Verizon broadband access..probs inside my house

[chimpanzee]

I just got a Verizon broadband access package, using a 5220 phone-card. I can't get reliable access within my living room. I successively went to the family room, the kitchen..still couldn't get Activation to work. Finally, outside my back-door in my backyard, I was able to get Activation to work..& there were only 2 bars (out of the 4) on the strength meter. Download speeds were nowhere like my Ethernet connection. So, my Internet access is nowhere near "Broadband Access".

Funny thing, I could move back into the living room (where the strength meter goes practically zero..no bars highlighted on the strength meter), & get some Internet access..very slow. It finally disconnected.

Has anyone else had issues with Verizon Broadband Access within their homes? I have an English style house (big sloping roof), so I wonder if all that "buffer" is causing a radio-frequency "black hole". My room *does* have a LOT of electronic gear: a 20" TV & 27" TV (both turned on) are within 3 ft of my laptop PC, as is a digital surround stereo system. There is also a fluoresent ceiling light 4 feet above it, as well as a desktop Mac (G4/667). I wonder if there are any RFI issues caused by these surrounding equipment. Lastly, the Verizon support guy mentioned some laptops had RFI issues in 800mhz band (?). He didn't see any red-flags for my PC laptop (a Dell Inspiron 8000, 1 Ghz Pentium III). I will say my living room is a small studio, STUFFED with surrounding bookcases & electronic equipment. I suppose it's crammed nature could be some kind of a "insular buffer" against radio-frequencies. But, then why would I also have problem in my kitchen? (no such surrounding bookcases).

I will say that right now my PC laptop is online with Verizon broadband access (in my living room), but the strength meter shows zero (no highlighted bars: 0 of 4 showing). I just downloaded my website http://www.airextreme.com , & it seemed to be really fast??!! But, again, the strength meter shows practically zero.. I don't get this. Oh wait, then I just tried downloading a medium sized image & the internet access is slow..& my connection just disconnected! So, I think I'm having issues related to signal strength.

Help?

I live 2 blocks east of Caltech, & my Verizon store is also 2 blocks (towards the west). Their laptop PC had no broadband access issues, in fact tests showed it to be running a 2M b/sec! Here I am, with hardly a signal inside my living room. The Verizon rep recommended that I drive around today to test signal strength. He mentioned the possibility of server maintenance as the reason for low signal strength..

[WirelessBeachBum]

Sounds like signal strength is your problem, try using a verizon voice handset in the same location and see how it performs.

You may also want to purchase an antenna adaptor for your aircard, with that you can utilize an external antenna which could get you better signal strength.

You will also want to make sure the EVDO codes are on your aircard and you are on the $79.99 unlimited plan, any lower plan will not give you access to EVDO.

[Maximum Signal]

I hook my amplifier up to my Inteligain DBA819 Cellular amplifier wherever there are signal problems. It is amazing how much it increases performance

[Registered]

So here it is a month later, any joy? Did you try your Dell at the Verizon store? The venturi software caused far more problems for me than it solved so I uninstalled it. I can't hit 1000kb anymore but it's rock solid at 400-500kb *all* the time.

[EVDOguy]

You can get an EVDO Antenna Booster. We have seen 45% signal strength go to 100%, just by plugging in an external booster for the PC 5220 card.

EVDOguy
EVDO Info :: EVDO Forums

[chimpanzee]

Originally Posted by Registered

So here it is a month later, any joy? Did you try your Dell at the Verizon store? The venturi software caused far more problems for me than it solved so I uninstalled it. I can't hit 1000kb anymore but it's rock solid at 400-500kb *all* the time.

Nothing changed inside or outside my house. I've taken it around Los Angeles, while driving to test out signal strengths. I actually went into a friends shop in Glendale, & demonstrated some Live Webcasting in front of his lawyer. I used a SprintPCS phone to do a picture email to my website:

http://www.jumplive.com/laughlin05/phlogging.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jumplive/

Those girly pictures are taken from an offroad shop in Burbank. So, I can actually *demonstrate* live webcasting to potential clients. It's what just got me a sponsorship deal from an offroad shop. They were impressed, & the guy said "sure, I'll give you some money for San Felipe 250 OffRoadRace".

On another note, Verizon phones don't work down in Baja! (all the people down in San Felipe 250..their US carrier cellphones don't work..except for the GSM compatible AT&T). So, my 2 new Verizon Samsung EVDO V-casting phones.."searching for CDMA"..didn't work. My livewebcasting never happened, so I had to turn to alternate means. My satellite-DSL on my 4x4 van wasn't tested yet, so I ended up using a land dialup connection.

Next up is Baja 500, I'll probably do the live webcast with satellite DSL. Although, using AT&T picture phones is a possibility (anyone know how AT&T is for their picture emailing package? I like SprintPCS, for their unlimited picture emailing). I plan on doing the CODE San Felipe race..to exercise my equipment in Baja..that's in April.

Verizon is trying to nail me with $175 x 2, penalties because I returned the phones after the 14 day (for the plan) trial period. I have testimony from Verizon users for the San Felipe race, that their phones didn't work in San Felipe. When I bought the phones, a Verizon "coverage representative" told me the phones would work in San Felipe. She was just reading off the computer screen. I mean, it's just flat out erroneous information. I should be able to get the penalties, waived..right? Or, is Verizon gonna be a "toughie"? My experience with Verizon customer service has not been that good. When I brought up the phone-card issue with a rep, & I got transferrred..the line got dropped. when I asked for compensation for the lack of service inside my house, the guy basically blew me off. I'm getting the feeling Verizon is just after my $$. Anyone else have this experience? They're rated #1 in coverage, but their customer service isn't the best.

