Official Magic Box discussion thread

[ingenium]

WiFi toggled off.
When I am upstairs, my phone can pick up proper GPS location on it's own from outside.
In my very deep basement, my phone gets the GPS location solely from the Magicbox.
My weather app follows me where I go (uses GPS) so I could tell immediately when the weather conditions were way off.

That's Google location services probably. LTE doesn't broadcast location information. When your phone gets a GPS lock, it reports nearby cell and wifi information to Google. Then when it can't get GPS, Google can estimate the location based on wifi or cell data. The more data they collect the more accurate it gets. When things change, there is a lag of a few days before it updates.

I've had the same thing happen when moving wifi access points, or even if I've been VPNed into my home network for a while from another location. For a few days afterwards Google has associated my home IP with that other location and reports that (or reports a location in Kansas, basically the default "I don't know" location for the US) instead of the real location.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

[though]

I believe this has been discussed here, but is there a way to force the MB to latch onto B25 instead of B41? Where mine is located, it latches on to a VERY weak B41 signal instead of B25. None of my phones can get B41 at this location so the signal is very, very weak.

The problem with latching on to B41, I get a decent download speed from the MB (close to 20 Mbps) but upload is less than 1 Mbps. This is with 1 user. I notice that if I run a speedtest on the MB, during the upload segment, the MB will actually fall offline (lose all LTE data activity). No data throughput when connected to the MB for 2-3 minutes after/during an upload speedtest.

Would the MB phone support team be able to force the MB on to B25?

[ingenium]

I believe this has been discussed here, but is there a way to force the MB to latch onto B25 instead of B41? Where mine is located, it latches on to a VERY weak B41 signal instead of B25. None of my phones can get B41 at this location so the signal is very, very weak.
The problem with latching on to B41, I get a decent download speed from the MB (close to 20 Mbps) but upload is less than 1 Mbps. This is with 1 user. I notice that if I run a speedtest on the MB, during the upload segment, the MB will actually fall offline (lose all LTE data activity). No data throughput when connected to the MB for 2-3 minutes after/during an upload speedtest.
Would the MB phone support team be able to force the MB on to B25?

No unfortunately. They said technically they (a higher up tech with access to the right tools) can move it to B25, but it doesn't stick past a reboot. So the next time the device reboots (power failure, software update, etc), it will be back on B41. They did not want to set a precedent of doing this, and having people repeatedly call in to have it locked back to B25.

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[though]

14 minutes ago, ingenium said:

No unfortunately. They said technically they (a higher up tech with access to the right tools) can move it to B25, but it doesn't stick past a reboot. So the next time the device reboots (power failure, software update, etc), it will be back on B41. They did not want to set a precedent of doing this, and having people repeatedly call in to have it locked back to B25.

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Ok

[banananuts87]

On 2/17/2020 at 12:54 PM, though said:

I believe this has been discussed here, but is there a way to force the MB to latch onto B25 instead of B41? Where mine is located, it latches on to a VERY weak B41 signal instead of B25. None of my phones can get B41 at this location so the signal is very, very weak.

The problem with latching on to B41, I get a decent download speed from the MB (close to 20 Mbps) but upload is less than 1 Mbps. This is with 1 user. I notice that if I run a speedtest on the MB, during the upload segment, the MB will actually fall offline (lose all LTE data activity). No data throughput when connected to the MB for 2-3 minutes after/during an upload speedtest.

Would the MB phone support team be able to force the MB on to B25?

Why not use your own WiFi instead?

[though]

1 hour ago, banananuts87 said:

Why not use your own WiFi instead?

Question- Does anyone know how the MB works if you have it set to Wifi but your home internet goes down for whatever reason. Power outage, general failure, etc? Does it automatically fall-back to LTE for backhaul? If so, how long does it take?

[banananuts87]

6 minutes ago, though said:

Question- Does anyone know how the MB works if you have it set to Wifi but your home internet goes down for whatever reason. Power outage, general failure, etc? Does it automatically fall-back to LTE for backhaul? If so, how long does it take?

It does not automatically fall back to LTE backhaul.  Tries to reestablish with your Wi-Fi backhaul first. If that fails, you have to manually change backhaul to LTE. 

