Community Forums

Devonth · 09-17-2021, 01:21 PM

Ok I just got the new Sim Card, and it came with a iPhone sim tool that was nice.

I could not activate cellular data on my 6S+ probably because I am on an old IOS for Jail break, it might have been because I skipped the update network prompts, the activation guid says to accept, oops. I could call from it though, and I was able to get data on a 6S that has the latest IOS (I didn't think to do a speed test)

so I put it in my second slot of my 4G Instyconnect with regular antennas. set the correct Carrier/APN and I got data right away, and the wifi speed test right now at 3:15pm my time gave me 7.25Mbps down and 31.4 Mbps up ping 39ms jitter 24ms

so I think I am happy with the service

Big Thank YOU to gsgriffin !!!

Devonth · 09-17-2021, 01:27 PM

my second speed test gave me 19.6 down and 38.3 up Ping 34ms Jitter 12ms Loss 2%

and when I switch to the 5g wifi antenna I got 21.9 down 35.0 up ping 36 Jitter 2.3ms Loss 0%

I think there may be a lot of cellular traffic, and I am currently in pretty highly populated area in jersey city New Jersey just across the river from NYC

crb478 · 09-19-2021, 08:38 PM

I have had this setup for around two years and have been pleased with it. It either worked ok as I had a signal, or it didn't work because I couldn't get a signal.

When I am not traveling I usually put the A7 hotspot and the router plugged into 110 volts in my garage to keep it close to the RV, but out of the extreme heat in the RV. It has been providing a wifi signal to my govee temp monitor and to my Micro-air easy touch wifi thermometers. Everything was working before I left for the weekend. Govee, read temp and Humidity, thermostats would send info to my phone and I could turn them on or off or change temp if I wanted.

This past Thursday I moved the hotspot and router into my RV for a trip. I also have a weboost trucker antenna and cell booster in the RV. After starting the generator and turning on the hotspot using the usb tethering from the router I thought I was set.

Well at least twice the A7 phone went dead and the wifi stopped. It initially was being charged, but at some point was not being charged from the router. If I left it hooked up to re router it indicated that it would recharge in 480 minutes. If I hooked it directly to the 110 volt ucb phone charger it indicated it would recharge in 240 minutes.

I am using the original cables from the router, and a upgraded cable to the phone.

The Govee would give me information, but the Micro-air thermostats would not communticate with the wifi even though they showed a green wifi connection.

Since I have gotten home not much has changed. The wifi signal kind of works but not really and not consistently. Thermostats are still not communicating.

I tested the GL-AR50S-529, vs the 529-5G. both were slower, but the 529 internet comes up as Off.

So do I have a bad router? some other problem?
In my RV and home garage the router is plugged into 110 volts and then powers the phone through a usb tethering cable. It would disconnect every so often from new, but was pretty reliable. This is the first time that it has not worked when I had a decent signal.

Thanks for any help or insights. This is past my pay grade!

gsgriffin · 09-20-2021, 04:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crb478

So do I have a bad router? some other problem?
In my RV and home garage the router is plugged into 110 volts and then powers the phone through a usb tethering cable. It would disconnect every so often from new, but was pretty reliable. This is the first time that it has not worked when I had a decent signal.

Carl, sorry to hear the trouble. Even for the tech guys, it can take a little testing and fussing to figure it out. Most do not have all of the tools and parts necessary to seriously test the input and output of everything and easily put their finger on the cause.

I would like to ask if you might be able to test a little more. That is perhaps the best way to narrow down where the problem could be.

1) When you take this back to regular power (where you said it typically worked) does it all start working well again?

2) Charging slower through the router would be normal. The router is sharing the power it receives and giving some to the phone....but power supplies are notorious for going bad over time. Try any USB power supply that says 2.4A output. Nothing less. Try some options to help see if the supply is weakened.

3) Try different USB cables to the router and to the phone. You may have several cables and several power supplies, so this could take some time to test. Might want to label everything so you can test and know what your results are based on the configuration.

4) Routers and phones can go bad over time as well. With Visible slowly adding 5G, you may want to consider the next phone investment including more, better, and faster antennas like the Blade X1 5G. I just got it. Didn't see an immediate speed difference, but I know that when I travel, it will help.

