Disgusted.... (with AllTel)

khelek · EVDO Newbie Joined: 08 Oct 2007 Posts: 1

OK...frustrated. I hate when things don't "just work" (and I'm a Linux zealot!).

I'm new to the forums and to EVDO. Here's my story:

Two Saturdays ago I helped my preacher set up his new KR1 router with his KPC650 card. He lives about 2 miles from me. He'd told me he had the service and was pretty happy with it, but given that we live in the boonies, I wondered if it would be better than my ISDN. After helping him that Saturday, I was convinced -- this was my ISDN killer!

So, the following week, I ordered Alltel's Axcess offering, the only EVDO service available out here. I ordered my KR1, as I wanted to network the whole house. I had to order through my the wireless department at the University where I work because the University would be paying for it. So I ordered the service and requested the KPC650, as I knew that would work with the router. None available, so they sent the PC5750. I'd read that there were issues with this card and router combo, but figured I would bring it home and try it. Well, I plugged it into the router, powered it on, let it boot up, and brought up my laptop on the wireless network. First site I hit -- speedtest.net. What did I get? Between 500 and 900 kbps! I was ECSTATIC! And then...the connection died. Yes, it was consistent with what others reported with the combo. So, having noticed that the KPC680 now comes with a PCMCIA sled and knowing that Kyocera would, for sure, make *that* compatible with the KR1, I returned the PC5750 for the KPC680.

So, in some sort of big, cosmic joke put on by the universe in an effort to keep me from finding some sort of happiness in better internet service, not ONLY would the PCMCIA adapter NOT work in the KR1....I couldn't get the stupid thing to load in either one of two XP laptops at work, or a Vista laptop someone loaned me!!

So, today I found a newer laptop, running XP, and had an ExpressCard slot in it. Loaded the software, plugged in the card, activated, life is good. Did some testing and was getting incredible speeds at work -- ~800 down and 125 up! I was sure that once my USB adapter got here, this was going to be even better than I originally imagined. But, before that, I asked if I could continue borrowing the laptop to see what sort of speeds I would be getting at home. So, I brought it home, booted it up, connected to Alltel, hit speedtest.net and anxiously held my breath waiting to be blown away....

I didn't even break 200 down! I literally felt *ill* when I saw that. On top of that, my connection won't even hold.

So...yeah. That's it in a nutshell. I'm hoping that something on the laptop is hosed causing the dismal performance, but somehow I don't think that's it. My other hope is that something is going on with the tower out here. The only thing I can do is wait for my adapter to get in and see what things are like when I plug it in the KR1. I never tried the PC5750 in a laptop from the house, just in the router, so who knows. But I was sure that I would see even better speeds with the KPC680.

Thanks for listening.

Brian

UPDATE After doing some more reading in the forums, I did stumble across a post that mentioned updating the PRL. I found out my card had the 40007 PRL in it. I found the 40023 (latest) and loaded it. I think it helped *some*, but alas, I'm not seeing the dramatic improvement in speeds I thought it would bring me, but my connection at least stays longer.

scsheleby · EVDO Newbie Joined: 22 Sep 2007 Posts: 8

I have the 680 and prl 30008. I tried to update my prl to the latest but I don't think I'm doing it right. I downloaded the prl to my desktop and did the control D and loaded the file. It said activating and the activation failed. Please tell me how you did it. Thanks!

Guest · Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 7:26 am Post subject:

Getting the 680/sled/KR1 to work is rough at best. I tried their sled, the Novatel Sled, and a SIIG USB adapter. I had the best results with the SIIG, but in the end, it still didn't stay connected.

I returned it all and now have a 5750 and the linksys router. So far, they work well together.

FLTRider

Chuong · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 11 Aug 2006 Posts: 25

Can anybody show me how to upgrade the Alltel KPC680 to latest PRL.Thanks

Guest · Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 8:37 am Post subject:

The easiest way is to activate the card in a laptop, and while your are connected, call Alltel tech support and have them "push" the latest PRL to your card. You will need to know your account/phone number assigned to the card.

FLTRider

mwyatt · EVDO Newbie Joined: 21 Dec 2005 Posts: 5

khelek,

sorry to hear you having so much trouble. Are you getting an EVDO signal at home? Or is it 1X? 1X has larger coverage area, but is only 144k. As long as you can get an EVDO signal at around -80 to -90 RSSI, the Alltel service is pretty decent. You should have 14 days to play with the service/cards.

I had a lot of issues with the KPC680 and the included PCMCIA adapter. I went back and got the Huawei EC360 and haven't had an issue. (I don't know anything about the KR1 & the Huawei) The Huawei is working better then my old KPC650 and is more stable in my windows & linux PCs.