4G Hotspot does not stay connected to 4G disconnects all the time

[acmorris]

illusive this is all I could find on spur of the moment, cause not sure if the the machine had intergrated wifi or optional wifi. Here goes: Wireless problems on Dell Alienware Area-51 ALX

 

[realitydigg]

After 7 days of relying on the Hotspot in a 4G area I found it rock solid (2 Xoom and laptops) There was one exception when i was in a convention center with 20+ wireless networks I had trouble maintaining a connection to the phone. The phone had 4G, but the Xoom could not stay connected and kpt getting knowcked off.

 

[mcowger]

For the life of me I cannot keep this mobile hotspot stable. No matter what settings I choose for encryption, after 1 minutes -> 30 minutes of use the connection will just drop, the phone will say 'no mobile network' and of course then nothing works. The second I turn off mobile hotspot, everything comes back.

Like many others, I'm using a macbook pro. No, I'm not in a marginal coverage area (I always have 4 bars) and if I dont use mobile hotspot the 4G connection on the phone is useable for hours at a time (making me think its not something silly like the battery door or the network - I think its something in the software/phone).

Stuck with using EasyTether for now If its still like this in 30 days I will have to get VZW to give me a MiFi as well (work pays for my phones/plans/MiFi stuff).

 

[mcowger]

So, on a whim, I called VZW support (not that I've ever had any luck). Maybe its because this is a business line, I got to L2 support quickly. The tech, after doing the regular pull-the-battery-and-reboot dance made a few changes to my network config on their side.

Since those changes, I've been connected via 4G mobile hotspot on my mac for 90 minutes straight with only a single dropped packet (which I think is totally reasonable). I'm going to see how long this lasts and if I hit the 2 hr mark call it fixed. I will email the techn back and asked him what he changed and report back.

 

[acmorris]

Please let us know I have been battling for a month straight on this matter with tech support from Verizon and gone nowhere accept that gave the info they ran on my phone over to HTC's labs for diagnostic and to analysis! And thank you mcowger for your consistency.

 

[mcowger]

So, turns out that 2 hr achievement was a fluke - haven't gotten it any better since that one good mark.

Also can confirm its no better with the open source wireless-tether app (2.08) (same issue) and I can confirm that using EasyTether (wired) I do NOT experience the drops.

EasyTether meets my needs well enough (I only tether when the phone is plugged in anyways), so i will wait until something fixes it

 

[jedoles]

Anyone else seeing an issue where 4G is fine and can stream YouTube but once you open up the 4G hotspot and connect a laptop to it the 4G comes in and out. The laptop stays connected but it just loses the 4G connection and comes back every few seconds and is unusable. Any ideas on how to fix this or is it a known issue and they are working on it.

I am using on a MacBook Pro 2010 if that makes a difference. I tired on an iPad and it seems a bit more stable so not sure if it is MacBook related. Tried a Windows laptop and it also seems more stable. Dual boot from my MacBook this morning to XP and got the same issue.

This is happening to me also. I would be suprised if it had anything to do with the device that is connected IE Ipad, Mac, Laptop. I have noticed that when the hotspot is on the phone itself switches between 4G, 3G and no signal at all. While Hotspot is off the signal stays strong at 4G. I also noticed that while these switches are happening my signal bars are not moving up and down so it does not appear to be a signal strength issue.

Edit: If I recall this started happening around the time I upgraded to the leaked radio but not 100% positive on that.
I dont see how the type of device that is getting the hotspot signal would effect the actual tower signal on the phone.

 

[skidawg]

Been disconnecting since release day for me when using my macbook pro. On the other hand, my I can video skype on my iPad all day using the wifi hotspot without it disconnecting. I'm sure glad I'm not paying for it and there's no chance I will when it's no longer free. I can't believe there's no fix for this yet...

 

[mcowger]

Edit: If I recall this started happening around the time I upgraded to the leaked radio but not 100% positive on that.
I dont see how the type of device that is getting the hotspot signal would effect the actual tower signal on the phone.

