Satellite internet versus cellular broadband

boatdoc

Well-known member
Alex,
I did receive your PM and thank you. My only other question is if at my house I could get a great signal from Verizon, would that be a better choice when it comes to overall coverage throughout the U.S.?

A friend of ours just got a Verizon card and is willing to let me try it out at home.

Thanks again,
Mark

That's exactly what lead us to the Verizon air card, a freind used their's in our drive. Very good way to know if it works without going with the free months trial crud.
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
on the topic of "whose coverage is best", everyone needs to also keep in mind that Verizon is assimilating Alltel... which will nicely fill in much of the whitespace in their coverage.

In my opinion, the new "Verizontel" will rule -- from a coverage standpoint.
Alex, do you have any thoughts as to when Verizon and Alltel will be one? From the looks of your chart, my Verizon USB727 may not be much use when we return to central Wisconsin this Spring.
 

AlexSian

Mobile Broadband Consultant
Alex,
I did receive your PM and thank you. My only other question is if at my house I could get a great signal from Verizon, would that be a better choice when it comes to overall coverage throughout the U.S.?
A friend of ours just got a Verizon card and is willing to let me try it out at home.
hopefully they have more than just built-in antenna, because the verizon coverage over your location really sucked.

if the sprint/verizon composite coverage map shows more verizon where you might travel, then verizon is my recommendation.

you're welcome!
 

AlexSian

Mobile Broadband Consultant
Alex, do you have any thoughts as to when Verizon and Alltel will be one? From the looks of your chart, my Verizon USB727 may not be much use when we return to central Wisconsin this Spring.
the deal hasn't even finalized yet, though it should next week:
http://www.evdoinfo.com/content/view/2615/64/

even if they told me the exact date they planned on combining networks, i don't trust carriers to speak truth often. my approach is wait and see.

wisconsin is very well covered by verizon:



if you have an exact address, you can view coverage for it at this map:

http://tinyurl.com/vzw-53701
 

davebennington

Senior Member
We use a Hughes system at the house as well when we travel, we just take the modem with us (I have another dish in the trailer) so far it has worked out very well. Hughes doesn't condone the mobile tripod satellite usage, (it is a don't ask don't tell thing). Hughes newer systems that they bare shipping uses the KA band vs KU band and it will NOT work for a mobile application. You can still find the KU systems on Ebay sometimes at a reasonable price.

Dave
 

mrcomer

Past Ohio Chapter Leaders (Founding)
4G and GPS enabled?

Ok I have more questions. Should I be considering 4G hardware or is it too early to worry about.

What does being GPS enabled do for me?
 

AlexSian

Mobile Broadband Consultant
Ok I have more questions. Should I be considering 4G hardware or is it too early to worry about.

What does being GPS enabled do for me?
"4G" is only in Maryland and Portland right now, and will take as long to deploy as EVDO Rev-A has taken (going on 30+ months!)

I'd only consider 4G if those two areas are where you typically hang around.

GPS feature is only available if you get a Sprint device. Here is info from PDF:
Q: What is “GPS Receiver Enabled” capability and can I use this capability now?
A: Yes, the GPS feature is now available with the latest version of Sprint Mobile Broadband device, allowing the device to be used with desktop GPS Applications and/or Location Services access to “locate and search” capabilities such as the nearest bank, restaurant, gas station, etc. In order to use the GPS feature you must launch the Sprint SmartView software.

Q: Does GPS work while roaming?
A: GPS does not work in certain roaming conditions at this time. The Sprint teams are working on solution to extend GPS capability to work everywhere.

Q: Can I use the GPS capability with my GPS Application?
A: Yes, in order to use GPS with a desktop GPS application such as Microsoft “Street and Trips”, you must first enabled GPS on the device, find the configured GPS com port (also referred to as NMEA port) on your desktop (Note port will differ in each desktop) and configure the GPS application to
use the GPS com port. The GPS application must be NMEA compliant.

