KnarfOH

When I first received my Zing Hotspot, it was set on AUTO meaning it would pick up any available signal, i.e. B25, B26 or B41. However I learned I could go in and specify the order, by channel, I could connect, so I turned off AUTO and selected the channel to connect (if available) in this order B41, B26 and then B25. I wanted to experiment because someone told me they got 35mb download on the same tower I am connecting to... but I can't remember how I made the changes to my Hotspot. I just spent the last 20 minutes going through every screen and setting and for the life of me can't figure out how to change the channel preference to hooking up to the Sprint network. Can anyone help?

When I first received my Zing Hotspot, it was set on AUTO meaning it would pick up an available signal, i.e. B25, B26 or B41. However I learned I could go in and specify the order, by channel, I could connect, so I turned off AUTO and selected the channel to connect (if available) in this order B41, B26 and then B25. I wanted to experiment because someone told me they got 35mb download on the same tower I am connecting to... but I can't remember how I made the changes to my Hotspot. I just spent the last 20 minutes going through every screen and setting and for the life of me can't figure out how to change the channel preference to hooking up to the Sprint network. Can anyone help?

The Sprint Tower serving me is located on Basil-Western Road in Canal Winchester. I am receiving B41 signal. I have my hotspot set to receive channels in this order B41, B26, B25. Did these 3 speedtests within 5 minutes of each other... Any thoughts? Should I let it choose the channel automatically? I have my hotspot tethered to a Pepwave Router. I took these readings within minutes of each other.

How many customers can a typical cell tower handle at one time?

I was talking to my Sprint account representative today and he told me the tower closest to my home (Kingy's Pizza - Canal Winchester - Basil Western Road) is scheduled for 2 upgrades within the next 2 months. Couldn't say what they were, just that was what was showing in his records. Any ideas? Right now, I receive B25

I was paraphrasing and putting it in the first person. I just rewatched that movie the other day. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

???? In greater Columbus? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

You can say that again! LOL. He posted the previous message twice. One got deleted!

NO - You can't make me!

Question about my Zing Hotspot. I have now tethered my Hotspot up to my Pepwave Surf SOHO Whether its tethered or you are just using the USB cable to recharge it, at the end of the charging cycle, you get a message that tells you to unplug it when the battery is fully charged. Obviously, since I am using this router, it both serves as a charger but also as the signal for my router so I do not have the option of unplugging it when this message appears. Here is my question: Leaving the Zing Hotspot plugged in after you receive the message to disconnect from the charger- Is this bad for (1) the Hotspot (2) is it bad for the battery or (3) both? I removed the battery from the Hotspot, leaving it tethered to my Pepwave Surf SOHO and it still works so I thought I would just pull the battery. I know over-charging a battery shortens the battery life for many products. Wasn't sure what the recommendations were for this Hotspot and Battery. Please advise!

Yes -- SORRY! I used the term omni-directional in describing my parabolic antenna and clearly that is not the case. BRAIN FART! It is highly directional as pointed out by iansitx

Speedtest on Tower located on 9793 Basil Western Rd, Canal Winchester, OH 43110. IPAD AIR and Sprint Zing Hotspot utilized for test purposes. Across from Kingy's Pizza. TOOK TODAY - IF YOU ARE IN COLUMBUS AREA - YOU KNOW IT IS RAINING STEADILY! August 31, 2014

As a newbie, I am confused about some of the references to signals and towers. Right now I am getting B25 though several days ago I got B26 though that only lasted briefly. Someone suggested they may have been running tests, etc. and that is why I only received the signal for such a short time. I also see everyone talking about B41. Question - is there some reference to the towers in my area that I could consult that will give me towers and the signals they are transmitting on? For example, if I knew a tower transmitting B41 in my area, I might point my omni-directional antenna in that direction to check the results. Just curious! Also, do I understand a group of enthusiasts from this board meet up regularly to discuss topics in person?

