Airave

[pappy53]

Sprint has agreed to send me an Airave at no charge. They said that I needed an internet connection in my home, which I have. What is the difference between using the Airave, and running my phone over my home wireless network? Which way is better?

 

[NxTech3]

The airave is a minature cell repeater, and if its the second edition it does both 1xRTT and EvDO for data

 

[ChaosMarine03]

You'll have a miniature cell phone tower in your house. So you should have full bars to make phone calls if you had crappy service before.

 

[oespinoza83]

I have had an Airave for a few months now and love it. I have almost NO service in my apartment without it. But with it, full bars and never a dropped call. It also notifies you every time you make/receive a call to let you know it's working.

 

[B-Mod]

The airave uses YOUR internet bandwidth to place calls and use data. You are giving sprint bandwidth, or more importantly you are freeing up use on their towers. Sucks anyone should need one of these..............

 

[TheOnlyMorgan]

It does suck if anyone should need one, but people do. My service has started to suck the last month in my house. My EVO's battery drains much faster because I get a constant drop and pickup in 1 or 2 bars signal strength all day long with the phone. This would get rid of that for sure, but I wouldn't be interested in the EvDO coverage as I'd rather just use their straight airwaves. I don't mind having my internet boost the voice coverage, just give me the peace of mind that I wouldn't have to deal with the constant drop in signal would be nice.

 

[Fazulka]

Sprint has agreed to send me an Airave at no charge. They said that I needed an internet connection in my home, which I have. What is the difference between using the Airave, and running my phone over my home wireless network? Which way is better?

I have had a airave for a couple years now, and just this month got the new one with 3g. If you have the new one leaving WiFi on or off should not make a huge difference for battery. I have found that when testing speed using the speed test app I get 1.5 -1.8mbps on 3g vs 8-10mbps on WiFi. If you are not doing things on your phone that require a fast connection you may want it off as pictures don't load through WiFi.

 

[bronx889]

Question. I have had a Airave for a few years. I have the 1st version. If I am on a call away from home and come home within Airave coverage the sound starts to drop out. About 2 to 3 second drips out each time. I have to hang-up and call the person back.

Anyone else have this issue? Originating a call in my house and then leaving during the call, the transfer to a regular tower is seamless. But the reverse is ridiculous.

 

[ink883]

Question. I have had a Airave for a few years. I have the 1st version. If I am on a call away from home and come home within Airave coverage the sound starts to drop out. About 2 to 3 second drips out each time. I have to hang-up and call the person back.

Anyone else have this issue? Originating a call in my house and then leaving during the call, the transfer to a regular tower is seamless. But the reverse is ridiculous.

The airave will not pick up a call initiated outside its coverage area. So what your are describing is normal. I am only speaking about the first airave, I have no knowledge whether the newer one fixes that issue.

 

[jlewis]

I have the newer Airave, and it does have issues when you go in or out of range.

Sprint says it is supposed to act just like another tower and hand off your call to the rest of the network, but it does not work as advertised. If I start a phone call as I get into my car, the Airave in the house usually picks it up. Then as I drive away from the house the Airave drops the call and the regular cell network does not take over. I always lose the call and have to call back. There is usually a 30 second delay or so while my EVO tries to negotiate between the dropped Airave signal and the regular cell network signal. I just have to remember not to start a call when I know I am going to move away from my house.

Having said that . . . I love the Airave! Before I got one from Sprint, my phone was basically useless inside my house.

 

[Mikey47]

Then as I drive away from the house the Airave drops the call and the regular cell network does not take over. I always lose the call and have to call back.

Isn't this what you would expect? You got the airave because you have bad coverage at your house, if you had decent enough coverage for your airave to hand it off to a near tower you most likely would not need an airrave.

 

[pappy53]

Got my Airave yesterday, and can't activate it. Support says Airave network is down across most of NC. Bummer.

 

[theblizzard2009]

had the old one, and now have had the new one for about 6mo w/ EVDO support. Love it. it's not perfect, and in my townhouse, its not doing 5-8k sqft... its on the second floor, and 1st floor is still spotty, don't think the signal goes down properly, but all my modem stuff is upstairs so it has to stay there for now.

but without it, i'd have zero coverage.