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Network Vision/LTE - Alabama Market (including Birmingham, Montgomery, Huntsville, Mobile)


jonathanm1978

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On 2/6/2019 at 8:48 AM, jonathanm1978 said:

I just switched to an LTE ISP ...At first I thought maybe Sprint was doing it, but these folks claim that they use AT&T LTE (not sure which band). 

Anyone wants to investigate, it's called Sardis Telecom (or Sardistel)...name appears to be changing to Fusion. 

They are located in Oneonta, Al...

 

Speed tiers are $69.99 for 25/5, $99.99 for 50/10, and I think a smaller $59.99 package for 10/2. 

Looks like they are reselling a form of AT&T "Wireless Business Internet" over the LTE network.

 

What speed did you get, and what speeds are you actually receiving?

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Quote

What speed did you get, 

Sorry....sorry speeds..

Quote

and what speeds are you actually receiving?

 

Still sorry...sorry speeds. 

I paid initially for a 25/5 package...but I'm seeing average speeds of 7 to 8mbps download, and 1 to 3mbps upload.

 

I work for a WISP..we use ubiquiti equipment in our deployment of fiber to air...but he's finally been convinced by me (because I went to basically his competition) to start leaning towards LTE and using that instead of 2.4ghz and 5.8ghz in PTP and PTMP links..

So, he ordered a SIM from someone...not sure who, and also got a Microtik SXT series antenna for the SIM ...and right now i'm testing it at my house with a 25 to 40mbps download, and 12-20mbps upload. 

I want unlimited speeds and unlimited data on a SIM..and be able to use that in this microtik SXT that I'm testing, or I'll even buy the microtik LHG series if I can find a SIM to use from AT&T that gives me unlimited/unlimited on speed and data allotment. 

 

(Sardis speeds probably suck because it goes thru their DNS ...I'm not sure on why)

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36 minutes ago, jonathanm1978 said:

Sorry....sorry speeds..

Still sorry...sorry speeds. 

I paid initially for a 25/5 package...but I'm seeing average speeds of 7 to 8mbps download, and 1 to 3mbps upload.

 

I work for a WISP..we use ubiquiti equipment in our deployment of fiber to air...but he's finally been convinced by me (because I went to basically his competition) to start leaning towards LTE and using that instead of 2.4ghz and 5.8ghz in PTP and PTMP links..

So, he ordered a SIM from someone...not sure who, and also got a Microtik SXT series antenna for the SIM ...and right now i'm testing it at my house with a 25 to 40mbps download, and 12-20mbps upload. 

I want unlimited speeds and unlimited data on a SIM..and be able to use that in this microtik SXT that I'm testing, or I'll even buy the microtik LHG series if I can find a SIM to use from AT&T that gives me unlimited/unlimited on speed and data allotment. 

 

(Sardis speeds probably suck because it goes thru their DNS ...I'm not sure on why)

Mobley unlimited connected car sim Postpaid 19.99/mo
Ipad unlimited prepaid 29.99/mo
The SXT has a cat 3 radio in it that is a bit fussy if you exchange it for a modern one. RouterOS has rough support for mPCIe/M.2 cards above cat6.

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4 hours ago, belusnecropolis said:

Mobley unlimited connected car sim Postpaid 19.99/mo
Ipad unlimited prepaid 29.99/mo
The SXT has a cat 3 radio in it that is a bit fussy if you exchange it for a modern one. RouterOS has rough support for mPCIe/M.2 cards above cat6.

By chance. i'd like to speak to you privately (phone, PM, etc)...I have some questions.

Looking at getting the LHG series...but I'd like to talk to someone who knows more about microtik than I currently do. I've ALWAYS used UBNT gear...they just don't have any LTE equipment.

 

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On 2/28/2019 at 4:34 PM, jonathanm1978 said:

By chance. i'd like to speak to you privately (phone, PM, etc)...I have some questions.

Looking at getting the LHG series...but I'd like to talk to someone who knows more about microtik than I currently do. I've ALWAYS used UBNT gear...they just don't have any LTE equipment.

 

Hey fren. A buddy out west resells AT&T service in units like you describe. He has been having quite the time as well. I just picked up a couple boards from Mikrotik this week and am flashing with modemmanager or ROOter. I use those firmwares in my own gear here in our lab. I am not the programmer you are looking for, I just aggregate this stuff to see what I can use to connect easier in tough spots, but my PM's are always open for team UDP if you have any thing you believe I can help with.

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2wp0cp4.jpg

 

I know it’s not Sprint, but since a lot of people are interested in Southern LINC on here, I decided to post this speed test.

Since converting to Critical Linc LTE last year, my coverage has actually been better than IDEN. 

Unfortunately the speeds are averaging .5Mbps-3Mbps. They are only able to run 1.4MHz right now, and supposed to run a max of 3MHz once everything with iDEN is finalized. Even with 3MHz, they will be limited on capacity. 

My experience with their LTE is why I don’t believe Sprint will ever have a roam like home agreement with them. 

 

One thing to to keep note of is the intended purpose of Critical Linc. It’s not meant to stream YouTube or Netflix. It’s designed to support the power companies utility workers and provide access to critical data, reliable PTT, and voice/sms. Selling excess capacity to public safety and businesses is just a way for them to recoup the cost of running the network.

It is definitely serving the intended purpose for me. I need reliable coverage in extremely remote areas of the state for voice, PTT, and basic internet. Southern Linc serves that purpose like no other provider can.

 

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19 minutes ago, Wireless Junkie said:

2wp0cp4.jpg

 

I know it’s not Sprint, but since a lot of people are interested in Southern LINC on here, I decided to post this speed test.

Since converting to Critical Linc LTE last year, my coverage has actually been better than IDEN. 

Unfortunately the speeds are averaging .5Mbps-3Mbps. They are only able to run 1.4MHz right now, and supposed to run a max of 3MHz once everything with iDEN is finalized. Even with 3MHz, they will be limited on capacity. 

My experience with their LTE is why I don’t believe Sprint will ever have a roam like home agreement with them. 

 

One thing to to keep note of is the intended purpose of Critical Linc. It’s not meant to stream YouTube or Netflix. It’s designed to support the power companies utility workers and provide access to critical data, reliable PTT, and voice/sms. Selling excess capacity to public safety and businesses is just a way for them to recoup the cost of running the network.

It is definitely serving the intended purpose for me. I need reliable coverage in extremely remote areas of the state for voice, PTT, and basic internet. Southern Linc serves that purpose like no other provider can.

 

Maybe an 800 MHz spectrum sharing agreement could be reached with Sprint in exchange for a roam like home agreement. This would allow for 10x10 L800, if I remember correctly.

Also, quick question—what is the EARFCN of SouthernLINC's current L800 carrier?

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11 minutes ago, RAvirani said:

Maybe an 800 MHz spectrum sharing agreement could be reached with Sprint in exchange for a roam like home agreement. This would allow 10x10 L800. 

If the T-Mobile merger fails, then that might be their best bet for improving coverage in Alabama & GA. They could offer priority of course to their Critical LINC customers, and then Sprint customers would be able to utilize the excess capacity. In the large areas of the state where Sprint has no coverage natively, they could also let them use 1900MHz for additional capacity at key sites.

If they could spin off the Sprint network within the Southern LINC footprint similar to Shentel, that would be great as well. 

Southern LINC would have to be in charge of the network because their reliability standards are understandably higher than any other carrier i've seen.

Right now they have 7 days of backup power through fuel cells and generators at over 99% of their cell sites.

They also have redundant backhaul at over 85% of their sites which impresses me a lot. Supposedly if the main backhaul connection fails such as Fiber being cut, the tower will connect via microwave temporarily to keep the site online.

Though, Southern Communications which owns LINC has not shown much interest in being competitive at all. I am paying $85 for 5GB right now, though I suspect that is mainly due to limited capacity.

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5 minutes ago, Wireless Junkie said:

 

If they could spin off the Sprint network within the Southern LINC footprint similar to Shentel, that would be great as well. 

Southern LINC would have to be in charge of the network because their reliability standards are understandably higher than any other carrier i've seen.

Yes. This would be really awesome. 

Did you have a chance to grab the SouthernLINC LTE EARFCN?

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1 minute ago, RAvirani said:

Yes. This would be really awesome. 

Did you have a chance to grab the SouthernLINC LTE EARFCN?

I'm running SignalCheck Pro on my SouthernLINC Sonim XP8. Right now it says

DL EARFCN: 8716 (861.6MHz)

UL EARFCN 26716 (816.6MHz)

I haven't seen the EARFCN change at all.

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My wife finally got her CriticaLinc last week... Lots of set-up issues trying to get beep-beep to work.. They tried to do a 250+ group activation...told them not to turn on the phones until last monday..and still it didn't activate PTT correctly. There are 4 apps she has to run in order for PTT to connect correctly.. She doesn't like the phone either..it's heavy and big.. says it's way more phone than what she needs for work. Haven't really tried it around my house since the MB has been out since she got the phone... and still having issues with MB...