There are a lot of youngsters who have no idea what an outdoor (or even indoor antenna) is .... plus, you know I was joking with you right? They have no idea what a CB radio is; vinyl records; cassette tapes; pay phones; answering machines; etc. Did you see the YouTube video last week where they put a punch of tweenies in front a old-fashioned typewriter and asked them to operate it? It was hilarious! But back to another point you were making on here: It is 1.2 miles to the tower I am pointed at - so why would you believe the signal would be better pointed south possibly? Here is another picture I posted showing my location relative to the Sprint towers in my area. My home and the tower I am pointed at are in the read circle. I am pointed at the one across from Kingy's Pizza. It is next to Kessler's Heating and Cooling. Should I be pointed somewhere else?

The second antenna is for something many of you have never heard of since it is a dying technology. Not too different then CB radios that once flooded the country and which no truck driver would do without! It is called different things in different parts of the country. Here in Ohio, we call it "an over-the-air TV antenna." It works like this - you point it towards the source of the signal and connect it with RG-6 cable to your TV and you see different channels in HD on your TV. Mostly channels like NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, FOX, CW, etc. You may also pick of small, local channels that broadcast in analog still, but those are mostly crap stations. Reason I had to go with Sprint Zing is we have no cable source out here for TV (and hence, no accompanying Internet Service). Yes, it is true -- I only get about 10 channels of TV. Most of you will only watch about 10 channels, but you will pay for 100+ up to 300+. I explained what that antenna was in my link. CLICK HERE and make sure you read the captions to the pictures. LOL - sorry for joking with you! How old are you? Do you not know about broadcast TV signals?

In the last week, I have gotten B26 a few times, but it seems to be sporadic. Does that make sense? Speeds with B25 Speed with B26 Couple of questions -- 1 -- Does it make sense that I got B26 a few times but not now? 2 -- Do these speeds seem logical based upon everyone's experience?

Receiving on B25 from this tower. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMAGES

When I purchased the antenna, it was for the 2.5 GHz bandwidth. Since it was sold by a company that was specifically catering to WiMAX users, they only emphasized the 2.5 GHz reception capability of the antenna. Clearly it is working on B25 since that's what I'm receiving. I have no idea what it's real capabilities are -- I only know it is working for me! i identified the websites in my link which included the pictures. Click on the last thumbnail (TV tray with Zing). You may want to contact them directly and ask your questions.

LOL - in this picture, my house is where you see the marker. I have drawn a circle around my house and the tower I am pointed at which is 1.2 miles away. I have to believe the signal is coming from this tower. There are other towers, but glancing at the map you can see they would be considerably greater in distance from my home. This is an omni-directional antenna. I will leave the science to others. If each tower has a unique tower I.D., I cannot explain the vast improvement of my signal since the next tower (in the general direction I am pointed) is a considerably great distance.

I assumed that was a given - outdoor antenna, void of any drywall, electrical wiring, copper plumbing, insulation, etc. would always get a better signal I do not know how cell identification works - but this is the same carrier and tower. I am in a semi-rural area. Yes, there are other towers, but none in the general direction I pointed my antenna. Look at my earlier posts and you will see I included a copy of the tower map for this area using Sprint's tower location service. I am not a technical person but it appears you are being complimentary of my setup. So thanks! No original ideas here, just stuff and ideas I stole off this FORUM. This is a 21db parabolic antenna that I had purchased for my Clearwire service. No amplifiers - just a 20 feet run of high quality RG-6 cable. I had to buy a special pigtail connector to connect the single feed to both antenna feeds on the back of the Zing hotspot. CLICK HERE TO SEE PICTURES AND A BETTER EXPLANATION AS TO WHAT I DID

