Signal Problems

Jbear14 · EVDO Newbie Joined: 14 Aug 2008 Posts: 5

Ok I went and picked up my Verizon Wireless USB727 card today...

Where I am sitting with my desktop my cellphone has 2-3 bars of EVDO coverage and no cell phone service

Through my aircard though I either have no service at all or sometimes get enough for it to say connected to Broadband Rev-A but RSSI is above 100 and showing no bars.

I just ordered the 32" Omni External Antenna for it...is this gonna improve my RSSI?? Im hoping so considering my crappy chocolate phone is showing 3 bars of EVDO right now....and i am having to type this on my old dial up service >:O

Jbear14 · EVDO Newbie Joined: 14 Aug 2008 Posts: 5

Also, the service is very jumpy.....even on my phone.

Antenna help with this as well?

reggie14 · EVDO Newbie Joined: 09 Aug 2008 Posts: 7

It's hard to say what's going to happen in your situation, but in general I think the wilson antenna only drops the RSSI by 6-10db. Antenna place is key, though. Getting it up above obstacles that might be impairing the signal is important, and might drop your RSSI numbers quite a bit. What kind of signal strength do you get outside your house? Maybe just mounting the antenna on your roof would help matters greatly.

Do you know how close the nearest EVDO towers are? In my case, I saw my RSSI numbers jumping around all over the place in the -85-110db range because my modem kept trying to connect to different towers. Another thing that could be going on, if your tower is in a busy area, is that the tower is decreasing it's service area at peak hours so it doesn't get overloaded.

I strongly suspect you're going to have a difficult time getting reliable service without an amplifier. If you have line-of-sight to a EVDO tower a yagi antenna would probably be preferable to the omni-directional antenna.

Jim_in_VA · Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 3:08 pm Post subject:

Might help your modem, It won't help your phone unless you have a separate external antenna for that as well. If you have a USB extension cord try that with your modem and get it in a position to improve signal.
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Jbear14 · EVDO Newbie Joined: 14 Aug 2008 Posts: 5

isnt there a way to make it where it stops switching antennas? And i tried searching for the nearest antennas but they all have wierd company names and I dont know how to tell which is which.......

How would an amplifierhelp my situation? I am very new to all of this so consider me pure noob lol

I am only using it for gaming so all i want is a constant, decent ping.....could care less about DL speed =)

Alex · Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 3:16 pm Post subject:

Jbear14 · EVDO Newbie Joined: 14 Aug 2008 Posts: 5

well my latency right now hops around like crazy, lowest being at 231 ms on WoW jumping to 2500........and im noticing on my VZAccess Manager that it keeps switching from Broadband Access too National Access, or Rev-A to 1Xtt........could that be the problem and is there anyway to make it stop doing that?

Alex · Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 3:25 pm Post subject:

do some legwork. answer the questions at end of this article:

http://www.EVDOinfo.com/RSSI

pay attention to what RSSI is for both 1xRTT and EVDO

you need strong enough signal to EVDO to maintain that connection.

Jbear14 · EVDO Newbie Joined: 14 Aug 2008 Posts: 5

My RSSI for both evdo and 1xrr is 100+, maybe everyonce in awhile dropping to the high 90s.....

Some of those questions i cant answer because I am on a desktop and can not go out driving to find out the RSSI.....perhaps i can find a laptop to borrow or something

reggie14 · EVDO Newbie Joined: 09 Aug 2008 Posts: 7

If you call up Verizon they'll probably tell you what towers are nearby. It might take a couple tries though. Apparently some of the customer service reps are trained to not give that information out, while others are perfectly happy to give it out. At least, that's how both Alltel and Sprint worked. I've never had Verizon, so I don't know what they do.

Can you tell us anything else about your house and the area around your house? Your desktop isn't in a basement, is it? It is near a window? What's your house made out of (brick, wood with vinyl siding, etc)? Do you have a lot of large trees around your house?

But, I think for any of us to be much help you'll need to do what Alex asked you to do. I'm particularly interested in what your signal strength is right outside your house. If it's still around -100db I think it would take a serious (and expensive) effort to give it working reliably.

onedavester · Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 11:08 am Post subject:

How can he have such a strong EVDO signal on his cell with no antenna in the same location he is getting a lousy EVDO signal on his aircard?

Capt.Dan · Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:18 pm Post subject: