EVDO Antenna questions and where is my directional antenna !

moejama · EVDO Newbie Joined: 02 Aug 2007 Posts: 5

Hey guys, now I know this a popular question, but a lot of the responses are pretty old and I want to ensure I get the latest unbiased opinions.

First off, I've searched the forums and have yet to see a good way to find the distance to my tower. I'm also on the very edge of what Sprint has declared 'increased broadband speeds'. Right now in the humidity and summer foliage
I'm getting horrible rates most of the time, constant disconnects, dropped packets, sometimes the KR1 all together stops responding and has to be power cycled.

Since I'm 'officially' in the EVDO Rev A area I thought I'd have a bit easier time than this but I guess I'm more realistically outside of the REV A area or just very unlucky.

This solutions goal is to replace the current ISDN network, which is the fastest low latency connection we can get out here until DSL or Cable come through (if ever). ISDN is very expensive and barely supported. It's so bad that if we are late on our bill Verizon will try to cancel our service and then tell us they no longer offer ISDN, so we figure we are one of their last remaining ISDN customers. So, it's a bad spot to be in for high speed internet. I would go satellite but one of the main uses will be to play Everquest (not for me) and now with supposed EVDO in the area this should be a better option .. right ?

Anyway, we have a Merlin s720 hooked to a KR1 current using the Freedom Booster Antenna purchased from 3GSTORE.COM
During a recent period of drought I was getting 1200 mbps or more and decent upload also. However, the rain is back and I supposed the foliage has sucked up a lot more water and my connection is back down to 200 mbps and horrible upload speeds around 20 mbps. That's IF I can even get the speed test to finish.

Oddly for the first second of three I see to get good rates, such in the 800 mbps range then then just steadily drop back to the 200 range or lower. Then after a few hours I will have to reboot or power cycle to get a new fresh connection, which will tend to initially be fast for the first few seconds and then drop off quickly.

SO, I am in the process of returning my KR1, just because I don't like the way it's looking at me. Well really I know how routers are supposed to work and when the thing is ON and its not showing a WLAN connection I know it's a bad router.

However, I don't really think the cellular side of the router is bad, just the dlink crap. In hindsight I should have gotten the Linksys because overall I've had much less long term success with Dlink products.

So beyond returning the KR1 for a new KR1 (which will likely also suck) since it's all new technology (though routers aren't really new).
I also want to get a better antenna.

I read the owners of the 3GStore and this forum suggest the Omni for best performance and simplicity. I may try this, but reading the forums I seem to see a lot of people on the fringe areas with success using these directional antennas. It makes much more sense that they would perform better and I'm pretty disappointed that 3G doesn't carry at least one because while your tests may not show yagi's to be useful many of your users tests seem to show the opposite. Observed science is always my favorite, but I wanted to get some opinions.

I don't have hills to worry about around here, but the house is rather surrounded by trees. The house peak is likely about 30 feet or slightly more and I can install a pole. I'm going to upgrade to EITHER a direction antenna or the OMNI. Now as far what kind of directional, I'm not sure. I see more people trying YAGIs. We don't have a lot of snow and ice here, some but nothing heavy.
I liked to look of these Direction WIFI antenna for 2.4 ghz an 24db gain as one user has posted.

I'm surprised I don't see more weather proof options for EVDO such as the weather proof WIFI Access Points that use Power Over Ethernet.

Seems to me a great way to reduce cable length would be a Power over Ethernet EVDO router. I guess the products are most imature at this point seeing as you have to insert a PCMCIA card into them, or simply the maker didn't grasp a large part of their market would be no mobile users.

We have verizon phones which until the recent lush summer had workable signals. Currently they lose their calls occasionally and have poor reception. This will fade as summer ends and fall begins, but for now it sucks and this eventually has to be the main and only internet connection, so periods of little to no performance cannot happen. So I've thought a repeater would be useful and another site recommended that setup. I think they recommend it however because it easier.

Does anyone have any number on exactly how much better these direct connect setups are then the repeaters. Still whoever forgot to make the repeaters weatherproof is pretty lame. Too bad cellular makers didn't look more closely at the WIFI market before releasing these half working products and straight up fraudulent EVDO coverage claims. Yea I have EVDO coverage for like 8 months out of the year. Hey at least that's more than half right.. pfft.

Also why aren't most of these questions alread sticky notes in the antenna forum, such as how to find your tower and well quite honestly some updates would be nice also. A lot of this stuff was written in 2005. Am I missing something? Is there a place with more up-to-date info ?

I'd like to buy my stuff from 3G because they support the forum community approach, but I'm not why so many users are posting experiences using equipment 3G doesn't sell. I mean even a nice guy business will stock things the customers want regardless of their exact personal preference. So how can it be that people claim better experiences on fringe areas with directions many times yet I can't buy a directional antenna from 3G and I'm supposed to hop around their off site link rules on top of that.

Well if you don't want people posting off site links then get some of that stuff on-site. In some ways such a policy limits good information trade by isolating this community, which is not a good position from my perspective as a customer.

In many of these instances I think one think 3G may be missing is that for many of us, price is not an issue. Thanks for funding us the best deals, but
I spend over 120 a month just for 100 kbps ISDN. What I need is ALL the solutions, even the expensive options. And I know you claim the OMNI outperforms everything, but at some point that just defies common sense, especially with user accounts depicting the opposite situation, if even occasionally.