Okay.. with a lot of good information from this FORUM and some private messaging back and forth - I think I have my home setup working the way that I want it too... at least this week! Here are some pointers from a NEWBIE (not a techie so sorry - I notice some threads tend to gyrate towards the technical - which leaves me scratching my head). I purchased the Netgear Cradle for my Zing hotspot. Sorry, but for me the device was either defective or did not perform to my satisfaction. I actually got better throughput without the cradle. Looks nice - but did not do the job for me. It is on its way back to Sprint. Purchased a pigtail connector to convert my old Clearwire outdoor antenna and use it with my Zing. I have a 21db parabolic antenna connected, using both connectors built-in to my Zing. This reflects the changes I saw in signal, etc. LOL - I don't even know what these numbers mean! Any comment on what anyone is seeing here? Am I missing something that a technical person might catch? I know that sometimes the lower the number, the better. And other times, the higher the number the better. Here is a Speedtest taht I just ran -- http://speedtest.connectedoh.org/ This more then doubles my Clearwire speeds, probably closer to 2.5x the speed of Clearwire. Lastly, all of this is in an upstairs closet. I took a router I have and turned it into a repeater since the Wi-Fi capabilities of the Zing are so weak. Router I used: Tenda W1800R Wireless AC1750.

Just got my Sprint Zing HOTSPOT so some questions from a Newbie -- QUESTION 1 -- I see information about different channels, i.e. B25, B41 used to connect to LTE. I know during my initial connecting of my hotspot is saw the channel I was connecting through displayed, but for the life of me I cannot remember where I saw the channel display. I was looking around and checking things out so fast, I didn't pay attention. Now I can't seem to remember where I saw the channel information displayed? --- Was it on the Hotspot screen? --- Was it on the Netgear APP for my IPAD? --- Was it on my browswer when connected to http://192.168.1.1/ which lets you view the HOTSPOT SETUP Where do I go to check which LTE channel I am connecting through? For the life of me, I can't seem to find the channel indicator, but I am certain I saw it once! -- QUESTION 2 -- On my old Clearwire Express Hub, they gave you hints on how to orient the Hub to get the best signal. Can you orient the ZING HOTSPOT to optimize your signal when you know the location of your tower to get the BEST signal? Or does it make any difference? This is mostly for home use where I will probably use my HOTSPOT the most. -- QUESTION 3 -- Same question as QUESTION 2, but this involves the ZING HOTSPOT CRADLE. Is there a way to position the crade (if you know the tower location) that improves signal reception? -- QUESTION 4 -- I am in a fringe area (both for CLEARWIRE and SPRINT LTE), i.e. semi-rural. I had an outdoor omni-directional antenna that improved my CLEARWIRE signal greatly. My area was so marginal with CLEARWIRE that a bump of the EXPRESS HUB might send me up or down a SIGNAL BAR. LOL. Once I got the outdoor antenna, everything was fixed. I see I can purchase a pigtail that allows me to hookup my external antenna to my ZING HOTSPOT to my external antenna. Does this type of antenna work regardless of which channel you are receiving your signal on? Say B25 or B41? Any thoughts at all on a good antenna in case my current antenna is not suitable? -- QUESTION 5 -- Back to the NETGEAR CRADLE for the ZING HOTSPOT. In my opinion, I am not sure if the cradle is adding any value to my setup. Connected or disconnected, it doesn't seem to add a lot of improvement. But, I have only had it a few days so not sure if I know what I should be looking for? I do know the number of bars of signal remains the same. Any general thoughts about the crade?

I was inpatient. Plugged it in and it worked fine. I had downloaded the manual and read it before hand. Nothing ever seems to work as written in the book - this did! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

I just got my Sprint Zing delivered in the last few minutes and want to begin the process of hooking it up. I just wanted to talk to someone that went through the experience to see if they had any pointers. I wanted to MSG you directly, but I see you block people like me. I assume that is because you would be bothered by too many people. I am in Canal Winchester and saw you were in Columbus. One question I have of you as an ADMINISTRATOR is why all threads about the Sprint Zing are being merged into one thread. When you begin reading the thread from beginning to end, the actual discussion is all over the place. Yes, the discussion is about the ZING but what people are wanting to discuss can differ tremendously. Lastly, I gave option of privately giving me phone number. If someone didnt want to be identified, I assumed they would block their number when they called me...

If you are Sprint Zing Owner - Can you give me Advice? Just want to know ins and outs of using this device? PM me for my phone number or give me your number to call? Thanks in advance.