may take a little work but with the flat land you have around there it should be a snap to lock a good signal.

And remember, Trees are not your friend when it comes to EVDO signals.

kabod · Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 6:23 am Post subject:

Back to National Access this morning (...sob)

Thanks guys,
I thought I had grabbed a screenshot of the rest of the file, but I apparently forgot to save it. At least I saved the .csv file...here's a shot of that part of the file:

Still don't know why the Omni makes no difference whatsoever or why I can't get VZManger to work on my laptop....

kabod · Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 4:57 pm Post subject:

Had to delete my screen shot of the Manager showing National Access because I forgot to blackout the phone number...

Back to the Wilson Omni:

Here are my speeds with the Omni-

And without the Omni-

I ran this several times yesterday and the results would flip-flop back and forth.

Another issue I have right now is that while connected through the CTR500 I can no longer see my signal strength on the Gateway screen.
When I first hooked it up yesterday morning I had numbers in both the % and dBm fields. After about 30 minutes it said "not available" and has never returned so I have no idea what my RSSI is right now. I'm assuming it is probably National Access with about -92dB because that matches the speeds I'm getting right now with what I had yesterday before RevA kicked in.