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10 hours ago, jonathanm1978 said:

My wife finally got her CriticaLinc last week... Lots of set-up issues trying to get beep-beep to work.. They tried to do a 250+ group activation...told them not to turn on the phones until last monday..and still it didn't activate PTT correctly. There are 4 apps she has to run in order for PTT to connect correctly.. She doesn't like the phone either..it's heavy and big.. says it's way more phone than what she needs for work. Haven't really tried it around my house since the MB has been out since she got the phone... and still having issues with MB...

Yea there are definitely some setup bugs they are still trying to work out. Does she have the XP8? I wonder when or if they will add additional phones to their lineup besides the two Sonim?

Also, what do you mean by MB? Is it the Sprint Magic Box? If so, that shouldn’t affect Critical Linc at all since they are different frequencies.

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On 3/9/2019 at 6:41 PM, Wireless Junkie said:

Yea there are definitely some setup bugs they are still trying to work out. Does she have the XP8? I wonder when or if they will add additional phones to their lineup besides the two Sonim?

Also, what do you mean by MB? Is it the Sprint Magic Box? If so, that shouldn’t affect Critical Linc at all since they are different frequencies.

yes, the XP8. The phone connected to LTE via my MB but not sure on much else. i just know that it was showing LTE signal and it had to be from the MB...as the only other signal around me (in LTE flavor) is AT&T b2, b17 and VZW b25 (and b4?? I think). There are no other LTE carriers in my area except for b41 MB...I'm pretty sure it was the MB supplying it.

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1 minute ago, jonathanm1978 said:

yes, the XP8. The phone connected to LTE via my MB but not sure on much else. i just know that it was showing LTE signal and it had to be from the MB...as the only other signal around me (in LTE flavor) is AT&T b2, b17 and VZW b25 (and b4?? I think). There are no other LTE carriers in my area except for b41 MB...I'm pretty sure it was the MB supplying it.

That’s odd. The only time I’ve seen my LINC connect to Sprint is when I’ve been outside the LINC footprint, and you can’t make voice calls because Sprint doesn’t have VoLTE yet.

I am able to force roam onto Sprint within the Critical Linc coverage area, but I lose the ability to make voice calls.

Do you know if SoLINC had decent iDEN coverage there prior to LTE conversion. They said LTE coverage should be very similar to iDEN, but I’m sure there are some gaps.

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  • 8 months later...

SardisTel / Fuzion WARNING

I am a customer of one year because, so far, I have not found other viable rural Internet options.  Sardistel (now Fuzion) knows this to be the case for most of their customers.  They are rude, infuriating, incompetent, and demeaning.  Doubt me?  Call (256) 400-0011 and press '1' '3' for residential internet technical support and sit through their scolding.

I am their best-case customer -- a technical professional who requires zero hand holding -- just take my money and provide service as promised.  But I have *monthly* complete service outages on the 23rd.  They bill me with automated precision on the 15th but always fail to complete the loop with Verizon (or maybe pay the Verizon bill?) to authorize my re-sold Verizon service to continue to operate for the next paid-for month.  Usually I get cut off on Friday nights at midnight and SardisTel business hours are M-F.  It is *mandated* that service problems be filed using their online ticketing system (how does one DO that exactly if you've got a complete service outage?) but no one responds to these tickets in a timely manner regardless of the urgency marked for the ticket.  Best you can do is hope to get their after-hours answering service.

The owner's name is Warren Sandusky, an Auburn Alum who apparently resides near Guntersville, but I have yet to find a means of contact to address my issues.  This is the WORST business I have ever dealt with.

If you doubt any of these claims please sign up as a customer and experience first hand for yourself.

William D. Ezell,
dissatisfied customer (until other options are found)

BTW -- I work from home and need the unlimited data plan which is not currently offered directly by Verizon, else I would not deal with these yahoos.

Edited by Bill E
clarity
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19 minutes ago, Bill E said:

SardisTel / Fuzion WARNING

I am a customer of one year because, so far, I have not found other viable rural Internet options.  Sardistel (now Fuzion) knows this to be the case for most of their customers.  They are rude, infuriating, incompetent, and demeaning.  Doubt me?  Call (256) 400-0011 and press '1' '3' for residential internet technical support and sit through their scolding.