After doing a little testing, you may get some insight as to where the problem lays. Hopefully just a cheap power supply or USB cable. Trial and error are your best tools right now.

gsgriffin · 09-20-2021, 04:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Devonth

so I think I am happy with the service

Big Thank YOU to gsgriffin !!!

Sounds like really good results. Temper your enthusiasm by reminding yourself that somewhere you travel to will probably not be great...but keep this joy in the back of your mind when that location appears. Pass this along to others you meet that are swamped by big bills or frustrated by lack of data.

Happy trails!!

crb478 · 09-20-2021, 08:28 AM

Thanks for the reply.

1 Now at home and the phone is not working properly, the GL-AR750S-529 does not have internet, this is the one I use since it is the only one the govee will support. The GL-AR750S-529-5G does have internet, but where the speed used to show as fast not it just shows up as OK. The Govee is receiving the wifi signal and tracking temps, but the Micro-air thermostats are not.

2 I tried a different power supply initially and nothing changed. I have several so I can switch them out again.

3 I have switched out the cable from the router to the phone with no change. I am still looking for another cable from the charger/plug to the router. That is my best easy fix right now.

4 I may well need a new phone or a new router, just would like to know which one. No trips planned for a while so some time to figure things out. Do you think having internet on the 5G and not having it on the other points to trouble with the router? Time to dig out the old paperwork to see if I can test or reset anything.

Thanks Again for you help, Carl

gsgriffin · 09-20-2021, 09:14 AM

Carl,

Double-check your phone settings. With the phone NOT CONNECTED, do you have "Mobile Data" on? Disconnected, do you still have no speed test? Still have bars for signal? Power down phone all the way and start up fresh. Some of what you wrote sounds like it could be something was accidentally turned off on the phone settings.

If you have internet on the phone. Go to the tethering/HotSpot on the phone and try turning on the phone as a wifi hotspot. Still not connected to anything with USB...just try to share the phone internet using its wifi router. Work?

If the wifi from the phone works with HotSpot, then try to connecting to the router and make sure the phone is set to TETHERING. You should connect to the ADMIN on the router and see what it is showing. Just like the instructions on Post #10 Google Doc. The router should show connected to tethering and internet.

Let's stop with that for now and see what is happening.

crb478 · 09-20-2021, 05:06 PM

Ok for a follow up, especially in case someone else runs into this, everything is now working as it should but I don't have great faith in it just yet!

My phone hotspot had somehow set itself back to its factory password. Took some help from Visible to find that password on my phone, second issue was the phone had switched to safe mode. Once I got those issues straightened out and the password reset I again had a working hotspot on the A7 phone.

I then connected it up to the router and used the usb tethering and got a signal for both the 2.4 and 5 channels, but the phone would turn itself off of the usb tethering so no wifi.

How does one limit the router to only the 2.4 channel anyway?

After aggravating the DW with the beep of the phone every 5 minutes or so I took everything out to the MH and plugged it back in.

It has been in the MH for a couple of hours and I have a wifi signal to both Micro air thermostats and the govee inside. I could also get online on my computer. The usb tethering is also holding steady and has not disconnected so far.

I am hoping this is now fixed, but unsure.

Thanks for all your help GSGriffin. This might just have been a glitch, but it took me literally hours to get everything reset.

dkperez · 09-22-2021, 06:48 PM

Currently sitting outside Montrose, CO.

Have 5 bars on all 3 phones (2 Moto G7, 1 ZTE Blade A7). They ALL think this is a fantastic location... It may be, for not for data.

On G7, ping is 50 to 75, 5 bars, ZERO throughput with speedtest.net. Eventually, it'll jerk off zero and get to .45Mbps for a few seconds then drop to about .23Mbps. Nothing usable for anything other than sending the occasional email. Browsing is painful.

ZTE is about the same but slightly higher ping. Mbps is dismal - never gets close to even .5Mbps, much less any speed that's remotely useful.

Directly on either phone - same thing. Speedtest running in browser same pings, same data rate.

3-4 HOURS ago I was seeing between 8 and 10 Mbps, now at 6:30 pm, nothing.

