MIFI - Page 2 - Montana Owners Club

richfaa · 06-05-2010, 04:49 AM

We called verizon direct about the retention of the unlimited GB and they confirmed that we would not lose it. We are at the NE rally in western Pa and our download speed is a steady 2.15mbps . The lack of a external antenna still bothers us as we travel around a lot and at times need the antenna for good signal and download speed. It makes no difference right now as we have decided to stay with the CP 1000 and the usb 727 aircard. IMO there is no better right now. We will talk to Alex about it. BTW..with the CP 1000 route ther the signal can be picked up several campers down the row and many times fellow campers at a rally will use our wifi if they have none.

Champ_49 · 06-08-2010, 03:57 AM

I called the 3Gstore and said what is the best thing for us to buy as we are now FT in our rig. This is what they told us and we bought it. 760USB Novatell air card, 900 Craddlepoint router, and Wilson Antenna. Total cost was just above $300.00. I am right now in a very remote place in Michigan and I have all the bars green and it seems pretty good. Will say, its not DSL like I am use to, but thinking when I get to a better signal down the road it will be much better. The 3Gstore knows there stuff, I recommend them highly. No I am not a sales person for them, just my experience with them. Also, one other thing about them, there tech support is great.

Dave

Alex Sian · 06-11-2010, 03:52 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by richfaa
... we have decided to stay with the CP 1000 and the usb 727 aircard. IMO there is no better right now. We will talk to Alex about it. BTW..with the CP 1000 route ther the signal can be picked up several campers down the row and many times fellow campers at a rally will use our wifi if they have none.

Rich, if i were you, i would not be doing any sort of upgrade.
just stick to the usb727 and mbr1000, as you have indicated.

CasaDelSol · 06-11-2010, 04:16 AM

Just thought I would mention that DH and I love our MIFI from Verizon Wireless. We have been traveling for a month and both of us use it. We are in an area right now where our cellphones have been a little iffy, but the MIFI is working great. When we return to the stick house we are canceling our cable broadband.

richfaa · 06-11-2010, 11:15 AM

Thank you for the reply Alex. We will hold on till something better comes along. Give us a yell when it does.

bigskyjimmy · 09-23-2010, 05:28 PM

We use Comcast on the go mobile internet on our laptop they have a special promotion for 30.00 a mo for a year if you alresdy have comcast cable at home ,it is lightning fast just like home and we get coverage most everywhere very happy with it!

HamRad · 09-24-2010, 12:03 PM

We switched from the Verizon air card to the MIFI. This is our first major test of the system on the road. We are very pleased with the performance of the system so far. We either had to go the route of the air card plus router or this system. We were told the system uses the same network as the air card and it certainly seems to be as they indicated.

Set up and switch over was painless. With the addition of many towers the coverage area seems to be every where.
HamRad

8.1al · 09-24-2010, 02:27 PM

But can you hook an antenna to it?

Desert RVer · 09-24-2010, 02:59 PM

Have used our Verizon Wifi now for 4 months. Getting about 1.6 Megabits download and 0.6 Megabits uplaod with 108 MS Ping. Works for us. Speed is somewhat dependant on time of day. When kids get home from school 3:30 to 4:00PM it slows down a bit. No real complaints and like the portability and small size.

HamRad · 09-24-2010, 05:48 PM

Charlie,
There is no antenna port on my MiFi device. But we also have not needed one. But we are only on our first major trip since acquiring it. If you often visit fringe reception areas then you are probably better off sticking with an aircard with an antenna port.

Just as a point of information going from Bakersfield to Oregon we have yet to find an area where there was no service. I realize that is a very small and limited 'test' area but like I said we are happy with what we have.

Dennis

8.1al · 09-25-2010, 12:16 AM

Thanks Dennis,
Just wondered as we have been in so many areas that the antenna was a big help. Even in spots where the card itself worked the antenna made it better.

exav8tr · 09-25-2010, 05:19 AM

We are about 20 miles east of San Diego in the mountains and cannot get Verizon service WITHOUT our Wilson Antenna which is also hooked to a 3 watt amplifier. I have been in other rural areas that we have to hook our phones into the antenna to get a signal. Unfortunately, many of the new phones do not have antenna jacks anymore, so we will keep our three year old LG830's for now. Perhaps the newer phones do not need the antenna, but I am not going to be the one to find out. The only drawback with our system is that you must disconnect the antenna from the aircard (computer) in order to hook up the phone. Bummer man!!!!!

HamRad · 09-28-2010, 08:15 PM

Here's a follow up regarding our MiFi activity on our current trip. We have had a decent connection in every location we've stayed. All the way from Bakersfield, CA to Winchester Bay, OR we had a good or better connection. We then moved to Fall River Mills, CA which is about 80 miles east of Redding, CA. It is a small rural community. Even there we had a good connection. We are currently in Milford, CA just south of Susanville, CA and have a great connection.

The last couple of stops were in what would be considered a marginal area. Still no need for an external antenna. Tomorrow we move to just south of Carson City, NV and I believe we may be in a very limited area. We will know soon.

Dennis

dreamers2010 · 09-29-2010, 08:27 AM

We, too, have the Verizon mifi and it works well. As for as an antenna, Wilson makes a passive adapter for external antenna and a Wilsom amp that works well. We haven't needed the upgrade yet as just our mifi works well but there may come a time in our travels that we will need the antenna and possibly the amp. Our next door neighbor here where we are camped does have the Wilson Truckers upgrade with his mifi. The nice thing about this passive adapter is it will work with your cell phones also. Just thought I would throw this in.

Judy

HamRad · 09-29-2010, 01:24 PM

Judy,
Thanks for the info about the 'passive' antenna. Looks like we will need to get one of those! We are in a marginal reception area in the southeast part of Gardenerville, NV. As indicated in a prior post we have had very good connectivity until this location.

So for those folks who have questions about connectivity and external antennas it obviously is something to consider.

Thanks again Judy for the info.

Dennis

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