mrbouchez

I did some deeper investigation into Sprint's EVDO coverage area and found that the signal ends about 10 mile from here, which means I'm running 1xRTT.

I found the following information:

"When the card is out of EV-DO range the Compass 597 drops to the much slower 1X system, with speeds around 100 Kbps."

" from the tests, the better the EV-DO signal, the faster the performance. It's also pretty clear that some EV-DO Rev A coverage areas are MUCH faster than others."

Are you using an external antenna with this modem? If not it probably would be a good idea to investigate them.

I have a Wilson Trucker Omni installed but it doesn't seem to be doing what I had hoped (max the signal and hold it there).  I have a friend who offered to give me an old Yagi antenna which was used for CB style business radio communications but I have no idea if that would even work for me.

I found some nice Info on another forum (i'm not sure if I can post the site here) posted by northform.

CDMA is currently the dominant technology in the United States. CDMA works by having all of the calls transmitted on the same frequency at the same time. It identifies different calls by code. This, theoretically, gives CDMA an unlimited capacity under perfect conditions, but of course CDMA does have a limited capacity. There is only a certain ammount of noise that a channel can accomodate before the system and your phone can't recognise one signal from another. If you doubt the limitations of CDMA ask some angry Sprint customers in these forums complaining of network busy signals. Getting back to CDMA, it works to limit this noise by having a phone transmit at the lowest possible setting that will get the call through. One of the factors that determines how much power is need to transmit is distance from the tower. All phones have to take this into consideration. The other factor that only CDMA-type systems have to account for is the number of callers connected to the system. This is an example that one of the mods here (bobolito I believe) used: Say one person is 1 mi. from the tower using 1 watt to transmit. He is the only one connected to the system. Then another person joins the system from 1/2 mi. away transmitting at 1/2 watt. The person further away would have to up his transmition power so that the closer person's signal didn't totally cover his. As more people join the system the current people have to continue to up their power so that their call isn't drowned out by the new ones (think of people at a party talking. The more people talking the louder you're gonna have to talk). Also, the more people who are connected to the system means that there are more distances and more levels of transmitter power and the closer people are starting higher. Now there are 1000s of people connected and the people at 1/4mi. are using 1 watt, the people at 1/2 mi. are using 2 watts, and the people at 3/4 mi. are using 3 watts and the person at 1 mi. looses his connection because it is drowned out by the closer voices and he can't transmit more powerfully (talk louder) than 3 watts. In this way, CDMA coverage is variable in a way that TDMA/FDMA (and systems based on those principals) aren't. Beyond calling, that oversimplification shows how CDMA does have limitations even if everyone is at the same distance using the same transmitting power. 1xRTT - the 2.5G voice/data solution for CDMA - is currently deployed by Sprint and Verizon in certain areas. A lot of the times the carrier has implimented 1xRTT data, but not voice since the data is immiedately apparent. 1xRTT voice does offer some improvement in call quality, but not much and is still a tiny bit behind GSM's EFR codec. 1xRTT data improves data rates to a theoretical 144Kbps, but again, in reality, it will never exceed 64Kbps. After 1xRTT comes 1xEV-DO (data only/optimised) and 1xEV-DV (data/voice). 1xEV-DO has a theoretical 2Mbps, but will be 384Kbps in the real world just like EDGE and wCDMA.

This shed a lot of light for me and tells me that if I'm looking for a data connection vs. voice then it looks like Sprint is what I want.  Getting back to the topic of this post my connection isnt good and compared to dial up it isnt bad but trying to play online games with it..it sure is Ugly.

So i guess from here what I should be trying to do is hit that 144Kbps that northform posted as the max, from the test I did from this site i've already passed the 64Kbps that he said "it will never exceed".

I found some nice Info on another forum (i'm not sure if I can post the site here) posted by northform.

This shed a lot of light for me and tells me that if I'm looking for a data connection vs. voice then it looks like Sprint is what I want.

What is GSM wireless and is it any different than the Sprint service I have now?

I'm paying for EVDO service but I'm not in an EVDO area.  Sprint dosen't offer a "Home" service just mobile service, so even though I don't own a laptop I'm paying for the ability to use their EVDO network.

Doing some research I've found that Centennial Wireless out of Fort Wayne Indiana offers GSM wireless in my area.  Any opinion on wiether this would be a better connection than what I get from Sprint?  They offer 236kbs down but if it's like any other service I can only plan on getting half of that consistantly.

