Having Signal Problems with your current Cellular provider?

So You have a Cell Phone?

Many People Now a days are cutting the cords to their land lines and going strickly wireless phones.   I’ve seen people who have Verizon, Cingular, AT&T, Sprint or some other MVNO Like Straight Talk or Virgin Mobile!  Each One of those carriers has good or bad in them.   I’ve seen some that get GREAT signal and I’ve seen some that just get no signal.  I even bet you researched it and thought that you were in the right area for your service provider.   I hate to say it but not all phones and not all cell towers are the same either.  I have tried so many different MVNO’s lately I can tell you that most of them give higher priority to their contract customers.

Why am I not getting any Bars on my Cell Phone?

I answered this a few months ago to a point about Straight Talk but it wasn’t really complete.  I am sure You have your own reason why but I will break it down to you in a way that you might be able to understand it a little more clearly than before.

Each phone has an antenna and each cell tower is broadcasting to a certain distance, and some are broadcasting in a certain direction also.   Most however are just broadcasting omni directional and thus you get a random signal in random locations.   Your also competing with other cell signals from other cell phones for the right to use that tower so your also getting some interference in areas.  

House can be an Interference too!

Even your house which is a dwelling with bricks and wood and some metal pieces can cause you to drop signals in all parts of your house.   I’ve seen in my own situation that I can have 3 bars in one location of my house and no bars in another part of my house so It can be inconcievable that you have the same situation going on where you life also.  So I am here to help you out a little an maybe make you life just a little bit more enjoyable.

• Wireless Extenders zBoost YX545 SOHO Dual-Band Cell Phone Signal Booster Satisfy all your cellular phone needs with the Wireless Extenders YX545 zBoost zP Wireless Booster, which works with both cellular frequencies (800 and 1900 MHz) and can extend cellular coverage up to 3000 square feet. This unit can handle signals from all the major cellular carriers.*  [NOTE: This is the one is being used at my workplace so I know it works really well!]
• Wilson Electronics - Sleek 4G - Cell Phone Signal Booster for Single User  — If you are looking for a top-of-the-line and affordable cell phone signal booster to boost your voice and data signal on any carrier*, including 4G, the Wilson Electronics Sleek 4G is the solution.
• Wilson Electronics - MobilePro - Portable Cell Phone Signal Booster - Includes 4-Inch Magnet Mount Antenna —If you experience dropped calls and poor cell phone signal quality in your car, home or office then the Wilson MobilePro Cell Phone Signal Booster kit is the solution. Increasing your cell phone’s power by as much as 10 times. 

Those are just a few that will help you get a better signal and it isn’t as hard as it looks to install these little extenders and boosters.   I will say these are just the tip of the iceburg as to what you can buy to make you cellular experience just that much better.   If I a problem these would be the first I would buy to get that signal strength up.

Paul Sylvester

Reviewing the Novatel Wireless MiFi 2200 Prepaid Mobile Hotspot (Virgin Mobile)

Click picture to see the Price! (Affiliate Link)

My Review of the Mifi 2200 Card!

I probably am not the only one who will be reviewing the Novatel Wireless MiFi 2200 Prepaid Mobile Hotspot(Virgin Mobile) card (Affiliate link).   I do however have used this card for over 3 weeks and I wanted to give you my opinions on this.  I know I originally bought this for a really good deal for $69.99 and I said a few weeks ago that I was going to talk about this little card.

Technical details:

• What's in the Box: MiFi Broadband2Go Prepaid Mobile Hotspot, AC charger, USB cable, battery, carrying pouch


• experience faster average download speeds of 600 kbps - 1.4 Mbps


• Ready-to-connect with no software to install


• Universal Wi-Fi for ultimate compatibility


• Connect up to 5 devices simultaneously

Observations on the Mifi Virgin Mobile!

I have had several weeks to play around with the Mifi card.   I must say that I am really impressed with this.   I don't have a lot of options on having broadband in my neck of the woods, so when I found this on sale.   I really couldn't help myself because I could now do what I have always wanted to do.   Having internet where I am live and be able to blog more readily available to me.

Pro's:

• Stream Hulu, CBS, NBC, Royal Pains (Affiliate link), Mythbusters (Affiliate link) and Netflix!  (Might require less quality and some buffering but I had no problems watching what I wanted, when I wanted to.)


• Portability of having WPA connections wherever I went.


• I even used my Sisters Ipad to stream Netflix and YouTube on the Mifi card.


• Uses the Sprint Network


• Can use Linux and other Operating systems with the card.

