Aircard Slowing Down

[Doc]

My Verizon USB760 aircard has gotten noticably slower. Do you suppose this could be on purpose to force me to buy a new 4G version?

 

[Larry M]

Doc wrote:

My Verizon USB760 aircard has gotten noticably slower. Do you suppose this could be on purpose to force me to buy a new 4G version?

Doc:* When we were in Mexico, we had monthly data limits with our 3G Telecel.* If we went over the limit,*they*cut back on the download speed till the next billing month started.* Just a thought.



*

 

[Moonstruck]

Doc wrote:

My Verizon USB760 aircard has gotten noticably slower. Do you suppose this could be on purpose to force me to buy a new 4G version?

Probably not, Doc.* My guess is that your computer is loaded up with temporary internet files and cookies.* If you haven't cleaned them lately, go to "control panel"and "internet options".* Be warned you may have to reset your computer to an earlier date and change some settings in your security program to get it running right again.* It should speed up your browser considerably.* It could be a little frustrating to get it all back going, but worth it.* If you have a program like PC CLEANER or something run it

*

 

[Gulf Comanche]

I had the aircard and disliked it. Very slow and not useful where I wanted it to be, like out in the sticks. I got rid of mine.

 

[Larry H]

It could also be that the local network is overloaded. You are sharing the cell tower with all other users. I use a Sprint broadband card on 3G. If I try to watch a movie, it starts out OK, then slows down and sometimes stops. That is Sprint saying, 'OK you had your high speed blast, now it is some one else's turn.'

I have noticed a similar thing in marinas that have WiFi. If several boats try to update their charts at the same time, the network slows way down.

 

[Doc]

It must come and go (see joke in OTDE) because it is better now.

 

[Moonstruck]

Doc wrote:

It must come and go (see joke in OTDE) because it is better now.

Doc, it can be your carrier is loaded with traffic* You will find this at certain times of day----5-6pm for example.* All the guys ask MaMa if she needs bread or milk on the way home.* It's really an excuse to stop and get some beer "while you are there".

When you shut down you dump some temporary files, but not all.* They accumulate.* Don't know if you tried cleaning them up.* You can Google search for ccleaner.* There is a free version, and it works quite well.

If you want, try this link

http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/

*

 

[Doc]

Moonstruck,

My computer is cleaner than a recently powdered baby's butt. You still in SW Florida?

 

[Moonstruck]

Doc wrote:

Moonstruck,

My computer is cleaner than a recently powdered baby's butt. You still in SW Florida?

No, Tennessee.* Just ordered some parts from Weaver for the dinghy.* I need to get back down to install and take care of a few other things before leaving for the Chesapeake.

*

 

[Baker]

The phenomenon explained above is called "throttling". All carriers do it. They will give you an initial blast and then it slows down so as not to overburden the network. BUT.....I do not believe that to be your problem. The problem is that Verizon just picked up the iPhone. And just like on AT&T, you have all these folks out there jamming up the network. I hope and pray the iPhone never comes to Sprint!!!!

 

[Billylll]

If you are using CDMA/EVDO a single EVDO carrier can only support 60 simultaneous users in a data session. If the towers are remote there is a good chance the Verizon site may only be an F1 or 1 carrier site. It really has nothing to do with VZW wanting to sell you a new 3G/4G card. Depending on where you use the aircard there might not be any 4G available. Both VZW and Sprint use CDMA for their current 3G network's. Very rural areas sometimes don't even have EVDO RevA only 1X-RTT which is very slow by today's cellular data standards.

As far as the iPAD users they don't slow the network anymore than a Smartphone, what is currently choking everyone's networks is "NETFLIX" or IPTV.
Bill



-- Edited by Billylll on Sunday 27th of March 2011 06:11:11 AM


-- Edited by Billylll on Sunday 27th of March 2011 06:14:07 AM

 

[Billylll]

Doc wrote:
My Verizon USB760 aircard has gotten noticably slower. Do you suppose this could be on purpose to force me to buy a new 4G version?

