Frequent disconnects from 4g and Mobile Hotspot

mchenetz
Newbie

I have a 2010 Macbook Pro and i have been using it with the Thunderbolt to get on the internet. I can ususally surf for about 20-40 minutes and then it drops off and i have to go in and turn mobile hotspot off and on again and then it comes on for about 10-20 minutes. It seems to be that the mobile hotspot functionality is either not working well or the LTE service is flakey. I am not sure which it is. In the mobile hotespot, i get, "No mobile network" when the internet stops functioning. I really hope there is a resolution to this soon as i purchased this phone in order to get the 4G service.

 

Regards,

 

Mike

0 Likes
Reply
71 Replies
budone
Legend

Stupid question, but are you subscribed to the HotSpot $20/month plan??

0 Likes
Reply
Grothka
Contributor - Level 3
I'm more curious in wether the service cuts out on the phone, or if it's just in the hotspot.
0 Likes
Reply
mchenetz
Newbie

I have the mobile hotspot promo that came with the Thunderbolt. It is listed in my plan. It does work. It's just intermittent. I am performing a test this morning. I have the Thunderbolt connected to a windows machine through USB tethering and then i am sharing the connection to my Mac. The objecto f this test is to see if it stays connected when i am not using mobile hotspot. If it doesn't then there is a high likelyhood that the problem is the network. If it does then the mobile hotspot has issues. Just for a point of reference... I get about -69 to -75 LTE signal where i am currently located. 

 

Mike

0 Likes
Reply
budone
Legend

Your signal is great. I will also be interested to see if the disconnect is the hotspot or also occurs when using data on the device.

 

For a while the Incredible had this issue. But I have not had it for a long while now.

0 Likes
Reply
mchenetz
Newbie

so far it has been a couple of hours without a drop. It seems to be the mobile hotspot. hmmm... that sux

0 Likes
Reply
willzzz99
Contributor - Level 3

There was a VZW network issue last night that I heard which has since been fixed. Your Thunderbolt will work fine now.

0 Likes
Reply
TBhouston
Specialist - Level 1

I am still having issues with the mobile hotspot and connecting.. I will never lose connection but the internet stops working.. everything says connected  but its not. if i turn the hotspot off and back on it starts working again.

 

And thats 1 labtop trying to use the hotspot while not doing anything on the phone.. the speeds are nice but the product just is too expensive for me to even try to troubleshoot.. its nice but i know past may 15th i won't have it :smileyhappy:

0 Likes
Reply
mchenetz
Newbie

Exchanged the Thunderbolt for another one. We will see if it was just my device. If it continues then i will have to do some more troubleshooting. Another thought is that it could be something about the wireless stack on the Mac interacting with the Thunderbolt. I will wait to see what happens.

 

Mike

0 Likes
Reply
mchenetz
Newbie

I had issues this morning with it disconnecting. I brought it to the Verizon store for exchange and i haven't had an issue for about an hour now. I think it might have been the phone. Only time will tell.

 

Mike

0 Likes
Reply
Not applicable
The 4G network has not worked properly since they introduced it.
mchenetz
Newbie

Still disconnecting after a while. Maybe it's just that the 4G network is flakey here in Mooresville, NC

0 Likes
Reply
amymarie7905
Enthusiast - Level 1

I have the exact same issue with my pantech breakout on both my laptop and my ipad.  It is rediculous.

0 Likes
Reply
mchenetz
Newbie

Here is an example of the pings i am getting. Lots of timeouts... Pretty bad...

 

 

PING www3.l.google.com (74.125.95.100): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=0 ttl=49 time=98.416 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=2 ttl=49 time=97.903 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=3 ttl=49 time=117.991 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=4 ttl=49 time=117.664 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=5 ttl=49 time=117.387 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 6
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=7 ttl=49 time=116.869 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=8 ttl=49 time=116.542 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 9
Request timeout for icmp_seq 10
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=11 ttl=49 time=105.194 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=12 ttl=49 time=104.990 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=13 ttl=49 time=95.132 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=14 ttl=49 time=104.369 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=15 ttl=49 time=104.129 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=16 ttl=49 time=103.921 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=17 ttl=49 time=115.358 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=18 ttl=49 time=103.478 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 19
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=20 ttl=49 time=102.957 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=21 ttl=49 time=102.664 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 22
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=23 ttl=49 time=102.101 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=24 ttl=49 time=99.626 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=25 ttl=49 time=96.712 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=26 ttl=49 time=101.225 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 27
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=28 ttl=49 time=100.571 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 29
Request timeout for icmp_seq 30
Request timeout for icmp_seq 31
Request timeout for icmp_seq 32
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=33 ttl=49 time=121.682 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=34 ttl=49 time=128.997 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 35
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=36 ttl=49 time=121.297 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=37 ttl=49 time=128.020 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=38 ttl=49 time=127.969 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.95.100: icmp_seq=39 ttl=49 time=120.759 ms

 

 

Mike

0 Likes
Reply
ibanez737
Contributor - Level 1

It definitely could be the LTE network being this new with the cell phones.  I don't have direct knowledge if the BB cards have the same issue after being connected long term.  Weird that it only happens while it's broadcasting the wifi signal though.  My Tbolt had a similar issue paired up to my wifi ipad at home last night.  I didn't think anything of it, but the connection stopped working on the ipad and I just disabled and reenabled and started working ok.  Same thing with still showing a connected device.  I haven't done further testing besides that.  Wonder if it could be something in the hotspot settings.  Keep us updated in your happenings.

