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MiFi 4510L gets stuck in "dormant" state

Firmware v2.23 is far and away better than the older firmware, but still, once or twice a week, the device will fail. The symptoms:

1. WiFi is still connected, but any data I/O simply hangs.

2. vz.hotspot responds, and shows the connection state correctly, except that it is "dormant."

Hitting "Disconnect" waiting and then hitting "connect" works around the problem and brings the connection back up.

The "dormant" state is not sufficient to identify this problem - the mifi connection is often dormant, but when you start doing something, it typically "un-dormants" itself and operates normally. Only sometimes - once or twice a week for me - does it wind up in a state of semi-permanent dormancy.

Comments

John_Getzke

Hello,

Check your diagnostics log the next time you notice the problem. Check for any disconnection events that might identify a glitch in the connection. Sometimes the MiFi will be able to identify a problem with the network and display it in that area. Your feedback on the ability to hit "Connect" and "Disconnect" to resolve the problems seems to point us in this direction.

Also, share with us your signal strength when the problem happens. Something may be interfering with your connection that intermittently disconnects/ties you up. Good 3G signals are -80 dB or lower. An antenna or booster may be able to help you if your signal strength is higher than that.

You are correct when you say that the "Dormant" state is not sufficient to iden. the problem. But for now we do not have a better term for this symptom so I understand where you are coming from.

nwsayer

John_Getzke wrote:
Hello,

Check your diagnostics log the next time you notice the problem. Check for any disconnection events that might identify a glitch in the connection. Sometimes the MiFi will be able to identify a problem with the network and display it in that area. Your feedback on the ability to hit "Connect" and "Disconnect" to resolve the problems seems to point us in this direction.

Also, share with us your signal strength when the problem happens. Something may be interfering with your connection that intermittently disconnects/ties you up. Good 3G signals are -80 dB or lower. An antenna or booster may be able to help you if your signal strength is higher than that.

You are correct when you say that the "Dormant" state is not sufficient to iden. the problem. But for now we do not have a better term for this symptom so I understand where you are coming from.

I'll check the diagnostic log next time. I've seen the log (I have it enabled), but it didn't occur to me to look at it.

Since I didn't look at the log, I don't have signal numbers, but I almost never see anything less than 4 bars. I don't really recall this being associated with a lack of a strong signal. Even the 2G network on my iPhone is virtually always 4 or 5 bars around here (Silicon Valley). I don't have a consistent location where this happens. I think it has happened most on CalTrain, but then, I mostly use the MiFi on CalTrain, so that doesn't say a lot.

The only other kind of event I can recall since upgrading to 2.23 was the LTE outage a few days ago, but that's not worth bringing up.

nwsayer

It may or may not have happened again this morning. I captured the logs, but after I did so, I checked it and the connection had come back. Looking at the log after that showed nothing more than the usual into and out of Dormant state messages.

Here's what I captured:
System Status
System Log> HTML Version 26.
12/14/11 08:09:52am> Current Time
12/14/11 08:09:44am> LTE in Dormant State
12/14/11 08:09:31am> First opening Index.html
12/14/11 08:09:27am> NWPM_EVENT_CALL_CONNECTED
12/14/11 08:09:27am> LTE Connected
12/14/11 08:09:17am> LTE Connection Failed
12/14/11 08:09:06am> LTE Connection Failed
12/14/11 08:08:55am> LTE Connection Failed
12/14/11 08:08:42am> [DHCP] Assign IP 192.168.1.2 Xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
12/14/11 08:07:35am> WMS IMS registered
12/14/11 08:07:18am> SIM Ready
12/14/11 08:07:18am> NWPM_EVENT_SIM_READY
12/14/11 08:07:14am> Start AP with battery
12/14/11 08:07:14am> NWPM_EVENT_MODE_ONLINE

MDN: xxxxxxxxxx
MEID: Blah blah
Channel: 0
P_REV Indicator: 6
PRL ID: 15041
Band Class Type: LTE BAND13
ERI Version: 4
Dormancy: FALSE
Signal - EVDO: Not Available
Signal - 1X: Not Available
Signal - LTE: -63 dBm
SINR - LTE: 19 dB
Battery Level: 4
Battery Charging: 0
Ec/Io : 19 dB

John_Getzke

What you captured here is a disconnection event from the LTE network. It looks like the device was able to recover on its own after about 30 seconds. Doesn't surprise me if you noticed your device was not working during that time. Browsing would have been able to recover but streaming content/VPN's would have been broken. The logs are consistent with what you have described so far.

