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645824

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Posts posted by 645824

  1. Ever since the August 1st Sprint/TMobile transition I have had poor service with my three HTC 5G Hubs.  They were always on 4G LTE b41 (the towers never made it to 5G).   My three units go through my load-balancing router, with fault-tolerant roll-over, in an attempt to keep at least one of them up.  This is my only internet connection since I live in "the country".  Sigh...  2 miles outside of city limits.  No cable.  No DSL.    Yes, I'm in one of the FCC Auction 904 zones.

    The problem that I had was that the units would have 3-5 bars on the units, but some would have internet connectivity and some would not.  If I power cycle one of the units, then it starts working again.  Then stops minutes/hours later.  Since my sons are doing school through Zoom, the Internet must work so it was a constant game of reset-reset-reset throughout the day to keep at least one of the three boxes up.

    I was finally able to get in touch with Maxim in the sprint Devices center:

    Quote

     

    Maxim H.: Thank you so much. I really appreciate your time. Rest, be assured that you will never have this issue again on any of the devices phone lines. I bet. 👍

    ...

    I have refresh the services with OMDMA. It has to do with the technical side for data services.

    ...

    Now, you will never have any data or internet connectivity issue.

     

    I've never heard of OMDMA; I had pressed him but didn't get any more details.  Googling didn't uncover anything either.   But everything has worked fine for awhile now and I'm getting the same speeds (10-30 of Mbps) that I was getting on July 31 before the Sprint/TMobile transition.

     

    Scott

    • Like 1
  2. Since the August 1 change-over date, my Sprint speeds have been poor.   I'm on  b41.   Before then, I was easily getting 30-60 Mbps on all of my three Sprint devices (HTC 5G hotspot; in 4G LTE mode).  But after August 1, I've been getting   nothing,  or 3 Mbps, or perhaps 10-30 Mbps occasionally.  This is on the tower at 261 Orange Ave, ZIP=95363.

    So at this point, I am not a happy New T-Mobile customer.  But I have to stick with my three HTC units (load balanced into one connection) since I have the 100 GB/month Sprint plan for each of my three 3 units (i.e.  300 GB/month).  Cable doesn't come to my neighborhood, DSL is spec'd at only 3 Mbps here, and I'm still waiting for SpaceX.  So this wireless connectivity is my only Internet.  And I'm not in "the country"; I'm 2 miles outside of the city limit.  I have flat panel antennas attached to each of my HTC's and pointed at the cell tower.  I have 4 bars on each, so it isn't my antennas or boxes, it is T-Mobile diddling with the tower.

    Since T-Mobile is still dragging their feet on their fixed wireless Home Internet in my area, I'm stuck.   For my HTC boxes, it isn't clear what the path forward is.  There haven't been any software updates in awhile.  I did start getting a monthly rebate of $15/month per device from Sprint when they announced turning off 5G.  Whoop-tee-doo, they had never turned it on at my tower anyway.

    Scott

     

  3. 20 hours ago, ericwalton said:

    If you end up at t-mobile.com, either by redirect or going their in the first place, and put in your sprint login name, you just get redirected back to sprint.com. What a really dumb thing to do.

    It also does redirect me in incognito mode, but not in a normal tab.

    For me also.   

    1. incognito mode

    2. go to www.sprint.com

    3. it redirects to   www.t-mobile.com/?src=spr&rdpage=%2F

    4. My Account  (pink box in upper-right corner)   |   Login 

    5. I put in my Sprint username

    6. it redirects to www.sprint.com/en/login.html ...

    7. my username is autopopulated.  So it is now waiting for my password

    Scott

     

  4. On 3/8/2020 at 6:11 PM, 645824 said:

    Sprint confirmed today that the tower at 261 Orange Ave in Patterson does indeed have 5G, but still isn't "completely activated" yet.  I talked with them and they said that they were still working on it.  So I assume that the back-haul isn't in-place yet for the increased bandwidth.  Anyway, my three 5G devices are eager...

    Scott

     

    Well, so much for that.  Since T-Mobile bought Sprint, it seems that "Sprint 5G" is being sidelined in favor of "T-Mobile 5G".  Basically, T-Mobile now has the spectrum.  Since T-Mobile's existing 5G is limping along in the 600 MHz band, it looks like the clock has reset for me and it will be YEARS before my cell tower actually does something useful for me while T-Mobile tries to ramp-up "their" 5G...