I am their best-case customer -- a technical professional who requires zero hand holding -- just take my money and provide service as promised.  But I have *monthly* complete service outages on the 23rd.  They bill me with automated precision on the 15th but always fail to complete the loop with Verizon (or maybe pay the Verizon bill?) to authorize my re-sold Verizon service to continue to operate for the next paid-for month.  Usually I get cut off on Friday nights at midnight and SardisTel business hours are M-F.  It is *mandated* that service problems be filed using their online ticketing system (how does one DO that exactly if you've got a complete service outage?) but no one responds to these tickets in a timely manner regardless of the urgency marked for the ticket.  Best you can do is hope to get their after-hours answering service.

The owner's name is Warren Sandusky, an Auburn Alum who apparently resides near Guntersville, but I have yet to find a means of contact to address my issues.  This is the WORST business I have ever dealt with.

If you doubt any of these claims please sign up as a customer and experience first hand for yourself.

William D. Ezell,
dissatisfied customer (until other options are found)

BTW -- I work from home and need the unlimited data plan which is not currently offered directly by Verizon, else I would not deal with these yahoos.

We build our own around these parts fren.

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@belusnecropolis -- Sorry to be off-topic with the post.  I had seen an earlier thread here discussing SardisTel.  On the other hand, I'm glad to have stumbled across this forum.  I'm a digital builder (https://hackaday.io/project/20377-firefly) with RF familiarity from Technician-class aspirations a lifetime ago.  Looks like I've found some holiday research material.  Thanks for the reply, else I'd have missed the point of the forum.

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  • 1 month later...

I, too, am a new customer of SardisTel. Yes they SUCK! The absolute WORST customer service I have ever experienced. I do not see them staying in business very long the way they treat their customers. My first attempt at getting some assistance through the online portal was, of course, for speed issues. I followed their requirements when submitting the ticket and received a one size fits all speed problem reply (interference around the house, etc.), and then they closed the ticket out. I sent two more replies, as this is supposed to re-open the ticket, but never received a response. Then I screwed up and called them! The guy was extremely rude, and the first thing out of his mouth when I said I was a customer was, "You must use the online portal." I was not rude, but the guy just hung up on me. So I called back and asked if he had hung up on me, and he said, "Yes I sure did! Have a nice day". Click, he hung up again. So I sent another reply explaining my dissatisfaction with his service. A few days later the entire ticket was removed from the system. So, I submitted a new ticket explaining all of the speed issues, and have yet to receive a reply back. I will be cancelling the service this weekend and I will have to lose all that money for less than 3 weeks of service. I think I will try the RVitGUY.com

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30 minutes ago, dekere said:

I, too, am a new customer of SardisTel. Yes they SUCK! The absolute WORST customer service I have ever experienced. I do not see them staying in business very long the way they treat their customers. My first attempt at getting some assistance through the online portal was, of course, for speed issues. I followed their requirements when submitting the ticket and received a one size fits all speed problem reply (interference around the house, etc.), and then they closed the ticket out. I sent two more replies, as this is supposed to re-open the ticket, but never received a response. Then I screwed up and called them! The guy was extremely rude, and the first thing out of his mouth when I said I was a customer was, "You must use the online portal." I was not rude, but the guy just hung up on me. So I called back and asked if he had hung up on me, and he said, "Yes I sure did! Have a nice day". Click, he hung up again. So I sent another reply explaining my dissatisfaction with his service. A few days later the entire ticket was removed from the system. So, I submitted a new ticket explaining all of the speed issues, and have yet to receive a reply back. I will be cancelling the service this weekend and I will have to lose all that money for less than 3 weeks of service. I think I will try the RVitGUY.com

Get an AT&T iPad plan, insert the provisioned SIM after buying a Nighthawk or building an LTE router, avoid middle men and save money.

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4 hours ago, belusnecropolis said:

Get an AT&T iPad plan, insert the provisioned SIM after buying a Nighthawk or building an LTE router, avoid middle men and save money.

That’s my problem, no AT&T here (.20 mbps),  just vzw. A linc tower is across the road but you know the deal with them. But I would like to discuss any other options available.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm right there with you @dekere I am a Sardis customer but am getting pretty fed up. I for sure am really interested in building my own router/buying a nighthawk. I just need a little point in the right direction. @belusnecropolis I have sent you a direct message, thank you ahead of time!

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1 hour ago, Frustrated_44 said:

I'm right there with you @dekere I am a Sardis customer but am getting pretty fed up. I for sure am really interested in building my own router/buying a nighthawk. I just need a little point in the right direction. @belusnecropolis I have sent you a direct message, thank you ahead of time!

I am not happy with my experience with them. I had them for a few months...then I got my fiber and dumped them.

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