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Update: it has been a couple of weeks now and things are still working fine. The only issue that I ran into is that if the external dual-antenna is attached, and the MiFi 8000 has trouble locking onto a signal, then it keeps rebooting over and over every 30 seconds. I tried re-positioning the antenna but for the time being I've switched back to just using the built-in (internal) antenna. I've lost some signal levels (a bar or two) but will spend more time on the weekend to get better positioning of the antennas for less unit-to-unit interference. I just wish it would allow the removal of the battery. The USB cables are providing power to the units, so I don't need the batteries. But when I take the battery out, it shuts down. It really seems to be designed for the battery in-place whether we want it or not. I haven't looked into what jumpers/loads would be required to fool the battery connector. Scott

Nope, didn't try Calyx. I'm burned out by all of the multi-step hoop jumping that I've gone through over the past several years. I don't want to open the door to Calyx + Magic Box + Mobile Citizen + ... At this point, I have a solution and it seems to be working. It is horribly expensive but it is fast and reliable (and those are taking priority for my household right now). A happy wife and happy children supersedes other issues. Thanks for the pointers, Scott

I am using qty=4 of the 100 GB/month plans. Each MiFi8000 has an individual plan and an individual phone number at $65 each, that comes to $260. So it is a tad more expensive than my existing $240/month for 120 GB. My four MiFi8000 units are load-balanced by the MAX-OTG-U4. So it distributes the load among the four and also (might) make things more reliable. I've been watching the load graphs over the weekend and the MAX-OTG-U4 is doing what it is supposed to. Although there are other features in it (speed aggregation, etc.) I didn't activate any of those features. Quite frankly, 20 Mbps is fine for what I need. I just need a good download speed for video streaming (there's no cable where I am), and a reasonable upload speed for the plethora of security cameras that I have. I share your frustration. In my area, there is no cable, DSL is 3 Mbps, Verizon throttles and severely limits, Tmobile limits, and AT&T coverage is spotty. So I'm stuck with Sprint until something better comes along. I'm just lucky that I am "only" 3 miles away from the Sprint tower. I've seen reports that Sprint is starting to throttle Calyx accounts also -- seems they wised up. At this point, I have eliminated finger-pointing; for any problem it is Sprint's fault since it is their contract, their tower, and their branded hardware. Ever since my Clear (WiMax) was eliminated it has been a continual mish-mash and has been a continual headache. I can take a headache; but when my wife or sons constantly say "Daddy, fix the Internet" it really digs... As soon as something comes along that is reliable and cheaper, I'll jump. Living in the "country" means that I'm not on any company's front-burner. So right now I have internet, it works, and speeds are reasonable; but yes, it is horribly expensive. So I can bide my time waiting for SpaceX's satellite-based system that should work BETTER in the country since there is less multi-path interference and clutter. For those gentle readers who are confused, note that I'm paying $260/month for 400GB/month unthrottled. So any hardware costs are ignorable... When forced to abandon Clear's WiMax several years ago, then I had cycled through 3 passive 18dBi 6-foot long 2.5 GHz Yagi high-gain antennas, a Netgear modem, several routers, two Cradlepoint COR-IBR900's, one Cradlepoint COR-IBR1700, and a dozen SIM cards. At that point, enough was enough. Thanks, Scott

