Help with usb broadband to router question..

I am trying to break free of the chains of my hughes satellite ISP, I live in a rural area so my choices are limited.

I was looking into Sprint, but unfortunately for me, the sales staff chose to misrepresent what coverage was in my area in order to boost sales.

End result, all the wrong stuff they sent me is going back, and they are going to lose a long time phone customer.

Good news, I have found another wireless carrier in my area who does have 3G mobile broadband, at a very reasonable monthly fee and the key is it is supposed to be unlimited (fingers crossed).

The service is supposed to support up to 5 users and what I need to do is purchase a router that I can plug the usb mobile device into..

Are there any out there, has anyone done this?

The carrier doesn't have anything like the sprint hotspot deal, but if I can get the mobile card hooked to a router, this should solve my dilemma?

Any help in this area would be most appreciated?

signed: wireless challenged

I hooked up with Virgin 3G and had horrible service. Dropped them and ate the broadband card charge.

Thanks for this thread as I am looking for new 3G also and see no reason why the device into a router wouldn't work but have no direct experience.

Good Luck

I found a few solutions but decided on this:

www.cradlepoint.com...

It looks to be able to do exactly what I need, and has accessories available such as a 12v power adapter should you hit the road..

The range specs varied from 300 to 600 feet, but the low end estimate is more than I need here in this place

Another option it has is the ability to hook up to phones with the mobile broadband packages via the cable that usually hooks up to the PC..

It's 4G ready as well, so I won't have to purchase a replacement once 4G gets to my area in 2025

I have seen a Sonic Wall router that has an input for a card and assume that there are several others.

Best of luck!

reply to post by leftystrat


Thanks, I will update this thread with the success or lack thereof so others can benefit from this as well..

I sure hope this works out but my trust in the carriers is at an all time low since the sprint deal this week... what happened treating customers with respect ?

Originally posted by JacKatMtn
I sure hope this works out but my trust in the carriers is at an all time low since the sprint deal this week... what happened treating customers with respect ?

You're in America, son!

This respect thing... I keep hearing about it. From what I understand, it disappeared a long time ago. I remember my grandparents telling me wondrous stories of respect. It was like a fairy tale.

reply to post by JacKatMtn


We use a similar setup with surveillance cameras in remote areas like woods and mountains...

The whole thing is a box, camera, cellular router and broadband usb stick.. We can monitor it real time on the net and pan-tilt-zoom the camera as well..

You should certainly be better than what you were using...

Semper

reply to post by semperfortis


I sure hope so..

just for grins I did a speed test about an hour ago..


are you ready for this ?!!!

paying nearly 80 a month for this kind of performance..

Download speed... a mind boggling 99kbps

Upload speed.... 150kbps

I don't know what I am going to do with this kind of capability

Originally posted by leftystrat

Originally posted by JacKatMtn
I sure hope this works out but my trust in the carriers is at an all time low since the sprint deal this week... what happened treating customers with respect ?

You're in America, son!

This respect thing... I keep hearing about it. From what I understand, it disappeared a long time ago. I remember my grandparents telling me wondrous stories of respect. It was like a fairy tale.

I, currently, work as a High Speed Internet technician for one of the, if not the, biggest HSI in the country and I left work very angry today because of incompetent agents that had not solved a customers issues, hung up on the customer, and failed to engage the customer with enough respect to, at least, tell them exactly what they are doing thru the toubleshooting process that could drop the call!!!!

Every damn call I had today was a repeat caller for an issue that, IMHO, any so-called HSI customer rep should be knowledgeable to fix for the customer on the first call!! I mean some of the customers had called 3, 4 and 5 times already for the same issue - the same day!! However, they now had reached me and, after spending a good amount of time calming the customer down after being transfered or cut off time and time again....

But then??? I resolved their damn issue for them no matter how long it takes me or how many times I have to call said customer back until we have fixed it!! My company emphasises first call resolution.....well, on days like today that is a major joke!!!!

But I am much more than respectful to those customers who had already had to deal with 2, 3, 4 and even 5 other agents before I get the call and contact whomever can make appropriate changes on the account to get customer back online - unfortunately my company does not give me adequent priviledges to make some of the simple changes that can knock a customer totally offline!

So - I was mad at the company today, also because my handle time today (this affects my bonuses = $$) was blown out of the water because I believe customers DO deserve enough proper respect to spend some time + get them their services. I, also, will credit a customer account $10 - $20 depending on how many times they have had to call back.

