Community Forums

tetranz · 11-27-2020, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steven880

As I understand it the less expensive older phones don't have MIMO which would affect your hotspot or phone data speeds. Newer phones would have MIMO. We got a Moto G7 from Visible and it does not have MIMO. Just something to look into before you buy?

If you're using Visible as a hotspot, I think the 5 Mbps hotspot throttle will limit the speed long before lack of MIMO does.

I just bought a Moto G Power from Amazon and it's working very well on Visible. I'm not sure if it has MIMO or not or how much different it is to the G7. There seems to be lots of similarly named models. https://www.amazon.com/stores/Motoro...7-ADF6A7EDD190 I'm very happy with it for $179.99. I've never had a really expensive smartphone so I'm not sure what more I would get from one.

I see great speeds directly on the phone at off-peak times. Sometimes 150 Mbps.

By the way, in the last week or so, Visible have put the 5 Mbps throttle back on the hotspot speed. It was unofficially absent for a long time.

mfredm · 11-27-2020, 09:34 AM

Yes, I was thinking the same thing. Buying a new expensive phone might not have any effect on Visible Hotspots. I've pretty much confirmed the 5Mbs Throttle. If I use Pda-net as a Hotspot on my Visible phone, I can get 15-20M D/L, but as soon as I switch back to normal on phone Hotspot, it's 5M again.

tetranz · 11-27-2020, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mfredm

Yes, I was thinking the same thing. Buying a new expensive phone might not have any effect on Visible Hotspots. I've pretty much confirmed the 5Mbs Throttle. If I use Pda-net as a Hotspot on my Visible phone, I can get 15-20M D/L, but as soon as I switch back to normal on phone Hotspot, it's 5M again.

I've been doing the same with EasyTether and my Raspberry Pi project I described elsewhere on this forum.

I get similar results. 20 Mbps or so max. That's much better than 5 but still way below what I often get on the device itself. I've spent more time than I want to admit to fiddling with settings around that but can't get it much better. Maybe it's a limitation of how the likes of EasyTether, Pda-net etc use the USB port.

My next little techie project is to see if I can reduce or stop the charging current into the phone while the USB is plugged in to avoid continually overcharging the battery. Some phones seem to be smart enough to avoid that and some aren't.

**Spdracr39** · 11-28-2020, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mfredm

Yes, I was thinking the same thing. Buying a new expensive phone might not have any effect on Visible Hotspots. I've pretty much confirmed the 5Mbs Throttle. If I use Pda-net as a Hotspot on my Visible phone, I can get 15-20M D/L, but as soon as I switch back to normal on phone Hotspot, it's 5M again.

They are for sure throttling hotspots to 5mbps now. I was getting 15-20 and for the last week or so it shows fast then drops to 5mbps. This is using my 8800l and the MOFI. I tried the sim in my MOFI with various setting and it doesn't bypass the hotspot limit. They must be looking at the device instead of the ttl settings. I'll be trying tethering from my iphone to the mofi and see how that does soon.

Camper25 · 11-28-2020, 08:53 AM

I just checked mine and I'm getting 4.99 down on hotspot. But, that's all the speed I need. Happy

**Spdracr39** · 11-28-2020, 10:46 AM

True that 5Mbps is fine for most uses but the psychology of that number makes it hard to accept lol.

tetranz · 11-28-2020, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spdracr39

They are for sure throttling hotspots to 5mbps now. I was getting 15-20 and for the last week or so it shows fast then drops to 5mbps. This is using my 8800l and the MOFI. I tried the sim in my MOFI with various setting and it doesn't bypass the hotspot limit. They must be looking at the device instead of the ttl settings. I'll be trying tethering from my iphone to the mofi and see how that does soon.

I think they're still only doing TTL checking for tethering but maybe IMEI checks for unapproved devices.

I have it working nicely tethering the phone to a Raspberry Pi with the Pi's TTL set to 65. Until now I've been messing around with EasyTether but I suddenly realized that I don't need it. I'm now simply using the default USB tethering and the TTL setting is working. I'm getting reasonably close to the phone speed, 50 Mbps at times. I'm running WireGuard but even without that I still get the good speed.

dkperez · 11-28-2020, 04:26 PM

Here's how Visible did at 4:40 this afternoon:

This isn't the free ZTE A7, which also FUBARd, it's the Moto G7. It's not 5:25, and they've been this way ever since.

