Fivespot not sending WiFi signal

[Osvaldo]

My Fivespot only works when it is plugged in to my computer. Once I unplug it, the "Wifi" indicator turns on however I cannot see the SSID in my Network names. I have tried 3 different computers and my phone. This is my second device the first one did the same. Has this happen to anybody? And if so how did you resolve the issue? Customer service was not able to resolve the issue. Thank you in advance!

 

[KINGWESTLY]

I am having the exact same problem. I have done the hard restart (press power 10 times within 15 seconds while the device is turned on), reinstalled Verizon Wireless Manager, and tried it on several computers as well as my phone. Very frustrating. I plan to call Verizon tomorrow and get this handled.

Pls post with any info you receive.

Jason

[chamberlin]

Same thing here, just got a replacement AC30 five spot device tonight (Best Buy), worked fine at the store and at home right afterwards, then later in the evening I tried it again, and now back to no WIFI connectivity: 4 green lights, but no computer, iPhone, laptop, netbook could find the WIFI SSID for the five spot... (in all, 6 different  WIFI devices were tried)...... ugghhh. And just to clarify, I also did all the reset tricks too (on the first unit I had) but I am not touching a single thing with this new one, so that I can be sure that nothing I did caused the unit to stop broadcasting the WIFI signal... What the heck is going on with these units!

[chamberlin]

Today, did a hard reset (10 postive clicks within 15 sec. with 5-spot turned on) and after reboot, the thing works again... but the sporadic WiFi connectivity is very annoying. Will continue to report back here as time goes on...

[Osvaldo]

Mine still does not work, i did the reset and still doesnt work. is this device working for anybody?

[chamberlin]

OK, last night and today I am back to no wifi again...works fine on tethered, but NO wifi device will find the five spot....reset a dozen times, took the battery out many times etc... nothing... It would be nice to know that Verizon is working on at least answering our questions, if not a firmware update...

[walleye]

i have never been able to get mine to work either.  this is extremely frustrating...

plugged, unplugged, no wifi signal at all.   someone help!    thanks.

[TJones10]

Same problem.......able to connect via tether, nothing with WiFi?  I am able to get WiFi on another laptop though, that has Windows XP - OS.  Just won't connenct on new laptop with Windows 7 - OS?  Tried to troubleshoot with Tech....nothing worked, they had me call Toshiba.....laptop maker, thinking it could be an encription issue with windows 7.  Toshiba assured me that the encription mode did not need to be changed as suggested.  5 hrs later, still no WiFi?  Back at it today...same results, tried all tricks & reboot methods?????  Hope we can find answers soon? 

[Scichick]

Hello frustrated fellow fivespot owners:  I just got this device for my dad who has suffered with dial-up for years.  I set this up for him and was so excited until I too could not get anything when using it in wifi mode.  I spent 45 minutes on the phone with a tech support agent from Verizon.  They have absolutely no idea what they are doing so don't waste your time.  After reading several blogs on this same issue I think I found the solution...at least mine now works.  If you are running a Windows 7 operating system and a fairly new computer, your wireless adapter on your computer is probably 802.11 b,g,n compliant.  This is the antennae that allows you to communicate to all wireless devices.  I believe it either defaults to 802.11 n or Windows 7 defaults it to 802.11 n which is the newer signal.  The Fivespot does not run wifi on 802.11 n but will run on b or g mode.  Turn on your Fivespot and make sure you are in wifi mode and all four lights are green.  Launch the VZ Access Manager and connect to your wifi device.  It will say you are connected but Windows 7 will show you your four bars and an exclamation point indicating no connection.  You have to go into the VZ Access Manager, select options, preferences (I'm doing this from memory since my dad has his computer) and then you should see a list of device types one of which will be wireless.  Click on that and you will get the option to select the mode, 802.11 b,g,n or 802.11 b or 802.11 g.  I picked g mode but it seemed to default to b mode.  Who cares.  Once I clicked OK the Windows Notification changed from an exclamation mark to an active signal within seconds and I was browsing the internet on wifi.  I even shut down both the computer and the Fivespot and started all over, launched the VZ Access, it found the Fivespot right away and connected in wifi.  I place it near a window and get all my bars along with 54Mbps speeds.  UNBELIEVABLE!  I can't believe how fast this thing is.  I'm going to go over to my dad's house and make screen shots of this procedure.  Then I'm going to send it to the **bleep** at Verizon.  HAVE Fun.

