10 EVDO newb questions

TheJickler · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 28 Jan 2007 Posts: 11

Hey all! I'm getting my Sprint U720 on Tuesday, so I'm really excited! However, I had a few questions that I thought ya'll might be able to answer....

1) Tweaks. Has anyone figured out the ballpark figures appropiate to EVDO? RWIN, MTU, etc. Just lemme know, and I'll script 'em! :D

2) How do I know if I need an antenna? I'll buy one if I know it'll help my connection out, but how do I know if it will make a big difference or not?

3) From what I can see, there's two different antennas available for the U720. First there's the one from Booster-Antenna.com (the one that kinda looks like a Star Trek symbol) and then the other one that is made is an adapter to RF rabbit ears. Which one is better?

4) I read somewhere that resting the U720 or antenna on a metallic surface would improve reception, but then I read somewhere else that it'll actually just make the U720 overheat. What's the answer on this?

5) Does plugging both ends of the Y-Cable in matter if it's going into a powered USB hub? I'll do it if I have too, I don't care, but I wanna know..

6) I read on http://www.evdoforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=2001about HA Address tuning. Has anyone done this on the U720? Is there any resource available that might help me find the best address for New Orleans?

7) Anyone know any other tweaks/changes I can do in order to better my performance?

8) Anyone use the U720 mac drivers (the mac.Intosh set)? I was curious if they're good drivers...that is if anyone sees significantly better speeds on PC's as opposed to mac's? I have both...

9) Has anyone tried these drivers on Intel Macs? My experience is it usually doesn't matter with drivers, but I'd like to hear from anyone who knows.

10) I don't think I'd ever use it in this application, but out of curiosity has anyone got drivers for any sort of EVDO device to work on Linux or ReactOS? Probably not, I'd suspect, but I figure if anyone knows it's you guys.

I've been lurking around here for a while as I tried to figure this whole EVDO thing out, and I have to say that the threads here are awesome and very informative. So, kudos to ya'll.

Thanks in advance!

Alex · Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 9:17 pm Post subject: Re: 10 EVDO newb questions

2 & 3. First, I'd get a sense for what your signal strength is. you won't be able to read it on mac, but you will on windows. do a speedtest at http://dslreports.com/stest and tell us your speeds, and what signal strength in bars and dbm you had at the time of the test. (don't forget to post your results on http://evdomaps.com)

5. prolly the easiest way to tell if your usb hub will cut it, is the amp rating of the a/c adapter for it. if its rated at least 1amp, its good, and you shouldn't need the Y cable, unless you have a bunch of other power drawing devices on that hub.

8 & 9. by now, hundreds of people have used mac.intosh's drivers... on everything from g3 toilet-seat ibooks, every desktop with usb, and every intel mac. they are great drivers.

TheJickler · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 28 Jan 2007 Posts: 11

<a href="http://speedtest.dslreports.com"><img border=0 src="http://www.dslreports.com/im/23286731/79128.png"></a>
Strength: -69dBm

I seem to have max bars...which I think is five? I can't count them, because I found my monitor in a dumpster two months ago, but they're definately maxed out.

I WANT to say that this speed isn't correct, because I feel it's a lot faster on my Mac. I THINK this is because my PC doesn't have USB 2 ports...but I don't know. Point is, I think I recall testing around 700 on download speeds on my mac earlier.

I'll test it on the mac and post it a bit later. My Mac and PC are physically in the same location, so the signal should be the same.

Michael · Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 1:42 pm Post subject:

TheJickler · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 28 Jan 2007 Posts: 11

My modem stopped working today. Websites started loading forever and programs that connected to servers started timing out. After disconnecting it would not reconnect again. After a few hours it finally decided to reconnect again, and worked normally for a few minutes before exhibiting the same symptoms. I called Sprint, and they told me that coverage in this area was normal. They told me to go to a Sprint store, and I did.

At the Sprint store they took the modem and tested it. Tech never talked to me, but the associate said that they were going to give me a new one. I'm updating the firmware on it now and will test it soon.

They never explicitly told me that it was bad, but you would think they wouldn't be in the habit of passing out free aircards. I'm trying to think of what I could have done that would mess it up (may not have been MY fault, but still...) and I can only think of one idea.

I had both ends of the Y cable plugged into a USB hub. The hub was powered at maybe 2.6 amps, I think. Perhaps it was fried? Maybe it's not possible, but it's the only thing I can think of.