I'm thinking this is more of a network problem but we cannot really be sure. A device failure could have happened on your SIM card in which case resetting should resolve or show signs of improvement. Network failures would have to be corrected by Verizon. The towers in the area may not be transferring you over correctly as you roam about. You could also be drowned out by other users as the towers prioritize other traffic over your own. Would you happen to be in a highly congested wireless area when this happened such as a coffee shop, airport or office building?

Your LTE signal strength at the time of this log looks to be good so I dont think that would be an issue. Your MiFi must have 3G disabled because it is not reporting a statistic for EVDO. SINR is the interferance in the area, mine is normally around 30dB but I am also not in a 4G area.

Keep logging for us and see if there are any consistencies.

nwsayer

I don't have CDMA disabled. I have noted that you always get "not available" for the SS for the connection mode you aren't using.

nwsayer

I caught it doing it again this afternoon. The log says nothing unusual; the last thing before the top is that it entered the Dormant state. The LTE signal strength is -63 dBm, which ought to be plenty.

And this time it didn't recover on its own. I had to perform a disconnect/connect cycle from vz.hotspot.

It's getting super, super annoying.

ocean_pilot

You can say that again.

How's that saying go "america's most reliable network"?

I'm coming to the conlusion that this sort of thing with the 4510L (as well as their smart phones) is LARGELY a network and/or bandwidth problem and verizon knows full well what causes these kinds of problems but just isn't about to admit the real reasons.

Fast rollouts of new technology always does.

An let's face it .... it's the American way!

Otherwise, they would lite a fire under their hardware provider to FIX the hardware internal software and do it NOW, or we're gonna cancel you and quit selling your product.

It's taken what ..... 7 months to get to the current version 2.23 and it still has obvious problems, including primitive, error prone upgrade procedures. Verizon's taking ownership of customer problems with hardware they sell is disgraceful. Just look at the blog.

I assume it has been noted the recent purchase of added spectrum from three cable companies. Uh Huh.

The chincy 5 and 10 gig data plans with absurdly expensive pricing for them for the 4510L will probably send me back to cable when my contract expires.

Life's too short.

Cheers ....

nwsayer

Happened again this morning. Nothing in the log other than LTE in dormant state. Dis- and re-connect brings it back. Seems like it's happening more often. It's not happening in what I would consider to be an overburdened area. Basically, it's the heart of suburbia in Silicon Valley this time - Southeast Santa Clara.

John_Getzke

We might have reached the limits of public troubleshooting then. If the device is no longer recording or detecting the disconnection event then it will be very difficult to move forward. Without a window into the device to see what its doing we really wont know what the problem is or how to correct it.

I would keep logging the disconnects for a week or two. Take note of the time, location, and what you were doing at the time of the problem. After you reconnect you could also try running a site survey tool to see if there are any competing wireless signals in the area. I like to use the one provided by meraki:

http://tools.meraki.com/stumbler#q=

If the problem is a deal breaker atleast you have a running log of the disconnection events and can try for reimbursement. I have seen some threads where users successfully recieved reimbursement for these devices, but I can only speculate as to what they needed to provide for Verizon to agree to it. Logging and detailing the problems makes the most sence to me.

nwsayer

I can virtually guarantee that this is not a wifi problem. I can always load and refresh vz.hotspot and never have any trouble loading the diagnostic log, not to mention having full wifi "bars" on my devices and being able to obtain DHCP leases, etc.

