Jetpack speed became very slow

I've been using a Jetpack 5510L for several months. While it only gets about a 35% signal it's been very adequate for me with between anywhere beteeen 5 and 20 Mbps download speeds. A few days ago it dropped to around .25Mbps or less even though the signal strength is the same. Could there be a problem with the tower(s) I get the signal from? There was some lightning storms for a few days. Could the device itself have become faulty (how would I tell)? I've tried resetting, removing the sim card for a bit and many power off/on cycles but the speed hasn't improved.

Accepted answers

John_Getzke

A typical performance problem like the one you mentioned is normally resolved by the resets. Considering the resets have not improved your situation the Jetpack itself could be defective or the towers in your area may require repair.

Best thing to do here is to contact VZW. Report the performance problem and have them give you your service options under your remaining warranty. The speeds that you posted are a clear sign of a defect and VZW normally will provide replacement hardware to solve that problem if they can.

Otherwise if there is a tower issue you will not be the only one to notice it. VZW should be able to take a quick peek at the area and let you know if there are any serious issues. Normally a tower issue will get a high priority and will be repaired within a few days.

All comments

John_Getzke

harrisde

It would appear that even though my account is unlimited and on the manage my device page it is still listed as unlimited that Verizon is now throttling after reaching 5GB of downloads in a month. Though with speeds of mostly .10 and less I would call it disabling, not throttling. And this done with no advance warning in the middle of a billing cycle and no explanation whatsoever. This seems like a breach of contract to me but I would guess there is special legalize in the contracts that allow them to change said contracts anytime they want. This is why people absolutely hate mobile communications companies. At this point I'm not sure if there is anything I can do to alleviate the issue other than dump Verizon. Nice first 2 month experience with them.

John_Getzke

Wait, first 2 month experience and unlimited data? How did you pull that one off?!?! Unlimited data plans went the way of the Dodo many years ago when VZW migrated to 4G LTE. You shouldn't have been able to get a new unlimited data plan.

Regarding throttling, VZW does not Throttle although that is the most popular term for the behavior. See VZWs policy on the subject for more info:

http://www.verizonwireless.com/support/information/data_disclosure.html

No, VZW does not throttle anyone, they optimize during peak hours and then return you to normal as the towers are freed up. Only unlimited 3G contracts are subject to VZW data optimization policy. 4G LTE is not a part of the program so if your device is connected as 4G LTE and providing poor performance then something else is going on.

harrisde

It's actually through my employer (a university), so it's some kind of group account deal. I don't really know how that works. I assumed the device went faulty and asked them about it. They said "We have just found out this week that they are starting to throttle heavy users on the Government accounts.". Maybe these accounts are treated different than individuals. All I really know is the device has basically been useless for a week or so.

lookinforanswer

John,

I am sorry, but they are throttling. The disclosure is crap. Especially, the devices that support AWS it seems. Optimizing data isn't trickling data in 24 hrs a day so that it's unusable highest yet .21M↓ and not throughput speeds. Download as you know is burstable.

The truth here is that users that consume over 5GB of data are throttled and they call it RTR-Network Optimization.