    The sad thing is that I was a happy Clearwire customer eons ago.  If Sprint had just left them alone, and/or if T-Mobile had left Sprint alone, then everything would have been fine.  Instead, they just keep buying each other to get even more bandwidth to cities (where city folks have multiple choices).  Country folks have zero to one choices.

    Scott

  5. 3 hours ago, belusnecropolis said:

    That is really sad.  I even went to the Sprint store and the HTC 5G Hub isn't listed there anymore either.  It is a good device and I've been happy with the 3 units that I have (I need 3 to have at least 1 working at all times; with my load-balancing router).

    "Fortunately", their dropping of Sprint 5G service it doesn't impact me since my Sprint tower never even turned on 5G anyway.  So I'm at 4G LTE at roughly 20 Mbps.  

    Oh, well, looks like the T-Mobile era is starting quickly.  ...Now I'm waiting for SpaceX's StarLink.

    Scott

     

    • Like 1
  6. I know that this is off-topic -- I wasn't sure where it applies.  But it does impact those of us here in the Central Valley market (rural) and will resonate. 

    StarLink (SpaceX Services) was issued a license for 1,000,000 antennas.  According to the filing, they are 0.48 meters in size, and operate at 10.7-12.7 GHz (Rx) and 14.0-14.5 GHz (Tx), in the 33-34 dBi range.  This is probably the "pizza box" antenna that was referred to previously that goes on people's rooftops to communicate with the StarLink constellation at the 550 km height.

    https://licensing.fcc.gov/myibfs/displayLicense.do?filingKey=-429157

    If this belongs in some other thread, please feel free to move it appropriately.

    Thanks,

    Scott  

    • Like 1
  7. The Sprint tower in Patterson at 261 Orange Ave. was just upgraded to 5G on Friday (Feb 7).  However, it isn't active yet.  I talked to Sprint Technical Support and they said that it would be activated in the next couple of days.  My Sprint HTC 5G hubs are ready and willing.  I'll check back with them next weekend if it doesn't flip over.

    According to them, in order to see 5G the Profile on my devices need to be updated, then a reboot, then it is supposed to present me with a choice. We'll see....    

    Scott

     

    • Like 1
  8. Now that I have modified 3 of the Sprint HTC 5G hubs, I simplified the step-by-step process.

    1. remove the SIM card tray by putting a paperclip, or the included HTC eject pin, into the small hole.  A long tray comes out that contains the nano-SIM card.  Note that the SIM card has the gold-contacts facing down.  This is important when putting it back in later.

    2. notice that there is a Torx T5 screw to the right of the SIM slot (that was previously hidden).  Remove this screw.

    3. remove the back cover.  It has plastic clips, so I had to pry it off.  Using an automotive plastic clip removal tool worked fine (there are similar cell-phone centric removal tools that work equally well).  The back cover comes off fairly easily except for the portion near the ethernet connector. 

    4. use a Torx T5 driver to remove:

         a. 2 recessed screws towards the bottom

         b. 2 recessed screws on the right (but my 3 units only had the upper screw installed)

         c. 3 screws towards the top

         d. 2 screws on the left

    5. use a finger nail between the front bezel (screen) and the cloth-covered housing.  I had to go all the way around 3 times in order to open it up enough to then pry it off.  There are no wires, so I just set the cloth-covered piece aside.

    6. remove the two T5 screws holding the fan (one at the top and one at the bottom).  The screw at the bottom is very short.  The screw at the top is the same length as all of the other T5 screws.

    7. unstick the fan from the sticky pad on the lower-left, then pivot on the remaining screw to rotate the fan out of the way. Note that the fan's 4-pin connector may disconnect when pivoting.  If you need to re-insert that connector, the blue wire goes towards the top and the red wire goes towards the bottom. 

    8. pull up on the fan.  Recall that there is only one screw left holding it in-place.  PULLING UP WILL BREAK THE SCREW'S MOUNTING POST.  If you can find a better way to remove this screw, please let me know.   [for all 3 of my units, I ended up just breaking this screw.  I couldn't figure out another way]. 

    9. remove the two T5 short screws holding the silver left/right strap in-place.

    10. remove this silver left/right strap by sliding a little to the right.  This clears the silver stud on the left. 