Ingenium pointed me to this thread. I just finished configuring my 4-headed system for the Sprint network using the new Sprint Inseego/Novatel MiFi8000. Attached is a photo showing the configuration. Router: qty=1: Pepwave MAX-OTG-U4 (Max On-The-Go with FOUR active USB ports). Note that the "MAX-OTG" and "MAX-OTG-U1" just have 1 active port. The MAX-OTG-U4 Supports 4 USB WAN ports, 1 ethernet LAN port, 1 ethernet WAN port, and WiFi connections. Bought from 5Gstore.com Modem: qty=4: Sprint Inseego/Novatel MiFi8000 (a sister unit of the Verizon MiFi8800L). The MiFi8000 supports Sprint's bands (e.g. Band 41, etc.). Sprint has a sale right now. $2.50 per month for 24 months (i.e. $60). Bought directly from Sprint. Arrived with everything configured -- plug and play. No dinking around with SIM cards that don't fit, aren't the right format, or aren't recognized. Antennas: qty=4: Netgear AirCard MIMO Antenna. Bought from Amazon (B00DN3J03O). Quite frankly, the only reason why I got this was because it had the dual TS9 connectors and the cable is 50cm long. I previously tried some TS9 to SMA adapters, but wasn't happy with how that worked. Since I was paying $240/month for Sprint's old 120GB per month grandfathered plan, the plan for these 400GB is 4*$65 = $260/month. Yes, it is horribly expensive, but I live out in the country and have had continual problems since Sprint bought Clear and disassembled WiMax. Waiting for Verizon, waiting for SpaceX's satellite cluster. waiting for the continuous promises of fixed wireless, etc. and I'm tired of continually jumping through hoops. These companies could make a killing here in the country if they would just try... And I'm not in the "country"; I'm 2 miles outside of city limits. Even the pizza delivery people come out to me. But no cable, and DSL tops out at 3Mbps here. So I'm stuck with wireless. Pros: The Pepwave MAX-OTG-U4 works fine with the MiFi8000. Even though the MiFi8000 isn't in Pepwave's compatibility list, it was just plug-and-go for me. Speeds for a single MiFi8000 are 20 Mbps using a modest flat panel antenna. I'm not getting dramatically more signal-strength bars than without, but it does allow me to stuff the units in a drawer and stack the units up willy-nilly. The antennas will mount on a wall with a picture in front of them. The USB cable from the MAX-OTG-U4 powers the MiFi8000 units. It doesn't have any problems driving all 4 of them. The MiFi8000 has TS9 connectors. I would have preferred SMA, but the TS9's seem to work OK with this flat panel. Cons: The battery has to stay in even though the MiFi8000 is on the USB cable. If I take the battery out, it complains then shuts down. Since it is going to be powered 24.7, this is probably going to eat the batteries and these unused batteries will need to be replaced periodically... Thanks, Scott

Sprint seems to be onto Calyx and some users are reporting throttling... https://www.reddit.com/r/Calyx/comments/9l0x16/is_sprint_throttlingdeprioritizing_calyx_users/ For me, I've been jumping through hoops for too long. At this point, I will pay through the nose. If there is a problem, then it is a Sprint device, with a Sprint logo and a Sprint SIM card, talking to a Sprint tower, so there isn't any finger pointing. I've gone through 5 modems in the past several years since Clear (WiMax) was bought by Sprint. And climbed up on the roof more times than I care to remember diddling with my large passive high-gain antennas. I would have jumped ship to Verizon long ago but their limits are way too small for me -- and Sprint's (Clear's) 2.5 GHz band (B41) just has so much potential... I'll post in the hardware thread that you mentioned once my 4-headed hydra is operational. Thanks for the heads up. Scott

Since I'm out in the country and 5G won't be coming to me any time soon, I'm trying to upgrade my existing 4G LTE system. I bought one of the new Sprint MiFi 8000 units (made by InSeeGo / Novatel). This unit is similar to the Verizon MiFi 8800L; but the Sprint version includes Sprint bands such as Band 41. So far, so good. Then I purchased a small flat panel antenna with TS9 connectors (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DN3J03O). The MiFi 8000 and MiFi 8800L have TS9 coax connectors under the little rubber covers. So now SpeedTest is showing 56 Mbps. I have never ever gotten anywhere near this speed with any of my other configurations, so I'm very happy! The largest plan from Sprint for the MiFi 8000 is the 100GB/month plan. So I bought 4 of them. Yes I know it is silly, but the cost for my existing 120GB grandfathered plan in July was $600 (due to the overage charges). Ouch. So 400GB/month here I come... Now for the tricky bit. I know that I need to do load balancing across the 4 plans. So I could either go with a USB based system (such as the Peplink MAX-OTG-U4) or an ethernet based system (such as the Peplink Balance One). I already tried a simple USB to ethernet dongle from C2G but that didn't work. It seems that a WiFi router that supported WISP (such as TP-Link 3020 or 3040) would be a possible solution, but I don't really want that many antennas sitting on the table... At this point I am stuck and would appreciate some advice. How to tie my four MiFi 8000 units into my existing Cat6 gigabit wired ethernet house. Thanks, Scott

My service is through Sprint (not a third party on the Sprint network). Setting my Cradlepoint COR-IBR1700 as follows; reported by speedtest.net: MTU=1500, 100Mbps, half-duplex: 30 Mbps MTU=1500, 100Mbps, full-duplex: 2 Mbps MTU=1438, 100Mbps, half-duplex: 28 Mbps MTU=1438, 100Mbps, full-duplex: 3 Mbps MTU=792, 100Mbps, half-duplex: 27 Mbps MTU=792 100Mbps, full-duplex: 2 Mbps fast.com produces consistent numbers. TCPoptimizer liked 792 the best, so I tried that also. The values from 30 to 27 Mbps are probably just traffic related, so I see those as the same. It is the dramatic difference between half-duplex and full-duplex that is my concern. Thanks, Scott