Bigdave · EVDO Addict Joined: 08 Nov 2006 Posts: 1069

TheJickler · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 28 Jan 2007 Posts: 11

Yeah, yeah.... I have a Mac Mini though. Two USB ports, no PS/2 ports...it would actually be impossible to have both ports plugged into the PSU and type something as well. Maybe I'll try one port going into the PSU, with the hub coming out of the other one for the rest of my crap, and see if that gives it enough power.... I dunno.

I'm still waiting for the new one to finish activating (Four hours, apparently). It's been a whole host of problems with that, apparently the activation code they gave me way invalid, according to phone support.... Then I went to the store, and they had written it down wrong. The firmware won't update (I believe the error message is something along the lines of "Failed to close port" or something like that). At this point, after having been to the Sprint store for three consecutive days and on hold on the phone for God knows how long, I'm thinking I may just give up on the firmware if I can get this new card to connect. New Orleans isn't Rev. A, which from the firmware notes, I take is the whole point of the upgrade. Do you guys think that this would be a big deal (assuming it will connect w/o the upgrade, I'm thinking it will...) or is it really important?

OpticalSword · EVDO Newbie Joined: 02 Feb 2007 Posts: 5

I think you should sprint away from Sprint, and head to Verizon.
The nightmare i had with my recent visit to Sprint, you would not believe.
I do not think that the modem was fried by you using both Ports.
The power output of the transformer has nothing to do with the power used.
The power used, is based on what it needs to transmit.
That power, i think should be limited by the modem.
So do not feel guilty.
It was probably defected, OR zapped by a static charge during your handling it, or some transient voltage, who knows.
But after you brought it in, that is when the Sprint techs failed.

TheJickler · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 28 Jan 2007 Posts: 11

I plugged in only one port to the USB hub just to be safe. ACTUALLY, my speeds are the highest they've ever been (862 d/l), but that's probably just because of tower usage and what not.
Never updated the firmware. My feeling is that if it's working, I'll live.

As for Verizon? Given my limited experience with Sprint tech support has been fairly bad, as long as I can get it working at the end of the day, I'm happy. I use EVDO primarily for gaming-- I live on a college campus where the LAN is WAY too slow (2k-3k lat on a good day. My record was 12k). VZW is fine for my cell phone, but, somehow, I don't the folks at VZW would appreciate my EVDO usage that much :twisted:

OpticalSword · EVDO Newbie Joined: 02 Feb 2007 Posts: 5

Is their any actual evidence that one is faster than the other; Sprint or VZ?
How does the sprint network speed get affected by their liberal policy of allowing gaming, over Verizon?
I have only had Verizon, and recently went to sprint after 8 years.
What a nightmare.
Can you believe that after waiting an HOUR the guy who claimed to know the product, insisted that the USB Modem had a Y connnector allowing TWO COMPUTERS TO BE USED AT ONCE, WITH NO NEED FOR A ROUTER!!!!
Can you imagine, how after two hours in the store, i get home, and as soon as i actually look at the piece, see the gender is wrong. Then, the Disc's instructions clearly explain it is for power.
How they treated me when i went back is the real problem, and should be the subject of another post.

xenophon · EVDO Addict Joined: 30 Aug 2005 Posts: 2003

OpticalSword · EVDO Newbie Joined: 02 Feb 2007 Posts: 5

What about actual saturation of the areas.
You think if i were traveling accross the usa in an RV, and boondocking, that i would have better luck with VZW, or Sprint?

Also, here is a real stupid question: How does buying from this site work, return options, costs, etc?

xenophon · EVDO Addict Joined: 30 Aug 2005 Posts: 2003

Both Sprint and Verizon claim over 200m population coverage with DO. Sprint now roams on DO on Alltel while Verizon does not so your chances are better on road in rural areas in some states with Alltel/Sprint than Verizon. Also, Sprint data roams 1xRTT on Verizon so that's not an issue. Data roaming is more seamless than voice roaming.

OpticalSword · EVDO Newbie Joined: 02 Feb 2007 Posts: 5

XENOPHEN, So i have to pay roaming charges with Sprint?
Can i sign up for an account with sprint through this site, or do i have to deal with them bad people?

Bigdave · EVDO Addict Joined: 08 Nov 2006 Posts: 1069

You can do it all right through this site. They handle it all as if you were dealing directly with Sprint with one exception . . . they actually know what they're doing. Imagine that!

No roaming charges and true unlimited data. Works great traveling too.