Note – The device GPS capability was tested for compliance with GPS standards. However the device was not tested with all possible GPS applications available in the market, for question or issues related to your GPS application please use your GPS application guide or contact your GPS application provider.

Q: How do I find the GPS com port (NMEA port) configured for use on my desktop?
A: To determine which port your device is using, open the Sprint SmartView client and click “GPS” to display the GPS bar. The COM port information (“GPS Port”) for your device is displayed.

Q: What is “Mapping Service” that is available with the new Sprint SmartView?
A: The Mapping Service also known as “locate and search”, is free utility in the Sprint SmartView client that leverages the device GPS capability and free internet mapping search engines to ‘Find the nearest …’ (example Bank, Restaurant, Gas station, etc). This utility is only available with your
Sprint SmartView software.

Q: How do I use a different internet site for the “Mapping Service” queries?
A: The Mapping Service default site can be changed via the Sprint SmartView client under Tool, Setting, Location/GPS options select from list of available mapping search engines configured for use with the Sprint SmartView software.

Q: Why does the ‘Mapping Service’ work while indoors but not my GPS application?
A: The ‘Mapping Services’ uses the network to determine your approximate location to obtain coordinates for the internet query. The GPS application use GPS satellites that for the most part are not accessible while you are indoors due to building structure blocking the satellite GPS signal.
 

mrcomer

Past Ohio Chapter Leaders (Founding)
Thanks again Alex. As for the GPS Enabled feature, I am quite content with my Garmin Nuvi 350 but I thought I would ask anyway.

Mark
 

Pulltab

Well-known member
I would not use sprint if they gave it to me now! I ordered their card first, it was terrible in the area I am in, not saying that it is everywhere else just where I was it sucked. My issue was getting my money back from them. Took me almost 3 months to get a refund after they received the equipment back. They kept posting credits each month to my account which I didn't need, I dont have sprint for cell service only for that stupid air card. I found them very difficult to deal with on getting refunded. verizon has been a breeze. :)
 

leftyf

SSG Stumpy-VA Terrorist
Hughes newer systems that they bare shipping uses the KA band vs KU band and it will NOT work for a mobile application. You can still find the KU systems on Ebay sometimes at a reasonable price.

Dave

Ok, why won't it work for mobile applications??
 

leftyf

SSG Stumpy-VA Terrorist
Motosat...when you're too d*mned lazy to push more than 1 button...

Only complaint I have about satellite is the advertised versus real speeds. Methinks, someone was in their cups when they wrote that spec.
 

mrcomer

Past Ohio Chapter Leaders (Founding)
The quest continues

Well after many PM's to Alex bugging him relentlessly to help me figure out what is best I have decided to take advantage of all three (ATT,Sprint & Verizon) 30 day trials without an early termination fee. I am starting with Verizon and have gotten a USB727 aircard from a local Verizon dealer. I decided to deal local for this to make returning the items easier. When I make my final decision I will be placing and order with Alex at the 3Gstore.
At home I get mediocre service with just the aircard and no external antenna. It is a bit better than our current satellite with download speeds of 113 to 259 kbps. Not that great but still better than sat. When I drove around with the laptop I found a sweetspot (1 mile up the road and 1/4 mile south) where I was getting speeds of 2mbps. Very nice. Well I ordered an antenna from Verizon and it will be here Thursday I hope. Will try some more trials and let you know what happens.

As reference for those who know what this means my RSSI numbers at the house are from -93 thru -107dBm. The lower the number the better the service. -80 is a good number for indoor reception. When I was at the "sweetspot" my numbers were in the -58 to -64.