0 Likes
Reply
PJNC284
Master - Level 2

My parents have a Mifi2200 (3G) that does the same thing.  

0 Likes
Reply
mchenetz
Newbie

Here is my theory... The ping timeouts that i am getting are terrible. I think what may be happening is that the mobile hotspot detects that the connection is not that stable and tries to switch over to 3g. For some reason the switch doesn not happen and it just disconnects. This is all just theory from observation. I can tell you when going into the super secret *#*#4636#*#* menu and forcing 4g it seemed to stay up a lot longer. hmmm. I really think it comes down to issues on the LTE network in this area that are causing the mobile hotspot to react. Still researching though..

 

Mike

0 Likes
Reply
budone
Legend

There is a video report on MSNBC.com about what the reporter saying the Thunderbolt getting, 'Confused' if the device is dropping back and forth to 3G when the 4G signals drops. Ultimately, the phone refuses to connect to either network and ya have to power cycle the phone.

0 Likes
Reply
djcordel
Newbie
Definitely having the same issue here and its quite frustrating. 4g connection on the phone works great and I get amazing speeds, but as soon as I turn on the hotspot feature it starts sketching out. When watching the phone screen, I can see that the 4g connection keeps dropping and reconnecting, therefore forcing the hotspot feature to keep resetting. I am using a MacBook Pro to connect, however it does the same thing even when no clients are trying to connect.

Just really blows because I upgraded to the Thunderbolt from the Incredible to enjoy some faster speeds while travelling for business. Now I am basically stuck with no connection and its causing me issues trying to get some work done. Should have just left everything alone because the hotspot featured worked fantastic on my Incredible. Meeh.
0 Likes
Reply
ibanez737
Contributor - Level 1

Was using it a little bit more last night.  Didn't run into the issue again with the connection dropping, which is good.  Unfortunately, I can get anywhere from 20-25 Mbps on avg from the Tbolt itself, but when I run the same speedtest app on my iPad, I can't jump above 10.  Still a lot faster than 3G, but does seem like something is going on that is affecting the hotspot.

0 Likes
Reply
troysaxtongetty
Enthusiast - Level 1

HTC Thunderbolt: Frequent disconnects from Verizon 4G while using Mobile Hotspot

 

I bought an HTC Thunderbolt 24 hours ago, I decided to swap out my MyFi 2200 which was dropping signal here and there and this phone could simply replace it with a 4G Hotspot mode which also steps down to 3G when needed. Since this was my primary reason to buy it, I was quick to find out about the frequent disconnects from 4G and Mobile Hotspot mode.

 

Ok, the HTC Thunderbolt is fantastic, long have I lived with EVO envy.... Finally, I have something better, so I thought...

 

At first I thought it was possibly my location, downtown financial district of San Francisco is a tough place for the competition to server up even 3G, building attenuation, lack of towers in the right places and so on. With that thought I went across town to multiple areas with full signal and notice I had the same problem. 

 

I tried setting it to 4G LTE only with the super secret diagnostic and options *#*#4636#*#* menu, while it did stay connected a bit longer, it still recycled, dropped and reconnected, after 30-60 seconds and sometimes minutes, not with exact frequency but regularly enough to make the data mode almost useless for a hotspot. 

 

So many apps struggle to recover from whacky connectivity that it actually increases my frustration to all new levels, almost as frustrating as AT&T dropped voice calls, but not quite.

 

This is clearly an issue with the new HTC Thunderbolt, in my humble opinion it's during a step down at reduction or loss of 4G signal, however the error recovery process fails and the phone goes stupid, sometimes requiring a total reboot. Locked in 4G LTE only mode, it drops and sometimes recovers and eventually it requires a reboot.

 

I wondered why the phone had a new shutdown option called "Restart", which says "closes all apps and restarts the phone".

 

Just like the good ole days of Microsoft.... I am glad I dropped nearly a cool grand on this phone and accessories since I didn't want to extend my contract, I am even happier that I swapped out my MyFi 2200 3G Hotspot, it was far more reliable then the Thunderbolt Hotspot and now I have a non-operational MyFI 2200.

 

HTC, why are you beta testing on us with this? I have a friend in QA there, I should call him and find out if this was a known/logged bug and they let it ship since they slipped on the original date...

 

How frustrating!  --Troy

www.dropSKIP.com -> real gadget drabble and mashing...