    11. Remove the silver left/right strap.

    12. there are now five MHF4 connectors with cables running to them.  I will number these from left to right 1,2,3,4,5.

    12.1: black wire that runs over to the left side of the circuit board (we've seen this wire already)

    12.2: black wire that goes to antenna IT-190215 (in the upper-right corner; aligned for a different polarization)

    12.3: white wire that goes down and disappears

    12.4: white wire that goes to the left side of the circuit board (we've seen this wire already)

    12.5: black wire that goes down and disappears

    13. there is a small rectangular hole on the back cloth cover to the right of the ethernet rectangle.  Run the MHF4-to-SMA pigtails through that before connecting them.  If you forget (like I did the first time), then just make a little notch in the small piece of plastic between that little rectangular hole and the ethernet rectangle.  Then you can thread the MHF4-to-SMA through the back panel after the fact.

    14. cable 12.2 and 12.5 appear to do something useful.  I didn't try 12.3 but it might do something also.

    15. put back in the screws from Steps 9 and 6.

    16. Snap the back cloth cover back into place. You want to put the back cloth cover on because it has the plastic thingy that pushing the switch at the top of the unit.  However, I didn't put the back plastic cover on again...

    17. Put back in the screws from Step 4.

     

    I bought the 19 dBi flat panel antennas from LTEfix.com (2400-2700MHz WiFi 4G LTE 19dBi Directional MIMO Antenna N Female Connectors), 12-inch long MHF4-to-SMA pig tails, N-to-SMA adapters from Amazon (Amazon # B01MFHRW4N), and an MHF4 insertion tool from data-alliance.net  The MHF4 insertion tool is absolutely required -- I didn't have it initially and it took forever to get the MHF4 connectors attached. 

    I mounted the 3 antennas to a floor-to-ceiling pole from Amazon (Amazon # B07RKW8TY5; there is a white version and a brown version) -- don't bother attaching the "hooks" shown in the photo.  The antennas are designed to go outside, but the HTC boxes aren't, so I just put everything on the pole in the corner of the room.  My Wiha Torx screwdrivers are from Amazon (Amazon # B00CSWY50O) and they are magnetized -- which is absolutely required for these tiny screws.  I screwed a little shelf to the back of each antenna to hold the HTC units.

     

    Scott

  9. On 11/28/2019 at 3:24 PM, 645824 said:

    Yes, I understand.  So I just ordered a T-Mobile SIM card.  They didn't have any issues with sending me a SIM card and are happy to take my money.  So in a couple of days, I should find out if it works or not...   Although the 5G CPE Pro works with several Sprint bands (4G LTE and 5G), it only works with one 4G LTE T-Mobile bands.

    Once T-Mobile and Sprint merge, it will be interesting to see which customer-service attitude wins.  That's why I'm getting my "t-mobile device" on the T-Mobile network before the merger.  If I get kicked off, then it means that the Sprint attitude beat the T-Mobile attitude.

    And the cable IP's are laughing at this non-sense; all the way to the bank.

    Thanks,

    Scott

    Well that didn't work.  The T-Mobile network wouldn't recognize it.  The only overlap between T-Mobile and the CPE Pro is Band 5, and my T-Mobile tower doesn't do Band 5.

    Sadly, it has 3-4 bars with Sprint AND it is getting attempted hacks from the internet (coming in), but the Sprint folks are refusing to register it (for my traffic going out).  So I know that it would work on the Sprint network if they would allow it.  I'll continue with my modifications to the Sprint HTC 5G hub to add the external antennas.  That is outlined in the s4gru Router thread.

    On a personal note, I was only with T-Mobile for 3 days, and hated every minute of it.  Although Sprint support isn't great, it is MUCH better than T-Mobile support.

    Scott

     

  10. This is a follow-on to my previous posts with my Sprint HTC 5G hub.  

    Success!

    I modified one of the units.  It now yields 17 Mbps.  The other two unmodified units, that are a foot away, yield 0.3 Mbps.  Using www.fast.com  (since speedtest.net sees them as devices and want to install an App).

    Here is my previous procedure, with the remaining 7 steps added:

    This is a follow-up to my post of Saturday, Nov 16 regarding my opening of my HTC 5G hub (since it doesn't have external antenna connectors):

    1. remove the SIM card tray by putting a paperclip, or the included HTC eject pin, into the small hole.  A long tray comes out that contains the nano-SIM card.  Note that the SIM card has the gold-contacts facing down.  This is important when putting it back in later.

