Cellular data coverage in 2018

[Jesse Risley]

I've been with Verizon since 2010 and haven't noticed any significant issues so far this year. Last week was my first trip back to the Plains, being in KS, CO and briefly the OK panhandle. I just tether through my Pixel XL's hotspot, but I am grandfathered with the old, truly unlimited plan (i.e., pre-2015) that is $80/month with NO throttling. Coverage in IL, IA and MO hadn't changed noticeably in areas that I frequented more locally over the winter and early spring either.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Saturday I went I-70 to KC, then south through eastern Kansas (Iola, Parsons) then I-44 back to STL and never lost data (Verizon Jetpack). So it appears those areas are still good (for now).

 

[Quincy Vagell]

I've been with Verizon since 2010 and haven't noticed any significant issues so far this year. Last week was my first trip back to the Plains, being in KS, CO and briefly the OK panhandle. I just tether through my Pixel XL's hotspot, but I am grandfathered with the old, truly unlimited plan (i.e., pre-2015) that is $80/month with NO throttling. Coverage in IL, IA and MO hadn't changed noticeably in areas that I frequented more locally over the winter and early spring either.

I'm pretty sure there is throttling going on. I chase frequently through the Plains all spring and I can see how those who aren't out chasing frequently might not notice much of a difference.

A subscriber may get bumped off for a tower if it's really congested or speeds may slow somewhat, but you should always remain on 4g.

Based on a user who spoke with customer service in the quote above, I believe that Verizon is, at least occasionally, throttling users on the old plan as well. I don't seem to be losing 4G more than before, but there's undoubtedly an increase in times when 4G is sluggish or fails to load any data. Thankfully it's usually not a prolonged issue and sometimes a hard reboot of the phone or switching back and forth between airplane mode seems to reset the connection.
Reference post #13: https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/927527?start=10&tstart=0

 

[Jesse Risley]

I'm pretty sure there is throttling going on. I chase frequently through the Plains all spring and I can see how those who aren't out chasing frequently might not notice much of a difference.

Based on a user who spoke with customer service in the quote above, I believe that Verizon is, at least occasionally, throttling users on the old plan as well. I don't seem to be losing 4G more than before, but there's undoubtedly an increase in times when 4G is sluggish or fails to load any data. Thankfully it's usually not a prolonged issue and sometimes a hard reboot of the phone or switching back and forth between airplane mode seems to reset the connection.
Reference post #13: https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/927527?start=10&tstart=0

I use my phone for everything Internet at home too, year round, and have not had a problem, and I routinely use 30-40 gigabytes of data a month, since I have no home cable or satellite Internet provider. Speed testing has not shown an decrease in upload or download speeds. As far as getting booted off of a tower, I don't know, because I really haven't been out on the Plains on a major chaser convergence day. My understanding is that throttling those old plans would actually violate the contract.

 

[Jesse Risley]

Correction - throttling the grandfathered plans would violate the rules VZW agreed to adhere to when they acquired the newer LTE spectrum. My source inside told me that VZW worked around it with the new plans by defining the limit, but the old plans were not "defined" as a limit before the throttle. So unless they go back across the board and define that limit, and take the hit to let people out, they are on the hook with the truly grandfathered unlimited plans that existed prior to the acquisition of the LTE spectrum.

It's basicly the rules Google had insterted for whomever got that band, and the same reason all 4G phones on Verizon are unlocked. It's not a contract with the customer so much as the rules on how the 4G specturm was dished out. They can raise the price and it's your choice if you want to pay more, but I don't see how they can legally change the actual underlying service unless they just kick you off.

 

[Mark Blue]

I finally bought the Neatgear Nighthawk through AT&T with the maximum data bucket of 10 Gb per month. We have our iPads and phones on Verizon, so for the time being we haven’t found an area in eastern Colorado yet where we had no coverage this year. We use the Nighthawk with WiFi and Verizon for cellular and so far we’re very happy. I never thought we’d have both but the day has arrived and it’s pretty sweet.

So far I haven’t needed an amplifier or external antenna, but I’m looking into MIMO antennas for next year as the modem inside the Nighthawk is a Cat 16 with 4x4 MIMO capability, so not just any old antenna will do. It has 2 TS9 connectors for external antennas, so it’s pretty robust for $200.00.

Warren’s setup indeed sounds interesting. Perhaps a little rich for my blood, but only because I’m a hobbyist and my livelihood isn’t tied to chasing in any way. Seems like it’s purpose-built for professionals IMHO, although I’m not sure of the exact model he’s using.

 

[James Hammett]

Biggest factors I've found to help are an external antenna and ensuring the Mifi is set to Global mode. I've found the Verizon maps to be accurate enough with an external antenna but you have to zoom in to see any detail. Here's an example of a coverage hole east of Colo Springs that I've verified to be accurate (still an open challenge to the folks running amps to go in the middle of that hole on Hwy 71 and find a signal )

 

[B. Dean Berry]

All that is needed to ensure proper antenna deployment is an understanding of antenna theory, and where AT&T (or any carrier) operates on the RF spectrum. If you have 2x TS9 antenna connections (standard for almost all WiFi hotspots), then you're golden for most 4G antennas.

