Novatel USB551L 4G USB Modem
n7mk
Newbie

I finally upgraded my old 3G PCMCIA modem to a new Novatel USB551L 4G USB Modem.  But... I can't get it to work.  I have spent hours on the phone with VZW technical support.  I visited two stores who had guys who's heads were so swelled about themselves I'm not sure how they got through the store door in the morning.  They couldn't figure it out.

I have tried it on 3 different computers.  One with WinXP Pro SP3, two others with Win7.  Using VZAccess Manager 7.7.7.  Also now have tried two different USB modems (same SIM).  Same result on all.  Everything looks normal as VZAccess Manager opens.  I click "Connect to WWAN".  All looks normal, I get the usage popup.  It says "Connected" but when I open a browser, I cannot get to the Internet.  I can send TXT messages.  If I open the diagnostic tools in Access Manager, it says I can ping the DNS server, but NOT the gateway.

To me, it screams of a provisioning problem.  But several people have checked it and say it is OK.  The old card with old Access Manager were working fine.

Also, don't see any device conflicts in Device Manager.

Anyone have any ideas? 

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Re: Novatel USB551L 4G USB Modem
John_Getzke
Champion - Level 1

Ask VZW to swap your SIM or replace your device.  They should be able to do that in a store or over the phone if you speak to tech support.

They should be able to pop your SIM into a compatible model at one of the stores to confirm if that is the defective piece.  Likewise they should be able to use one of thier SIM's in your modem to confirm a hardware problem in that area.

The fact that you have the same problem on multiple computers strongly suggest an issue with the modem.  Considering this is a new modem you should be covered under the warranty and a swap should have been one of the first things they tried.

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Re: Novatel USB551L 4G USB Modem
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

Thanks for taking the time to reach out to the community in regards to the problems you are having with your new device.
I'm sure this isn't how you wanted your upgrade to go.
John Getzke gave some very helpful information and I was wondering if you were able to get the SIM swapped at a store? Are you still having problems with the device? If so, is there an error message or code?
I also want to provide the http://bit.ly/12OM9gd for future reference if you ever need it. I look forward to your reply so we can get you back on the world wide web.
http://vz.to/11ZrMhx

Tamara H.
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

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Re: Novatel USB551L 4G USB Modem
n7mk
Newbie

OK, actually the problem turned out to be that it was provisioned to only talk to a private network via a VPN tunnel. Wasn't supposed to be. Once they reprovisioned it without that, it works fine.

A lot of people looked into it before that was caught.

Mark

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID

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