    2. remove the back cover.  It has plastic clips, so I had to pry it off.  It comes off fairly easily except for the portion near the ethernet connector -- that took some force to get it around, over, and off.  There are no wires, so I just set the back cover aside.

    3. use a Torx T5 driver to remove:

         a. 2 recessed screws towards the bottom

         b. 2 recessed screws on the right (but mine only had 1 screw installed; so perhaps I received a refurb from Sprint)

         c. 3 screws towards the top

         d. 2 screws on the left

    4. use a finger nail between the front bezel (screen) and the cloth-covered housing.  I had to go all the way around 3 times in order to open it up enough to then pry it off.  There are no wires, so I just set the cloth-covered piece aside.

    5. remove the two T5 screws holding the fan (one at the top and one at the bottom).  The screw at the bottom is very short.  The screw at the top is the same length as all of the other T5 screws.

    6. unstick the fan from the sticky pad on the lower-left, then pivot on the remaining screw to rotate the fan out of the way.  I couldn't figure out how to remove that pivot screw without bending something -- so I left the fan attached to that screw.  Note that the fan's 4-pin connector will disconnect when pivoting.  When re-inserting that connector, the blue wire goes towards the top and the red wire goes towards the bottom.

    7. SKIP THIS STEP.     remove the T5 screw in the lower-right corner.  This loosens the circuit board and I looked underneath.

    8. notice that there is a 2mm x 1cm rubber pad in the lower-right corner. Remove the pad (just pull it up).  Underneath is a black MHF4 wire and a white MHF4 wire.  I tried connecting to these but it didn't improve my signal.

    9. pull up on the fan.  Recall that there is only one screw left holding it in-place.  PULLING UP WILL BREAK THE SCREW'S MOUNTING POST.  If you can find a better way to remove this screw, please let me know.

    10. remove the two T5 short screws holding the silver left/right strap in-place.

    11. remove this silver left/right strap by sliding a little to the right. Then remove.  This clears the silver stud on the left.

    12. there are now five MHF4 connectors with cables running to them.  I will number these from left to right 1,2,3,4,5.

    12.1: black wire that runs over to the left side of the circuit board (we've seen this wire already)

    12.2: black wire that goes to antenna IT-190215 (in the upper-right corner; aligned for a different polarization)

    12.3: white wire that goes down and disappears

    12.4: white wire that goes to the left side of the circuit board (we've seen this wire already)

    12.5: black wire that goes down and disappears

    13. cable 12.2 and 12.5 appear to do something useful.  I didn't try 12.3 since I only had two MHF4-to-SMA pigtails.  Connecting these pigtails to 12.2 and 12.5, and then to some SMA paddle antennas, greatly increases the Mbps.  One aligned vertically, one aligned horizontally.

     

    If anyone else tries this procedure, or tries connector 12.3, please post feedback.  This was my first "phone" tear-down and my first experience with MHF4 connectors.

    Thanks to all for the feedback.  I'll be repeating this procedure with my other two units once I get more pigtails and better antennas.

    Scott

     

  11. On 11/22/2019 at 7:00 PM, 645824 said:

    This is a follow-up to my post from November 20.

    1. After looking at the unit for awhile, I that I have identified the antennas.  The are rectilinear shapes that look like tuned resonance blocks.  There are 6 of them (in no particular order):

          a. 37H10696-00M-A, D5x-B03-1221, IT-190307

          b. 37H10699-00M-A, A2x-B03-1221, IT-190307

          c. 37H10697-00M-A, E5x-B03-1221, IT-190222

          d. 37H10694, B5x-B02-1113, IT-190112

          e. 37H10693-00M-A, A5x-B03-1221, IT-190222

          f. IT-190215

    At this point, it isn't clear which antenna does what frequency.  The trick is that 3 of these are in the outer housing and connect to the circuit board with a gold-plated press contact. Since I still get 3-4 bars with this cover removed, then those must not be my 4G LTE band.  

    2. There are five MHF4 connectors on the circuit board with cables running to them (some are white and some are black). But when I disconnect those one at a time the signal level doesn't change.  Since they are tiny coax connectors, they must be RF, but they don't been to be my Band 41 (~ 2.5 GHz).