I've called support now, and they had no suggestions other than ones I have absolutely no expectation of efficacy - pull out the battery, reset to factory, yadda yadda yadda.

The last word from support is they now want to swap out the SIM card. I'll do that (because if I don't, then no doubt they will pin it all on that and refuse to move on), but again, I have zero confidence it will make any difference.

nwsayer

It took the store 4 SIM cards, 3 employees, 2 phone calls to support and one hour, but they finally managed to change out the SIM in my mifi. So far, the problem has not recurred, but I haven't really used it other than a brief test so far.

run2it2

All that the Meraki thing did was show me the same info the computer already shows unless I missed a button or something

nwsayer

The new SIM did not make any difference. I caught the MiFi doing this again this evening.

If there is a common denominator, I think it's movement. My MiFi is used more when I'm moving than not, but even so I can't remember an occasion when I've run into this when standing still.

John_Getzke

RUn2it wrote:
All that the Meraki thing did was show me the same info the computer already shows unless I missed a button or something

The Meraki tool displays more information than your Wireless Network Connections window on your computer. What is normally the most helpful is to actually see the different wireless channels and signals. For example, when there are competing Wireless N signals on the same channel as the MiFi the MiFi signal may be getting overpowered and drowned out. We have seen many instances of that scenario on these forums so far.

This tool is normally the most useful when there are many wireless signals in the same area.

John_Getzke

nsayer wrote:
The new SIM did not make any difference. I caught the MiFi doing this again this evening.

If there is a common denominator, I think it's movement. My MiFi is used more when I'm moving than not, but even so I can't remember an occasion when I've run into this when standing still.

Then it sounds like the towers are having a hard time handing off your signal or keeping track of you as you roam about. We still cannot conclude that the problem is specific to the device or the network at this time, but my gut tells me its a network problem.

I wonder if other users who notice dormancy are moving around when it happens too.

nwsayer

John_Getzke wrote:
Then it sounds like the towers are having a hard time handing off your signal or keeping track of you as you roam about. We still cannot conclude that the problem is specific to the device or the network at this time, but my gut tells me its a network problem.

I wonder if other users who notice dormancy are moving around when it happens too.

I wish there was a configuration knob where I could disable the dormant state. I'd quite happily sacrifice battery life for making this problem go away. My daily commute is only an hour on the train.

John_Getzke

Fresh off the presses!

http://community.vzw.com/t5/4G-Discussion/Please-read-Interesting-article-on-the-4G-LTE-signal-issue/m-p/755368/highlight/false

An article by Andriod Police addresses the 4G LTE disconnection issues. It looks like the explanation described in the article matches the symptoms of the "Dormant" problem perfectly. The good news is that we may now have a cause for the problem. Let's hope that Verizon can get to the bottom of it soon.

The bad news is that there still is no permanant fix for this kind of issue, nor are our MiFi's alone in the problem. We also don't know why some users have the issue and others do not. It appears to be a combination of both the new 4G SIM cards and the authentication network protocols that Verizon is using at the moment. Anything without a 4G SIM card has been uneffected.

Time will tell if Verizon can fix this problem without sending out new equiptment to everyone.

nwsayer

This just doesn't ring true to me somehow. I don't have to bounce the RF layer to get the MiFi back up, and I don't ever see authentication issues in the system log. My guess is that the device goes dormant, and the character of the network changes radically (perhaps through movement), and when it wakes up, it can't cope. And yet, it seemingly copes well enough that it doesn't bounce the connection or downgrade to EVDO or some such.

John_Getzke

A new solution has been proposed which may be helpful in this situation:

http://community.vzw.com/t5/4G-Discussion/Novatel-Wireless-MiFi4510L-stops-every-30-minutes/m-p/755822#M5919

The poster mentions enabling the MAC filter of the MiFi to help with his disconnection events. He noticed the problem was happening while around other wireless devices such as when he was traveling. I wonder if his solution would help in this situation. Let me know if you need help with the steps to enable the MAC Filter.