Yeah, I need to check on those antenna boosters. My computer room is jam packed with shelves, & electronic equipment (you have to see it to believe it: 3 HDTVs, 15 vcrs, 2 dvd recorders, 7 TVs, 7 TV monitors)..it's a RF "black-hole"..if you will.

[chimpanzee]

Originally Posted by EVDOguy

You can get an EVDO Antenna Booster. We have seen 45% signal strength go to 100%, just by plugging in an external booster for the PC 5220 card.

EVDOguy
EVDO Info :: EVDO Forums

Is this for real, & not an advertisement for this antenna booster?

I suppose if it had a right to return policy, it would be worth trying.

[EVDOguy]

Originally Posted by chimpanzee

Is this for real, & not an advertisement for this antenna booster?

I suppose if it had a right to return policy, it would be worth trying.

To help those that are 'signal challenged', we are going to be reviewing EVDO signal amplifiers at http://www.EVDOinfo.com. We expect to have a detailed review (with pictures, benchmarks and detailed info), at our site in a few weeks.

EVDOguy
EVDO Info :: EVDO Forums

[chimpanzee]

Originally Posted by EVDOguy

To help those that are 'signal challenged', we are going to be reviewing EVDO signal amplifiers at http://www.EVDOinfo.com. We expect to have a detailed review (with pictures, benchmarks and detailed info), at our site in a few weeks.

EVDOguy

Good news on my end..I'm getting signal-strength of 2-bars inside my living room, so I can access the Internet. I did some extensive web-surfing, using Verizon broadband wireless.

However, it seems to lose connection if I don't use it for a long period of time.. Is this normal? If so, how do I prevent it..do I need to set some sort of option (couldn't find any,to prevent time-out disconnects). Or, do I need somekind of aftermarket program ("ping" type of thing), to keep my connection going?

I tried my PC laptop in a mobile setting at the Long Beach GP over the weekend. I actually uploaded a 12mb QT video from the *grandstands*, @6.4kbytes/sec (took forever!)..this seems to correspond to a dial-up upload speed..are the upload speeds like this, & the download speeds are DSL?

http://www.jumplive.com/lbgp05/Sun/v...arm/index.html
[ 12mb QT video of Atlantic warmups ]
http://www.jumplive.com/lbgp05/Sun/v...arm/index.html
[ 2 mb QT video of ChampCar garage area, car setup ]

The above was done from the garage area..both were from a digital camera with 30fps VGA (640x480) video. I could have done a quick video capture from my HD (high definition) Sony FX1 camcorder (or my Digital8 20:1 camcorder), but it would have taken more time. It was a good experiment, in terms of trying out some "conduits" in getting live-updates to the Web.

It turned out that the camera cellphones (1.2M pixel), was the best tool for live-updates, see:

http://www.jumplive.com/lbgp05/phlogging.html
[ click on "Sunday", ChampCar Race ]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jumplive/sets/201783/
[ For "Friday", "driver autograph session" ]

A few clicks on the phone, & the visual-content is on the Web. The other methods required pulling out big chunks of hardware, plugging in cables, manually downloading & uploading stuff. Too much of a hassle. There's a real opportunity, if someone can figure out a software solution to make it more seamless. There is actually one out there, utilizing WiFi, PPC (pocketPC), digital SLRs, Bluetooth phones.

[EVDOguy]

Originally Posted by chimpanzee

Good news on my end..I'm getting signal-strength of 2-bars inside my living room, so I can access the Internet. I did some extensive web-surfing, using Verizon broadband wireless.

However, it seems to lose connection if I don't use it for a long period of time.. Is this normal? If so, how do I prevent it..do I need to set some sort of option (couldn't find any,to prevent time-out disconnects). Or, do I need somekind of aftermarket program ("ping" type of thing), to keep my connection going?

I tried my PC laptop in a mobile setting at the Long Beach GP over the weekend. I actually uploaded a 12mb QT video from the *grandstands*, @6.4kbytes/sec (took forever!)..this seems to correspond to a dial-up upload speed..are the upload speeds like this, & the download speeds are DSL?

You are describing something called Dormant mode. If you do not use your connection for 30 seconds, the card goes in dormant mode, and there is a 3 - 10 second delay the next time you access the internet.

We have a web page that reloads every 15 seconds, and even an application that does the same, and it prevents your EVDO card from going into dormant mode, visit:

http://www.evdoinfo.com/Downloads/Dr...on_2005022368/

The upload speed is A LOT slower than download. Download is 300 - 500k, but most get 400k - 700k (average), some even get over 1mb download. The upload speed is 40k - 90k on the average.

EVDOguy
EVDO Info :: EVDO Forums

[On-The-Go]

Originally Posted by Registered

So here it is a month later, any joy? Did you try your Dell at the Verizon store? The venturi software caused far more problems for me than it solved so I uninstalled it. I can't hit 1000kb anymore but it's rock solid at 400-500kb *all* the time.

The Venturi Client that comes with Verizon is an old client, not at all up to date. They're using ver 2.3 and Venturi is already at 3.1.5. If you cant get from Verizon, just get it from venturi, www.venturiwireless.com. Make sure youuninstall previous Venturi. The new client will rock your speed. I had the same problem and the new client is great. Does great especially with my Exchange emails when accessing company via VPN.

[EVDOguy]

If you are exactly in between a EVDO tower and 1xRTT tower, your EVDO PC Card, can get confused and bounce back and forth and cause you not to maintain a connection. If you are using a PC5220 card, we have steps at the URL below that help you block out the one tower, so that your EVDO card only 'sees' the other tower.

http://www.evdoinfo.com/Tips/PC_5220...0_20050531297/