    3. For the 4 other connectors (shown in my previous circuit board photo), neither the MHF4 cable nor the U.FL cable that I got from LTEfix fit.  It is as-if I have the wrong sex. It might be an MHF-SW23, but I'm guessing...    So at this point, I'm stuck again.

    Scott

    Follow-up to my post of November 22.  According to the FCC doc, here are the antennas:

    Report   https://fcc.report/FCC-ID/NM82Q6U100/4205443.pdf   says that it has these antennas:
    WWAN:
    <Ant. 1>: Fixed Internal PIFA Antenna
    <Ant. 2>: Fixed Internal Dipole Antenna
    <Ant. 3>: Fixed Internal PCB Antenna
    WLAN:
    <Ant. 1>: Fixed Internal PCB Antenna
    <Ant. 2>: Fixed Internal PIFA Antenna
    Bluetooth: Fixed Internal PCB Antenna
    WiGig: Fixed Internal Array Antenna
    5G NR: Fixed Internal PCB Antenna
     

    So at least there are numerous antennas, and it appears that I found most of them.  I already tried unplugging them one at a time, but the signal level stayed consistent.  So multiples feed the signal level -- and some of the antennas are clearly set for receiving different polarizations.  So I'll need to unplug them all, then connect them one at a time to identify which is actually my 4G LTE band.   

    The four u.fl ports appear to be test ports.  So I'm focusing on the six MHF4 ports for the time being. Time to buy one of those MHF4 tools.

    More news to follow...

    Scott

    • Like 1
  12. On 11/23/2019 at 1:19 PM, lilotimz said:


     

     


    Just because it supports the technologies sprint uses doesn't mean it's compatible.

    All networks that uses the Sprint network must pass through their internal testing and then be white listed. The Huawei is not a support device and is being rejected by the network as such.

    Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
     

     

    Yes, I understand.  So I just ordered a T-Mobile SIM card.  They didn't have any issues with sending me a SIM card and are happy to take my money.  So in a couple of days, I should find out if it works or not...   Although the 5G CPE Pro works with several Sprint bands (4G LTE and 5G), it only works with one 4G LTE T-Mobile bands.

    Once T-Mobile and Sprint merge, it will be interesting to see which customer-service attitude wins.  That's why I'm getting my "t-mobile device" on the T-Mobile network before the merger.  If I get kicked off, then it means that the Sprint attitude beat the T-Mobile attitude.

    And the cable IP's are laughing at this non-sense; all the way to the bank.

    Thanks,

    Scott

  13. This is a follow-up to my post from November 20.

    1. After looking at the unit for awhile, I that I have identified the antennas.  The are rectilinear shapes that look like tuned resonance blocks.  There are 6 of them (in no particular order):

          a. 37H10696-00M-A, D5x-B03-1221, IT-190307

          b. 37H10699-00M-A, A2x-B03-1221, IT-190307

          c. 37H10697-00M-A, E5x-B03-1221, IT-190222

          d. 37H10694, B5x-B02-1113, IT-190112

          e. 37H10693-00M-A, A5x-B03-1221, IT-190222

          f. IT-190215

    At this point, it isn't clear which antenna does what frequency.  The trick is that 3 of these are in the outer housing and connect to the circuit board with a gold-plated press contact. Since I still get 3-4 bars with this cover removed, then those must not be my 4G LTE band.  

    2. There are five MHF4 connectors on the circuit board with cables running to them (some are white and some are black). But when I disconnect those one at a time the signal level doesn't change.  Since they are tiny coax connectors, they must be RF, but they don't been to be my Band 41 (~ 2.5 GHz).

    3. For the 4 other connectors (shown in my previous circuit board photo), neither the MHF4 cable nor the U.FL cable that I got from LTEfix fit.  It is as-if I have the wrong sex. It might be an MHF-SW23, but I'm guessing...    So at this point, I'm stuck again.

    Scott

  14. I bought a Huawai 5G CPE Pro router/hub.  It supports Sprints 4G LTE (Band 41) among many other bands.

    I ordered a SIM card for it:

            https://shop.sprint.com/mysprint/shop/accessory/ao_details.jsp?accSKU=121700244&accCatId=78300001

    This is a 4-pack of SIM cards, labeled A, B, C, D.  Card A didn't work.  Card B,C,D were recognized, and I have Card D in there now and it is talking to the Sprint network (green lights, 3 bars, 4G LTE, etc. etc). The 5G CPE Pro uses a nano-SIM card.