I've made a discovery about my home's network setup and would appreciate some advice. Using my new Cradlepoint COR-IBR1700 for connection to the internet via a cellular connection, the local ethernet port on the IBR1700 can be set. The factory default has it on AUTO, which it reports running at 10Mbps. That speed was horrible. My house is wired for gigabit and all of my switches are gigabit. So I manually set the IBR1700 to 1000, which also necessitated full-duplex (since there is no such thing as 1000 half-duplex). That speed was also horrible also. So then I set the IBR1700's ethernet port to 100 half-duplex, and now I get 30 Mbps from speedtest.net and fast.com Changing to 100 full-duplex drops back down to 1 Mbps. So clearly, my Sprint connection to the IBR1700 doesn't like full-duplex at any speed. Note that I'm not changing the setting from the IBR1700 to Sprint (I don't seem to have access to that), I'm changing the connection from the IBR1700 wired ethernet connector to the rest of my home. I think that most cell radios are half-duplex (I'm on Sprint's 4G LTE here in Patterson). I'm just surprised that there isn't a big recommendation somewhere that says to run at half-duplex when connecting to cell. Can anyone confirm or deny? This was a big surprise to me; but I'm pleased with the 30x speedup between half-duplex and full-duplex. Thanks, Scott

Verizon has a map of their 5G pole-mounted locations in Sacramento. The map that I have attached comes from here: https://sacramentocityexpress.com/2018/09/12/worlds-first-commercial-5g-internet-service-arrives-in-sacramento-oct-1/ Scott

A few days ago, my speed jumped from a few Mbps (where it had been consistently for several years) to 40 Mbps. And it has been there consistently for the past couple of days. I didn't do anything on my end, so I'm guessing that Sprint upgraded the backhaul for the tower(s). For reference, I have a Cradlepoint COR-IBR900 (it replaced my flaky Netgear 6100D about a year ago). But I have had minor issues with the IBR900; it had problems with carrier aggregation -- kept ping-pong'ing between Band 25, 26, 41, and from tower-to-tower. This jumping/hopping caused drop-outs and dead-times. I've been working with the Cradlepoint folks since March to resolve these firmware issues. I installed a new device firmware (6.4.2) and modem firmware (2.26.01.00_SPRINT) about a week ago. So I can't say if the new 40 Mbps speed is because of the Sprint tower or the updated IBR900. Regardless, I am very happy at the moment. I hope that it continues. After many many years (starting with Clearwire's WiMax), I am finally getting what was promised those many years ago. Thanks, Scott PS I had two Sprint Magic Boxes, but just sent them both back. The concept is good -- it is a microcell for talking to devices on Band 41 inside of a building, while the MB talks to the cell tower from a window. However, for me, I would have needed an external antenna port to use it effectively. The Magic Box kept talking to the cell tower on Band 25, which defeats the whole purpose.

Ah... to get back to test-the-window mode, first we select Shutdown from the menu. That shuts the unit down and gets it back to the original state (that it arrived in the box). Then hold down the hidden button on the front for 5 seconds and wait for the unit to power back up. Then I can access test-the-window mode again. Funny thing is that when I take the Magic Box outside and point it directly at the cell tower, the maximum that I get is 12 (out of 100). But when I put it in a particular window, I can get 16. So I'm using that. It is still showing Band 25, but SpeedTest is reporting a better number now than I had before in a different window. Scott Thanks,

I can do the menu option and 30-second power cycle to restart, but how do I get back to the initial test-the-window mode? Also, lilotimz's screenshots show Relay on Band 41. But my Relay screen shows Band 25. My understanding was the the Magic Box only worked on Band 41 based on the Sprint FAQ: https://community.sprint.com/t5/tkb/articleprintpage/tkb-id/MagicBox%40tkb/article-id/1 Will my phone work with Magic Box? Magic Box operates on LTE 2.5GHz frequency (Band 41), so only devices with this capability will work with it. Most newer smartphones will work but you'll need to check your device's specifications for LTE 2.5 GHz to be sure. So how do I get back to test-the-window mode? And how do I get my Magic Box to Band 41 ? I've tried different windows, rotating it 90 degrees, and angling it. It seems to always prefer Band 25. I do have Band 41 here, but Band 25 seems stronger... Thanks, Scott

