MarshieZ

Bill Gates

cardboard box

Don't you mean space ship, time machine and cat jungle gym?

Anyone else experiencing tower issues? I'm down to only 1x800 and nothing else as of about 1:50 am.

Can anyone tell me if you get a static public IP address with the Neverstop?  I'm considering switching from an AT&T hotspot and hate that I only get a strict NAT and can't use an IP camera because they don't give public IP addresses. 

Also, would a DDWRT repeater router work with the Karma hotspot?

Thanks

I'd have to look into and check on the static public IP address. I'm not entirely sure, but I would guess yes it does because it remembers your devices so you do not have to sign-in every time.

And yes, if you would need to extend your signal, I have extended my signal before with one. But I don't encourage it, since I'm sure Karma put the "3 device policy" in place for a reason. That is if you plan to use it in a way to get more than 3 devices connected. 

I wish I had the money for it, and Sprint LTE use it on.

 

 

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Well, they do the "$50 off sale" a lot. Like a lot, a lot. So don't feel bad if you can't do it right now!

I need to do a better job of looking to see when thy do sales and post it here... I've even missed out on some of their sales when it's BOGO for their data. 

How much is regular price on it?

 

 

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It is typically $149. So with the current sale and my referral code I can give you, it will bring it down to $89!

I am in the process of revising the original post... adding some more information to it and cleaning it up a bit.

Also wanted to make a mention the Karma is running a special until midnight Tuesday 12/1. You can get $50 off and free shipping! 

He is saying that EVDO is at -98 when B26 drops off. It'll go from a -118 B26 signal to a -98 EVDO signal.

 

-Anthony

Thanks, now that you say it, I understood it! 

I think it's bed time... haha

Up here in the North Wisconsin market, I usually drop B26 at around -115 to -118 with my G3.

Edit: No, that's roughly about what I'm at when I drop back to EVDO (give or take 5 either way)

I'll email you on that later.

 

 

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Sounds good, no rush. 

Well, and there have been many times devices perform better or worse than what was in the FCC docs, so ymmv.

 

 

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Well since you went through the effort of finding the information, I'll include it in the OP. Do you have the gain for B26? And any other key findings that you found interesting that you'd like me to include?

Not really. I guess the biggest question is, which LTE band are you on most of the time? The antenna gain for Band 41 is -2dBi, Band 25 is -5dBi.

 

 

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Actually probably both. The one tower I frequently use it on is a B25/B26 only and am usually parked on B25. The other is a full NV build tower with a second B41 carrier, and am 99% of the time on B41. The other rare 1% is on B26.

The results aren't pretty. Antenna gain is anywhere from -2 to -5 dBi, which doesn't help performance. I'll look more to see what else I can dig up later today.

 

 

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Really?? I'm honestly quite surprised. It takes a lot for mine to even show only 2 circles, let alone drop to 3G. 

Is there another device we can compare the numbers with to see how it compares? 

Not actually the case. My laptop is paired up with the hotspot and not only doesn't require re-logging, but also skips the "hang on, Internet magic is happening" screen on-WiFi-connect.

Actually now that you say that, you're right. I don't have to log in with my laptop or tablet ever, just after I changed the SSID name for the Wi-Fi name on it.

And also the Tab 3/4 should have a better antenna/frequency because of the fact it is data only. If you put a tablet and phone side by side, typically the tablet will hold onto LTE longer.

Keep in mind too, if they just deployed the LTE there, it might not be optimized properly either.

Tbh, there are many, many factors of why LTE drops.

So I live in beckley and this is what's happening, if you are in uptown beckley you get lte. Except on certain devices, for example my tab 3, and hydro icons on FreedomPop(a sprint mvno) get lte. However my tab 4 that is still on sprint won't connect to the lte. Neither will my iPhone 5 on FreedomPop. If you leave uptown beckley and go closer to Walmart you lose lte. I don't understand why an area with tall buildings gets great lte signal but drops back down to 3G once you get into areas with single story height.

 

Currently my speed has capped out at 15mbps/5mbps which is fine by me.

Part of the reason why you drop to 3G is that your devices are single band. You will not be able to connect to B26 (lower band spectrum LTE for indoor coverage) and B41 (higher band, faster LTE). B25 (the band of LTE that single band devices receive) can only reach so far. If you were to upgrade to a Tri-Band device, you'd have a better experience on the network. That is of course when B26 and B41 get to your area.

I know the Tab 3 and iPhone 5 will only pick up B25. I'm not familiar enough with the Hydro Icon to know if it is or not.

Please post the fcc id so I can look it up. Thanks.

 

 

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Where you able to find anything through the FCC for the antenna? 

Does the Karma GO remember your devices or will you have to keep signing on (which is good for sharing)

I'm almost positive you'll have to sign-in/log-in every time. But maybe I'm wrong, I don't really pay attention if I have to sign on everytime or not.

