Need help with my internet connection
Fairchild
Newbie

I really need help with my internet connection.

Short history:

 

I live pretty far out, and got verizon wireless in February 2009, it worked great.  There were hardly any interruptions, speed was fine (not as fast as dsl, but definitely much faster than dial-up)

The problems started in April when the leaves came on the trees. My connection went from fast to slow to extremely unreliable.

Calling verizon was impossible, you never get a human being on the phone.

I went to the verizon store and they told me I needed to add a booster (which goes from the modem into 2 USB ports). I added the booster, it made no difference. Then they told me I needed an antenna. I bought and added the antenna, it made no difference. I moved my computer to different parts of the house, threw the antenna out of  windows, no joy.

 

I can connect most of the time (except for the times when it goes out for hours on end and I get no bars at all), but generally, my "speed"  is slower than, or on a good day, equal to dial up. I am forced to keep my dial up connection because my wireless is too unreliable.

Most of the time, I get one single bar, I rarely see more than one bar nowadays.

Someone asked me to click on help in the application window, then on 'about verizon' and check RSSI

RSSI is usually between 99 and 104, basically if it's at 104, I simply don't have a connection or it takes up to 10 minutes to load a single page.

 

I've disconnected my modem for a few minutes now and then, I've gone in my task manager to end the process and start over, I've added the booster, I've moved the antenna in different directions, but nothing works.

 

My questions are.. what can I do to make this work?

And, if it is my location (which I assume it is) then how do I get out of the contract without a cancellation fee? Surely I should not have to pay for 2 years for a product that doesn't work? I am posting here because I have not gotten anywhere with this via any other avenue (phone, email, store)

Given the fact that I work online, this has been a constant source of stress for several months now.

 

On top of it all, now I am getting a new error  when I try to connect. It won't let me connect and it tells me that someone else is already using this connection. Is someone else tapping into my connection? If that is the case, it wouldn't be good because there is a 5 gig cap on this thing. This problem just started.

 

Thank you

 

 

 

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Re: Need help with my internet connection
dslr595148
Community Leader
Community Leader
What is the brand and model of this modem/router?
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Re: Need help with my internet connection
KaLin
Khoros Partner
Khoros Partner

Hi Fairchild,

 

Could you let me know which internet service you have so that I can make sure your post is in  the correct board? Do you have fiber optic (FiOS) or DSL or ??

Thanks,

 

KaLin

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Re: Need help with my internet connection
Fairchild
Newbie

Thank you kindly for the replies.

 

In answer to the questions.. heh *scratches head*

Will this help?

 

http://b2b.vzw.com/promotions/um175_usb.html

 

^^ What you see on that page, that's exactly what I have.

 

UM175 USB modem 

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Re: Need help with my internet connection
BrianMcD
Specialist - Level 1
Looks like Wireless Broadband.
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Re: Need help with my internet connection
BradC
Moderator Emeritus

Hi Fairchild, Sorry to hear you are experiencing issues with your service. The proper Verizon Wireless point-of-contact has been made aware of the issue and will be in contact soon.

 

Good luck 😃

 

Brad

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Re: Need help with my internet connection
Fairchild
Newbie
Thanks Brad, I appreciate it!
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Re: Need help with my internet connection
LukeTech
Contributor - Level 1
I'm curious to learn which external antenna you have tried with this and how the RSSI (receive signal strength indicator) changes when you connect/disconnect this external antenna. A Yagi antenna is the most powerful type of antenna, but it has to be aimed properly. Take a look at wilsonelectronics dot com for some ideas.

A -104 RSSI is the absolute verge of call quality. On a voice call, you'll probably begin to hear some audio warble and distortion. Signal strengh is very sensitive for EVDO data. Once you drop into the -90's to -100's (lower numbers are more power, higher number are less) range, download speeds drop off dramatically.
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Re: Need help with my internet connection
Fairchild
Newbie

The antenna I have is called a magnetic roof mount antenna for aircards. That's all it says, there were no instructions that came with it.

But when I read your question and went to look at the box, I just noticed that there is a third piece in the box I had not noticed before.

I took a good look at it and couldn't figure out where to attach it at first, but then I figured it out. After I attached the piece, RSSI went from -99 to -89

 

I moved my computer around and have pointed the antenna in all directions, it seems the best signal, which isn't great, can be had when I put the antenna inside my lampshade on the ceiling above my desk. 

 

Now that I found that other piece, let's see what happens :smileyhappy: 

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Re: Need help with my internet connection
LukeTech
Contributor - Level 1
What you have is called a dipole antenna. It receives and transmits in a doughnut shape pattern perpendicular to the whip (vertical portion) of the antenna. A dipole does not have to be pointed in any specific direction and works best when the base is horizontal and whip is vertical. As you have noticed, positioning in different areas of a room can make a difference. If you can find a piece of steel (1sq ft to 4sq ft) to sit the magnetic base on, this will improve what is the called the ground plane, this helps develop that doughnut shape. Since the antenna has a magnetic base, be careful with it around computer equipment; in my opinion keep it 12" or more away.

A 10db improvement on that is amazing, that is typically what you would get with a yagi. I'm not sure what that additional piece was that you found. At the end of the coax cable that attaches to the antenna is a screw type connector. Onto that connector attaches an adapter, which attaches to the RF port on the data card. When those screw connectors are put together, they should not be able to be pulled loose... they must be unscrewed to detach. The adapter plugs directly into the data card RF port, the adapter tip has some sort of locking mechanism that holds it in place.
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