Although, I don't stream all the time and thus I am probably not one of those who is going above their ceiling cap they have.   I've heard once you get above a certain limit.   Probably 10 gigs or something like that they will cut you off but that is something they will not say for sure.   The 2.5 gig limit will slow your speed down but I'm fine with that.  I haven't had any problems with the slow down.

Con's:

• Battery life -- I was able to use my battery for over 6 hours without recharging it but that was with me using it almost all the time.   If you have a long drive or am planning on use it more in your house.   It is best to just keep it plugged in when you use it.  (You can use a Dual USB Car charger to keep the Mifi working while travelling!)


• Signal Strength -- You basically have to keep it close to the windows to get any decent signal strength from the closest cell tower.   I haven't had much problems with speed but I occasionally have had signal drops and reconnects from time to time.


• Cricket Wireless broadband -- This is just as good as Cricket Wireless broadband but since they aren't in the are or have 3g services in my area, I had to go with Virgin Mobile.

All in All!

To sum it up, this isn't a really a bad deal for the price.   Even though the so called "unlimited" is slower than normal speeds after 2.5 gb used, it is probably not going to be any faster than when you use it on a daily basis and thus it is still a good way to have internet in areas where there may not have many internet options.  The Novatel MiFi 2200 from Virgin Mobile (Affiliate link) isn't a bad choice with a no contract.  I'll definitely recommend it for those who might just be needed for spots that don't have internet!

Paul Sylvester

Check out Other Virgin Mobile Devices!

Related articles

• The Novatel Mifi 2200 is coming! (paulstechtalk.com)


• Amazon Deal of the Day: Virgin Mobile Novatel Wireless MiFi 2200 Prepaid Mobile Hotspot (gadgetreview.com)


• Tether your Virgin Mobile MiFi 2200 to your Mac (gadgetboy.org)


• Novatel ships three millionth MiFi hotspot (slashgear.com)

How I buy a Prepaid Cellular Phone without worrying!

Image via Wikipedia

"Will this matter a year from now?" -- Richard Carlson

Let's face it, sometimes I often wonder if buying a cell phone will survive a couple of years.   You really don't want to have to replace every year and thus you try to find that one cell phone that will stand the test of time.

You walk into any phone store or grocery store and you will find either phones or cards to put more money on the account.   That makes me worry how effective the cell phones are going to last and the quality.

Buying prepaid cell phones can be even more hassle because of not knowing which network they are on or the capabilities of the cell phone.   If you been looking at their online store say for instants Cricket Wireless, you will see that there are many phones but yet no important information.    It's is like they left stuff out intentionally that should be there.

Looking Under the Hood!

Sometimes when I am looking for a cell phone to buy, I start my process off going to a wide range of sites like:

• Amazon


• Ebay


• Cnet


• Google Search

Let's face it, if you know the phone you are most likely wanting to buy then you will at least know the model number and thus you can use that to find the information your looking for.  Although that will provide the significant amount of the information, there will still be a few things that they will be able to tell you.    Which Network is that Phone one?

Network Usability

Most carriers have a limited amount of coverage around the US and the World and thus can be quite confusing going to their website and trying to determine if you are under their coverage area.   Why do they make it so hard?   I can't answer that but I know how I solve that problem for me.    I'll share a trick that probably no one else has thought of.   Just let your fingers do the walking.   Is this some kind of Joke?

I've found that just calling the local providers let's you know if they are reliable or not, if your really search savvy you can find out what others are saying about that carrier your local area.   This can be a great tool to judge if that phone or carrier is going to be a head ache or a really jewel.    Most times carriers will try to hide some of this so you may have to dig down deep to get to the good stuff.

What are your steps to buying a Prepaid Cell phone?

Paul Sylvester

Shop at Amazon.com!

 Related articles

• Finding out which network carrier you are using with Pre-paid Cellular Companies! (paulstechtalk.com)


• How to get the most out of Straight Talk phones (Tips and Tricks) (paulstechtalk.com)

Finding out which network carrier you are using with Pre-paid Cellular Companies!

Image by radiofabrik via Flickr

Not all Carriers are the Same!

Hey Let's face it, you thought it would be so simple to have a prepaid cell phone account. You just can't figure out why your signal or speed is just so terrible. If your like me, when you create an account with Tracfone, Straight Talk, Jitterbug, Movidas, MetroPC and Cricket Wireless.

Although you might of thought it wasn't going to be all that hard to figure out why.   It  could just be simply your wireless network that you are being leased or rented from.   Those prepaid companies don't really have any actually networks, some of them might work different in each region and you will only know by trying.