[though]

1 minute ago, banananuts87 said:

It does not automatically fall back to LTE backhaul.  Tries to reestablish with your Wi-Fi backhaul first. If that fails, you have to manually change backhaul to LTE. 

I guess that answers the question for me and for you. I want an instant internet backup solution if/when the primary internet (LAN/WiFI) connection ever drops.

[ingenium]

I guess that answers the question for me and for you. I want an instant internet backup solution if/when the primary internet (LAN/WiFI) connection ever drops.

Your best bet is to leave it on relay then. You can also get a battery backup (UPS) and plug your modem and router into that in case of power outages. The ISP usually has battery backup on their end (911), so as long as you can power your side you'll keep internet. I've been doing it for years and it works well. You can get away with a pretty small unit ($60-$100 range) and it should be able to power it for at least an hour, but probably several hours.

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[crazy_vag]

With the T-Mobile merger, is Sprint giving out any more MagicBox Golds?  Does T-Mobile have an equivalent box?

[Paynefanbro]

11 hours ago, crazy_vag said:

With the T-Mobile merger, is Sprint giving out any more MagicBox Golds?  Does T-Mobile have an equivalent box?

I don't think Sprint gives Magic Boxes to consumers anymore. T-Mobile has CellSpots which are femtocells that user ethernet as backhaul and they have signal boosters.

[jonathanm1978]

Well...at least you guys KNOW which device you have. I don't know what the hell Sprint sent me in may of 2019...but it doesn't look like an Airave 3 (like I was told it was)...and it's not a magic box.

When the Magic Box area was fine-tuned around me, I am outside of the license area by about 1 mile..so they turned off my MB back in March of last year and left me not knowing why until I contacted George Schnellbacher and talked with him. He said he was sorry and would send me an Airave to help my service since I was about to have gig fiber installed...and that's what I thought they sent.

never paid much attention to it once I got it in. I hooked it up..and noticed I didn't hear the "3 beep thing" that the Airaves had always done...because I had an airave since the Samsung days of Airave at Sprint. So I know how they should work..I just figured the new Airaave didn't do the beeps anymore.

Noticed I had B41 LTE but thought it was normal...and I finally decided to call this past week because my calls are dropping and shouldn't be if the Airave works like it should.

They couldn't find the Airave on my account. It just wasn't there. And I don't have a MB.

I rec'd the Airave 3 today ...and it don't look nothing like this box that GJS sent me last year. 

The box GJS sent says "Airvana" on it. And he had mentioned sending an S1000...but I didn't know what that was and if that's actually what he did send. Anyone want to see a pic to try and guess at what I've got?

[ingenium]

Well...at least you guys KNOW which device you have. I don't know what the hell Sprint sent me in may of 2019...but it doesn't look like an Airave 3 (like I was told it was)...and it's not a magic box.
When the Magic Box area was fine-tuned around me, I am outside of the license area by about 1 mile..so they turned off my MB back in March of last year and left me not knowing why until I contacted George Schnellbacher and talked with him. He said he was sorry and would send me an Airave to help my service since I was about to have gig fiber installed...and that's what I thought they sent.
never paid much attention to it once I got it in. I hooked it up..and noticed I didn't hear the "3 beep thing" that the Airaves had always done...because I had an airave since the Samsung days of Airave at Sprint. So I know how they should work..I just figured the new Airaave didn't do the beeps anymore.
Noticed I had B41 LTE but thought it was normal...and I finally decided to call this past week because my calls are dropping and shouldn't be if the Airave works like it should.
They couldn't find the Airave on my account. It just wasn't there. And I don't have a MB.
I rec'd the Airave 3 today ...and it don't look nothing like this box that GJS sent me last year. 
The box GJS sent says "Airvana" on it. And he had mentioned sending an S1000...but I didn't know what that was and if that's actually what he did send. Anyone want to see a pic to try and guess at what I've got?

Airvana is an Airave 2.5 I believe (might be the 2.5+). No LTE.

All Airaves have beeps on CDMA. Even the 4. If you don't hear the beeps, you aren't using the Airave.

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[jonathanm1978]

2 minutes ago, ingenium said:

Airvana is an Airave 2.5 I believe (might be the 2.5+). No LTE.

All Airaves have beeps on CDMA. Even the 4. If you don't hear the beeps, you aren't using the Airave.