    HOWEVER, SPRINT WILL NOT ACTIVATE THIS UNIT.  Tried talking to them for 2 hours, many many reps, support, etc.  All they say is that 'the database says that it isn't "eligible".   "Eligible" is a funny word.  They don't say incompatible, or that it doesn't work, or that it is the wrong band or wrong protocol.  So I assume that all Huawai is flagged in Sprint's database due to the USA ban.

    So be forewarned.  I also tried using one of my already-activated nano-SIM cards, but the 5G CPE Pro still wouldn't do internet things.  Even though it  IS  talking to the Sprint tower (I can see the back-and-forth handshake traffic).

    It is a nice unit, and does many 4G and 5G bands.  Huawei 5G CPE Pro, model#   H112-372   (there is another model of the CPE Pro that is less capable).

    Scott

     

     

  15. This is an update to my post of November 10 and November 17.   My CradlePoint COR-IBR1700 router has been working fine for the past couple of weeks.  Initially the load balancing seemed rocky, but after a couple of weeks it seems to be working fine.  It rotates through the ethernet ports every few hours.  So for a couple of hours I am on eth0, then for a few hours on eth2, then for a few hours on eth3.  (eth1 is the local LAN; the others are set to WAN.  eth1,2,3,4 are user configurable LAN or WAN, eth0 is WAN). 

    I am 12 days into my monthly cycle and have 13GB on each of my 3 units, so I am happy with the IBR1700's ability to load balance.  It is overkill for this application, but I had it sitting in the closet gathering dust and I am much happier with it than I was with the Peplink load balancing unit.   The only drawback of CradlePoint is that they don't distribute firmware updates anymore unless you buy a subscription. So if you are considering Cradlepoint for anything, just be aware of this.

    I am still getting very slow download speeds (0.1Mbps download, 2Mbps upload.  Yes, you read that correctly).  But at least availability has been 100% for the past several weeks.  I called Sprint, they wanted to send me a MagicBox, but otherwise don't have a solution. Sigh...

     

    I ordered a range of tiny coax cables for my HTC 5G hub units (thank you belusnecropolis for the pointer to LTEfix).  These might attach to the circuit board and I will try external antennas once they arrive.  At this point, I'm just stabbing in the dark about which connectors are the antenna connectors (see my previous photo of the HTC 5G hub circuit board).

    Thanks,

    Scott

    • Like 1
  16. This is a follow-up to my post of Saturday, Nov 16 regarding my opening of my HTC 5G hub (since it doesn't have external antenna connectors):

    1. remove the SIM card tray by putting a paperclip, or the included HTC eject pin, into the small hole.  A long tray comes out that contains the nano-SIM card.  Note that the SIM card has the gold-contacts facing down.  This is important when putting it back in later.

    2. remove the back cover.  It has plastic clips, so I had to pry it off.  It comes off fairly easily except for the portion near the ethernet connector -- that took some force to get it around, over, and off.  There are no wires, so I just set the back cover aside.

    3. use a Torx T5 driver to remove:

         a. 2 recessed screws towards the bottom

         b. 2 recessed screws on the right (but mine only had 1 screw installed; so perhaps I received a refurb from Sprint)

         c. 3 screws towards the top

         d. 2 screws on the left

    4. use a finger nail between the front bezel (screen) and the cloth-covered housing.  I had to go all the way around 3 times in order to open it up enough to then pry it off.  There are no wires, so I just set the cloth-covered piece aside.

    5. remove the two screws holding the fan (one at the top and one at the bottom).  The screw at the bottom is very short.  The screw at the top is the same length as all of the other T5 screws.

    6. unstick the fan from the sticky pad on the left, then pivot on the remaining screw to rotate the fab out of the way.  I couldn't figure out how to remove that pivot screw without bending something -- so I left the fan attached to that screw.  Note that the fan's 4-pin connector will disconnect when pivoting.  When re-inserting that connector, the blue wire goes towards the top and the red wire goes towards the bottom.

    7. remove the T5 screw in the lower-right corner.  This loosens the circuit board and I looked underneath.

