bigdawwg
Premium
join:2001-03-17
Newton, TX
clubs: 
 ·Verizon Wireless B..
 ·HughesNet Satellit..
| Hughesnet VS Verizon EV-DO
I have been plagued with slowed speeds every day like a lot of you have been. I decided a few weeks ago to try out Verizon EV-DO. I live about 9 or 10 miles from the nearest Broadband tower, so I was very skeptical that I would even get Broadband Access where I live. The Verizon coverage map doesn't even show me to be in cell phone coverage, let alone Broadband. Anyway, I called and set up a 30 day trial. I also purchased a Wilson Omni antenna from 3G Store. When I first got it, I had to go to an area closer to the tower to activate it. I started out with speeds of 300 to 400 down and 150 to 200 up for the firt 2 weeks, then all of a suddden I started getting 2 Bars of signal. (I was only getting barely 1 Bar to start with).
I can now receive speeds of 1100 down and 300+ up. I have decided to keep the EV-DO. I'm not jumping ship with Hughes just yet, I want to see what happens in the near future.
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HN7000s Pro+ v 5.6.1.19 | G11 Freq 1410 Horizontal | Clients - P4 3.4 | 2.5 gigs Ram | Gateway AMD Turion 64 x2 1.6 Laptop | |
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DaveL
join:2005-11-12
Urbana, IL
| Well...give that thing a serious flog and let us know the outcome. If it goes down after 32 days let us know that too.
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7000s, 99W, 1370, 77sig, pro plan
"Notice how clear the skies were after 9/11 due to lack of con trails?" |
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fiaranch
Premium
join:2007-09-12
Weston, CO
| reply to bigdawwg
Doing similar testing myself. About the same distance to the tower.
Since you are 9-10 miles from the tower, you should seriously consider making 3G Store give you a refund for that Wilson Trucker Omni antenna you purchased. It is a good antenna when you have a 'selection' of towers to get a signal from. With just one tower available, get a good quality yagi, and ultra low loss coax to feed it, and you will be much better off. Get it mounted and pointed to that lone tower, and that will help insure stability of your signal under most all conditions.
And you may need to consider adding an amplifier to help push the signal that far.
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High tech in the high mountains @8500 ft elevation|Linksys wired/wireless network across 80 acres|HN7000S|ProPlus Package|Static IP|AMC3 Transponder 1150|A place to go where you can Forget It All-www.fiaranch.com |
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Downrange
join:2008-04-28
Catawba, VA | reply to bigdawwg
I just activated Verizon EVDO tonight - home is within the map area for Alt-A, getting 765 KB down in prime time, very low latency. Very, very happy right now. HN is running 145 kb.
Three bars signal on the UM-150. |
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Binary
join:2007-12-29
Creston, WV | reply to bigdawwg
with very low latency, just think of the possibles to do, voip and mutiplaying games. |
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bigdawwg
Premium
join:2001-03-17
Newton, TX
clubs:
·Verizon Wireless B..
·HughesNet Satellit..
| reply to fiaranch
fiaranch, I live in Southeast Texas. Lots of trees and hills. I am 9 to 10 miles from the tower, and by Verizon's coverage map, I'm 3 miles out of their coverage area. I thought about getting a yagi but, wasn't sure I could get a line of sight on the tower. I still may try one. I am doing really good right now with the Wilson Omni, it gives me almost 2 bars over the signal I get from the built in antenna. I can get speeds of 300/150 with the modem antenna, but I get 800 to 1130 down and 300 to 400 up with the Wilson Omni. I want to try out an amplifier, that will be my next venture. By the way, I decided to keep the service. Its worth it for me. Keep looking people, there is hope out there for real broadband. I was told by the people at 3g store that even with an amplifier I wouldn't get enough signal to pull in broadband, judging from Verizon's coverage maps.
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HN7000s Pro+ v 5.6.1.19 | G11 Freq 1410 Horizontal | Clients - P4 3.4 | 2.5 gigs Ram | Gateway AMD Turion 64 x2 1.6 Laptop | |
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dbirdman
Premium,MVM
join:2003-07-07
Eureka, CA
| said by bigdawwg  :I get 800 to 1130 down and 300 to 400 up with the Wilson Omni. I want to try out an amplifier, that will be my next venture. Unless you regularly see your bars drop and speeds with them, you probably won't see much with an amplifier. To stay compliant, the amps are built to do *nothing* when they are not needed, and yours sounds like not needed.
I have an amp, because I never know whether I will be in solid 1x, solid RevA, or fringe. Works fine with/without the amp in solid RevA, and the amp doesn't improve things at all when there isn't a RevA tower for 50 miles around, but when there is a fringe RevA tower, I get it with the amp.
