Child Item

Site Totals

61431 Questions Answered 270 Categories

LTE IP from Kansas when i am in Nashville?

I have a pantech uml 290 attached to a cradlepoint mbr 1200 that is dropping connections multiple times per day. It worked fine with the mbr 900. I had been using 3G as I live out in the country where LTE was to my previous understanding not available. Long story short we had a lightning strike which forced me to buy a new cradlepoint router so I upgraded. In the process I updated the firmware of the pantech modem (which I admit I had not done in some time) and to my surprise we had an LTE connection. I also have to point out we have a commercial antenna attached to the pantech modem for much greater reception. While on 3G we would get a signal strength of about 80% and -65. With LTE now running it is 20% and -67. I wondered if perhaps it was not the router dropping the signal but the LTE signal being to weak and it dropping off forcing me to reset the router. When I did some looking our IP address comes from Kansas. The antenna is directional and was pointed that way but I was very surprised to see that signal from so far away given we are only 35 miles or so from Nashville which has LTE. I have directed the antenna towards Nashville now but I am still getting an IP address from Kansas. Is this normal behavior? Does anyone else have any ideas how to fix this? Or how to fix the signal drops? And with redirecting the antenna I am still getting readings of 20% and -67.

Thanks

Scott

Comments

taelir

Yes, it's common. I've been using the broadband service for nearly 5 years now and my IP registers as locations all over the place.

As far as drops, are you saying you're randomly being disconnected? Is your connection going dormant or anything? An RSSI of -67 is awesome, so it doesn't sound like a weak signal issue.

I'm totally on a fringe area and have to use an external antenna as well just to get any kind of stable signal (I can only get 3G though). One thing that helped save me from the constant random disconnects or dormant connections is a program that sends pings to random sites at specified intervals - it's just enough data being sent to keep the connection alive. I use BySoft Stay Alive Pro (free). Maybe try something like that to keep the drops from occurring so often?

John_Getzke

Unlike phone numbers, IP Addresses are not normally location specific. You should not be concerned about the location. IP's are allocated as needed around the network. Unless you pay for a static IP from VZW your public IP Address will change from time to time.

When you live on a fringe area, as you have suggested may be possible, then your device will struggle to stay connected to LTE on a consistent basis. When the LTE signal drops below a certain performance threshold, your device will attempt to swich over to 3G and thats where alot of folks have issues. Some devices allow you to lock into 3G only mode to work around this mechanic.

I suggest you stick with 3G only if you are looking for consistency, enabling LTE when you know you want to do something specific and then converting back to 3G only when you are done. Not sure if this is possible with your Pantech modem but its worth looking it up in the manual.

jsanderson3

Thanks for the help.

I had been locking it to 3G before and it worked fine. I am going to try that again. It is unfortunately though because on 3G im getting 1-2mbps while on 4G it was 17-20mbps. I have an external antenna hooked up outside running a cable inside. I wonder if it is possible to set up two antennas outside that combine signal. I also wonder in an amplifier would help in my situation at all.

John_Getzke

You will want to run a site survey and post your RSSI numbers before you look into amplifiers or complicated antenna setups.

http://3gstore.com/page/13_will_an_antenna_help_me.html

I would assume the two antennas would not be possible with the MiFi. An amplifier will only help if your RSSI numbers are outside of the normal range for a 3G/LTE signal. Completing the site survey steps from the website above should be able to give you an idea if investing in amp/antenna is a good idea or not.

Child Item