**Spdracr39** · 11-29-2020, 07:30 AM

I'll try tethering my old iphone and see how that does as soon as I can find it. It's hard to believe how you can lose things in an RV

Jet2RV · 12-03-2020, 05:17 PM

I've been using the setup described here for a couple months. I had high hopes, but it's just not working. My ZTE A7, either USB tethered or as a repeater seldom does better that 1mb, usually around .3. Then my GLinet 750 continually drops offline. It's powered by a high quality 12v hardwired USB port providing 5v, 2.4amps. It appears to be the overheating problem that has been discussed. I have a USB powered fan blowing on it, but that has not solved the problem.
I put the visible sim in my Moto G Power and got 15mb on the phone.
I'm now debating if i should throw money at the problem with a better phone and router. The Moto G Power is only $179 and maybe I can sell the ZTE to offset that. I'd like suggestions on a different router. I really like that the GLiNet can be powered from USB, and you can't beat the price. It also has a pretty user friendly interface.
Thanks for letting me vent.
Router ideas appreciated. Are there any other routers that have USB tether mode, and/or repeater?
I need to be able to connect 8 or 10 clients.

tetranz · 12-03-2020, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jet2RV

I've been using the setup described here for a couple months. I had high hopes, but it's just not working. My ZTE A7, either USB tethered or as a repeater seldom does better that 1mb, usually around .3.

I can confirm that the Moto G Power which I bought a couple of weeks ago works nicely on Visible. Whether or not it will do better than the ZTE is hard to say. You said you get about 15 Mbps on the Moto phone but you didn't say what you get on the ZTE just running a browser on the phone.

I think if the Moto gave 15 on the phone you should certainly get a fairly consistent 5 with standard tethering either wifi or USB.

If you're moving around, as you probably know, Visible is very location and time of day dependent. I'm currently living and working remotely at a relative's house and I've been using tethered Visible as my only internet connection and it's been working great but I'm lucky where I am. It seldom drops below 20 and at off-peak times it can be over 100. Last weekend I was over in the RV about a mile from here and only got about 3 on the phone even though the signal was good.

I have the sneaky TTL setting in my router to get around the 5 Mbps tether throttle. I think you can do that with a GL.inet because they run OpenWrt but that won't help if you're not even getting 5.

Jerryss2 · 12-03-2020, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tetranz

I can confirm that the Moto G Power which I bought a couple of weeks ago works nicely on Visible. Whether or not it will do better than the ZTE is hard to say. You said you get about 15 Mbps on the Moto phone but you didn't say what you get on the ZTE just running a browser on the phone.

I think if the Moto gave 15 on the phone you should certainly get a fairly consistent 5 with standard tethering either wifi or USB.

If you're moving around, as you probably know, Visible is very location and time of day dependent. I'm currently living and working remotely at a relative's house and I've been using tethered Visible as my only internet connection and it's been working great but I'm lucky where I am. It seldom drops below 20 and at off-peak times it can be over 100. Last weekend I was over in the RV about a mile from here and only got about 3 on the phone even though the signal was good.

I have the sneaky TTL setting in my router to get around the 5 Mbps tether throttle. I think you can do that with a GL.inet because they run OpenWrt but that won't help if you're not even getting 5.

What is the sneaky TTL setting? How do I change it on Gl.Inet?

tetranz · 12-03-2020, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerryss2

What is the sneaky TTL setting? How do I change it on Gl.Inet?

Here's a random blog post. https://jv.ag/blog/GLinet-TTL-Change/

It's basically go into the router admin and put this in the custom firewall rules.

iptables -t mangle -I POSTROUTING 1 -j TTL --ttl-set 65

I don't have a gl.iNet so I haven't tried it on one of those devices. I'm using my own home built device with a Raspberry Pi to do the same thing. It fools the system into thinking you're on the phone rather than tethering. It seems to work for now.

slabman · 12-03-2020, 07:55 PM

"I'm now debating if i should throw money at the problem with a better phone and router. The Moto G Power is only $179 and maybe I can sell the ZTE to offset that. I'd like suggestions on a different router. I really like that the GLiNet can be powered from USB, and you can't beat the price. It also has a pretty user friendly interface.
Thanks for letting me vent.
Router ideas appreciated. Are there any other routers that have USB tether mode, and/or repeater?
I need to be able to connect 8 or 10 clients."

Jet2RV, Take a look at the Pepwave SOHO mobile router. I've been using one for years and it's always been very reliable and easy to use. It supports USB tethering or from a USB modem, no load balancing with this model, but the higher cost ones can give you that. Oh...and I have used it as a repeater too!
$199.00