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W2K Server|Toshiba Satellite XP Pro|iDirect 3100 on Datastorm 1.2 meter XF3 with 4-watt BUC|HughesNet IA8/1390/7000s Pro on 2-watt Datastorm G74|Sprint Broadband U595+MBR1000 router+Wilson Antenna/Amp|1990 Blue Bird Wanderlodge Bus "Blue Thunder" |
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savillehill
join:2002-01-16
Lexington, VA
| reply to bigdawwg
said by bigdawwg :Lots of trees and hills. I am 9 to 10 miles from the tower, and by Verizon's coverage map, I'm 3 miles out of their coverage area. I'm also out of Verizon's coverage map and in the middle of a forest of trees... Verizon's rep convinced me to try wireless with no risk (True!). I've been running Broadband Access (Rev-A) with a USB720 modem sitting on top of the desktop for over two months. Total cost about 25 bucks to get on line and I haven't looked back
This is a typical report... I'm happy to have closed my Earthlink/Hughes connection. Terrible performance for the past year (after nearly seven years with Earthlink). Prior to cancellation we had twelve straight days of no performace at all (thanks to an unrequested transponder switch)... the old Hughes DW4000 hardware was, and still is, perfectly fine.
Good luck with your wireless.
Ron
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Ron at savillehill, Verizon Broadband Access (Rev-A) via USB720 modem, networking Vista Home host 3.0GHz 2GB ram, ptp ICS cross-over net with WinXP client, IE6.0. Never assume anything! |
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SierraRob
join:2007-01-10
Prather, CA
| reply to bigdawwg
I've been in the process of switching to Verizon EV-DO (was using it for a few weeks, but found that I need to raise the antenna about 20 feet higher to maintain a reliable connection over some nearby trees). So while I am working on repositioning the antenna, I'm back on HughesNet.
So this morning I woke up to find:
I have NEVER seen speeds like this before. Are they laying a diabolical trap to try to lure me back, or did I just slip into a parallel dimension where HughesNet service actually WORKS??? |
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padds
join:2001-12-23
Ashville, OH
| reply to bigdawwg
Am testing the Sprint EVDO myself (have been loaned a USB modem and router setup to try). I get a good signal and have been using VPN/Remote Desktop and all manner of things even an IP phone over it... right now the days of Hughesnet are limited. Ive had a dish on the roof for 9 years i beleive, but this EVDO just makes it look terrible most especially early evening.
If this thing performs well for another 30 days then Hughes gets the boot. I am lucky that i get a 72db signal and have good line of sight to a tower a few miles north of here.
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DirecPC SRS 990 W2K(SP3) ICS to 2 W2K Servers, 2 W2K WS, 1 XP Pro Workstation and even an iMac. Software 4.0.3.9 SP B. Wingate Enterprise Proxy/Firewall. |
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Downrange
join:2008-04-28
Catawba, VA
| Yeah, still have my Hughes plan, but its days are numbered, too. EVDO is great, so far! I do worry a little about exceeding that 5 gb limit, but generally my usage is less than that. I wasn't really prepared for how much difference having 100ms latency makes. Tested both WildBlue and Hughesnet today and got close to a full second!
I am recommending EVDO to my friends who can't get cable/DSL over ANY satellite system, even the new Spaceway. |
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dbirdman
Premium,MVM
join:2003-07-07
Eureka, CA
| said by Downrange :I am recommending EVDO to my friends who can't get cable/DSL over ANY satellite system, even the new Spaceway. No argument. Question, since it seems implied: Have you ever seen anyone, here or elsewhere, recommend satellite over ANY other system with speeds over 200Kbps?
I can't think of one.
The point is that there are lots of people, and likely there will be lots of people for a long time, who cannot get such service. 100 miles from the nearest EVDO-capable tower is not unheard of in the west, nor is a 1000-foot or greater hill between some much-nearer tower.
So, yes, anyone thinking of satellite should investigate other possibilities first, including testing for EVDO even if the coverage maps don't show it; coverage maps err in both directions and are just general guidelines.
As a long-time mobile satellite user I have counseled that those who are mobile and NEED a connection wherever they go needed satellite. Today, and for the past year or so, that recommendation has been tempered by a recommendation that they look at their planned travel patterns, because it is possible that air cards will be sufficient. I suspect we've seen mobile satellite nearly peak out now because of that increased EVDO availability, but there will always be people like me who do not choose to be constrained by coverage boundaries.
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W2K Server|Toshiba Satellite XP Pro|iDirect 3100 on Datastorm 1.2 meter XF3 with 4-watt BUC|HughesNet G28/1070/7000s Pro on 2-watt Datastorm G74|Sprint Broadband U595+MBR1000 router+Wilson Antenna/Amp|1990 Blue Bird Wanderlodge Bus "Blue Thunder" |
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Downrange
join:2008-04-28
Catawba, VA
| Not many. Actually EVDO is getting to be fairly widespread. If you saw where I lived, you wouldn't believe I get it. I've suffered the slings and arrows of dial-up and satellite for many, many years, and, if it hadn't been for the horrible HN service, and finding this forum, I wouldn't have seen a random post about EVDO and went to check the Verizon coverage map.