Mark
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
We have the Verizon USB727 and the indoor antenna both from the 3gstore. Very satisfied with both the speed and the reliability. As strange as it sounds speed seems to vary with humidity or weather conditions. I just ran speedtest.net and have 1180 kbps download and 392 kbps upload and my rssi is -79.
 

mrcomer

Past Ohio Chapter Leaders (Founding)
Update - Sprint card

So I returned the Verizon card on Friday and proceeded to the Sprint store. Signed up for their service. That went pretty smooth. Went home, installed the aircard and "walla" I'm on the internet. I have to say that just with the aircard, Sprint does have a better signal at my house. Seemed to be pretty good regardless of where I was in the house. On saturday Linda and I drove around with the laptop testing the same areas that I tested the Verizon card. I was a bit surprised that they weren't more similar. While still very good the Sprint card signal just didn't seem to be as good.

Something I noticed but would like Alex to help me with here. With the Sprint card (USB598) it seems that the signal strength indicated by bars does not directly compare to the RSSI signal strength. Right now I am at work and I get a signal strength of all six bars but my RSSI number is -72dBm. At home my signal strength in bars is about 2 and the RSSI numbers are in the low -90's. Even though I get these numbers at home the Sprint card still shows much better download speeds and upload speeds than Verizon did. So I am a bit confused. If I were basing my decision just by the RSSI numbers I would feel that Verizon and Sprint were very close but since I have been testing download speed with speedtest.net I am sure that Sprint is the clear winner.

Mark
 

AlexSian

Mobile Broadband Consultant
you've learned two things that we often tell our customers:

1) don't judge signal using "bars". using RSSI as a guide provides more accuracy.

2) which carrier you choose, depends on who provides best coverage where you need it.

there will never be a "perfect carrier" that provides best cellular coverage to all users in all places... research is always needed.

if you were to tell me you'd be spending more time at your present address than on the road each year... I'd recommend sprint (as I did)... but if you will spend more time on the road than at home... the likelihood is that verizon will be the better choice "on the whole", especially with their forthcoming assimilation of alltel.
 
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mrcomer

Past Ohio Chapter Leaders (Founding)
The last straw

Well I returned the Sprint card tonight and signed up for AT&T service. As it turns out AT&T happens to be the worst service for me at my house. So as Alex has already pointed out to me from day one, Sprint is the best provider for me at my house. Being bullheaded as I am I really felt the need to try them all before I made a commitment.

I really appreciate all the input from everybody here. Looks like I will be making a purchase soon for the Sprint service, router and antenna. I will aslo be setting up the Augusta for wifi hotspot too. I will probably just move the router from the home to the camper for now.

Later,
mark
 

PUG

Pug
Mark; I use my Verizon phone for the modem instead of buying the card. It works great all over the west. currently in Tucson using on my laptop which is old and slow but not a problem. it costs 60 a month but you can cut off and back on at any time and they prorate costs. we only turn it on while traveling. you buy a small wiring kit from horizon which plugs into AC, the phone and the computer. i am going to use it also to get the news and free movies at my remote cabin in the Sawtooth mtns that gets cell but not tv since they went digital. it also charges the phone while hooked up and if the phone rings while on the internet it switches to the phone.
 

leftyf

SSG Stumpy-VA Terrorist
Mark; I use my Verizon phone for the modem instead of buying the card. It works great all over the west. currently in Tucson using on my laptop which is old and slow but not a problem. it costs 60 a month but you can cut off and back on at any time and they prorate costs. we only turn it on while traveling. you buy a small wiring kit from horizon which plugs into AC, the phone and the computer. i am going to use it also to get the news and free movies at my remote cabin in the Sawtooth mtns that gets cell but not tv since they went digital. it also charges the phone while hooked up and if the phone rings while on the internet it switches to the phone.

You might want to check your bandwidth limitations...you may not be downloading a lot of movies.
 

mrcomer

Past Ohio Chapter Leaders (Founding)
New stuff just arrived

So I just received all my new stuff. Router, air card etc...

So I was smart enough to bring my laptop to work with me to get the aircard going and what a great little card it is. Very fast download speeds here at work. I can't wait to get home and setup the router. It's like Christmas all over again.:D:D:D:D
 
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