How does an Airave work?

[gr8nuguy]

Just got off the phone with sprint and complained that my cell service was crap while my closest tower was undergoing its NV update. (4 weeks and counting). They are sending me an Airave to fix the issues. I am out in the country so there is only 1 tower in range of me. and that is the one they are working on. I hope they let me keep the airave after the tower is complete. now all they need to do is come out with LTE compatible version for my Optimus G

 

If you have wifi' date=' it defeats the purpose of an lte Airave

 

Sent from my SSGS3 using Forum Runner

[WiWavelength]

If you have wifi, it defeats the purpose of an lte air rave .

 

Precisely. An LTE Airave is practically pointless. If you have a broadband connection to run the Airave, then you should already have Wi-Fi. And what people fail to realize is that Wi-Fi is almost literally LTE before there ever was LTE. The key difference is that Wi-Fi operates in unlicensed spectrum.

 

AJ

[Deval]

Precisely. An LTE Airave is practically pointless. If you have a broadband connection to run the Airave, then you should already have Wi-Fi. And what people fail to realize is that Wi-Fi is almost literally LTE before there ever was LTE. The key difference is that Wi-Fi operates in unlicensed spectrum.

 

AJ

 

It's all about the 4-Geez!

 

But seriously AJ is right.

[WiWavelength]

It's all about the 4-Geez!

 

What about the bigger Gee-Bees?

 

AJ

[gr8nuguy]

What about the bigger Gee-Bees?

 

AJ

actually is the hebejebes

[WiWavelength]

actually is the hebejebes

 

That is sexist. She wants the bigger Gee-Bees, too.

 

AJ

[gr8nuguy]

lol

[Tranziq]

Got my Airave on friday and got it all setup. It is amazing what a difference it makes. The only annoyance now is the 2 beeps right after you dial or pick up the phone to let you know your connected to the airave. having 5 bars in the house is so much better than 1 bar or 80% of the time roaming. I even occasionally get LTE from a nearby boomer tower while on the airave. Hats off to sprint for suppling the Femtocell. My battery actually lasts more than 3 hours now!

[Stuntman]

My wife wants to use the Airave in her classroom (She is a teacher)..  The cell signal from Sprint is almost non-existent in that room.  She has been using the school's wi-fi to get data, but that is so restricted due to the firewall setup by the district that she can't get her mail (gmail) etc..  I was able to get the IT department to allow the Airave to be installed inside their network and they will open the necessary ports for it to work..  my question is..

 

If the phone that is connected to the Airave is also on the wi-fi at the school, will data always use the wi-fi if available vs. the Airave?  Do I need to turn off wi-fi in or 'forget' the school's wi-fi in order to force the phone to use the Airave for it's data?

 

Thanks!

 

 

[MacinJosh]

My wife wants to use the Airave in her classroom (She is a teacher)..  The cell signal from Sprint is almost non-existent in that room.  She has been using the school's wi-fi to get data, but that is so restricted due to the firewall setup by the district that she can't get her mail (gmail) etc..  I was able to get the IT department to allow the Airave to be installed inside their network and they will open the necessary ports for it to work..  my question is..

 

If the phone that is connected to the Airave is also on the wi-fi at the school, will data always use the wi-fi if available vs. the Airave?  Do I need to turn off wi-fi in or 'forget' the school's wi-fi in order to force the phone to use the Airave for it's data?

 

Thanks!

 

Yes you would have to forget the school's wi-fi in order for the phone to use the Airave data. Of course, depending on the school's ISP bandwidth, even Airave data can be slow. Hopefully they have a really good internet connection.

[Stuntman]

Yes you would have to forget the school's wi-fi in order for the phone to use the Airave data. Of course, depending on the school's ISP bandwidth, even Airave data can be slow. Hopefully they have a really good internet connection.

 

Thanks!  That is what we will try then.  The School's bandwidth is fast, the issue has been no cell signal inside her room and that she can't check her mail on her phone due to the blocking of gmail (and just about everything else).  I'm hoping that with the phone connected to the Airave that the data will be allowed to flow without the hinderance of the firewall.  I've set the Airave to only allow connection from her phone, via Sprint's website.. if that works...

[MacinJosh]

Thanks! That is what we will try then. The School's bandwidth is fast, the issue has been no cell signal inside her room and that she can't check her mail on her phone due to the blocking of gmail (and just about everything else). I'm hoping that with the phone connected to the Airave that the data will be allowed to flow without the hinderance of the firewall. I've set the Airave to only allow connection from her phone, via Sprint's website.. if that works...

It should work that only her phone would connect, but you should add your phone if you go over there often.

 

 

Sent from Josh's iPhone 5 using Tapatalk 2

[digiblur]

Thanks! That is what we will try then. The School's bandwidth is fast, the issue has been no cell signal inside her room and that she can't check her mail on her phone due to the blocking of gmail (and just about everything else). I'm hoping that with the phone connected to the Airave that the data will be allowed to flow without the hinderance of the firewall. I've set the Airave to only allow connection from her phone, via Sprint's website.. if that works...

Yes, once she is on the airave it is a Vpn connection back to Sprint so the school can't even see the websites being requested. It's all encrypted.