Mine did this from day one brand new out of the box - so its not your leaked radio.

I also dont think the tower signal is actually changing - i think there is some level of interaction between the radio and the wifi that causes them to piss each other off - as far as I can tell, they are actually on the same chip. It could be that something about the cards in the MacOS X systems causes the Wifi chip in the TB behave differently/draw more power, etc.

 

[jedoles]

Mine did this from day one brand new out of the box - so its not your leaked radio.

I also dont think the tower signal is actually changing - i think there is some level of interaction between the radio and the wifi that causes them to piss each other off - as far as I can tell, they are actually on the same chip. It could be that something about the cards in the MacOS X systems causes the Wifi chip in the TB behave differently/draw more power, etc.

Hmm, im using a PC not a Mac. happens on 2 different Laptops. One running Windows 7 and the other running Windows XP.

 

[mcowger]

Interesting - your's is the first report I've seen of someone having an issue with an PC.

I wonder if it's wifi card chipset related...

 

[ppgppg]

I am having same problem using razr max, connecting to Toshiba laptop and Samsung galaxy. over 10 calls to Verizon, and they finally told me to drop hotspot service.
I live in a rural area and experience worst problems during peak periods. My browser on the razr works 100% of the time, and I hv full signal strength, so they simply can't explain it. I do think that it is some type of throttling that they are not disclosing. Why else would it happen always during the day, and intermittently at night?

 

[Trentoncc24]

Re: 4G Hotspot does not stay connected to 4G disconnects all the

I firmly believe that it is some type of throttling that they won't disclose as well. Too many people are having the same problem. I was paying for my hotspot and couldn't hardly use it, no matter what amount of signal is had. It is definitely something built into the Verizon app. I say root and screw verizon. I am now rooted and wifi tether works flawlessly. I'm still paying for my hotspot, but at least now I'm getting what I pay for.

 

[rocker22dallas]

Re: 4G Hotspot does not stay connected to 4G disconnects all the

has anybody tried using easy tether (usb tethering) i have had good results with this even when the sprint wifi tethering wasnt working as well as i liked (or draining too much battery)

 

[Trentoncc24]

Re: 4G Hotspot does not stay connected to 4G disconnects all the

Usb tethering has always worked perfectly. My theory on this is that verizon doesn't see single computer tethering to need limiting the way they see the hotspot. You can't run your home network with usb tethering, but with hotspot you pretty much can, and verizon knows people will try.

 

[jf2go]

Re: 4G Hotspot does not stay connected to 4G disconnects all the

Same problem here using hotspot with my iPad 2. Constant connect/disconnects, and you can see the 4G symbol going away. When hotspot is off, the 4G symbol stays on continuously.

 

[Trentoncc24]

Re: 4G Hotspot does not stay connected to 4G disconnects all the

I'm not much of a fan of lawsuits but I'd love to see verizon get one handed to them for this hotspot bullcrap. That'd be one of the class action lawsuit letters I got in the mail that I wouldn't ignore. I'm very surprised someone hasn't yet actually.

 

[chuckh0308]

Re: 4G Hotspot does not stay connected to 4G disconnects all the

After a full year of dealing with the WiFi hotspot dropping garbage, I finally decided to download a Wifi Tether app and try it. I downloaded WiFi Tethering by Open Garden. I think I have confirmed that the data dropping problem is Verizon's Hotspot app. I have not had any drops yet using the Open Garden app. granted, I've only used it for a day, but the Verizon app would drop every 5-10 minutes. Not only that, but the speeds seem to be significantly faster with the Open Garden app.

I was having other issues with the Verizon Hotspot, like having it sort of work...like pages would load, but without photos. Or they would load and then disappear for a minute and come back. Those problems also seem to be gone.

The downside? You need to be rooted to use it.

BTW, I am a real estate broker and I use my tablet on the hot spot when I'm with clients. The complete embarrassment of not having a reliable hot spot is what finally drove me to try something else. Pretty sad when you try to do the right thing and pay for your hot spot and all only to receive a service that only works part of the time!