I just switched my Go to Neverstop for the next month, as I'll be at my parents' for multiple weekends. If you want a review of the service/experience, skip the next two paragraphs...

 

At my parents', a couple miles outside a town of 10,000 that can get 300M TWC, it's your choice of wireless provider for internet...and none of them are particularly good. Their choice is (and has been for awhile) residential LTE at 4M down, 1M up for $50/mo, unlimited, from a local provider. Said local provider hands out 4G wireless routers with 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11n and an LTE modem that supports band 12...with a couple 5db antennas that take RSSI down to the high -50s, so we're talking about something that's marketed as home broadband here. That company has 5x5 of Band 17 that all their residential customers use; mobile customers on the same provider are limited to HSPA+ last I heard in order to keep the LTE clear for fixed use.

 

All that to say that my hotspot likely has more capacity that it's pulling from than my parents' residential connection...particularly since there's a B41 cell site downtown (I can't reach it out here, but that takes the load off B25/B26).

 

==

 

I've had Karma for on the order of two years, and the Go for on the order of four months, so I know the drill as far as getting connected etc. goes: connect to the network, log in if your MAC isn't remembered on the device, see the splash page showing how much data you have left (I have just over 20GB...I've gotten, and used, 5GB from referrals and 1GB came with the device). In this case, I logged in and then looked for an option to switch to Neverstop...and was told to do it from the app.

 

So I opened the app on my 5X, updated my billing info (the card I used to buy my 20GB of data expired a bit ago), and told it to switch my account to Neverstop. I was asked to confirm the $50 charge, then emailed a payment confirmation. The final screen on my phone for the process said that the month of service would start the next time I logged into my hotspot.

 

So I connected, logged in (pretty sure I was asked to log in even though that particular decide was authed to the network before)...and presented with a screen telling me I was almost ready to use Neverstop. Turns out, the device needs a firmware update (automated reboot required) to get Neverstop going. I let the update load...the ETA was 5-10 minutes and the actual time was within that range. The service helpfully told me I'd get an email when the device was ready to go, and I got an email at the end of the process as promised.

 

At that point, I was forced to log in again (I'm guessing the reflash cleared the MAC table, partially to avoid multiple devices immediately exceeding the three simultaneous device limit)...and was good to go from there on out. The splash screen said I had Neverstop at 5 Mbps;sounds like they'll have higher speed tiers or higher simultaneous device counts as extra-charge options in the future. Speeds on speedtest.net were within a few hundred kbps of 5 Mbps in both directions (yes, 5 Mbps symmetric unlimited LTE for $50/mo!), with uploads being closer to 5M than downloads. Not bad at all considering that's about what I can get on my 5X...or the Go when I'm paying per GB...at this location.

 

I have yet to test how simultaneous connections to the hotspot from different client devices fare; I'd expect the 5 Mbps to be shared between devices, but who knows...maybe the service would allow 15M down spread across three devices if the network can handle it. Will post back here when I test that (shortly!).

Great review! I'm very happy to hear that the advertised speed is actually what you're getting. Where you getting a full, 3 bar signal? 

Looking forward to the rest of the test!

Interesting short profile on some of the new Sprint hires:

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article46081495.html

That's a very diverse team of people!

Got my Karma Go! YAY This bad boy is AWESOME.. I've just upgraded to NeverStop!

 

Sprint Spark capable too! 

In a couple weeks I'd love to hear your review of it! Glad you are liking it so far 

12 Days (Ellen's 12 Days of Christmas)

Eh, T-Mobile and Sprint ball park around the same ping. It's however caused by how sprint and T-Mobile routes traffic stateside then back to Hawaii.

 

If I tested Sprint and T-Mobile to a server in LA they would be hitting 90ms or so.

 

But yeah, Sprint is kicking some ass. It's starting to become what the old sprint stood for. "The Now Network"

 

 

Bonus; in b4 someone says I was deprioritized or throttled.

 

 

 

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Oh I know about the ping. They (T-Mobile Fan Boys) will try to find any possible way to say T-Mobile is better when Sprint clearly beats them. This is true for that picture, that's why I made that joke. 

Don't mind if I do.

 

 

 

maybe I'll do a Verizon XLTE vs Spark/Plus

 

 

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But the Magentians will all be like... "But T-Mobile had a faster Ping!"      

Seriously though, I love this picture   

So anyone catch the AMA's and see how over plastered it was with T-Mobile signage and pink everything? 

As much as I despise them, they're doing a hell of a job in the marketing department because they're hitting their target market dead on. Oh, and what perfect time to advertise their Binge On and Music Freedom - I mean network killer - services...

I'm just happy Marcelo hasn't followed suit with either of those. Our wonderful speed tests that we've all had would be extremely crippled.