For AT&T, you'll want an antenna that handles not just their 4G LTE offerings, but also their HSPA and HSPA+ features, because they will use this as well.

Ideally, your antennas will handle:

- HSPA Band 5 (850MHz)
- LTE Band 5 (850MHz)
- LTE Band 17 (700MHz)
- LTE Band 4 (1700/2100MHz dual band)
- HSPA+ Band 17 (1900MHz)
- LTE Band 17 (1900MHz)

So, any basic, modern 4G LTE quad-band antenna that will handle the 600-900, 1500-1700, 1700-1900, and 1900-2200 bands, will handle the Nighthawk. Black Cat, SureCall, Laird, PCTel, and Browning all make antennas that will handle this.

I recommend 3/4" NMO hole mounts, mounted with at least 2 feet of horizontal separation. You may wish to place one on the roof and one on the trunk lid or hood channel to provide some form of vertical separation as well. The only reason the second antenna comes into play is Diversity to handle multipath reception.

 

[James Hammett]

Almost all cellular hotspots have two external antenna connections? My 4620LE only has one On the other hand if the internal receive-only diversity antenna (assuming it has one) momentarily gets a better signal than my external antenna then so be it...don't have to mess with two external antennas. Also seems like if there's a connection issue it's more often the tower hearing me rather than me hearing the tower. Diversity would certainly help signal stability travelling down the highway at speed though. Here are Verizon's uplink frequencies (couple of those bands are only used in dense urban areas):

782(777-787) (LTE band 13)
837(824-849) (LTE / UMTS band 5)
877(860-894) (UMTS band 0)
1733(1710-1755) (LTE / AWS band 4)
1880(1850-1910) (LTE / PCS CDMA band 2)
1960(1930-1990) (UMTS band 1)

 

[Michael Towers]

On May 2 in Oklahoma, I had no internet with my new Verizon jetpack once I was 5 miles south of I-40 at Clinton and didn't get it back until got on I-44 at Chickasha (including Cordell, Hobart, Minco, Fort Cobb). I do not have an amp. This is the first time I've seen a major hole (zero data) with Verizon outside of Illinois (Jersyville to I-72). The device showed 1 bar of 4G, but no data was pulling. There weren't many chasers near me from Clinton all the way to Mountain View, so it couldn't have been overloaded towers. I had to use Threat Net for radar that entire time.

I'm curious if others have had the same experiences? I hear in other threads that Verizon has gone downhill in the Plains, but I hadn't had any issues until this year.

No problems with Verizon for me and I use a jetpack as well, I chased that May 1-2 setup and had the best coverage on a trip to date for the area travelled. From Chicago to KC, the chase from KC to Hoisington to Medicine Lodge to Newton, next day from Newton to Medicine Lodge to Hobart to Tulsa and back home the next day. That trip was my first using Maximum Signal’s Max Amp Mobile and I had a connection almost the entire time. I’ve traveled and chased pretty much the entire area of my trip previously using Verizon and have experienced noticeable gaps in data, especially in the area from Medicine Lodge to I-40. This time I almost always stayed connected and unless Verizon recently improved coverage the amp definitely made the difference.

 

[B. Dean Berry]

Almost all cellular hotspots have two external antenna connections? My 4620LE only has one

Don't be fooled, it probably does have 2. A great many of these hotspots actually do have 2 external 4G antenna connections, even if you only see one or none! They're on the board of the unit, and are used for testing on a service monitor. The 4620L was a pretty cheaply-made unit, and it actually surprises me that they even put one antenna port on the outside.

For example, I use a Sprint hotspot - A Franklin Wireless R850. It features no external antenna ports, but has two of them under some peel-away stickers under the battery door, that can be accessed with an SMK-TS9 connector.

 

[James Hammett]

I believe it...over the years I drilled holes in the back cover of several smartphones that had serviceable external antenna ports that almost no one knew about. Not much mechanical strength but worked great for my purposes.

 

[Mark Blue]

I believe it...over the years I drilled holes in the back cover of several smartphones that had serviceable external antenna ports that almost no one knew about. Not much mechanical strength but worked great for my purposes.

Where on earth did you find the exact dimensions to know where to drill? Ifixit.com has a ton of information but where TS-9 test ports are located under the rear cover - I don’t think so. My luck I’d end up with a Swiss cheese special!

 

[James Wilson]

Just before the Ords Nebraska tornado I lost service just north of there so maybe a dead zone there. I had service most of the day throughout the NE panhandle other than that.

I use Verizon hotspot and a Fusion Surefire 2 cell booster. I have found I have service in most areas still but it does seem like it is not as good as it once was.

Note the booster does great but if there is no service there is no service to boost.

 

[B. Dean Berry]

Going to see how well coverage works under the "New Era" at Sprint. Just switched to them yesterday.

All of their phones and devices are now twin-compatible and roam on T-Mobile's network.