[chamberlin]

Hello Scichick, that all sounds great up until the part where you have to connect to the Five Spot via Wifi to see the wireless network settings for 802.11 b,g,n! I have 3 laptops, one main computer and an iPhone, none of which can find the FIve Spot wifi signal anymore... As far as the computers go, I am using Vista home, Windows 7 home and Windows 7 Ultimate... I don't have any wifi XP computers anymore! Every once in a blue moon, I can get the five spot to show up (like 1 out of 25 tries) and when I do, I will try your trick, and/or log into the device using the 192.168.0.1 and see what I can find there). I was headed to Best Buy to return this thing minutes from now, so you have effectively given the 5 spot a stay of execution for now, until I can try your theory out...

thanks

[wirecomm]

I just purchased a FiveSpot...Best Buy helped connect the unit to both my Dell laptio...with Win 7 and my IPAD. Both units worked great in the store...when I got back home...I am in an RV park for the winter. Once home, the unit would not connect. I went back to Best Buy...it was checked again and it worked. Once home it would not connect....although after turning it on and off several times, removing the battery I was able to connect a couple times, but most of the time there was not a connection. Today I called Verizon support...they were able to get the unit working. After I disconnected from Tech Support..I shut down the unit and when I tried to get it started again....it would not connect. I went back to Best Buy...a tech there made some changes and told me it should work. Once home...it did not connect...going back to Best Buy I was given a new unit. It worked fine on both the laptop and Ipad....but again at home..no connection...Since I had helped install the WIFI in the RV park...and we had 4 hi-gain antennas in the corners of the park , I thought I would try the FiveSpot outside the park. One away from the park WIFI it worked fine. I traveled several places in town and the FiveSpot/IPAD worked great. For me the problem in the park seems to be the powerful wifi system we have here.

There was a Verizon rep at Best Buy today while I was trying to get the unit working...he indicated there is a connection problem with the FiveSpot....and that Verizon is working on the problem.

My problem is probably alot different than other peoples..but I was able to find out what was causing my problem. I will go back to Best Buy tomorrow and tell them what is causing my problem.

D

[chamberlin]

(as you know, I am on my second Five Spot...and still was not working...)

Although the Best buy techs were still scratching there heads on my Five Spot connection problems as documented above, yesterday, they arranged to me get a older Mifi 2200 unit (new in the box) from another store and it arrived today. I am typing this post on the MiFi 2200 right now. It works perfectly, turns on and off very quickly, (unlike the five Spot!) and I have had NO problems with it so far today. Athough the Best Buy techs did not admit to any other Five Spot failures (and they have been selling them like hot cakes apparently), one of the wireless managers said he is going to request more MiFi 2200 units, and not the FiveSpots... the MiFi units have apparently been trouble free for 6 months of sales. The Novatel 2200 unit is made in Korea, the ZTE five spot in China. The MiFi is CDMA only, whereas the Five Spot is GSM sim card? world wide, but they both have the same performance specs etc. as far as 3G connectivity is concerned.... if you are having problems with your Five Spot, get a MiFi 2200 while they are still available! 

[fmartin]

Having trouble connecting to 5spot wireless.  Works fine with USB cable.  The HP computer sees the AC30 with a strong signal, but it will not authenticate, I get a message that it is taking unusally long and it finnaly times out and fails.

I took the 5spot and the computer back to Verizon and they tried to get it going there.  What we found was that my computer had no trouble connecting to networks in the store or the MiFi unit they had, but I couldn't connect to another 5spot they had or mine.  Verizon had a computer of their own that could connect to either of the 5spots.

My computer is a HP Pavilion DV6700 Notebook PC and the wireless adapter is an Atheros 802.11 b/g.

Prior to visiting the Verizon store I worked with a Verizon Technician via telephone around 45 minutes to no avail, he suggested I bring it back to where I purchased it.

[moates]

I have provided some information below that may help.

The Fivespot differs from the Mifi 2200 in the way it acquires a Wifi connection.

Mifi – After the activation is successful, the Mifi unit can broadcast a Wifi signal as soon as it is un-tethered.

Fivespot – After the activation is successful, the Fivespot device would need to do the following before it can broadcast a Wifi signal:

Step 1 – Disconnect the supplied USB cable (if it is currently connected)

Step 2 - Power the device off (the power button may need to be held down for up to 15-20 seconds)

Step 3 - Power the device on (the power button may need to be held for up to 3-5 seconds).

Step 4 - Once the device comes back on, allow 10 – 15 seconds for the device to obtain a Wifi connection.

**After being tethered if the device is not set into Wifi mode (like instructed above), the device will not obtain a Wifi signal.

**Once the Wifi is broadcasting, the default SSID is Verizon AC30 XXXX. The default password would be the MEID (in decimal format) located on the battery cover.

[chamberlin]

Thanks for your input Moates, but I think most of us here have tried that 100 times or more. It was made clear by Best Buy, the Verizon manual, and experimentation, that you have to fully disconnect from the USB cable and software and reboot the device before you can switch to WiFi mode on the Five Spot. But even doing that, the bulk of us that had problems with the device never saw the Five Spot show up on any WiFi network on multiple computers, netbooks, wifi cellphones, ipads etc... There is a problem with the firmware on the device or an incompatibility of some sort that is preventing the Five Spot SSID to be seen by normal wireless G enabled computers. The MiFi does not have this problem, and unless you are going international, I urge people to try to get the older MiFi 2200 instead of this problematic Five Spot device.