I should qualify my statement to say "recommend they check their availability." |
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dbirdman
Premium,MVM
join:2003-07-07
Eureka, CA
| Radio signals and the path they take can be weird, which is why actually testing coverage is so important rather than taking someone's word for it. I have no doubt that your location might look unreachable, but I could show you some locations where, based on population and geography, you would be sure that it would be available, and it isn't.
My situation is ideal for testing - antenna mounted 13 feet up on a massive mobile steel ground plane, with 3-watt booster amp. I'm reasonably sure that, if the signal is there, I will get it.
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W2K Server|Toshiba Satellite XP Pro|iDirect 3100 on Datastorm 1.2 meter XF3 with 4-watt BUC|HughesNet G28/1070/7000s Pro on 2-watt Datastorm G74|Sprint Broadband U595+MBR1000 router+Wilson Antenna/Amp|1990 Blue Bird Wanderlodge Bus "Blue Thunder" |
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Downrange
join:2008-04-28
Catawba, VA
| Nice setup! I haven't begun playing with anything like amps or external antennas, yet, though I'm an RF engineer, so it wouldn't be a problem to rig something up. I wonder if having a lot more signal at the modem would speed things up. Hmmm...
I have two towers on the property, one 48' and one 100', with hardline already in place. But the runs are a bit long for UHF. Still, I might rig up something with a directional antenna if it seems to be worth it. I believe I'll take the laptop down to the VZN tower tonight and do some speed tests. |
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dbirdman
Premium,MVM
join:2003-07-07
Eureka, CA
edit:
May 2nd, @08:52PM
| Generally, this is typical digital - you either have the signal or you don't. Antennas and amps give you range, but not likely more speed. In order to be FCC certified, devices like the Wilson 3-amp booster don't boost at all when they don't have to, and ramp up the power then they are needed.
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W2K Server|Toshiba Satellite XP Pro|iDirect 3100 on Datastorm 1.2 meter XF3 with 4-watt BUC|HughesNet G28/1070/7000s Pro on 2-watt Datastorm G74|Sprint Broadband U595+MBR1000 router+Wilson Antenna/Amp|1990 Blue Bird Wanderlodge Bus "Blue Thunder" |
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Downrange
join:2008-04-28
Catawba, VA
| db: that's what I thought, too, yet you read lots of anecdotal stuff where people are boosting signals and getting better performance. Only thing I can figure is that if you're near the fringe, you get fewer missed packets, repeats, error, dither, whatever...
I will test it out and see in the next week or so. |
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David Anonymous
@spcsdns.net
| reply to dbirdman
I have been with DirecPC, DirecWay and HughesNet for almost 8 years. I currently have the Pro Plan and the 7000S modem. But, after reading the posts I decided to give EVDO a chance. I bought a Compass 597 modem from Sprint. It was a shock to me. The download is 2-3 times what I get from HughesNet. The upload is about 2 times what I get from HughesNet. But, that in itself isn't the important fact. The upload and download rates from Sprint are consistent from minute to minute and hour to hour. Not so with HughesNet. |
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Jack_in_VA
Premium
join:2007-11-26
Mathews, VA
edit:
May 3rd, @05:22PM
| said by David Anonymous :
I have been with DirecPC, DirecWay and HughesNet for almost 8 years. I currently have the Pro Plan and the 7000S modem. But, after reading the posts I decided to give EVDO a chance. I bought a Compass 597 modem from Sprint. It was a shock to me. The download is 2-3 times what I get from HughesNet. The upload is about 2 times what I get from HughesNet. But, that in itself isn't the important fact. The upload and download rates from Sprint are consistent from minute to minute and hour to hour. Not so with HughesNet.
That's exactly the same experience I had when I made the switch. Also no FAP. Completely unlimited @ $49.95/mo.
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Downrange
join:2008-04-28
Catawba, VA
edit:
May 3rd, @05:42PM
| reply to dbirdman
db: I took my laptop and went test mode today. Here's what I found. First, I confirmed (by driving towards it and parking at its base) there is in fact only ONE tower out here in the boonies. What surprised me was how much more robust the loads were as I got close.
House: 2-3 Bars on the UM-150 and 3 on the Verizon software (haven't figured out how to get the dbM readings yet). Typical down/up is 800/200 or so. I am nearly five miles from the tower, with a fairly good "shot."
Post Office: around 3/4 mile overland and downhill a bit from the large tower. 5 bars and 1200/400.
Sitting at the base of the tower: 5 bars and 1400/600.
Hmm... maybe I WILL look into putting a yagi and small amp on the close-in tower! Anyone know what the consumer level stuff has for coax? I'm assuming low loss quad shield, and 75 ohm impedence. Maybe a project is brewing here..
.Edit: forgot to mention that I also took it into town to test speeds there, where there are multiple antennas just about everywhere. Generally always got 1000-1200 down and 400 or so up. |
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