Finding out your Network

If your in a hurry, you can always go to whoismycarrier.com and have them text you your carrier information.   I however feel that might not be the best approach because of Privacy and there is no way to know what they do with the number once they have it in their database.   I prefer to find it out myself.   Here is How I find out which carrier I am on when I need to know!

Create an Account with Google Voice

 

After Setting up a Phone Number!

Tell Google Voice which number you want to forward to!

Once you Verify Cellular Phone Number.

Go into your Setup!

Just Click on the Sprocket and Settings!

Go to the Phones Tab

Edit Phone Number

Click check operator!

Once you update that, You will see which Carrier you are using!

That's It!

If you follow this tutorial, you will find out which network you are on.   You won't have to worry about spam from unwanted companies and thus.   It will however cost you minutes but if you don't mind spending a few minutes on your phone you will find out just as quickly as anyone else.   You may have to wait an hour or two before you can find out the carrier but mine was instant.   It will be different from carrier to carrier.

If you are using Straight Talk, please feel free to visit my other post and tell people what phone your using and which network you are using to better help others find out what to expect.

Paul Sylvester

Need Glassess? Try GlassesUSA!

Related articles

• How to get the most out of Straight Talk phones (Tips and Tricks) (paulstechtalk.com)


• Four Phones/Devices that Straight Talk might release in 2012! (paulstechtalk.com)


• First Impressions of the Samsung T404g (paulstechtalk.com)

 

Four Phones/Devices that Straight Talk might release in 2012!

Let’s talk Straight Talk Phones!

Although this isn’t going to be anything major, I do think we will see more devices that will come to Straight talk next year and I have a few predictions on which ones will come but again, I’ve been wrong in the past.

I’ve not see very many predictions about Straight Talk but I wanted to at least try to help people anticipate what may come and what may not come.   Remember, I do not know anymore than anyone else but I do understand the market and what may happen in the future.   So nothing I say should be consider as being set in stone or that they will do this or that.   It is going to be another prediction on what they may bring out.

What Might come to Straight Talk!

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 inch to 10.1 (Affiliate Link)i— There is a good reason why this will probably happen and I know why.   Cricket Wireless (Affiliate Link) and T-mobile(Affiliate Link) are doing this right now.   The idea of having a tablet like the Kindle(Affiliate Link) fire is going to be a real big deal to have for Straight Talk.   I don’t know how they will do this but I am sure it will be an exciting time.

Nokia Lumina 710 (Affiliate Link) — This is one of those possibly that may happen but also remember this is a Windows Phone and thus is going be the first time Straight Talk tries the waters, if they do this.   I am real optimistic about this being a real possibility and thus I can not see them not doing this.

Mifi Hotspots (Affiliate Link)— I can see this as another Real Possibly because this would be a great idea for students and people always on the go.   I don’t know if they will do this but If Straight Talk wants to compete with other prepaid wireless networks they will have to get their feet wet.

Samsung Galaxy S (Affiliate Link) — This is after all another Android Phone but is possible on the Sprint Network thus will probably be ported to the Straight Talk Network because Straight Talks uses Sprint with Android.   So I see this as another good possibly and I think more customers are going to want to have more Android Devices in the coming year.

As you can see these are all just speculation and thus could possibly come true but only time will tell.   I thought I would at least try to have a little fun and tell you what I thought was going to be most likely.

Paul Sylvester

Need Glasses? Try GlassesUSA! (Affiliate Link)

Related articles

• How to get the most out of Straight Talk phones (Tips and Tricks) (paulstechtalk.com)


• TracFone’s Straight Talk adds second Android smartphone, LG Optimus Q (fiercewireless.com)


• TracFone’s Straight Talk Android phones will use Sprint’s network (fiercewireless.com)


• 2011 was the year of Android (guardian.co.uk)


• Straight Talk Android Phones to Run on Sprint’s Network (phonescoop.com)

Cricket Wireless now Offers unlimited Nationwide service!!

 

Cricket Wireless is now offering Nationwide Coverage for there text and talk. So Iwanted to talk about this a little to help people who might need a little help understanding this. Some of the most common questions I am seeing are:

Do I need to do anything to get nationwide coverage?

If you are constantly on the road each month you will need to sign up for the new plan by dialing *228 on you phone. This will program the phone to allow you to go outside of your home coverage area. It will also change your plan, if you already haven’t changed to the new to plan. If you were on the $25 a month plan you will automatically be bumped up to the $30 dollar plan and this goes down the line.

