MiFi4510L - speed vs range, on 2nd device

I'm on device #2..first one had pretty good range, but terrible speed. Speedtest on first one were mostly .1 something on the download, but generally I could connect & slowly use the device throughout the house, even outside. VZW replaced the device and SIM card after 2nd month of aggravation.

#2 device has decent speed, generally 3 to 5mbps, but the device has to be very close to the laptop or the iPad - within a few feet. On the iPad, I lose the connection at about 10ft.

What I've done...

1) followed the directions and upgraded firmware to latest rev

2) tried different configs, switching from 802.11n, back to all protocols

3) reset the device every day, pulling the battery out, and everything

Still today, the device is relatively reliable (except on Sunday for whatever reason), but (1) I never get the 5 to 7 mpbs advertised speeds, and (2) cannot get too far from the device. Do I really need to have the device right next to me for it to perform?

Suggestions?

Accepted answers

deloswilbur

Hello Lemonsandy,

spend any time looking at these forums and you will see I am no fan of Verizon, but I have to give credit the range of any of the MIFI devices I have had 2200 and 4510 have been pretty impressive. I can go well over 50 feet with no problem and still get a solid connection to the device. The fact it's happening with two devices kind of rules out the devices themselves. Is there any chance there is some other environmental factor affecting it? Have you tried taking it to another location (coffee shop, friends house, etc) and trying it?

All comments

deloswilbur

Hello Lemonsandy,

techismylife

Lemonsandy wrote:
I'm on device #2..first one had pretty good range, but terrible speed. Speedtest on first one were mostly .1 something on the download, but generally I could connect & slowly use the device throughout the house, even outside. VZW replaced the device and SIM card after 2nd month of aggravation.

#2 device has decent speed, generally 3 to 5mbps, but the device has to be very close to the laptop or the iPad - within a few feet. On the iPad, I lose the connection at about 10ft.

What I've done...
1) followed the directions and upgraded firmware to latest rev
2) tried different configs, switching from 802.11n, back to all protocols
3) reset the device every day, pulling the battery out, and everything

Still today, the device is relatively reliable (except on Sunday for whatever reason), but (1) I never get the 5 to 7 mpbs advertised speeds, and (2) cannot get too far from the device. Do I really need to have the device right next to me for it to perform?

Suggestions?

You can try using a repeater, a repeater will allow you to bypass the 5 device limit and allow you to travel up to 100-150 feet in some cases with an external antenna 3/4 of a mile Look into the PepWaVe Surf Mini

http://3gstore.com/product/1813_pepwave-surf-mini-200.html

Lemonsandy

Thanks for the feedback. Good suggestion on testing the range outside my normal environment.

To be clear though, the first and second devices exhibited opposite behavior. First one had good range, but very low throughput. The second device has better throughput (2 to 4 mpbs), but terrible range - less than 10 ft.

I'll take the device with me today and check it out away from my home.

Also, I have the HTC TB phone - 4g on this device works great.

Lemonsandy