Anyone else "Connected" but unable to load website

burningrave101 · EVDO User Joined: 11 Sep 2008 Posts: 39 Location: Missouri

I have been having this ongoing sort of sporadic issue with my Alltel service for the last few months off and on and the issue seems to be becoming more problematic as of this past weekend. I live out in the country around 5 miles as the crow flies from an Alltel tower which I pull EVDO RevA from and normally my connection works fine throughout the day. My aircard is a Pantech UM175 and typically my signal strength stays at -75 dBm and lower because I have my aircard connected to an external antenna. My download speeds when everything is working the way it should be average around 1250kbps so I have a pretty solid connection.

But the problem that I'm having is that I'll be connected to the internet either with my UM175 plugged directly into my laptop or desktop or I'll have it plugged into my Cradlepoint MBR1000 router and I'll be browsing the web when all of a sudden web pages just stop loading. It's an issue that I've had off an on for the last several months and I spend quite a bit of time online during the day doing business and so even though some days I don't have any problems at all with it there are others where it may do it 2-3 times or more throughout the day. And what happens is I can type pretty much any web address into the address bar and the web browser will just sit there acting like it has no connection to the internet. Usually it starts happening though when I'm in the middle of browsing the web. And I experience this regardless if I'm using Vista on my desktop or OS X on my MacBook Pro.

The only way I've found to fix it so far is just to wait for 20-30 minutes until the connection seems to just magically start working normally again. Disconnecting and reconnecting the aircard and even unplugging it from the router doesn't fix it. It seems like it just drops me off the network even though I'm still connected and then all of sudden picks me back up 20-30+ minutes later. Then once it picks me back up web pages all load near instantly like there's no problem at all.

Now over this past weekend it started doing it more again and at times it's been doing something even more perplexing. Sometimes now when the connection goes dead I can still go to certain sites like Google and a couple of others I tried like the evdo forums here without a problem but most websites I try to go to it will just sit there and never start to load the site or it will sometimes finally go to the site but I can't navigate to any other pages once I'm on it because the connection is "dead". So last Saturday when it was really giving me problems Google would load right up when I opened my web browser like there wasn't a problem with the connection and I could do a Google search and everything but then if I tried to type in an address into the address bar like Slickdeals.net or Yahoo.com or whatever it will just sit there and won't go to the page. I've also tried ping'ing each website and the ping returns with no drops like there isn't an issue.

I've spoken with Alltel technical support twice over the weekend and they're sending me out a new UM175 but to me this seems more like a network issue than aircard related. What could be causing my connection to just go "dead" while still connected? And why would I be able to load some web sites like Google and do a Google search but I can't get most other web sites to load? I figured it might be some kind of DNS related problem but I've tried using OpenDNS and it still does it and I thought OpenDNS would bypass Alltel's DNS servers.

Anyone else experienced anything like this and know anything about it?

Bert65

UM150, MBR1000, Vista Home Premium on 1 laptop, XP Pro on 1 laptop and 2 desktops.

I had the same problem some months back. It didn't make a difference if the Modem was connected to the MBR or the Laptop. Good connection (-75dbm) but would not load any pages or even ping.

This lasted about a week off and on and then things returned to normal, except very slow (a little better than dialup) at times. This went on for a month or so and then returned completely to normal.

Still using my original modem and router although I tried many of the tips and tweaks found at this sight and other places on the internet. None of this helped, things cleared up on thier own.

My guess is that it was all due to the Alltel / Verizon merger and it took awhile to get things right in my area.

Good luck, hope the new modem fixes things for you.

jfarris · EVDO Junkie Joined: 10 May 2007 Posts: 207

I had that happen about a week ago with an EC168 on a Cradlepoint MBR1000 or on my laptop directly. Was that way for about an hour or so, then working properly ever since.

magician22773 · EVDO Newbie Joined: 25 Aug 2009 Posts: 3

I have been experiencing the exact same problem....with the same UM175, and the Cradlepoint router...although the issue is the same with or without the router.

Something that I see that HAS to be a clue to the problem is the -75db RSSI.

When things are working good, my RSSI's are in the -80 range or so, but they are almost always different (between the EVDO and 1xRTT RSSI)........BUT........when things stop working, my RSSI is ALWAYS -75db, and both are the same.

I have spent hours on end with advance tech at Alltel, and browsing this site, as well as repositioning my antenna. Right now, what I have found to make my issue batter, is I have crippled my antenna by placing it in my attic, instead of outside. My RSSI is now around -90 or so, but I havent had the dropped connection issue in the last 3 days or so. I dont know why it has worked, and it could just be coincidence, but it has been working, and that makes me happy. Im not getting the 1.5Mb down speeds I was with the antenna outside, but I am getting a reliable 600kb or more now.

magician22773 · EVDO Newbie Joined: 25 Aug 2009 Posts: 3

Sorry to double post, but I was wondering what area of Missouri you are in Burningrave. I am located im SW Missouri, about 20 miles south of Springfield, and wondered if we might be in the same area. It might help out on my next call to Alltel Customer No-Service if we are.

netwtek · EVDO Newbie Joined: 21 Sep 2008 Posts: 3

I live in southern Illinois, and I also have been getting either slow or no Internet. I have a UM150 and CradlePoint CTR500. two laptops running Windows XP, and a desktop running Windows 7. It will go most of the time to Google, and a few other sites (this one). Support has been no help. They keep messing with the modem telling me first the PRL was not up to date, then they change the MIN, then it was my firewall, then I was running "unsupported" browsers (IE 8 and Firefox), on and on.

Could not even get to the Alltel site tonight. Tracert showed it was timing out on THEIR network before getting to the site! The problem is on their network, but they will not admit it.

NefariousCoal · Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 10:46 pm Post subject:

I've been having this exact same issue for the past few months.

It first started right before the "official" merge with Verizon on my UM150 and external antenna. There was a couple days of outtage that customer service confirmed when I called. Peak hours, my download speed would be all over the place including dropping to zero for seconds at a time. It seems as if between 6PM and 1AM local time that my speed will drop to nil and next-to-nil within 20 minutes of connecting.

I was eligible for an upgrade, got a Huawei EC168 and new contract (best to do before I have to sign a Verizon contract). Still same deal. Even got a new external antenna and didn't help much. I get between -83 and -88 Dbm.

It'll just time out for various periods and I'll get practically nothing. Customer Service has been no help at all. After changing every single piece of hardware in the equation, I'm pretty goddamned sure it's not on my end.

BTW.. I'm SW of Springfield, MO hitting off the Jenkins tower south of Aurora a bit. Perhaps a regional issue?

steveinms · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 06 Mar 2008 Posts: 19 Location: ms

I live in MS and have the exact same issues but has just started within the last couple of days...I have MBR1000 and UM150 from alltel just changed over to Verizon...:'(
_________________
alltelevdo

Hworx · Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 5:59 pm Post subject:

Goatboy · EVDO Newbie Joined: 28 Sep 2009 Posts: 5

I have a stupid question. Using the Cradlepoint 350 and the UM175, how do I find my RSSI?

Romulus68 · EVDO Newbie Joined: 04 Mar 2009 Posts: 6

Started about a week and a half ago for me. When I plug the UM175 into my computer (not the cradle point) it only shows a RTT or bad Rev-A signal. The EVDO I usually use was gone. In quicklink mobile it has the 3 symbols....1X, EV, rA. I usually locked EV, but now it no longer does this.

When it locks the Rev-A the signal is so weak I can't surf the web.

What happened to EVDO?

I go Verizonwireless officially October the 17th.

dgambrel · Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 11:29 am Post subject: Similar problem

I am having a similar problem and am wondering if anyone has any suggestions. Yes, sometimes when I first connect and sometimes when I have already been using my browser, the connection just goes dead. What I have noticed though is that the dead connections are in newly opened tabs or browser windows. Often any windows that opened before the problem started are still working fine and I can browse from there if I type or paste the target URL into the address bar. When I click a link that opens a new window or try to view a new page while keeping the original page open by opening it in a new tab I just get the "window loading" animation on the tab. Sometimes the progress bar moves a quarter or less of the way across the bar and sometimes not. The statistics window on my Quicklink connection software shows almost a flat graph for download speed. I am using a UM150 plugged directly into my desktop and connected through a tombstone style antenna on my windowsill because without it my signal strength is pretty marginal

NefariousCoal · Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 3:06 pm Post subject:

The only thing I've surmised is that it's been a problem since Verizon & Alltel integrated.

When the connection times out for so many people it's on Verizon's end. Nothing else to do but call & complain though that hasn't got the problem fixed.

burningrave101 · EVDO User Joined: 11 Sep 2008 Posts: 39 Location: Missouri

Well looks like my problem has just gone now from worse to worser. The issue that I was having before where it would be connected but at times the connection would go "dead" so that it wouldn't go to many websites seems to of went away because I haven't had that problem the last few weeks but now especially this past week my download speeds and ping time have went to pot.

I've had service for over a year with Alltel and my average download speeds were 1200-1300kbps down with ping times around ~130ms most of the time but now today I'm getting 500-600kbps down and a ping of like 260ms on Speedtest.net. I'm on Rev-A with a -75dBm signal strength so the only thing that has changed is Verizon taking over Alltel and I'm guessing their network just not being able to handle the speeds due to heavier user load.

I was very satisfied with my service before but I'm not satisfied at all with 500kbps down paying $59.99 a month. Anyone else having this same problem needs to be on the phone getting a service ticket opened and complaining until they fix the speed problem.

burningrave101 · EVDO User Joined: 11 Sep 2008 Posts: 39 Location: Missouri

Well looks like my speeds just picked back up again to normal ranges but I don't know how long it will last. Just got 1.24Mb/s down, 400Kb/s up, and 133ms ping. I called Verizon back about my speed issues here a little over an hour ago and had them resubmit a new ticket so don't know if they fixed something or if it's just coincidence. I'll have to monitor it throughout the day and see if it slows back down tonight.