I admit this is truely a shot in the dark, but it might be worth it to try it out on one of your trips to work on the train and see if there is any improvement. Thanks again for all of your feedback as we continue to troubleshoot your problem! The community gains knowledge when people are willing to contribute to it.

nwsayer

I can see the logic in that solution - it's possible that if a large number of clients begin the connection process that perhaps the mifi might drop existing connections to attempt to service them (because of its internal connection limit). The MAC filter probably prevents that.

However, in my case, the WiFi connection is never in doubt. I never see the WiFi connection get dropped or waver in the slightest. I can always reach vz.hotspot, and can always look up the modem status and system log. With firmware 2.16, I saw the Mifi outright crash with some frequency. When THAT happened, the wifi would be dropped, but too when that happened, the entire device became stuck and needed to be powered back up. But I haven't seen that behavior since upgrading to 2.23.

nwsayer

Support is flailing on this. They first tried to replace the SIM. That took an hour, two store employees, three phone calls and four SIMs to accomplish and made no difference. Next, they sent a replacement device. That replacement is utterly defective - it locks up 30 seconds after being powered up. So much for Verizon's lauded 100 point inspection on refurbs.

I am hopping mad.

tryan

I had a similar issue, dormancy and dropping connections and found this thread when trying to solve it. I'm connecting with an HP Touchpad, so I thought perhaps it had something to do with the Touchpad. In troubleshooting, I changed the encryption to 128 bit WEP. No idea why this would have an impact on dormancy, but it seems to work much better for all devices. Can't say that will solve it for everyone, but seems to have worked for me. It still goes dormant, but seems to come out of it more gracefully.

nwsayer

The replacement for the replacement arrived, and it's operating nominally, but the problem still persists.

I'm not really willing to downgrade the security of the WiFi to WEP, since I mainly use my MiFi on a train, and the chance of getting hacked is unacceptably high.

tryan

you might want to try it at home, just to see if it works for you.

nwsayer

It hasn't made any difference I can detect. I still run into this at least daily.

cyberpunk

re 'dormant state' a solution that works for me every time within seconds...

* login to mifi 4510L (for me: http://192.168.1.1/mifi.cgi)

* select advanced > software update

* select 'check for update'

* watch 'dormant' change to 'connected'

* enjoy

I've had the dormant state during browsing, software updates, IM, email, skype, gtalk when roaming or stationary with full/clear wifi or full/low cell signal. this seems to work every time--logs reveal nothing. my logic for trying was verizon would want their device to connect to verizon home servers anytime and anywhere. been waiting for a real fix, finally had to share.

nwsayer

I'll try that next time. If this works, then it makes it really, really plain that this is a firmware bug in the MiFi. There should, in principle, be no difference whatsoever between the traffic of the MiFi checking for an update versus a client trying to do anything else.

jbb

First let me say that I LOVE Verizon's phone service. It beats the pants off AT&T. I've had them both. And my Verizon 3g USB gizmo always worked flawlessly.

However, this Mifi 4510L is a complete and total flop. It will not hold a connection no matter what firmware is in it (I now have 2.23.1). I've used it from NY to Las Vegas in the 12 days I've had it and it will not work properly anywhere. The times it does work for a few minutes, it's slow - very slow. The sad part is that I don't think Verizon has a clue what to do about it.

It's going back to the store and I'm going back to the 3g USB thing.

I also have an AT&T 4g Mifi and it screams. It never drops the connection, and it just always works. I'm keeping it for work and travel and giving the old USB thing to my wife. She's fine with its speed. But she could never tolerate the way the Verizon Mifi drops the connection all the time.

I've tried ALL the workarounds and different settings and all that stuff you see posted here, but the bottom line is that it doesn't work.