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So what box do I have...I'll take a few pics and show it..but I don't understand the purpose of being sent the box if it wouldn't help voice, and didn't help data either. It really just sat there with some pretty solid green lights all the time...

[ingenium]

So what box do I have...I'll take a few pics and show it..but I don't understand the purpose of being sent the box if it wouldn't help voice, and didn't help data either. It really just sat there with some pretty solid green lights all the time...

We can't tell what it is without an exact model number or pictures.

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[jonathanm1978]

Airave

[dkyeager]

2 hours ago, jonathanm1978 said:

Airvana C5000 has an LTE led so not a Airwave 2.5.

[though]

9 minutes ago, dkyeager said:

Airvana C5000 has an LTE led so not a Airwave 2.5.

how about an actual picture of the unit????

[ingenium]

I can only find an eBay listing of a C5000, no other info, but it appears to be an LTE only femtocell. There's no CDMA status light. It's probably from the Airave 3 days, but it's not an Airave 3.

 

It's possible that it was an engineering unit and is on an engineering account at Sprint instead of your personal account. Some of us have engineering Magic Boxes (pre-release models) that are on internal engineering accounts instead of our personal accounts.

 

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[lilotimz]

Commscope S1000 B41 lte only femto cell. It's the LTE B41 module within the Airave 3.

Giveaway is the FCC ID.

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[jonathanm1978]

4 hours ago, lilotimz said:

Commscope S1000 B41 lte only femto cell. It's the LTE B41 module within the Airave 3.

Giveaway is the FCC ID.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
 

Airvana

[jonathanm1978]

6 hours ago, ingenium said:

I can only find an eBay listing of a C5000, no other info, but it appears to be an LTE only femtocell. There's no CDMA status light. It's probably from the Airave 3 days, but it's not an Airave 3.

 

It's possible that it was an engineering unit and is on an engineering account at Sprint instead of your personal account. Some of us have engineering Magic Boxes (pre-release models) that are on internal engineering accounts instead of our personal accounts.

 

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

 

 

 

The rep who sent me the Airave THREE...(I say that because I have 8 devices and with the Airave 3, my watch and tablet are shit out of luck)

She said her GPS map didn't show anything at my address and it shouldn't shown something. So I don't know what the thing does, but it wasn't helping my calls, and only made my phones show LTE when I was connected to Wifi...how odd is that?

I wanted the Airave 4 because it can handle 8 connections instead of 6...but that didn't happen.

 

And, nearly 24 hours later, the airave 3 they sent is STILL not provisioning correctly. I can't get rid of the stupid red lights..and it's been plugged up for over 8 hours this time around.

I did port forwarding...then I tried just putting the Airave in the DMZ on my router. Still no go.

[belusnecropolis]

Yeah I would have ported out after the first 6 of these problems you mentioned

[JonnygATL]

Our phones very  rarely connected well to our magic box when I lived with my ex in the old place though when they did our service went from "meh" to very good. Where I live now I get great service with Sprint on band 41 even deep inside my apartment. Never less than 100 down.  But I've lived here a year and haven't once felt the need to even plug in the magic box. He took the dog and I got this silly MB that I've never even felt the need to use in my new spot?  At least my dating apps load lickety split here on band 41! 😂

[jonathanm1978]

5 hours ago, JonnygATL said:

Our phones very  rarely connected well to our magic box when I lived with my ex in the old place though when they did our service went from "meh" to very good. Where I live now I get great service with Sprint on band 41 even deep inside my apartment. Never less than 100 down.  But I've lived here a year and haven't once felt the need to even plug in the magic box. He took the dog and I got this silly MB that I've never even felt the need to use in my new spot?  At least my dating apps load lickety split here on band 41! 😂

I got fiber optic internet service back in October 2019, so the Airave // Airvana // MB working like it should hasn't been a huge issue for us. We can all connect to wifi-calling with our phones and all of us make a phone call at the same time..and still have plenty of internet. I would even be willing to let T-mo place a small cell on a pole in my yard and have a fiber drop put on it. I'm sure they would want a scalable link, probably with gigabit speeds..and I don't know if they could achieve it with current equipment without adding some stuff to it.. I get  this type of speed when I do a test on my speeds: