Samsung 4G LTE Hotspot - no Wifi when in weak 3g coverage?

[BabyMSP]

I work in a building that's notorious for poor signal.  Up until 3 days ago, I had a Novatel 3G Mifi that worked OK in the building.  I got the new 4G Mifi a couple days back and tried it today.  No luck.  The coverage map says I should have full signal.

The 3G light comes on yellow for a few seconds, then solid green, but the wifi blue light never turns on.

I tried a hard reset to see if that helped and still no luck.

Any thoughts?  I plan to try again from home tonight where I have full 4G signal.

[Kenal0]

Connecting via wifi to the devices should not have anything to do with connectiing to 3g or 4g.

Sounds like you are not connecting to the device with your computer. Are you within 50 ft of the hotspot?

Kenal0

[BabyMSP]

I agree - Wifi shouldn't be dictated by how I'm attached to the WWAN - that's what makes this so weird.

Yes - I'm right next to the Mifi unit.  Even if I wasn't I would expect to see a light on the wifi indicator.  As it sits, I'm getting no light at all.

I'm beginning to wonder if I've got a bad unit and it just chose this time to go bad.

[Kenal0]

I agree. You should be getting either green or blue for the wifi. Did you try a reset on the unit?

Kenal0

[BabyMSP]

It gets more interesting...

I took the Mifi outside.  It found 4G signal and allowed Wifi access - no problem.

I brought it back inside without turning it off and it found and kept 3G signal and allowed Wifi access - no problem.

I turned it off, waited 10 seconds and turned it back on again.  Same bad behavior as before.  I now have a solid 3G LED and no Wifi LED at all.  My iPad can't see the Wifi network.

Strange days indeed...

[Kenal0 · Accepted solution]

Maybe try changing the wifi channel from auto to a specific channel. Very strange. 

Kenal0

[BabyMSP]

I'm impressed - that fixed it.

I set the channel to 10 (relatively rare from what I've seen) and the device behaves properly in the low signal area.

Thanks - you're either very experienced, or a very good guesser! 

[Kenal0]

Experienced guesser. Too many signals flying around cyberspace bumping in to each other.

I picked up my Samsung LTE Hotspot on Saturday and it has worked flawlessly. Much faster and more reliable than the Sprint Overdrive Pro that I returned and cancelled the service on.

Kenal0

[BabyMSP]

This is my first 4G device, and I'm also impressed so far.   When it's working, it's been very solid and the performance has been great.  I stopped getting hung up on testing download speeds and have just tried to use it. I can't see a lot of difference between the Mifi and my Comcast based service for almost everything I do.