Newbie thinking about UM150 on Alltel.

taxmantoo

I'm in rural Michigan (zip 49076) and I want a wireless connection for full time hookup to my stockbroker. I only use 2-3MB an hour of bandwidth for quotes/charts, but sometimes I browse a web page that taxes my dial-up and makes my quotes freeze, and quotes sometimes lag while downloading email.
I would like to have faster web browsing than I currently get from dial-up, and I need a stable connection.
The local Alltel salesman doesn't think there is any Rev.A around here, and the only USB device he has is the Franklin 550.

This would likely be a temporary setup. I hope to be moving to a location where I can get AT&T DSL. Currently I'm about 3.9 miles from the Alltel tower, and my Nokia phone on Alltel shows 3-4 bars out of a possible 7 as I sit at my computer near a window that has LOS through trees to the tower.

I'm thinking of buying a used/returned UM150 off eBay for $70-80 and activating it on a month to month basis. Can I expect steady glitch-free service with the modem plugged into the back of my computer or dangling out the window on a 6' USB cord, or am I likely to need a real antenna?
A ten second pause can get a gamer killed, but for me it can mean $100 down the drain.

paperlady316 · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 8:11 pm Post subject:

Don't know your area, but I'm 2.27 miles from tower and had to have antenna with my UM150. Now, tho, I'm zooming most times.

taxmantoo · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 8:37 pm Post subject:

Thanks, PL.
What antenna did you end up getting?
I looked through some of your earlier posts and it looks like you kept dropping to 1x service? How many bars does the phone show at your house, and how many did the UM150 show?

taxmantoo · Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 12:59 pm Post subject:

Well, my $80 eBay UM150 is on the way.
When it gets here, I'll report the number of signal LEDs I get.
When I activate it, should I do it online at Alltel or should I go to the local reseller? Any chance I could get a minor price concession out of the reseller, like maybe free activation?

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

You can either do it over the phone or at the store. (Not sure about online - don't think so.....) I wouldn't be looking for anyone knocking off the activation fee though. Stranger things have happened so it certainly wouldn't hurt to try but $35 is a small price to pay for the freedom of not being under contract to any of the carriers.

Maybe if enough people start going this route the carriers will eventually wake up and realize that we're not a problem for them - instead, we are the reason they exist and then maybe they could manage to squeeze the service back into "Customer Service" . . . . but there I go again . . . . . . . . . sorry! Wink

ImaNoob · EVDO User Joined: 13 Jan 2008 Posts: 39

I too am in a very rural area of Northern Michigan. If you do some searches on my previous posts you will see what I am reporting for speed using the UM150AL.

I'm usually connected in Rev A, which to this day amazes me. But just this past (3) days, the connection has been terrible!! It will connect in RA, then drop cause it went to DO, then back to RA, etc. And it keeps doing this, over and over. Obviously Alltel is doing something, but when I call them you can't get an answer. Its annoying to say the least.

As I stated do some searches on my username, and you'll see some of my speedtest.net results.

-Noob

taxmantoo · Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 3:36 pm Post subject: Got my UM150 today

Received my slightly used UM150 ebay modem today.

Weather not good today, so it's possible I can do better tomorrow.
Usually seeing RTT at -85 to -105db, but at one point I was getting -81 RTT and -83 DO. Another time I got -83 RTT and -84 DO. Every time I see DO, it drops to RTT within a minute.

This thing is supposed to have the antenna vertical, right?

I've got some questions about the lights. The "power" light on the UM150 doesn't come on, just blinks occasionally. I have not activated yet, does the power light only work when you're connected to Alltel, or is something wrong?

Will any antenna setup intended for a Verizon UM150 work?
Thinking about a booster antenna indoors or maybe a trucker outside the window. I don't think the signal I'm seeing now is good enough, unless I get lucky in finding a better place for the modem.

taxmantoo · Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 2:26 pm Post subject:

I finally called Alltel and authorized them to charge my credit card and turn on the UM150. After some PRL changing, I got a decent Rev.0 connection with the modem just sitting on top of my computer. Took me 200 seconds to d/l a 11.6mb .pdf file, and it looks like my uploads are 1/3 to 1/4 that speed. Way faster than 26.4k dialup.

RSSI was reading -76 to -77db when I did this test. Modem sitting on top of a cardboard box on top of the computer, near a window, 3.7 miles from the nearest known Alltel tower. (there is a tower a mile away, but I don't think Alltel has an antenna on it)

taxmantoo · Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:52 pm Post subject:

Plugged it into the notebook in another room today, and saw RA service!
Boy was I excited. Then I ran the field test and found out I was connected at PCS 1900mhz, so obviously a Sprint tower. It was rush hour, and my signal was running about -85, when I did these speed tests:

I don't know if the Sprint tower is busier, or if 10db of signal strength costs me about 400k on the downloads. The Alltel tower is very consistent, I suspect I may be the only data user on Alltel.