Honestly I think most of the reason we don't have a directional antenna is that they are hard to setup and it would amount to a lot more tech support to get setup correctly. That seems much more logical than the claim that there is no directional on earth that works right. Either that or there is some legal or marketing barrier preventing the sales of these high gain antennas.

All in all I may wind up getting stuck with a lower quality antenna and spending my money else where because I can't get what I want from 3G. Normally that's no big deal, but in this case I might wind up being stuck with 3G store credit and the choice of OMNI, OMNI or.. oh OMNI.

Well what if directional is the right choice for me and now my money is stuck in your return policy. Can you see how that sucks for the customer ?
Why not pickup the WIFI directional or some other 'hobbiest' antenna just for us freaks who don't want the OMNI.

Also I don't current have a laptop handy by my signal jumps around from -95 to -115 ish. I don't have great numbers for that since the industry didn't realize that people without laptops might want wireless broadband.

I think I'm wasting my time asking this, but is there any other way to accurately measure the signal and noise. The Kr1 built in signal meter is more or less a joke, which for a device that is so reliant on good signal, is a pretty crappy and my OLD 700 mhz laptop doesn't have a 32 bit slot or something but the card just doesn't show up.

My signal is 1900 mhz which I got from some website posted here, but not tower location so far. Maybe what we need is a poll that lists everyones distance from the tower and type of antenna/amp instead of a bunch of random threads or a database better yet. The Antenna Guide.

jfulmer · EVDO Heavy User Joined: 30 Jun 2007 Posts: 125

jfulmer · EVDO Heavy User Joined: 30 Jun 2007 Posts: 125

moejama · EVDO Newbie Joined: 02 Aug 2007 Posts: 5

Yea as I said they would be harder to support but that just a sad reality of most long distance wireless connection.

No Linksys and Dlink do not make waterproof router, but their routers also don't usually cost 200 dollars and if you look around you'll see that in the big picture of think Linksys and Dlink are all pretty much the lowest end stuff you can buy.

They do in fact make great waterproofed wireless power over ethernet access points and routers. How do you think they put up wireless networks on campus or in major cities ? Lots of access points in the windows ?

Oh wow that map actually does zoom if you try it enough times. I could never get it to. Is that really the best I can get. I tired sprints coverage map but it's really odd. I think the thing has some bugs because when I click broadband it shows me some towers and when I click off broadband coverage those tower disappear and it shows me another tower that will be built soon, but you can't see the tower unless you turn off the broadband coverage overlay. That's the EVDO coverage, not the tower map. I looks as though Sprint my be putting in a tower in the next 120 days which will be closest to me. I guess that's another notch for the OMNI

Man it would be so much easier if Sprint would just put the towers on the coverage map. This whole EVDO experience is a nightmare really. I can't get an accurate tower location, my dlink powered KR1 is crap, my signal jumps around from useless to broadband speed and refuses to autoconnect and I have the mighty selection of one reviewed antenna and amp to pick from. I just thought being in the red EVDO coverage area would mean that I could get internet even slow it should be as fast as ISDN. This is false advertising on Sprint's part. It should show NO realistic connection in my area as I get 0-1 bar unless I'm upstairs. So you couldn't even use it for mobile without an external antenna. It's a total scam so far.

So anyone have any ideas on why a significant fraction of users on the fringe areas are reporting more success with directional antennas ? I have this feeling that I'd be better off with a directional antenna but I'll get an OMNI and perhaps be stuck with that. Hopefully a tower upgrade can help me out, but I'm not betting on it. Any reason why these amps cost so much? I bet it's not because they cost that much to make. Will this antenna and amp be obsolete when 4G comes through?

Even better question. Has 3G bought the 4G domain yet. heh

Bigdave · EVDO Addict Joined: 08 Nov 2006 Posts: 1068

Wow! What a first post!! Welcome to the forum?

I am a total glutton for punishment. I actually read this whole page, misspelled words, typos and all. Now I have a headache . . . . . . lots of ranting & complaining. Geez!!!

Do you rant with Wal-Mart because they don't sell GMC autos? Or maybe rant with Sears because they choose to not sell houses. (Any more that is . . . Smile

) Or maybe even raise cain at the McDonalds drive-thru because they don't sell bbq? (OMG!! I bet that was you in front of me the other day!!!!! Now I understand!)

No. You go to the GMC dealership for your GMC and probably a realtor to buy a house and Sonny's or some other bbq place for bbq. Give it a break.

3GStore, for what appears to be very valid reasoning as expounded on above, has chosen not to sell directional antennas. There are plenty of other sources where you can buy them. Choose one of them - PLEASE!

You allude to the fact that money isn't an object yet you complain on and on about the store credit policy at 3GStore. Huh?

Basically, what I get from all this, is that you appear to want to blame 3GStore for the leaves on the trees and the rain in your area. I truly feel your pain but I think you're pointing your frustration in the wrong direction. If you were getting a good signal before and have dropped so far off I would be willing to bet it's more than just the leaves and the rain. It sounds highly possible that you are experiencing a tower problem. Getting Sprint to check it out is a whole nuther experience but it is a defininte possibility.

Now, look at me. I've gone and rambled on and on too. It's contagious. Geez!

payne · EVDO Newbie Joined: 03 Aug 2007 Posts: 2

Hey moejama...

Would like to share info sense we seem to have the same problems, ie., poor signal...too many trees...looking for the "way" to boost signal strength...

Check out my profile and send me and email...

thx,
payne
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Payne Howard