[InternalPhoenix]

I was having the same problem that most everyone posting previously had.  I purchased Fivepot from Best Buy, and was not getting a signal.  The devices I was trying to connect (iPad & phone) would show that the wifi was there, and even allowed me to enter the password; however, it didn't actually provide the internet.  I was really frustrated, but I figured out a way to fix the issues.  I live in Indiana, USA, and this is what I did:

1- Connected Fivespot (turned off) to computer, and opened VZAccess Manager

2- Powered on Fivespot

3- On "Networks" tab (should be the default window), I waited for my device to show up, and made sure it was selected (do this by clicking on the name once - mine showed up as "Verizon Wireless - VZAccess" with signal strength to right)

4- I then clicked "Network Selection" (fourth button from right under "Network" tab)

5- To the right of "Network Mode:" (first drop-down box), I changed the setting from "Global" to "CDMA" (since in the USA, on Verizon, that is the only network we use)

6- I then Clicked Close (no need to change "Network Selection" - leave it on Auto)

7- I then Powered off Fivespot, and Disconnected Fivespot from Computer

8-  I then took off the back cover, removed battery, and then removed SIM card

9- I put battery back in, put cover back on, and then powered the Fivespot on

10- Fivespot now works flawlessly!

I encourage you to try this, it helped me, and I assume it might helps those who are still having issues.  Taking out the SIM card, and changing to the CDMA network, won't make a difference if you are in the US.  To use the SIM card, and Global Capabilities, you have to activate that service anyway, and I believe that would most likely fix the connectivity issues as well.

[Berni]

On mine it doesn't give you the option to select Network Selection.

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InternalPhoenix wrote:

I was having the same problem that most everyone posting previously had.  I purchased Fivepot from Best Buy, and was not getting a signal.  The devices I was trying to connect (iPad & phone) would show that the wifi was there, and even allowed me to enter the password; however, it didn't actually provide the internet.  I was really frustrated, but I figured out a way to fix the issues.  I live in Indiana, USA, and this is what I did:

1- Connected Fivespot (turned off) to computer, and opened VZAccess Manager

2- Powered on Fivespot

3- On "Networks" tab (should be the default window), I waited for my device to show up, and made sure it was selected (do this by clicking on the name once - mine showed up as "Verizon Wireless - VZAccess" with signal strength to right)

4- I then clicked "Network Selection" (fourth button from right under "Network" tab)

5- To the right of "Network Mode:" (first drop-down box), I changed the setting from "Global" to "CDMA" (since in the USA, on Verizon, that is the only network we use)

6- I then Clicked Close (no need to change "Network Selection" - leave it on Auto)

7- I then Powered off Fivespot, and Disconnected Fivespot from Computer

8-  I then took off the back cover, removed battery, and then removed SIM card

9- I put battery back in, put cover back on, and then powered the Fivespot on

10- Fivespot now works flawlessly!

I encourage you to try this, it helped me, and I assume it might helps those who are still having issues.  Taking out the SIM card, and changing to the CDMA network, won't make a difference if you are in the US.  To use the SIM card, and Global Capabilities, you have to activate that service anyway, and I believe that would most likely fix the connectivity issues as well.

---

[EllenG]

You nailed it, tiger!  This fixed my Fivespot perfectly!  Verizon says they don't use SIM cards - so why is there one in the device?  Time to go back and educate their sales guys! Thanks so much!

[jdkk424]

I don't undrstand how to change the password. I have windows vista and it will not work. It works fine tethered and it works great wirelessly with my other devices but will not work wirelessly with my laptop that has vista. Please help!!

[bg8892]

Worked perfectly. I now have a signal and online. Saved me HOURS on the phone.

Thanks much!

[Drgnfly]

Hi All, I, too, have had issues with the Fivespot. Surprisingly, very few (and I mean- VERY FEW) techs and store reps know the fix to this issue.

I went through 2 units before finding a couple that knew there was a known connectivity issue between certain laptop/comp makers and the Fivespot. Particularly Toshiba, some Apple, some Compaq, and Acer models. 

You have to set it up in both Windows and then on Verizon to make it work. 

First of all, make sure your lan is setup as per apriljellybeans instructions. Then, when you see the Fivespot in the list of devices (I do this from the internet connection in the taskbar (lower right). Right click the device and choose Properties. There, you need to change the authentication to WPA2, change the encryption type to TKIP, then enter the MEID, or password phrase of the Fivespot on your back cover. Click ok once done. This should establish visibility of the device, and at least limited Wi-Fi connection.

Then go to: 192.168.0.1 in your browser. Your login and password are both admin. Once logged in, choose Wi-Fi Settings from the top Menu bar. Then click Security. You will then need to change the authentication to WPA2-PSK. Click Apply. It will tell you that you need to reconnect. You should then be able to connect the device. Here you can also change the passphrase and your login password, if you prefer to do that.

Turns out the device itself isn't preset properly for all devices...

Hopefully this can help, as well....