Needless to say the customers I deal with are actually very happy with my service to them by the end of the call. Soem even ask to talk with a supervisor to tell them I was the only one who seemed to know what they were doing....And I like helping people who are just learning - which is exactly what I had to do, you know??

Hell, I get callers and after investigating the account realize that somehow their rate codes are wrong or the modem has disappeared from their account!! Disappearing modem on account can ONLY happen when someone removes the damn modem to begin with - another rep who, obviously, did not know what they were doing and did not ask anyone else for an assist.

This is how I felt after 9 calls over a 5 hour period today. Only 9 damn calls when I can do 6 an hour easily if not for other agents BS. But everyone of their issues were resolved, or referred them to some other customer support for computer or software issue, or an Tech visit to check the connection of our modem + get customer back online. all resolved!!

Most calls are hn calls and is really more simple to correct - if one knows how to reset a customers wireless network the right way or wrong rates codes or a provisioning issue. Although I did have a woiman call me one day because her screen was black......honest!! :bnghd:

But they also deserve my respect and committment to get the job done as quickly as is possible and sometimes just educate them..

Sorry to rant.....I think I feel better now!

reply to post by Champagne


Nice to see someone who actually takes pride in their work, I can just imagine that it would be equally frustrating for an employee who actually wants to keep the customer happy..

In my particular case, we were just going to add my phone number to a new phone at the company my wife has, and in the course of conversation, the sales rep, asked us about internet wifi deal.

We stated that we would love to eventually go with their 4G service once it's available in our area, (according to online info, our area was not covered)..

The rep says... we have more updated info that hasn't been updated on the webpage and that we were in the 4G area, so we were pleasantly surprised and spent the next hour or so deciding what device to purchase etc, and were looking forward to switching over..

Fast forward 2 days when the first box arrives.. phone sent was ok, the internet hotspot device was not the 4G deal but the 3G device which we weren't gong to go for due to the 5G month limits, so we called back and spoke to another rep, who once again stated we were in the coverage area for 4G and proceeded to tell us to box the device up and he would send out the correct one..

Flash forward another 2 days.. another box opened, this time, instead of the 4G hotspot device we spent another hour selecting, we were sent a usb 3G/4G modem..

Called again... another rep.. this one finally stated.. we have no 4G coverage, matter of fact there was ZERO 4G coverage in my entire state !!

Enough, now we are awaiting return packs for ALL of the stuff they sent, and until they receive the equipment back, we are going to be charged?

So.. in the end, the company not only lost a customer who was willing to have 3 phones, and internet service with them, to someone who will have ZERO service, phone or data..

All because some sales personnel were looking to boost their sales at the reputation of the carrier..

Total hours dealing with this situation to date... about 16 hours and counting..

reply to post by JacKatMtn


Yeah, that sounds about typical.

I feel your pain, Champagne, and I know it isn't sham pain (~groan~). The mega telcos throw metrics out there for performance and bonuses, and they always conflict with each other. They'll max compensate for "A", but require you to do "B". As I used to say back in my Dilbert days, "Maybe if your compensation plan aligned with the actual goals you claim to support, these things would fix themselves". Nope, that makes too much sense.

I remember a "no repeat calls" campaign. Of course that dovetailed with a ding if you averaged over 10 minutes per call. And no "closed time" to fix anything broken. There's a significant push to take the next call rather than handle the one you're on, because middle management is dinged for excessive wait times. They could never grasp how failure to resolve an issue in a timely fashion would inevitably result in a repeat call.

Go figure.

:bnghd:

Well, the new 3G mobile device arrived today!!!

Hooked it up, installed the software.. connected...


had to go outside to get 4 bars.. 1rxtt mode or something like that, not EVDO..

first thing I did was a speed test.. I was waiting...

and waiting...

and waiting...

results?

Are you ready for these numbers...?

Download speed 88kbps

Upload speed 6kbps .. that's right I said 6! kbps

So... I have an inbound cradlepoint router, which I will keep.. just as a reminder that someday.. I might be able to break the bonds of satellite internet service.

Come on 2020

Did I mention I live in the sticks? So while I am disappointed at having my hopes raised by a few unscrupulous folks at the various carriers, all I need to do is sit on the front porch and take in the view and everything is just fine