Ford had the Edsel and now Verizon has the 4510L, it's crazy old uncle that lives in the attic. It's a shame really. Verizon does everything else so well. They just can't do 4g yet.

clubtech5

I tried everything in this and other posts and my Mifi always got stuck in Dormant mode or endless loop of reconnecting.

The only thing that solved this for me was disabling the SSID broadcast of the mifi and since i have not had a single issue with the device.

Has anyone tried disabling the SSID and check if solved their problem?

nwsayer

I can confirm that checking for a software update will shake the mifi out of the stuck-dormant state. The benefit of doing it that way is that you're less likely to lose your WAN IP address, so long-lived TCP sessions or VPN connections should be less likely to fail. I'll check this next time it dies (should be later on today if history is any guide).

nwsayer

jbb wrote:
However, this Mifi 4510L is a complete and total flop. It will not hold a connection no matter what firmware is in it (I now have 2.23.1).

Where did you get 2.23.1? I have 2.23 on mine. So far as I know, that's the latest.

jbb

Came on it.

jbb

Give up on it man. You're gonna drive yourself crazy.

wmhjr

Folks, let's be honest about this. The 4150 (and quite possibly the Verizon LTE network at large) is a dismal failure. It is without a shadow of a doubt, the most unreliable, poorly performance and worst supported technology product I've had the unfortunate experience of living through in the past 20 years. Core defects exist in its implementation, and they are not "Wifi" in nature. They are all completely under the control of Verizon. I have massive, and undebatable data showing that the issue has nothing to do with signal strength, SNR, tower configuration, geographic or external interference, client device characteristics, etc. This is a Verizon problem (also being clear that I consider the Novatel/Samsung Mifi development and manufacturing as a Verizon issue, since Verizon had to certify and support those devices as well as the fact that Verizon sells them for use on their own network). There are even clear defects in the admin console. Selecting LTE Only no longer locks the device to LTE Only. I have screen shots of my device, having been set to LTE Only, being connected via 3G or worse yet, EVDO or 1XRTT. It is pathetic.

nwsayer

Oh, I don't know.

Apart from the couple of known, widescale outages I've experienced so far, the only problem I've systematically had with my 4510L is the dormant hang issue, and performing a firmware update check is the work-around for it.

The fact that a firmware-update check works around the dormancy problem tells me that this is a bug in the firmware of the device. In principle, there's no reason that the firmware update check traffic is any different from the other traffic flowing through the device. It's likely that because of this bug, local traffic is able to "wake up" the modem, but routed traffic does not. I'd think this would be fairly easy for them to fix, and I expect a fix in the next firmware release.

In contrast, firmware 2.16 was abysmal. That the firmware is improving gives me hope. That the one problem I am having has such an easy work-around gives me hope that the flaw is not as systemic as you say.

There may be a geographic disparity at work as well. I've used my MiFi in the San Francisco Bay area and in San Diego. I've not used it elsewhere, so maybe you're in a place with bigger problems. I don't know.

Now, how long will Novatel and Verizon take to pull their thumbs out and actually fix it? That's the open question.

As for Verizon LTE being the shoddiest technology release in the last 20 years.... Well, clearly you've never owned an AT&T 3G Microcell.

wmhjr

I'm sorry, but frankly the defects in this product are core, critical, high severity issues. For the record, I've used the device in locations such as Boston, NYC, Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, San Diego, Los Angeles, Pgh, Philly, Cleveland (sort of), Columbus, and the list can go on and on. While they are unacceptable and are indicative of poor engineering, I'm not talking of the widespread outages. I am talking of the "Dormant" issues, the fact that the device does not properly prioritize the connection type , the lack of reliability, and yes - even the speed when connected via LTE and great signal. "When" it works, it's not bad. The problem is that it rarely works reliably for any length of time. In any of the locations I've mentioned above. There will only be change in VZ if people such as us apply pressure, rather than just giving them a break.

As for the shoddy release thing, I was speaking of my experience. We can debate if there were others that were worse. The fact that we're even debating it makes my point.

clubtech5

Have you guys tried to disable SSID broadcast? I don't know why but since i have done this my "dormant" issues are 100% GONE and i was suffering from this issue like everyone else.

My setup:

WAN mode: auto

LAN: Wifi B/G WPA2 with SSID broadcast disabled.

MAC address filter: on.

nwsayer

I must be luckier than you, then. I've not had it not listen to me when I tell it to stick with either CDMA or LTE (at least since upgrading to 2.23). During the last LTE outage, forcing it to CDMA only was necessary to avoid disruptions while it attempted to upgrade the connection periodically, in fact. I've also been satisfied with the speeds - rarely do they dip below 5 mb/sec, and most of the time, they're 10mb+. The only problem I have is the dormancy issue.

Either you're experiencing something different from me, or I have lower expectations. It's unclear to me which is the case.

jnosnih

Thank you for posting your experience with this problem.

I live in a remote area in central Texas from which I telecommute.

I only use the device from my home.

I also keep it plugged into an A/C outlet, so I cannot imagine why it would be a power management issue.

It worked beautifully until December 2011.

I've been on the phone with Verizon reps numerous times since I began having problems.

Besides the advice to do a hard reset to my device by the initial reps, I've also:

had the SIMM card replaced;
had the device replaced;
followed the the rep's advice to logon & change the device settings;
had the rep push down updates to the device...
attached an external antenna to the device.

None of these have corrected the problem.

The Verizon rep has now told me that a 'ticket' would be created on this issue & I'd be contacted by another Verzon support person. That was on Jan 30th, 2012 - I'm waiting for that contact.

John_Getzke

Has anyone ever found a true definition for Dormancy? I dont believe we have one, especially in the 4510L manual or from any of the other threads that I have read on the subject. A quote from a VZW engineer or rep would go along ways to confirm how this feature works or what it is intended to represent.

Here are my observations with my own device:

- Dormancy is not an error state, but a network status message

- Dormancy is logged on the device when there is no network traffic sent to/from VZW for a period of time

- Local traffic does not effect Dormancy (moving files between computers)

- Dormancy can apply after as little as 2 or 3 seconds

- The MiFi can be non-Dormant for hours at a time when streaming content (ex youtube, netflix, radio)

- Dormancy is not effected by wall/car chargers or the USB cable

- Dormancy cannot be configured on or off, it is automatic

- The MiFi will move in and out of Dormancy many times a day

wmhjr

John, I would agree with your statements with a couple more of my own...

-Dormancy can occur during traffic through the external interface. Meaning, I have experienced the device going "dormant" in the middle of internet data transfer - not just moving files between two computers connectved via MiFi.

To be honest, I almost never ever use the device for anything other than internet access by devices. I only move files between devices via the device for testing purposes.

tim_lightfoot

Much like several folks - our MIFI was bullet-proof until December. Then, dormancy issues, connection issues, etc. caused us to do most things listed in these forums (including new SIMs, a replacement device, etc.). We currently have a MIFI (it is stationary b/c it is one of the few ways we can get any type of Internet connection where we live) that constantly drops connection and/or freezes in the dormant state.

In rereading through these posts again, I found:

1) That when it is stuck in dormancy, querying for new software will pull it out;

2) If I turn off SSID, it becomes stable and doesn't drop out like clubtech5 suggested.

Solution 2 seems to work best - however, with SSID off, my other devices can't find the network, or if I put the computer to sleep, it can't find the network at that point.

So, I tend to agree that there is a firmware issue and am willing to entertain any solutions to help my devices find the network without the SSID on (and I've tried manually entering the network name in the Find Network dialogs).

BTW: On a Mac Leopard system and the Mifi is 2.23 (and yes, I successfully bricked one mifi trying to upgrade to 2.23).

Thanks for any insights from those of you that know more about this system...

Cheers!

Tim

John_Getzke

@tim_lightfoot

Chances are if you have read this thread then you have already tried all known solutions and work arounds for dormancy issues. The only other areas that you can play around in are the external devices and accessories. Some examples include external antennas and wireless repeaters like the PepWave Surf.