I checked AT&T but they don't have coverage in my area.  I've been told that Centennial Wireless has the same wireless in my area but at about half the price of sprint.  I would have to break my contract but I would make up that fee in about 6mos of service with Centennial. 

I heard a rumor that Sprint is working on a EVDO signal which would travel 20 miles radius vs. the service they have now.  Anyone else hear something to that effect?

I hope this is the right place to post this and hopefully it finds some people who know a little about this stuff. 

I recently signed a 2 year contract with Sprint for wireless internet.  I live in rural OH and this was my best option.(I think) Cable and DSL do not have enough potential business out here to expand and I'm hoping as cell tech improves so will my connection which makes buying hardware a little more senseable.

Here is my untweaked up/down test,

::::::::::.. testmy.net test results ..::::::::::

Download Connection is:: 106 Kbps about 0.11 Mbps (tested with 512 kB)

Download Speed is:: 13 kB/s

Upload Connection is:: 84 Kbps about 0.1 Mbps (tested with 386 kB)

Upload Speed is:: 10 kB/s

Tested From:: https://testmy.net (Main)

Test Time:: 2008/06/26 - 5:10am

D-Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-XZFIMGUP1

U-Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-CD74AZEHO

User Agent:: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.14) Gecko/20080404 Firefox/2.0.0.14

I have since done a lot of tweeking on my computer via  * Advanced Tweaks [not for Gamers only] *  by ROM-DOS, which has improved my performance but I haven't done much on the signal end of things.

I am using a Sierrawireless Compass 597 through a Cradlepoint MB1000 router.  I have 2 machines connected to this router and both are getting similar results.  I purchased a Wilson Trucker Omni antenna which didn't seem to improve my signal, though I have not yet mounted it with any significant elevation.  With just the Compass 597 I get an 80% signal which ran about 82dB to 96dB depending on time of day. 

The tower I connect with is just under 2 miles away with no LOS, there is a waterway which crisscrosses the area between the tower and my house.  How important is line of sight with a radio signal?  I have been offered the use of an old (very old) Yagi antenna, would this work better than my omni?  There are several cell towers in the area which are owned by Norfolk Southern Railroad, would these be interfearing with my signal or do they run on a different frequency?

Would upgrading to a business account with Sprint give me a better connection?  I know it would cost more but the only bonus I can think of in the low population area that I'm in is that there would not be a lot of business traffic.

I know I will never get a connection that compares to cable/DSL but if I can fine tune this 1xRTT then maybe I can survive until EVDO can reach my house.

I moved and recently signed up for Sprint wireless for my home connection.  I'm less than 2 miles from the tower and pay $59.99 a month for 5MB down.  The options for my new rural location were very limited, dial-up  Wildblue/Hugesnet  or Sprint Wireless    I'm only 1.5 miles away from cable/DSL service which may as well be half way around the world.

I connect with a Sierrawireless Compass 597 through a Cradlepoint MB1000 router.  Is this all I can expect with this type of connection?

::::::::::.. testmy.net test results ..::::::::::

Download Connection is:: 106 Kbps about 0.11 Mbps (tested with 512 kB)

Download Speed is:: 13 kB/s

Upload Connection is:: 84 Kbps about 0.1 Mbps (tested with 386 kB)

Upload Speed is:: 10 kB/s

Tested From:: https://testmy.net (Main)

Test Time:: 2008/06/26 - 5:10am

D-Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-XZFIMGUP1

U-Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-CD74AZEHO

User Agent:: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.14) Gecko/20080404 Firefox/2.0.0.14

I had a cable connection which is much missed now.  I moved and recently signed up for Sprint wireless for my home connection.  The options for my new location were very limited, dial-up  Wildblue/Hugesnet or Sprint Wireless 

I connect with a Sierrawireless Compass 597 through a Cradlepoint MB1000 router.  Is this all I can expect with this type of connection? 

:::.. testmy.net test results ..:::

Download Connection is:: 106 Kbps about 0.11 Mbps (tested with 512 kB)

Download Speed is:: 13 kB/s

Upload Connection is:: 84 Kbps about 0.1 Mbps (tested with 386 kB)

Upload Speed is:: 10 kB/s

Tested From:: https://testmy.net (Main)

Test Time:: 2008/06/26 - 5:10am

D-Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-XZFIMGUP1

U-Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-CD74AZEHO

User Agent:: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.14) Gecko/20080404 Firefox/2.0.0.14 [!]