    I didn't see anything that I recognized as an antenna (nowadays, antennas are just flat metal plates; and there are several of those visible but nothing that says "Hi, I'm the 4G LTE antenna"). 

     

    Attached is a photo showing the four tiny connectors on the circuit board.  According to the HTC photo link in my previous post, these connectors are in roughly the right place (where their 2 external coax cables exit the HTC 5G hub).  So if these are indeed antenna connectors, perhaps used for diagnostics at the factory, then that is good news.  I would just need to connect to one of those.   There are plenty of other of those connectors on the circuit board, and they have tiny little cables running to them.

    Does anybody know what those connectors are called?  If they are tiny coax then I would just need a pigtail to get from that to TS9 or SMA.

    Thanks,

    Scott

    IMG_0965smsm.jpg

  17. In my search for a stronger signal for my HTC 5G hub, I was encouraged by this photo which shows two wires coming out of the back of the HTC 5G hub (photo 6 of 8 of the slide deck):

    https://www.macitynet.it/al-mwc-2019-htc-5g-hub-la-rivoluzione-degli-hub-5g/

     

    So I removed the SIM drawer, then pried off the back cover.  The back cover comes off easily except down near the ethernet connector -- there I had to use some force to get the cover off.

    I was expecting to find a circuit board and perhaps some antenna connectors, but instead there is a fan and a cover.  That cover appears to be held in-place with jeweler's Torx screws.  My regular (slotted) and Allen jewelers drivers were either too large or too small, so I ordered a jeweler's Torx set from Amazon.

    More news to follow...

    Scott

    PS   I would upload a photo, but it appears that I've used up my photo allotment here and it says that my Max total size is 0.03MB...

     

    • Like 1
  18. This is a follow-up to my posts of October 19.  Now I have 3 of the HTC 5G hubs.  

    I haven't been able to get them better than 3 bars each.  So I'm tempted to open one up and attach an external antenna to the antenna connector.  According to the FCC filing, there are indeed connectors in there for some frequencies...  it just isn't clear if there is one for 2.5 GHz (Band 41) or if it is hard-soldered.

    Scott

     

    IMG_0943smsm.jpg

    • Like 2
  19. This is a follow-up to my posts of Sept 7 and Sept 20.

    Well, things haven't worked too well with the Sprint MiFi8000.  After a promising start, things degraded quickly and I started to experience the spontaneous reboot problem that Sprint MiFi 8000 and Verizon MiFi 8800L users have reported.  Originally I thought that it was related to the signal level -- but in the end I decided it was some thermal issue.  The units do get warm...  So I sent my 4 MiFi 8000 units back to Sprint.

    And I was never happy with the Peplink/Pepwave Max On-The-Go (OTG) unit.  I had several problems with it and the support folks weren't very supportive.    

     

    So I bought a second HTC 5G hub (now I have two).  Attached is a photo of the two units.  I got my old Cradlepoint COR-IBR1700 out of the closet and am presently using its load balancing capability.  The 1700 has 5 ethernet ports; 4 of which can be assigned as WAN or LAN and the 5th is set to WAN.  So I set those as 1 LAN and 4 WAN ports -- the LAN port ties into my house ethernet, and two of those WAN ports go to the ethernet ports on the back of each HTC 5G hub.  But the 1700 seems to be in Round-Robin mode even though I have it set to Device Usage mode (balanced usage) -- well, it clearly isn't doing that.  The one on the right is 75.51 GB while the one on the left is 116 MB.

    At this point I've been very happy with this setup and the internet has worked continually for the past 3 weeks since I brought this system up.  No spontaneous reboots (e.g. MiFi 8000), no blank web-interface screens (e.g. Peplink MAX OTG), and no internet dropouts. 

    Scott

     

    IMG_0919csm.jpg

    • Like 2
  20. Here is what my HTC 5G hub looks like.  It doesn't have an external antenna port, so I've oriented it along several polarizations to try to maximize the signal.  I also tried the window, but this window doesn't face the cell tower and it has a decorative metal grid on it.

    So the best I get is 2 to 3 bars (the tiny icon in the upper-right corner of the screen presently showing 2 bars).  I would like to tell what that was in real units, but I haven't found it in the menu system yet, no "dBm" in the manual, and googling didn't help either...