What phones do I need?

If you haven’t already you should check to make sure you have a Tri-band Phone and if not consider buying a Tri-band phones. You can go and find the ones that are Tri-band Phones on Crickets Phone page.

What if I didn’t call *228 and now My phone won’t work?

You can always call 1-800-922-5159 and see if they will change your plan but other than that will have to wait to get to a Cricket Coverage area (Not nationwide) to program your phone. You can talk to Cricket Wireless customer support and see what they have to say about this. I suspect though you will have to wait.

Can I use this phone if I live in the Nationwide Coverage area?

Most definitely yes, You will have to double check with Cricket Coverage area to make sure you are truly in the nationwide coverage area but other than that you can order your phone through Cricket Wireless and they will ship it to you for free.

Do I have to buy it the Phone from Cricket Wireless?

No You don’t, you can always check out the Amazon website and check to see if they have Any unlocked Tri-band phones. There you can find some cheap Tri-band phones that can be used for Cricket Wireless. You may have to call Cricket Wireless to verify that they can do this but i see no reason why it shouldn’t work!!

I wanted to let people know about the New nationwide coverage area for Cricket Wireless, and would love to hear your experiences when it comes to roaming? leave a comment and let people know.

See you Friday!!

Using Skype with Cellular BroadBand Modems

If your like me you will want to make sure you have the best possible speed and connection with your broad band modem. Here are a few articles to better help with you get the best possible speed with a broad band modem like a Cricket modem:

• Cricket USB UM100 Broadband Wireless Modem Review.


• Get your Cricket Broadband to Activate Manually!


• Cricket Broad Band Modem Extended Review 12/23/08


• Cricket Wireless Broadband Card — How to get better speed!

Some other things to consider are:

• Getting better speeds from your Cellular broadband!


• Understanding a Cellular Modems

These will start to make it better for you to use a modem and get the best possible speeds from the modem.  You have to realize what your coverage area is.  There are many factors in regards to your modem speed but that is something that you will have to figure out how to get better speeds.

How do you use Skype with your Cellular broad band modem?

Somethings to remembers with your broadband modem is you won't have a good connection no matter how hard you try.   Most cellular carriers don't want you to us it with VOIP(Voice of Internet Protocol).   So you will have to pay close attention to how you use the bandwidth and what you are doing while making a VOIP call.

The good thing about Skype is, it comes with some very useful tools to better watch your bandwidth and to help get the best possible connection.  You will want to make sure not to have it be a super-node, to do this you go to:

Tools then;Options

<

As you can see I checked off use port 80 and 443 as alternative incoming connections, I also like to see all the technical information and bandwidth usage per call.  I made sure to use Socks5 to prevent skype from becoming a super-node. I also have it set to not automatically start up when I load windows.  To do that all you have to do is go to the General tab and un-check start Skype when Windows start.   You can use any port you want as long as you use the same on the SOCKs5 setting also.   I just made the port up it can be 0 to 4 numbers long.   If you want to understand what ports are this little document will greatly help you figure out which ports are good to use.  Some other things to remember when you use Skype for long periods of time is if you need to call someone you should try not to use the internet to much for that takes bandwidth also.  It is better to have Skype use all the possible bandwidth you have available.

Understanding a Cellular Modems

So you bought a modem, and you're not getting the speed you expected.

Yep it is unavoidable to not get that broad band speed you expected from buying a Cellular Modem and you want to learn more about what can affect your upload/download speed on the modem.   Each carrier has there own specific speeds or usage.  We will go through each and everyone one them talking about the kinds of speeds:

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• EVDO -- is known as Evolution-Data Optimized and is most commonly around the major city areas. It is sometimes consider 3G and is considered the fastest in the industry. Although there are always going to be debates on who is the fastest, it really doesn't matter because of the limitations of the networks.


• GPRS -- General Packet Radio Service and is also part of the 3G network but requires different frequency to acquire the signals from the tower. This is used in lower end of companies due to the fact it is easier to maintain than EVDO, but the speed is still comparable to all the other 3G family because of the interdependency of the connectivity.


• WiMAX -- Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access and The technology provides up to 75 Mb/s symmetric broadband speed without the need for cables. The technology is based on the IEEE 802.16 standard (also called Broadband Wireless Access).

[ad#cricket-1-1]There are so many of them to talk but each of these can help you understand what the differences of these are and what do they mean.  My cellular modem is using EVDO from Cricket Wireless and have not had any major problems yet.   Others would use GPRS or WiMax or even the others, but it still is important in understanding each has its own speed and flaws.