*I just replaced an old VZW aircard with Verizon's latest UWML290 4G/3G USB modem. The primary area I use the data modem in is still only 3G. With that being said my speeds are identical with the old Aircard or the latest USB modem. The advantage will be that I travel where there is 4G (LTE) and tested the USB modem near Philadelphia, PA the speeds were very impressive 12mbps(DL) and almost 10mbps(UL). So as the 4G footprint expands I expect to use it in 4G mode when ever I can.

Bill

*

 

[Baker]

Billylll wrote:
If you are using CDMA/EVDO a single EVDO carrier can only support 60 simultaneous users in a data session. If the towers are remote there is a good chance the Verizon site may only be an F1 or 1 carrier site. It really has nothing to do with VZW wanting to sell you a new 3G/4G card. Depending on where you use the aircard there might not be any 4G available. Both VZW and Sprint use CDMA for their current 3G network's. Very rural areas sometimes don't even have EVDO RevA only 1X-RTT which is very slow by today's cellular data standards.

As far as the iPAD users they don't slow the network anymore than a Smartphone, what is currently choking everyone's networks is "NETFLIX" or IPTV.
Bill



-- Edited by Billylll on Sunday 27th of March 2011 06:11:11 AM



-- Edited by Billylll on Sunday 27th of March 2011 06:14:07 AM

*

*Bill, my point wasn't an iPhone versus any other smartphone. *My point was that the iPhone will coerce people from their dumbphones(or a not so smart phone) to a smartphone....thus increasing the number of smartphone users on the network. *This is a documented phenomenon. *It happened(still happening) on AT&T and it is happening now on VZW....and it is because of the iPhone. *A person with a Blackberry does not spends hours just dicking around with the phone on the internet....a person with an iPhone DOES!!!....hence my point! *And it just so happens that his complaint coincides with the introduction of the iPhone on VZW.


PS....a phone with the ability to wirelessly tether eliminates the need for an aircard....just saying....and you can have multiple users through one wifi hotspot.



-- Edited by Baker on Sunday 27th of March 2011 10:46:31 AM


-- Edited by Baker on Sunday 27th of March 2011 10:48:13 AM

 

[Doc]

I can see the tower from my home office window. Go figger..

I thought about a smart phone instead of the aircard, but I am grandfathered in an unlimited data plan. I started with GTE. Doesn't a smart phone require a data plan with a limit?


-- Edited by Doc on Sunday 27th of March 2011 11:36:32 AM

 

[Baker]

It does if you are on any carrier except Sprint!!! Sprint offers true unlimited data!...ie no data caps. And before anyone chimes in with "so does so and so"....read the small print. VZW and AT&T and T-Mobile all have data caps on their "unlimited" plans....(I am pretty sure aircards are excepted).

 

[Billylll]

Sprint unlimited? Not really true I have 14 Sprint aircards and or Smartphones*for my employees and I am a contractor for them read the fine print unlimited only counts on their spotty 4G network that they own 51% of ClearWire. Most of my orginal contracts say unlimited but they charge for anything over 5Gig on the 3G network it seems to be hit or miss. Smartphones are better off using WiFi when you are near an access point the speeds are far better on WiFi vs. EVDO Rev.A 3G. Since we work for*Sprint and Ericsson who handles their network service you would think we would get a discount, not so not even on the data CAP. Then again I have some users transfering up to 60GBs of data a month.

The carriers want Smartphones, Sprint launched the EVO and now a new tablet*pretty soon you will be hard pressed to be able to purchase a straight cell phone.

You can't compare a Blackberry to anything else RIM has it's own servers that connect to the various carriers and is primarily an SMS*messaging platform.

Bill


-- Edited by Billylll on Sunday 27th of March 2011 09:36:01 PM

 

[Billylll]

There are numerous issues, the main issue is not enough backhaul to the sites, then there aren't enough radios on the site it can also be caused by a large building having poor service but a large number of Tier 1 users. In addition you can be singled out if you are a data*abuser. I could go on and on about CDMA speed issues. Throttling doesn't just happen because you are singled out it has to do with the number of concurrent users in a data session and the number of radios at the site then combine that with the lack of enough backhaul and Huston we have a problem.*The carriers are a victim of their own success. They need to identify choked sites and upgrade the layer that is causing the bottleneck. As far as WiFi again speed can be propotional to the number of users but it can also be the marina is using a DSL line instead of fiber, DOC.SYS3*or commercial grade ADSL. Also most Marina based WiFi systems I have worked on are poorly designed (done on the cheap).