BTW: Campground wifi, which is configured NOT to allow streaming, just email, text and whatever, is the same. If it connects at all, there's no data available - if lucky it'll get to .25Mbps for a few seconds, then quits entirely and disconnects.

This is about the worst performance we've seen on this trip. In South Dakota speed was adequate. Even in Central City, CO, it was better than this.

Is there a speed measuring tool that will provide more accurate information about actual data availability or is speedtest.net a good gauge? Is there an easy way to determine what the problem is (saturation, hordes of low priority users, some other problem)?

crb478 · 09-22-2021, 07:21 PM

For another update

Over the last two day the usb tethering has come undone at least once a day. Not sure if this is the phone or the router causing this. I have had some pretty good rain storms the last couple of days so I may have lost the cell signal. Should be clear for the next few days so I'll give it a few days.

The 2.4 setting is usually blinking so I am still wary of the router. Hopefully this will work itself out.

ArtDecoMan · 09-22-2021, 08:55 PM

Just another interested vote,

gsgriffin · 09-23-2021, 03:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkperez

Currently sitting outside Montrose, CO.

Have 5 bars on all 3 phones (2 Moto G7, 1 ZTE Blade A7). They ALL think this is a fantastic location... It may be, for not for data.

On G7, ping is 50 to 75, 5 bars, ZERO throughput with speedtest.net. Eventually, it'll jerk off zero and get to .45Mbps for a few seconds then drop to about .23Mbps. Nothing usable for anything other than sending the occasional email. Browsing is painful.

ZTE is about the same but slightly higher ping. Mbps is dismal - never gets close to even .5Mbps, much less any speed that's remotely useful.

3-4 HOURS ago I was seeing between 8 and 10 Mbps, now at 6:30 pm, nothing.

This is about the worst performance we've seen on this trip. In South Dakota speed was adequate. Even in Central City, CO, it was better than this.

Is there a speed measuring tool that will provide more accurate information about actual data availability or is speedtest.net a good gauge? Is there an easy way to determine what the problem is (saturation, hordes of low priority users, some other problem)?

This can happen in certain places where the towers are swammped. I tried to make this clear in the instruction on Post #10 that this WILL happen in certain places and at certain times. I would typically see the problem in some areas right around the same period of time.

My caution and disclaimers on the instructions were to expect this to happen from time to time and place to place. It is in exchange for being unlimited and $25/month. If we had unlimited, no prioritization, fastest speeds all the time, and $25/month, we would be really hurting those that are paying $100/month. It is the trade-off for this service.

The only obvious option for us is to move to a different location. As I read your post I was thinking that it might be good for us to actually have a list of locations that are good for speed and not good as a warning to others. I could probably create that, but it will take everyone engaged to post their location and speed. Not sure if the effort would provide useable results or not?

I would assume that many head to the same locations each year and will quickly learn what works and what doesn't. For the wanderers, it will be a part of their adventure...whether they will have good internet or not. I've already got Starlink in addition, but that is $100/month, still in beta, not available everywhere and limited in moving. I'm hoping it will work where Visible does not, but I use the internet for a lot more than email and watching TV and can't go long without it.

smiller · 09-23-2021, 04:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsgriffin

If we had unlimited, no prioritization, fastest speeds all the time, and $25/month, we would be really hurting those that are paying $100/month. It is the trade-off for this service.

...

For the wanderers, it will be a part of their adventure...whether they will have good internet or not.

I get unlimited, no deprioritization, fastest speeds all the time for about $35 (per line since I need two lines) on T-Mobile. I find the extra twenty bucks a month over what I would be paying Visible for the same thing to be worth it for less, err, 'adventure.'

Visible was kinda like playing Internet roulette, land on black and I had cheap unlimited Internet, land on red and no Internet for me. Exciting I guess but not what I was looking for in an Internet provider. When it comes to pricing cheap is one thing, value is another.

tetranz · 09-23-2021, 05:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smiller

I get unlimited, no deprioritization, fastest speeds all the time for about $35 (per line since I need two lines) on T-Mobile. I find the extra twenty bucks a month over what I would be paying Visible for the same thing to be worth it for less, err, 'adventure.'

You don't get unlimited tethering on your T-Mobile account do you? That's what attracts many people to Visible. You're right about it being like internet roulette but if it works then it's a pretty good deal.