I am wits end dealing with tech support on this. I've had this service for 5 months. Initially it worked fine, then one day it quit. Since then I have had spotty connection with the network. I am on my third device and second sim card with no resolution. Here's some interesting tidbits:
I live in a 3g area, and I usually have 3 or 4 bars, even on the mifi device. When I go to my mifi page (192.168.1.1) when I'm having the problem the status will say disconnected. If I click connect it says connecting for a few seconds, then says disconnecting.
Occasionally it will connect as 1xrtt, but I get blazing speeds of up to 15kbps with that, which is worthless.
I have tried setting the device to all options: LTE/CDMA, CDMA only, EVDO only, doesn't help.
I have friends 1 mile away with the same device and plan, and our connections always seem to drop out at the same time. We'll both have internet for a week or so and then bam, nothing. However, theirs seem to sometimes resolve without a call to tech support. Mine doesn't. When I call tech support they will put in a trouble ticket to "check the network" and they claim that everything is fine, but it seems like my device will only start working again after a call to tech support. When they "check the network" are they rebooting something??
Here's the kicker. My iphone works on the same network, and WORKS JUST FINE. Even when my mifi refuses to connect to the network, my iphone has good connectivity. I am currently using my iphone hotspot option to write this post. Of course, I have to pay extra for that.
I just received a device 2 weeks ago with the new firmware update. It worked for about a week, but now it's doing it again.
I've asked to be let out of my contract, but Verizon seems to think the above is acceptable service. I would not recommend using Verizon for internet to anybody!
I don't know what else to try, and neither does tech support. I have powered down the device, removed the battery and waited 10 minutes, done a hard reset, nothing helps.
Ideas? Are a lot of other people having this problem? I'm just about frustrated enough to start organizing a class action lawsuit. I think Verizon should let me out of my contract if they can't provide service that actually works.
Given the details in your post it sounds like there is an issue in your area that is not playing well with the MiFi. There are most likely spikes and valleys in service that go below what the MiFi can handle. While this same issue may be effecting your iPhone what is painful here is that the Mifi cannot auto reconnect and repair itself like your iPhone may be able to. We notice when a MiFi connection goes down because we use it for heavy browsing as they normally connect with home computers.
Resets are the best tools that we as consumers have to work with these kinds of problems. It sounds like you have gone through those steps multiple times already. The next best thing is to look into antenna's and amplifiers to boost the quality of your wireless signal to VZW. A great website for conducting site survey's can be found here:
http://3gstore.com/page/13_will_an_antenna_help_me.html
Unless VZW actually sends a network engineer to your towers you may never be able to confirm where the problem is. It doesnt sound like the hardware on the MiFi is strong enough to handle the enviornment on its own.
I wouldn't say that alot of people are having your issue, normally resets or replacing the MiFi under warranty will improve the situation. Tower problems would only effect users in the same area like your friend with a similar setup as yourself. It would be interesting if you could travel to a different area to compare your experience. That extra proof may be what is needed to get VZW to send someone to your tower.
Class action will not be possible, its in your contract. Your only legal course is through small claims court.
I have a MIFI 2200 that I use with my personal account and now I have a MIFI 4510l from my employer. The MIFI 2200 has always worked fine while the MIFI 4510l has the above mentioned problem, constantly connecting and disconnecting. I am in an area that only gets 3g. I too have tried everything I can think of and cannot resolve this issue. The 2200 reports EvDO Rev.A while the 4510l reports EvDO Rev.Ae. Any thoughts?
Camp,
See the most common solutions for the MiFi 4510L incase there is something you have not yet tried.
Common solutions:
Post back any results from the common solutions and let us know if you need more suggestions.
I upgraded to firmware 2.28 and it is working for the time being. Hopefully it will stay that way.
I noticed my admin page now shows EVDO Rev.Ae while before it was EVDO Rev.A. What is the difference between A and Ae?
Thanks for your help!
I don't know the difference either and I would like to know. My MIFI 2200 says EvDO Rev.A and it works. The MIFI 4510l says EvDO Rev.Ae and it doesn't. My issue started about 24 hours after the upgrade to 2.28.
Weird. Before the upgrade mine was Rev.A and it didn't work. Now it's Rev.Ae and it does...
The EVDO standard has had many revisions as problems and bugs have been resolved over the years. Rev. A is simply an earlier version of the standard where Rev. Ae is slightly newer. I believe you are limited to whichever version is provided by the towers in your area.
For more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution-Data_Optimized
The device will default to whatever revision the tower supplies. In some scenarios this statistic may tell you if you are connected to the incorrect tower in your area or not if one supplies Rev A and the other supplies Rev Ae. The only thing we can do as users to influence this behavior is to disconnect and reconnect until the device picks correctly. Trial and error should tell you which revision is the most helpful for your area as you both have already noted above.
Same problems here. I had the Mifi 2200 which worked fine. The Mifi 4150L in this fringe area where I live is nothing but problems. My wife and my iPhones (AT&T) have no problems with 1.5 to 2 times increase in internet speed (tested on various internet speed test sites). Took the 4150L and my laptop on a road tour. When doing internet speed tests and the levels are high, there isn't a problem. I live in a fringe area on 3G and it just doesn't do its job. At home I'm getting dial=up speeds and the Mifi unit goes dormant and won't transfer or upload data. The Mifi 2200 worked much better. Customer service has been a pain too. First report; they promised a person out to check things out in 72 hours. They were going to contact me. A week later and nothing. The middle of last week I sent an email with a response that someone would contact me in 48 hours. Five days later I get an email and they want me to update my firmware. If they had looked into my complaint from the prior week they would have seen that was already done along with a bunch of administrative app. changes. I guess I'll be going through the run around gauntlet for a while. Very disappointing as Verizon did have good customer service. Guess they are taking AT&T's lead.
I have gone through the mifi 2200 to 4510L problem too. My 4510L worked fine, just about like my mifi 2200 until about 40 days after I got it. Then my access started being a real problem. I have gone through many efforts with Verizon on the issue. The one that so far seems to be working is that they sent an antenna, which did needed an adapter that I had to find, tell them about, and eventually they sent. then follow the advice I found on:
http://3gstore.com/page/13_will_an_antenna_help_me.html
I eventually got a sleek, another adapter that allowed me to use the Verizon antenna with the sleek, and some foil/cardboard focus panels. During the period they finally came out with a firmware update too.
All this, and now I have an access that is spotty. Sometimes works good, sometimes not so good. A few times it works great. I am unsure which item helped the most. I think the firmware was the main item that helped because the frequency stopped shifting as much and that helped a lot.
Hope this helps. It has taken me four months to get to this point, and I cannot say my connection is all that great now, but I can usually use it. I have grown accustomed to not getting the same level of connection that I had with the mifi 2200.
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