...Also, the 3 screens are accessible by touching the screen, then selecting GPS, LTE, or Relay. The 4 menu options are accessible by touching the little square icon in the upper-right corner. Scott

I received my Sprint Magic Box and hooked it up. I was never able to get the "button" that the two arrows point to to work, so I plugged it in. It took about 20 minutes to initialize and lock-in. There are 3 screens: GPS, LTE, Relay. On the Relay screen, it says Band 25. I assume that means that it is communicating with the Sprint tower on Band 25. But I thought the whole point was to use Band 41. I tried a couple of different windows, and even flipped the unit sideways to see if it made any difference. The signal to my cell phone went from -114 to -64, so the Magic Box certainly helps with the indoor signal. That's to be expected; according to the front panel, the Magic Box is transmitting a 25 dBm signal. However, my Speedtest speed is still 4 Mbps. Other than the 3 screens (GPS, LTE, Relay), and the 4 menu options (Change Time Format, More Info, Other Actions, Re-Run Setup), I can't find any other settings. One of the screens says that the Magic Box Technical Support phone number is 844-463-3194, but I haven't tried calling yet. I don't want them to say, "it doesn't work for you, mail it back". Is there any way to lock the Magic Box to Band 41 ? Sprint's Magic Box checker said that I'm in an eligible zone, the coverage map shows I'm in a Band 41 zone, and prior to the Magic box my phone communicated with the Sprint tower on Band 41. But for the past 3 days , the Relay screen says that the Magic Box is on Band 25. With correspondingly with poor Mbps. Thanks, Scott

I received notification today that my Magic Box will arrive in 5-7 days. According to the PDF direction sheet, I'm supposed to try it in various windows BEFORE actually plugging it in. Humm... now that is magic (or a battery) Scott

According to this Sprint thread, updated on May 19, the boxes will be shipping in "a couple of months": https://community.sprint.com/t5/Buzz-About-Wireless/Oh-Oh-OOOOH-it-s-Magic-Magic-Box-arrives/ba-p/957745 So the "it's available" announcements are a little premature. They really mean that it is available for PreOrder. Scott

I haven't received mine yet. According to Sprint (Andrew S.) this morning, the Sprint Magic Boxes aren't shipping yet. He couldn't tell me where I was in the queue, nor what the prioritization was. Scott

Thanks, I hadn't seen that thread on the 540 (Airspan black version). Very nice. The 545 (Sprint white version) seems to be the same, but with a higher transmit power (the links in my two posts are for the 545). It appears that there are 6 antennas, so I'm out of luck attaching my own antenna anyway. Once I receive it, I'll give it a try as-is. If that doesn't work, I may still need to put it on the roof to get line-of-sight to the Sprint cell tower. So I would need to find a plastic environmental box that is large enough. And it needs to survive my 118 degree summers. Thanks for the pointer. Scott

Great photos! I had posted the following info on the Central Valley Market thread. lilotimz pointed me to this thread. -------------------------------------------- The Sprint Magic Box is made by AirSpan. It is their AirUnity product: http://www.airspan.com/airunity/ And here is a little more detailed info, including photos of the bottom of the unit: https://fccid.io/doc....php?id=3281384 https://fccid.io/PIDAU545ENB25 It says that it is 2.506-2.68 GHz and 596 mW. That's 27.8 dBm and LTE Band 41. And here is the AirUnity (Sprint Magic Box) FCC Label: https://fccid.io/doc....php?id=3281386 And details on the antenna (it appears to be a grid of 6 antennas; presumably a MIMO configuration): https://fccid.io/doc....php?id=3281378 There appear to be 6 U.FL connectors for the antennas. And 9 dBi isn't too bad... The power draw says 4.3 Volts at 2 Amps. That is a lower voltage than I would have guessed for this kind of box... The User's Manual and internal photos will be available from that site in August 2017. Scott

And here is the AirUnity (Sprint Magic Box) FCC Label: https://fccid.io/document.php?id=3281386 And details on the antenna (it appears to be a grid of 6 antennas; presumably a MIMO configuration): https://fccid.io/document.php?id=3281378 Based on this, there appear to be 6 U.FL connectors. So I'm out of luck switching-out since I only have two high gain antennas. And 9 dBi isn't too bad... The power draw says 4.3 Volts at 2 Amps. That is a lower voltage than I would have guessed for this kind of box... The User's Manual and internal photos will be available in August 2017. Scott