 

[Stuntman]

Thanks All!  That is all what I had hoped.  As long as Sprint can truly exclude all connections except those I add, all will be great!  I just don't want anybody with a Sprint phone suddenly being able to get through the firewall.. Students in particular...

[MacinJosh]

Yes, once she is on the airave it is a Vpn connection back to Sprint so the school can't even see the websites being requested. It's all encrypted.

 

Good to know for my personal future reference in case I ever need such a nice feature. Hopefully I'll never need it though.

[digiblur]

Good to know for my personal future reference in case I ever need such a nice feature. Hopefully I'll never need it though.

Just like my kids school. Everyone knows the WEP password.. Yes.. WEP. It's the schools phone number. They block YouTube, Facebook, and many others. But they didn't block VPN. So as with any wifi connection I use I always VPN back to the house so kids don't snoop on my packets there. My wife asked me how I was getting to YouTube during an event and I never realized that they blocked that stuff. Love VPN!

[gnoj]

Thanks All!  That is all what I had hoped.  As long as Sprint can truly exclude all connections except those I add, all will be great!  I just don't want anybody with a Sprint phone suddenly being able to get through the firewall.. Students in particular...

 

Aah, the good old days of proxying around firewalls in high school. Bess was one tough puppy to play with, but led me to learn quite a bit about networking...

 

I think it's a good idea to have a cell signal available to all for safety reasons, but unfortunately I don't think there's a way to open the Airave to everyone for voice and just restrict data. I wonder if a call to 911 would override the Airave's security settings and allow anyone with a CDMA phone to connect?

[Stuntman]

I don't think there's a way to open the Airave to everyone for voice and just restrict data.

 

Actually, I'm hoping this provides voice and data for only my wife, and perhaps myself if I'm there helping..  everybody else is on their own..  I'm not sure how the E911 works as far as the security settings on the Airave.  Hopefully in  the event a 911 call is needed the classroom phones will still be up for everybody else.

 

[S4GRU]

Just like my kids school. Everyone knows the WEP password.. Yes.. WEP. It's the schools phone number. They block YouTube, Facebook, and many others. But they didn't block VPN. So as with any wifi connection I use I always VPN back to the house so kids don't snoop on my packets there. My wife asked me how I was getting to YouTube during an event and I never realized that they blocked that stuff. Love VPN!

 

In Los Alamos, they got tired of kids hacking their secure system that they finally just gave the students their own WiFi.

 

Robert

[WiWavelength]

In Los Alamos, they got tired of kids hacking their secure system that they finally just gave the students their own WiFi.

 

The school district should have gotten Facebook and Twitter to pay for it.

 

AJ

[mrknowitall526]

In Los Alamos, they got tired of kids hacking their secure system that they finally just gave the students their own WiFi.

 

Robert

 

The district I teach in has a network just for students, but it also blocks Facebook, youtube, etc.  But, students are encourage to bring their own device, as long as it is 7" or greater in size (basically ruling out all phones ... although some of the new ones are pretty close to that.)  Phones are not allowed (high school) for all the obvious reasons.  I've seen far too many tweeting/texting/sexting (esp. the latter) issues between kids at school that gets them in to trouble.

[MacinJosh]

The district I teach in has a network just for students, but it also blocks Facebook, youtube, etc. But, students are encourage to bring their own device, as long as it is 7" or greater in size (basically ruling out all phones ... although some of the new ones are pretty close to that.) Phones are not allowed (high school) for all the obvious reasons. I've seen far too many tweeting/texting/sexting (esp. the latter) issues between kids at school that gets them in to trouble.

The ITT Tech campus I went to blocked Facebook. It sucked. And the building blocked WiMax signals so 4G on my EVO Shift was useless indoors. (Had an excellent outdoor 4G signal.)

 

 

Sent from Josh's iPhone 5 using Tapatalk 2

[Smashed Ixnay]

I just got an Airave 2.5 (had the old model but it stopped working).   My 3G speeds on the old one were about 2.3mb at best.   With the 2.5 airave I am getting 2.51mb down and 0.73 upload.   

 

 

When my old airave was down for a few months I would get 4G speeds inside and sometimes get 4mb down from the Sprint towers.   This airave sometimes says it's on 4G with full bars, and will get 3-4mb down, but upload is usually around 1mb.      Do the 2.5 Airaves get LTE?       It just seems weird b/c I thought they didn't get 4G?     Even if it does get 4G, it makes me wonder b/c when I would get 4mb down with Sprint towers I barely had a signal.    This was done on the Speedtest app, so could that be why?   


I guess it really doesn't matter at the end of the day though, because I am going to be connected to a 70mb connection.   I was just curious though.    I also only got the 2.5 Airave b/c the old one bit the dust, and sometimes people come over and don't use the wifi, so the airave treated them nicely that they didn't ask for the wifi password, lol.

[khammondnm]

Your full bars is your.1x.signal strength. It is likely that your lte signal is much lower and hence your 3-4mb speed test. On a side note, It could also be overloading of the tower.

 

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 4

 

 

[Sonic13]

Would Wifi calling make the Airave obsolete? I'm not exactly sure how wifi calling works, but it just seems like it'd be less of a hassle.