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VZWs 4G IS COLOSSAL FAILURE

I am now into my 8th day of VZW 4G. On 4/22 I upgraded a 3G MiFi to a 4G MiFi, purchased a Thunderbolt and a Xoom. The first 2 or 3 days was a beautiful thing for the most part. 10,15 even 20Mb down connections and as much as 12Mb up. Bliss! Then came "the outage" and it's been nothing but disappointment ever since. Another oddity is the range now. If I get only 10' or more away from the MiFi it's no longer visible.

This week I returned the Thunderbolt because I couldn't find the 4G benefit and the Xoom without reliable 4G is pointless for the purpose I purchased it.

I have kept the 4G MiFi only because I still need a MiFi whether it's 3G or 4G. However, it would seem that even that is in question now because as of this moment I stall can't connect at better than an old 2400 baud modem in either direction although I have a nice bright green 4G light.

Honestly, this seems like the kind of problems I experience in the dozens of alpha and beta programs I participate in. VZW 4G is NOT ready for prime-time.

Comments

snowpilot

I'm not sure what you are talking about. All my problems with 4G LTE has been due to the Samsung unit I am using. Even to this day I haven't been able to connect my iphone and macbook on the same mifi. I'm going to return it once I get off the road.

I've hit 8 citys after the outage, and besides a little delay logging in in oklahoma city the network has been rock solid. I've been very impressed.

I'm looking forward to exchanging this samsung unit. I'm going to do it when I get home.

So besides the hardware it has been an impressive experience.

XCore

I thought I was pretty clear about what I was talking about???

However, this is what I woke up to today:

Still short of VZW promises but better than 10 times what I've seen in a week (if connected at all). Maybe thinkgs are looking up.

Fingers crossed!

snowpilot

This is what I woke to this am. West Coast

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1276069959.png

This afternoon on the east coast.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1277187470.png

I tried to put the pic in like you did but it kept removing it from the post.

PJNC284

nothing wrong with those numbers. 5-12Mbps down and 1-5 up is what Verizon has "promised". Numbers in the high teens or 20's likely won't stick around as the network gets more and more saturated with LTE devices.

VL600_Boston

As other responders mentioned, your numbers are in the ballpark. But I understand your frustration.

Now for a few technical tidbits (i prefer vodka to koolaid :smileyhappy: ). Despite the marketing hype, no providers in the USA are offerring true 4G. LTE is not really 4G as defined by the ITU. You can call it 3.x G, with x being whatever you want. Here's the reason. The ITU has considered operation by the level of "mobility". If you are walking or sitting in your office, you should get higher speeds. If you are driving or on a 160 kph train, your average datarates will likely drop.

LTE and other pre-4G standards do not provide a 4G service level when you are not moving. If you want that level today, you need a fixed broadband solution which most businesses use. For the biz traveller, it's no different than in the past, just a lot better. Don't expect a uniform experience everywhere , all the time. Verizon's offering is a step along the way.

A lot of complaints are, of course, Verizon's fault. First, they hyped their product, we did not. They created the expectation of ultra-fast, uniform service everywhere, all the time. They deserve to have irate customers bugging them. They set themselves up for this. But that is the way things are marketed in the USA - and Americans fall for it. Big b00b$ get press.... :smileyhappy: I hope this helps a bit.

scottshad

I live in Tennessee, and the only city slated for 4G is Nashville.

I saw an ad yesterday that AT&T is offering a 3G 8gig Iphone.

Why is Verizon not offering it?

And tell me what is the sense of having 4G when it is not available anywhere in the state?

I would think that Verizon would jump on the band wagon to have the 3G for areas that will not have 4G for a long time.

Trust me, I know Verizon (I do love this company but...) and they will take their swweet time to make all of the market 4G.

budone

scottshad wrote:
I live in Tennessee, and the only city slated for 4G is Nashville.
I saw an ad yesterday that AT&T is offering a 3G 8gig Iphone. It is an older generation phone
Why is Verizon not offering it? Because it is a GSM phone
And tell me what is the sense of having 4G when it is not available anywhere in the state? Hmmmmmmmm, people travel???? The plan does not cost anymore than a plan for a 3G phone and has unlimited data.....
I would think that Verizon would jump on the band wagon to have the 3G for areas that will not have 4G for a long time. I think VZW already has the 3G covered.
Trust me, I know Verizon (I do love this company but...) and they will take their swweet time to make all of the market 4G. The way they are rolling it out, give it three years.

Also I see Nashville and Chattanooga are live. Bristol, Johnson City, Knoxville, Memphis, Clarksville and other areas will be live by year end. Hmmmmmmm

XCore

Started my day about 4 hours ago and testing about once an hour, this is fairly indicative of what I've had all all day:

XCore

Look folks, don't take it so personally when you read mine or anyone else critical posts. And don't make assumptions either.

I'm as big a VZW koolaid drinker as anyone. I've spent what seems like hours fondling an iPhone at an AT&T store and marveling at it's beauty only to walk out of the store empty handed and mumbling to myself, "One day, they'll (VZW) have it one day soon, I'm sure of it". I did that for what? Three almost four years.

Having said that, the hype was (and still is) 10X faster than what they currently offer under 3G. I don't care if they call it 4G, 14G or abcdefg, the promise is 10X faster. If you go into a VZW store right now, they will swear it's 10X faster and many of then will even quote numbers, like 10Mb, 20Mb and so on.

My speeds were great the first few days but ever since the outage last Wednesday, My speeds are averaging around 3Mb/ down and 0.4Mb up. That's about 2X what I was getting with my 3G device and way short of other 4G tests I see here regularly.

Just hoping it all gets sorted out sooner than later.

ArnettH_VZW

Hello XCore,

My apologies about your past experiences with our 4G service. May I ask are you still having the issue with your 4G modem?Based on your post, the connection is slow and inconsistent. We would like to troubleshoot your issue with you. I will DM to get a better understanding of the issue. Thank you...

VL600_Boston

Here are my Speedtest numbers in Boston. Download: 19 Mb/s, upload 5.6 Mb/s. Ping 67 ms NY is usually faster.

What is not necessarily shown is DNS server delay. A slow DN server will not affect large file performance but web pages pulling content from several sources can load slowly if DN entries are not properly cached.

Speedtest

What is your signal level in SC?

Tidbits

I can show you the screenshots of my Thunderbolt in Hawaii when I had 2 hours worth of LTE and the slowest I got was 4, and the highest I got was 8. I never really tested it out I was too busy at the airport to visit my cousins on Maui.

They just started to full push the startup of LTE and I wouldn't be surprised for hiccups. I have never seen a network put up that didn't have initial problems in the beginning. Give it time and it should get better it's a work in progress and they are not finished rolling it out.

From what I have seen... I have never seen them say "10X faster" without the "UP TO" before it... If you take it out of context it just spreads misconception.

XCore

Returning the MiFi 4510L today and taking the cancellation hit. Just sick of the whole thing.

XCore

says it all...

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