Bill



-- Edited by Billylll on Sunday 27th of March 2011 09:45:59 PM


-- Edited by Billylll on Sunday 27th of March 2011 09:57:05 PM

 

[Baker]

Billy, it is not the 4g plan that is unlimited...it is the "Premium data plane" that I pay an extra 10 dollars a month for. SOme people believe this for 4g service....it is NOT. I will not argue with you ref whether or not YOUR employees get unlimited data. You are a commercial user. Your employees may have an the need to use tremendous amounts of data whereas me, the common user, is not gonna be jammin' on 60 gigs a month...5 or 10 maybe. Coincidently, I was watching the Nascar race today(Which you likely know has the primary sponsor of Sprint) and CEO Hesse was stating in no uncertain terms that they do NOT throttle and that the data plan is TRULY UNLIMITED. He used the term "throttling"...anyway, I thought it was interesting ref our discussion here. Regardless of it all, have you or your employees ever been charged for data overages???? That is the real question? Again, if you pay for the premium data fee(only charged on plans for the Evo and the Epic), IT IS UNLIMITED and it is NOT a 4g plan....it is a "premium data plan" which includes 4g. I know these are semantics but that is the way it is. I found a link to the commercial....maybe if you are a lawyer he is tap dancing around something here. But it "seems" very clear to me.

*

 

[Billylll]

We have been charged numerous times for over usage. When we call customer service or CNS care we are3 told thats the way it is. Hesse is wrong the terms he uses are correct but the nature of a 3G CDMA and it's limits slow the speeds depending on many factors including Cell shrinkage common with heavy loaded & used CDMA sites. Dan Hesse says lots of things in Press releases that are not true. A week ago he announced that T Mobile and Sprint were merging that weekend AT&T announced the real merger. But I could quote the hand that feeds me and my employees all day and end up getting bit.
So again yes we have been charged for excessive data usage and we are on the unlimited plans.
Bill

 

[Baker]

I do realize that a network can slow down due to traffic....that is what we were talking about to begin with. But that is not considered "throttling". Throttling is the intentional act of slowing a user to save bandwidth.

Does Sprint differentiate bewteen personal and business accounts? Maybe that is the issue. At some point they are going to have to limit usage if their are users that are gobbling up bandwidth!!! Those users are not people like me. Not even people that stream Netflix or online gamers. I know people that do that and use about 20 gigs a month and do not get charged or hassled about overages. But a business account that needs massive amounts of bandwidth probably deserves to pay their share.

 

[Billylll]

Well I never said I'm not paying my fair share. But to be honest the average ClearWire 4G user was using 8Gigs per month prior to Netflix launching their version of IPTV. I don't have access to the current numbers but I was told they have almost doubled. The 3G networks will eventually be going away and either replaced with LTE or WiMAX, I would bet on LTE/TD or LTE lite for ClearWire/Sprint if they can stop the bleeding.
Bill

 

[Baker]

I would think somebody using a dedicated 4G device would use significantly more data than a person with a phone that has 4G capability. Most people that get a 4G card/router are using it as their primary internet connection. Not so with a phone. Anyway, just an observation.

 

[Billylll]

That is correct a data modem or device that gives you analog phone lines and a data
router. Try tethering your Sprint unlimited phone and you will see an increase in charges.
Bill

 

[Baker]

I tether all the time. In fact I am considering ditching the internet at the house and going all tether!!! Speeds are in the low 1.x mbps which is totally acceptable to me. Like I said, they don't flinch at 10 to 20 gigs. ANd I don't go anywhere near that. Now if I stream netflix thru my phone, that would be interesting. Even then, we only watch 2-4 movies a month. And honestly don't know if that speed can keep up with a movie. I am thinking SD it could. HD it would struggle.