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Expected 3G performance to RSSI / dBm table?

I have a 4620L 3G only service, I am in a fairly remote area, but have stable 50% RSSI @ -90dBM signal. I've been here 10 days, the first 8 were fine ... slow, but stable. In the last day or two, I have horribly slow speeds, and frequent IP layer disconnects. TCP sessions reset all the time today - I'm trying to work. Simple SSH/CLI work and email.

Anyway, what type of stability and performance should one expect with that signal level? Just generally speaking. I do have an external antenna, which improves the signal from ~38%.

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Verizon_Support

Shawn3B, sorry for the trouble you are having with maintaining a connection. Let's get you a stable connection. The RSSI should be greater than -95 dBm, so -90dBm should be sufficient to maintain a reliable signal. You mentioned you are in an area that only gets a clear 3G signal. Let's start with that. What zipcode are you in?

Can you access the administrative page on your web browser?: //vz.hotspot. If so, log in and click on the "Network" tab. Then click on "WWAN" and scroll down to "WWAN Preferred Mode." Select "CDMA Auto" and then "Save" on the bottom. Re-establish the connection and retest. Let us know how it's working.

BrianP_VZW

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Shawn3B

Thank you for the help. I've actually been using "CDMA Auto" from day one. Not to scare you off, but I am traveling in a RV - so I move every couple of weeks. This is my third location, and the second week here. All was ok the first week, and ok in the locations before that. I have an external passive antenna setup.

I in in zip code 93015, near 3750 Paradise Road.

speculation: the first week was ok, my RSSI hasn't changed from that time, but on Friday 04/25 at 17:20 PDT something appears to have (from my logs) ... I am a network engineer, so pretty savvy with this stuff .. anyway, the speculation is on that night things were very windy - strong gusts. I lost all data and voice service during that period. my voice was always somewhat spotty here, but has also been worse since this all started - it's not uncommon to drop a call, or at least have periods of no audio.

anyway, here is a snip from my WWAN logs yesterday.... lots of disconnects. It almost always seems to re-connect very quickly, and with a new IP address each time. The dormant state may just be a red herring here, part of the disconnect/reconnect process (?), because during this period for sure - but in general since this issue started I will have a constant ping going, and two hosts almost always connected - and active. When I get disconnected, normally I only lose only 2 or 3 pings (1 packet per second -- so 2 or 3 seconds of offline) - like I said, I reconnect fairly quickly. And when I am connected, other than slow, I have very low packet loss (0.05% or so).

04/29/14 10:30:46> NWPM_EVENT_CALL_CONNECTED

04/29/14 10:30:46> [WiFi] update max station counter

04/29/14 10:30:46> HDR/EvDO Connected

04/29/14 10:30:35> NWPM_EVENT_CALL_END

04/29/14 10:30:35> [WiFi] update max station counter

04/29/14 10:30:35> HDR/EvDO Disconnected

04/29/14 10:30:35> [RUIAUTO] Invalid packet state

04/29/14 10:30:34> HDR/EvDO in Dormant State

04/29/14 10:13:29> [WiFi] update max station counter

04/29/14 10:13:29> NWPM_EVENT_CALL_CONNECTED

04/29/14 10:13:29> HDR/EvDO Connected

04/29/14 10:13:18> NWPM_EVENT_CALL_END

04/29/14 10:13:18> [WiFi] update max station counter

04/29/14 10:13:18> HDR/EvDO Disconnected

04/29/14 10:13:18> [RUIAUTO] Invalid packet state

04/29/14 10:13:17> HDR/EvDO in Dormant State

04/29/14 10:12:25> 3c:a9:f4:8b:91:bc

04/29/14 10:12:25> [WiFi] STA List update status=0, num=4 24:a4:3c:44:ec:43 00:c0:ca:59:50:70 10:bf:48:c1:ee:41

04/29/14 10:07:01> NWPM_EVENT_CALL_CONNECTED

04/29/14 10:07:01> [WiFi] update max station counter

04/29/14 10:07:01> HDR/EvDO Connected

04/29/14 10:06:50> NWPM_EVENT_CALL_END

04/29/14 10:06:50> [WiFi] update max station counter

04/29/14 10:06:50> HDR/EvDO Disconnected

04/29/14 10:06:50> [RUIAUTO] Invalid packet state

04/29/14 10:05:44> NWPM_EVENT_BATT_TEMP_STOP_CHG

04/29/14 09:56:16> NWPM_EVENT_CALL_CONNECTED

04/29/14 09:56:16> [WiFi] update max station counter

04/29/14 09:56:16> HDR/EvDO Connected

04/29/14 09:56:05> NWPM_EVENT_CALL_END

04/29/14 09:56:05> [WiFi] update max station counter

04/29/14 09:56:05> HDR/EvDO Disconnected

04/29/14 09:56:05> [RUIAUTO] Invalid packet state

04/29/14 09:56:04> HDR/EvDO in Dormant State

What I don't know is cellular data topology ... if the tower is a repeater only, or where the IP gateway is - and where NAT is done. At first I thought it was more related to that first IP hop/NAT, but it seems to be due to whatever is disconnecting me (if I watch my dbm reading, it doesn't change much ... between -94 and -90 or so is the norm). I'm not sure how to check which tower I am on, but if I go down the road about 10 miles, things seem to be fine - with a better signal (at -82dB or so), but I know I was at -95 a couple weeks ago in a different area without much issue -- better speeds and I didn't notice disconnects).

Anyway, this is happening on my contact phone and a prepaid mifi (the logs above) equally... the prepaid hotspot is under a resellers account for the first 90 days - so that's been a challenge in getting support on it. The point being - two different devices, the same issue on each.

What are teh odds the tower was affected by the high winds?

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