So does it matter if I am I'm close to the tower?

In short yes but as long as you have a couple towers in the are it shouldn't really matter.  You should still get the speed you thought you were going to get when need it.

Is Cellular modems really Broad band?

In truthfulness the true broad band speed is actually FIOS and Cable right now because they can handle he download and upload speed.  Most companies consider broad band to be something faster than dial-up.

So How do you get better speeds?

Each network is different, it can vary from time to time due to network congestion or if they are having problems with the network.   Some things to consider when you are getting bad speeds are updating your modem in one way or another.   You might also consider checking out your area to find all the cellular towers are and to be able to direct the modem in the right way.  You can also try to purchase a cellular antenna to better get what speeds your looking for.  That might get you some better speeds than what you were getting.

These tips and tricks will better get your speeds up on your modem.   This should also help you understand the truth behind broad band.

Cricket Wireless Broadband Card -- How to get better speed!

After buying the card last month,  I did a quick review about the broadband card. I wanted to talk about the speed problems that I had when I first used the modem.  Here is how to possibly getting better speeds when you use your card.   First off, you will need to disconnect from the internet and go to your quicklink mobile application:

You will click on “Tools”  and then hit ‘Activation’.   If you have it fail on your the first time you should reboot your system then try to do the activation after reboot that should fix the activation problem.
As you can see after I did the activation of the modem, my speed went way up from the last review.  I thought I should talk about how you could possibly fix this.  I called tech support over this to get a better speed.  

This is where I learned about the activation.  If you move or go to another City or travel to far, you will need to tell the modem that there is a new tower closer to you.   It seemed to of really boosted my performance when I go to places on the internet.   So if you come up with some cool tips or tricks to help others by all means leave a comment. After this problem is fixed and the speed seems to be coming more and more, I’d like to recommend everyone who reads this article to go buy the A600. It is really a fast little modem and more reliable to boot. My other review was incomplete because of the speed problems I had but now it is fixed and I am really happy!!!

Cricket USB UM100 Broadband Wireless Modem Review.

The UM100c is No Longer Available, Please check out the Cricket A600 Modem Review Or the UM185 Broadband modem. The UM185 modem might be a replacement to the UM100.

After a full week of playing around with this USB wireless, I wanted to talk about it. So let’s break it down into pieces.

1. (USB Broadband A600 Modem card for Free after Instant online rebates and Mail in rebate Free shipping & first month free! Shop today.)


2. Installation –  The installation of the USB was not to difficult.  I did have to do some more steps than this:  Install the Software, then hooked up the USB device to the USB port.


3. Manual Activated the Broadband –  For some reason in my area they had several people have problems with the broadband activation.  So I had to activate it manually!!

After that all went well, I was on the internet just a cruising along.  I did however wonder why I was getting such a slow response speed.  When I went traveling I thought I would share some of my local results with you to better show you my speed.  All these test were done at



Please see an updated post on how to get even more speed from the broad band modem.
This speed is not the true speed for the broad band modem.

The Percentages over the results are showing you just what my signal strength was when I was doing the test.  Two of the 4 were traveling on the highway and the other two were stationary.  I also know that my speed will vary along with signal strength, I know I have to be a mile or less from a tower to get 100%.

*Update* 12/21/08

 

In my other post I talk about why I didn’t get the speed I expected, but after I did the activation, I went to normal Mobile Broadband speeds.   I also now have been using the USB Modem for my main internet without any or much problems.   I know I can’t play any major online games but I can at least have the internet with me were ever  I go.   As long as you stay in the coverage area, you should be in good shape.  .  Like I Said I’ve used it in my area for over a 1 month and with the small little problem, the speed has been really dependable and I haven’t had any major issue with connectivity. I’ve been using this modem as my main internet and have not seen any major internet and have not seen any of the cap come my way.   I think they won’t mind to much as long as you don’t ABUSE the internet, for example don’t use it for bittorrent downloads and you should be fine!!

 

Update 12/24/2008
I also did travel with my laptop to another city, and I got to say it was really good and how it did when I went from one city to another. Check out the report here.
According to some post and forum talks around the the internet they are talking about the soft cap of 5 Gigabytes but that seems to not be so important right now.   After all, they have to make money some how.   I will update as necessary when I find anything else out.

update 1/01/09

I also did a video and uploaded it to youtube using the broadband connection. I had no problem uploading this video to Youtube. I’ve embedded it in this web page. See it on the bottom:



I also bought the A600 Cricket modem and I absolutely love this modem because of the things you can do with it.