Have a Netgear AC791 jetpack and am trying to connect to a tower up in Northern California. The connection is only for LTE, Band 13.
Tower/Cell specs:
GCI 9445379
TAC 9225
Cell ID 36896
Physical cell ID 20
The tower lies somewhere between Garberville and Shelter Cove in Norther California. This is a very forested area with a lot of ridgelines. Very remote. May be around 3 mi from the tower. There have been times when data was pretty fast (don't have a metric, but could stream video). I know that the tower also does 3G (WCDMA?).
The signal seems to be pretty acceptable:
Around -92dBm RSRP (very solid at this level)
RSRQ -11dB
SNR fluctuates around 6 to 7 dB
The data transmission is basically non-existent, sporadic and super slow when it comes around.
I have a reasonable amount of experience with RF but do not have a very full LTE vocabulary (growing every day with this equipment).
I also had a LG handset with me and the values were pretty much the same.
Also important to note is that I am using a signal booster, LTE 13 only. Actually tried a few, different power levels. Make the signal strength better but the reliability is not doing any better. Outdoor antenna is an Uda-Yagi, indoor is directional panel, they point away from each other and all system components are 50 Ohm.
When I had really good performance, was using only the jetpack and an attachable MIMO antenna. Don't have the signal specs from that time.
Any ideas?
I depend on my data connection too. We are here to help. Can you provide the zip code of where you are located and trying to connect? Are mobile phones having difficulties connecting or only your Jetpack?
Alberto_VZW
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The zip code at my location is 95589
Other devices (phones) are also having a problem.
Thank you, Nathan, for providing us with this updated information and giving us more details pertaining to your specific location. As we currently review your area we see that though you are not in an area that has limited to No Service, there are locations close by that show limited to no service being available. As the heart of our Verizon family we want to ensure you're being provided with the best and most accurate information. This may not be what you want to hear, but we want to ensure all of our options are reviewed to confirm you have the best service, and your devices perform to the best of there ability. The reason we say this, is that the next step to perform would be a Factory Reset. Here is a link that will provide the steps to successfully process a Factory Reset. If at any point you're reviewing this link you run into trouble, please reach out to as we'll be standing by waiting to hear back from you : https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/knowledge-base-175407/
Hi Verizon,
I was thinking the same thing and thus actually did a factory reset. But as I mentioned earlier, it was multiple UE that was having this problem, not just one. The hard reset did not fix the problem. Even put the SIM in another device to see if that helped, no luck.
Is there any information that you can give me on signal dynamics and why the signal I described may not be adequate?
Also, can you tell me if the tower/cell I indicated is actually seeing my device?
Nathan
We completely understand the need to have great service where you need it the most. The details you are looking for are simply not available.
We see that the closest towers to that zip code are 10 miles away. The issue most likely is that the location is out of range or at a range where the service is effected even though you get a signal.
How far from your location do you need to travel before the service improves?
Steven_VZW
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If my response answered your question please click the _Correct Answer_ button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!
I can travel only a few meters and have better signal. Can you tell me which towers are in that range?
Is there any way to understand what might be affecting the signal?
Verizon does not disclose information about their towers.
However you can do a little detective work on your own if you want to use some trial and error. The secret is to monitor your signal strength and walk around an environment. The signal will be stronger the closer you get to a given tower. This process of mapping out good/bad zones is called Site Surveying. There are lots of guides on the subject posted on the internet that you can reference.
Unfortunetly detecting specific tower identifiers is not something Jetpacks can do on their own. We normally use a smart phone on the Verizon network in addition to apps such as LTE Discovery for Android. These apps can expose the tower IDs so you know when you are switching to a different one or not.
> Is there any way to understand what might be affecting the signal?
The way to discover what is affecting signal is to use the Site Surveying technique mentioned above. Walk around and observe where signal starts to have problems and then picks up again. See if there are physical barriers, materials or strong electrical sources anywhere in the vicinity. By walking around and mapping performance you will eventually paint a picture of where the trouble spots are in that area. Its time consuming but it is effective.
Actually, if you scan the thread again, I think that I have provided that tower information to you. This particular model is Netgear model, it has an interface app that you can run to administrate the unit, that app actually gives you the cell site specifics. I corroborated those details with a Verizon phone running the app that you mentioned.
In case the information isn't visible, I'll list again:
Tower/Cell specs:
GCI 9445379
TAC 9225
Cell ID 36896
Physical cell ID 20
the trial and error method is tuff in this location as there are a lot of obstructions and the signal may be blocked in different locations.
What do you think?
> What do you think?
I think we wont know if the Jetpack is the problem or not until you can roam to another tower and compare the performance.
If the Jetpack performs poorly in a different area then the Jetpack is likely the problem. Something may have burned out over time or become damaged from a drop. Contact VZW to swap or service the Jetpack under any remaining warranty.
If the Jetpack performs normally in a different area then the service in the original area is likely the problem. In that case taking a closer look and site surveying the local area will expose more info on the strong and poor performance areas. Map enough and you should be able to see some clues on what is going on with the local geography and environment.
> Also important to note is that I am using a signal booster, LTE 13 only. Actually tried a few, different power levels. Make the signal strength better but the reliability is not doing any better. Outdoor antenna is an Uda-Yagi, indoor is directional panel, they point away from each other and all system components are 50 Ohm.
Considering you are already using a booster this suggests that the signal strength is not likely the problem in this area. You can have a strong signal but still have poor throughput. The question to answer is if the bottleneck is because of the Jetpack itself or something higher up the chain with the VZW tower in that area. Best way to find out is to travel around and map your performance.
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