The Sprint Magic Box is made by AirSpan. It is their AirUnity product: http://www.airspan.com/airunity/ And here is a little more detailed info, including photos of the bottom of the unit: https://fccid.io/document.php?id=3281384 https://fccid.io/PIDAU545ENB25 It says that it is 2.506-2.68 GHz and 596 mW. That's 27.8 dBm and LTE Band 41. I was specifically looking to see if there was an external antenna port. There doesn't appear to be. Based on AirUnity's size and shape, I am also guessing that the unit has a flat-plate antenna. If so, then I would want to disconnect that and use my own high gain antenna. I'm hoping for a connector on the circuit board to make this switch-out easy. It is also odd that all of the photos of the Magic Box on the Sprint web pages intentionally hide the plug that goes into the wall. They like to hide the plug behind a curtain, a desk, or a plant. Based on AirSpan's info, I'm guessing that there is a wall wart. If true, that is good for me because I would like to put it on the roof and need a DC line (not AC). Scott

I contacted the Sprint support folks on the status of my Magic Box delivery. Due to the backlog, they said it takes 8 weeks to receive the box. The one thing that attracts me to the Magic Box is that supposedly it locks onto a single cell tower. Right now I am ping-pong'ing among 4 different towers. This seems silly since I'm fixed wireless and this ping-pong'ing is probably the root of all of my problems. Scott

Hi, I just signed up for the new Sprint Magic Box: https://www.sprint.com/apps/magicbox/ It is touted as a non-repeater; a micro-cell with a range of 100 meters. It sits in a window facing the cell tower. It is large; I assume that is an internal flat-plate antenna (?). It communicates on Band 41 (and 25 ?). The photos show that it has an LCD screen. I haven't seen any additional info on the unit. Not sure if it will make any difference for me or not. I'm already on Band 41. But if it is smart enough to optimize onto a specific cell tower (using CA and MIMO ? ) and stop jumping around then I'll be happy. According to my Cradlepoint COR-IBR900, I'm hopping between 4 Sprint towers (I've been tracking the TAC and CellID). And I'm fixed wireless... So I'm not moving, and I have a high-gain antenna pointed at the tower that I want. But still, it is hopping from tower to tower. Download speeds vary from 0.8 Mbps to 18Mbps depending on which tower it happens to be talking to. Regardless, my new Cradlepoint IBR900 is much better than the Netgear 6100D that it replaced. Once I signed up for the Magic Box, I got this automated blurb (below). Scott Magic Box Customer Interest Form Thank you!Thank you for your request. We are thrilled that so many people are excited about Sprint Magic Box! You are important to us and every inquiry is being thoroughly reviewed. Due to the tremendous interest, it may take us a little longer than usual to respond. Once we determine if a Sprint Magic Box will benefit you, we will reach out by email or phone. At that time, we will communicate next steps. We appreciate your patience.

I finally replaced my old dying Sprint Netgear 6100D with a Cradlepoint COR IBR900. Although I had an SIM adapter and the 6100D's SIM card went in and was recognized, and I tried to register it with Sprint, the Sprint network wouldn't accept it (the Netgear 6100D SIMGLT207A won't work in the Cradlepoint IBR900). I had to go to a Sprint Corporate Sales office (Modesto, on Dale Road) to get the "right" SIM card (SIMGLW236C). My connection to the new router is now excellent (i.e. my old 6100D was unpingable sometimes, but the IBR900 is always available). However for the connection to the Sprint network itself I'm only getting 7Mbps even though I'm in a LTE-Plus zone on Sprint's map. My RSSI is -71dB, RSRP is -100 dB, and SINR is 5.4 dB (I'm using a high gain external antenna). I know that the antenna is doing something because I get -71 with my high gain antenna and only -84 with the little included bunny ears. I've also got 2 of these high-gain antennas. But on Band 41, it still says that it isn't getting aggregation even though I've checked that both ports on the IBR900 are indeed active.. So I'm still envious of all of you who are getting tens of Mbps. I think that I've done everything that I can on my end. Thanks, Scott

Sprint has (finally) updated their coverage map to include a larger map graphic. http://coverage.sprint.com/IMPACT.jsp?ECID=vanity:coverage Scott