Interesting update for me....
I finally got a Verizon tech to come on-site, and we worked for 2 1/2 hours on the issue. I was able to reproduce the issue with my Novatel device, so then he gave me a 4G UML290 device to use, and he used my device. He stayed connected for over 1 hour and was still able to open new connections after an hour! I was floored by that because I've tried it with an iPad, Apple Macbook Pro running Windows 7, and a Dell Latitude all concurrently.
The main difference I saw was that he was running WIndows XP on his laptop and I was running Windows 7.
Is anyone else having these issues with Windows 7? What hardware are you running, too?
We are doing some networking traces with Wireshark so hopefully that will help to lead to the solution.
Thanks!
--Kent
Ken,
A few of us are having a similar discussion in the Broadband and Netbook area. A few users have described an issue with the MiFi 4510L where the browsing traffic is being blocked periodically. You can find more information here:
What is interesting is that they also comment that their browser traffic is blocked/broken. However, other applications and forms of network traffic continue to function. Feel free to share our findings with your Verizon rep and see if it shines and light on the situation or if they are related. Im curious to see if these two issues are related or not.
I will also share that my main laptop is XP but I mainly connect to my MiFi on a Win7 test laptop. So far I have not been able to reproduce this problem on either machine.
Well, ended up in Small Claims Court last Wednesday and presented my case. Not the fact that Verizon isn't admitting this issue, but the fact that several times they have closed my tickets without contacting me and stating that it was due to poor signal strength. The area that I am having trouble in I have full bars of signal strength, and the on-site rep confirmed that signal strength was not an issue.
I'll have to wait and see how that turns out.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now for better news. I have not changed any settings on my hardware, and I am still using the same MiFi device. However, I've been connected for over 1 1/2 hours without having to reset!
This is the first time this has happened for me since May! I'll keep you updated, and I'm not holding my breath, but I am very excited about the hope of the issue being resolved!
--Kent
Good luck on both fronts
Okay, I switched back to 4510L 4G to give it a try as they changed the map in my area (hopefully corresponding to towers coming online and not someone playing with paint.)
The device is holding signal, my signal strength is higher, however the problem of the drops in data flow while still maintatining ability to ping is still happening. This is so frustrating, I would happily pay for this service if this problem was not present, the throughput is awesome when it works, but **bleep** it sucks when it gets flaky.
On a side note it seems to be somewhat related to multiple devices connecting, when just one device it seem to be more stable, have others seen this?
I was connected for over 7 hours yesterday. I'll be back in 4G area tomorrow and will continune to test. I had my typical 2 devices connected - a laptop and an ipad.
I'm hoping it's not a glitch that it's working. Will update everyone tomorrow on the status.
--Kent
Welcome back to the 4510 Delos,
The "Cannot browse but can ping" issue is still unresolved. Lots of ideas have been thrown around but we havent been able to arrive at a good explanation or solution yet. However, Verizon has posted that another firmware update is on the way from Novatel which should provide some relief:
You did post an interesting question about multiple users. I will comment and say that most of the time my laptop is the only user/device on my MiFi. Perhaps that is why I have not had the same problems as some of the other posters. If I had more wireless devices available I would try to connect them to my MiFi and see if my performance decreases.
I was able to run on the Novatel for up to 7 hours without having to reset the device. I ran my test application on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of this week. I had been having to reset the connection roughly every 30 minutes since May, and someone between 11/15/2011 and 11/28/2011 the issue seems to be resolved - at least in this area.
I've requested information from Verizon as to if something may have changed to fix the problem, but they have not responded to me yet.
--Kent
BTW, though I posted in another thread exposing my total disgust for this device, let me provide some technical detail around my issues.
Mifi 4150. Updated firmware, and then replaced by VZ - with new firmware. Absolutely no change whatsoever in behavior.
Behavior includes but is not limited to:
1) Lockup - device simply stops LTE data transmission, maintains WiFi (LAN) connectivity, tray icon shows network connection but no internet connection. Sometimes resolves itself after anywhere between 15 seconds and 3 minutes. Sometimes never resolves and requires reboot of device (power down, power on).
2) Must set device to "LTE Only" or else it typically defaults to 3G connection even when literally right next to an LTE equipped tower, clear line of sight, better signal strength than anywhere else on the planet, totally stationary. If you want to know how I know the tower is LTE equipped it's because the tower is manged by Crown Castle Communications for VZ, and I have friends working in engineering there.
3) Performance varies (when stationary with excellent signal strength) between very good to extremely poor. No correlation to any known factors that I can find.
4) Device is typically used for connection by 1-2 other devices at one time. Those devices include:
XP laptop
Win7 laptop
iPhone 4
iPad
WinVista laptop
Experience is exactly the same regardless of which client is connected or if there are 1 vs 2 connected at the same time.
I can find no combination of settings that change the above device behavior.
Personally, I believe that the issue here is at least partially that the algorithym selecting 3G vs 4G is not functional, creating the need to restrict to LTE only for those of us in LTE regions. However, I think there is some sort of sensitivity/connect issue where the device can momentarily lose it's connection to the LTE network, and often cannot correctly resume communications, creating the "disconnect" or "lockup" problem. If that's the case, it's really still 2 issues (at minimum) however the need to select "LTE Only" makes our perception of the issue worse. In any case, the device is simply awful.
Hello Wherder,
I read your other posting to try and get some more background on your issues. Some of the problems you mention are more common than others. Here's my 2 cents:
Lockups are often described in different ways. I am tracking issues described as "dormancy", "Unable to browse but can ping" and "Mifi freezing". Its hard to tell at this point if any of them are related to each other yet. The various levels of resets tend to work as a quick/temporary solution. Firmware updates have also helped many, we know atleast one more is scheduled for the future. In most cases Verizons response has been to issue hardware replacements.
LTE only issues are related to the 3G/4G handoff feature as you are described in your post. Unless you are in a 3G only area your MiFi will always have to make a decision on which network to connect to. The past two firmware updates were targeted at this issue particularly and some have reported improvements. I think we will continue to see more changes added in future firmware updates that address this issue too. The best solution is still to configure your device to exclusively pick one or the other.
Performance problems tend to be rare with this device in my experience. Let us know what kind of speed you are recieving. Try checking out http://speedtest.net and running that tool a few times to get some averages. Even a poor 4G speed should be above 5Mbps.
Start a new topic or ask questions in the open forum.