    Scott

     

    IMG_0908sm.JPG

    • Like 2
  21. 5 hours ago, belusnecropolis said:

    I am referencing your 5 top end broadband devices whenever some one here claims Sprint has a low ROI for rural build outs. Glad the 5G hub is working better for you Scott. If you want to venture into other carriers let me know, I would be glad to help you out. 

     

    Question, do you use Sprint's public IP service? I know they offer one for, I believe, a 3$ add on if you require one. 

    That is the only benefit I have found from them personally, but I use a VPN for my static IP needs on other carriers.

     

    Have a great weekend!

    From a practical standpoint, Sprint is my only option just because of where the cell towers are located, and what data plans and bandwidth the various wireless companies provide here.   My experience, just based on 2-days, is that the HTC 5G hub is much better than the MiFi8000 units.  The HTC unit doesn't continually auto-reboot -- what a concept!   🙂

    But I will be first in-line to try the new SpaceX systems once they deploy (StarLink).  That's how desperate I am.  My son's school requires Chromebook; and chromebooks don't work without an internet connection.  That was the last straw and initiated my 4-headed hydra system mentioned above (now it is a 5-headed hydra).  People who live in town just don't understand: "what do you mean the Internet didn't work?"   And I'm not  "in the country",  I'm just 2 miles outside of city limits.  The Internet cliff is very steep...

    Thanks,

    Scott

    • Like 1
  22. On 9/22/2019 at 5:59 PM, belusnecropolis said:

    Is Sprint your only option?

    Yes. 

    Cable isn't available here.  DSL out here is only 3Mbps.  Verizon and T-mobile don't have the data package that I need.  Been waiting forever for a "real" Verizon fixed-wireless plan.  AT&T doesn't have a signal here. 

    And Sprint's Band41 has the speed that I would like as a streamer. 

    My Sprint HTC 5G hub arrived yesterday.  It seems more stable than my existing 4 Sprint MiFi8000 units so I am connecting that to my Peplink Max-OTG ethernet WAN port (the 4 USB ports are used by the 4 MiFi8000 units).

    Thanks,

    Scott

  23. On 9/18/2019 at 6:21 AM, 645824 said:

    Update:  it has been a couple of weeks now and things are still working fine.

    Update to my update.  I posted this review on the Sprint web page, but they deleted it.  I gave it 1 Star because of the reboot-cycle issue with the Sprint InSeeGo MiFi 8000 (the Verizon InSeeGo MiFi 8800L has the same problem).

     

    I am using the latest firmware on my Sprint MiFi 8000 (firmware version 1S). This has the same reboot problem that others have reported. It also has the same reboot problem that the Verizon MiFi 8800L has; even with firmware 1S. So it appears that InSeeGo is having problems identifying/reproducing the problem. And they aren't able to fix it.

    I have four of the Sprint MiFi 8000 units, and they all have the same reboot problem. Pulling out the battery, then putting it back in, then doing the Profile Update seems to help for awhile. Although the unit works fine when it works, I can't give more than 1 star to a device that keeps auto-rebooting.

    I also attached an external antenna to the Sprint MiFi 8000 external antenna ports (the TS9 antenna ports under the two rubber caps on the same side of the unit as the USB connector). But that made the problem worse. I suspect that the unit is rebooting whenever there are signal level issues (either with the internal antenna or the external antenna). And it thinks that rebooting itself will somehow make things better...

    So the firmware needs to be updated to stop doing that. It seems like a simple fix; or give the user the option. If the unit is in a reboot cycle, we can't access the menu system to adjust anything. So if you have the reboot cycle, try repositioning the unit to get a better signal. Or attach an external antenna (Netgear has a flat panel with two TS9 connectors that made directly to the two ports on the Sprint MiFi 8000)  *and*  position that external antenna to get a very good signal. The reboot threshold for an external antenna appears to be worse than the reboot threshold for the internal antenna.

     

    Since InSeeGo has had many months to fix this problem, I'm going to try one of the HTC 5G units from Sprint to see if that is any better.

    I am out in the country, 2 km from the Sprint cell tower, so I only get 3 bars. I imagine that folks with 5 bars wouldn't have this problem, so I'm guessing that rebooting is related to signal level.  The unit seems to think that rebooting will make things better???

    Scott

     

     

     

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