An antenna/booster combo would ensure you have the best possible connection to the local towers incase signal strength or overloaded towers are an issue. Since repeaters can create thier own SSID's they would allow your devices to connect to a visible SSID while the MiFi retains its hidden SSID.

tim_lightfoot

Thanks John. We are using a Wilson signal booster already and we constantly have full bars on 3G (we are in a fringe area for 4G according to Verizon, but never have been able to pull that in even with the biggest signal booster we could buy). I'm going to look at the PepWave Surf...that looks interesting...

Thanks again - and thanks for your continued advocacy in this area. I know that your posts have been tremendously helpful....Cheers! Tim

PebbleBill

Just got my new MiFi a couple of weeks ago. Have an important use for it today. But, it has been dormant all day. 4 bars. Good connection. Every time I reconnect, it goes back to dormant in a few seconds.

Does anyone know of a reliable data connection via cell? Does AT&T have a model that works? I am a professional and not a hobbyist. Need a device that is consistent.

Thanks

John_Getzke

Pebble,

What you are describing is normal behavior for the MiFi 4510L. Dormancy is not a problem, it is a status message that regards the activity of your MiFi. The MiFi will go in and out of dormancy as is needed.

If you havent read through the solutions on this thread then I suggest starting with the resets to try and correct the actual problem, which is most likely a disconnection event from the VZW network.

Level 1 Reset:

Power down the MiFi
Let the MiFi sit for 30 seconds
Power on the MiFi
Test the connection

Level 2 Reset:

Power down the MiFi
Remove the back cover
Remove the battery
Remove the SIM card
Allow the MiFi to sit for 30 seconds
Reassemble the MiFi
Test the Connection

Level 3 Reset

Power on the MiFi
Remove the back cover
Press and hold the Reset button next to the battery for 10 seconds
Watch the MiFi E-Ink display to see if all the icons are displayed
Release the Reset button
Reassemble the MiFi
Test your connection

MiFi's come with a 14 day trial. If the resets do not correct your problem before your trial is up then return it and try something else. All the major wireless providers have a mobile broadband device similar to the MiFi 4510L. If you want to stick with VZW then the upgraded MiFi 4620L should perform better.

sickofVZW

The "Dormant" problem has been around for years and still no fix. It is not a power problem, it is a technology problem. Not knowing the exact details, I will not elaborate on the issue. The fact that it occurs only with LTE and not CDMA is somewhat peculiar, is VZW pushing something they cannot fully support? All I know for sure the the "Dormant" problem is real, a connection that goes dormant will downloading data is unacceptable. Verizon expects me to pay them every month and I expect the services to work. Someone is not fulfilling their end of the bargain, only a few months left then back to AT&T or I give Sprint a try.

wherder

You are absolutely correct. The Dormant issue is IS a problem and is NOT normal behavior for a mobile data device. It IS normal behavior for the 4150, which IS a problem. There is a lot of conjecture here defending the 4150, but it is faulty. If in fact the 4150 is performing as designed, then the original design parameters and requiremens are erroneous.

I have now proven that the 4150 is in fact behaving improperly - conclusively. Side by side, at the same location, on the same networks, exercising the same exact test scripts, at the exact same time, a PC connected via the 4150 experiences the "dormancy" and "lockup" issues while right next to it a PC connected via an LTE equipped iPad does not. Consistently. Routinely. After the 4150 has been upgraded, swapped out, tested, wiped and reconfigured, etc. Furthermore, this situation is replicated in multiple geographic locations. It is now abundantly clear that the 4150 has inherent design flaws that cannot be corrected by the troubleshooting indicated on this site, or by VZ. My 4150 has now been shut down, and will forever live as a example of one of the worst supported devices in history.

On another note, the iPad w/LTE is not perfect, but it's far better in performance. There are some odd quirks that need to be addressed, but they are in no way to the same level as the horrible 4150.

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