staying connected

[cedwards]

I noticed a big problem with my Alltel coverage yesterday.
I am using the USB aircard and lost the connection several times. If I am not looking at the computer when it disconnects, I don't know my radar is old.

Is there a way for it to automatically reconnect? wen I had the Verizon aircard, it would automatically reconnect anytime the connection was lost.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

You might want to check your software settings, Charles. Most new cards have software that will automatically recognize when the laptop comes out of hibernation and is ready to reconnect. It will say "auto reconnect" or something along that line. Or there may be an option to auto reconnect when it recognizes a good signal. I know exactly what you are talking about. It's a pain until you make that tweak -

 

[Hank Baker]

Hey Charles, I have alltell, you can go into the prefrences menu on the alltell software and check the NDIS box, i had the same problem yesterday and on our way home had time to play with the software and figure it out. Once I did that it worked great reconnecting on its own.

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

I too was having problems with this yesterday, it said I had data capabilities, though every time I would log on it would quickly turn me down and say something along the lines of, "User name not recognized on the domain" (or something like that). Eventually, given that I was near the Dallas Metro, and thought I certainly should have data, I got pissed enough and called Alltel. They told me they are having problems with Sprint, and when you try hooking up to a Sprint tower you get denied, she told me unfortunately there was nothing they or I can do to make the phone select one tower over another, thus if I was unfortunate enough to have a Sprint tower nearby I was SOL. Fortunately the only areas I seemed to be connecting to the Sprint Towers was S OK and NC TX. No word on when or if this problem will be resolved, though I didn't ask, as I was in a hurry to find routes around NE Dallas Suburbs.

 

[Tony Cook]

I had the same problem all yesterday afternoon in S/SE OK. This was from a tethering setup, not a card. The exact error message I was getting from my dialing program was:
"691 Access was denied because the user name and/or password was invalid on the domain."

I had the same thing happen on March 3rd in Southern MS. Very frustrating...

TonyC

 

[Bill Tabor]

Tony it sounds like a problem with a data roaming agreement between cellular service providers. I could be wrong, but that's kind of how it sounds. I get something similar with Verizon at times in certain places. Used to have it around Brownwood, but I think they went all digital towers and fixed agreements.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

I had the same problem all yesterday afternoon in S/SE OK. This was from a tethering setup, not a card. The exact error message I was getting from my dialing program was:
"691 Access was denied because the user name and/or password was invalid on the domain."

I had the same thing happen on March 3rd in Southern MS. Very frustrating...

TonyC

This sounds like you're in an area not covered under Alltel. I've had this problem before, too -- usually in western Iowa.

 

[scott r currens]

I had a similar problem with my Sprint Data card but it only happened when I was on a storm with many other chasers around. I would have full signal and I would continually lose connection. I was connected for 18 hours on Sunday and only disconnected during peak chase convergence. I think the towers were overloaded and kicked off those on a different (partner) network.

Was everyone having problems during high chase convergence or was it more random? I wonder how many data connections a single cell tower can carry at once.

 

[Gordon Spencer]

I frequent www.dslreports.com ( great site) there seems to be alot of complaints coming in right now about the Sprint Network performing like this all over the country .

I had a similar problem with my Sprint Data card but it only happened when I was on a storm with many other chasers around. I would have full signal and I would continually lose connection. I was connected for 18 hours on Sunday and only disconnected during peak chase convergence. I think the towers were overloaded and kicked off those on a different (partner) network.

Was everyone having problems during high chase convergence or was it more random? I wonder how many data connections a single cell tower can carry at once.

 

[cedwards]

I lost connection at random in the high chaser convergence times also. I had a full 4 bars on signal, but still would disconnect. If I noticed, I could manually reconnect just fine. I have selected Hank's suggestion and hopefully that will work on the next chase.

 

[Tony Cook]

This sounds like you're in an area not covered under Alltel. I've had this problem before, too -- usually in western Iowa.

That's quite possible, actually. I am curious as to how other Alltel subscribers fared yesterday in S/SE Oklahoma. I first started getting this message in Sulphur, OK, after having data all morning along I-35 from Austin to Davis, OK. I don't mind if I am in an area that's not covered, but I don't like the misleading error message in that case. From Davis to Madill, and then trailing the cell from Madill to Hugo, I never got data. Granted I did not stop often to check, but the few times I did check, I got the "691" error.

Also, in terms of chaser convergence, I was having problems early in the chase, when I didn't see any other chasers around.

TonyC

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

"Username or password not invalid on this server" issue:


Figured I'd mention this for those that might get it how I get it. First off, I had data every place in Oklahoma the map said I would. This was from nw OK near Alva down to Binger, down over to Chickasha, down to Ardmore area, east to Durant area, then north up through Tulsa and back into KS. I did not have it where it showed I would not have it. I was really pleased with the coverage, and this was the tethering option.

Every once in a great while I'll get the username or password invalid on this server message at home, where I know I'm good. It would last a looong time, like a whole day or more. I talked to them, and wound up getting passed to several other folks, apparently more knowledgeable. This problem would always correct itself, but it sometimes would take a whole freaking day or more. I tried powering off and back on, taking the battery out, etc. They told me to try and leave the battery out of the phone for an hour. Every single time I've had this problem at home, this has fixed it....including last night actually. 1 hour is obviously much better than 24 or more. It only happens every few weeks though. They made it sound like the phone gets confused and caches some password. I didn't get that since the password doesn't change, but maybe it's some encryption thing with the server that it needs to have right. Anyway, it's good to know if you have the tethered route and it happens to you. I dont know how much under 1 hour you can leave it out for and have it fix things, but I've got it down to exactly 1 hour and working every time. I tried 15 minutes before and it didn't work.

Anyway, it was nice to see it working exactly where it said it would on the map.

Something tells me that sprint thing is getting better. I could NEVER connect between Council Bluff's and Nebraska City on I-29. I'd always get that username or password invalid thing the whole way. Then all the sudden it was working there. Well on the way back yesterday I got the message east of Nebraska City on I29. Then it was fine after I was a few miles to the north, but in that same area I could never connect, while on multiple chases.

I sat nw of Ardmore, at that next town north, 1 mile west of the interstate for over an hour on Monday. What I noticed happening there was I'd be fine with several bars and connected. Then a bit later I'd drop the data connection. I looked at the phone and the bars were down to 2. A few minutes later it'd be back at full and I could connect again. Then a while later, back to 2 and no data. I wasn't moving, so it was obvious the tower with data was going on and off all the time. It was working probably 80% of the time I sat in that spot though and lose that tower for about 20%.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Something tells me that sprint thing is getting better. I could NEVER connect between Council Bluff's and Nebraska City on I-29.

I wonder why Sprint (or anyone else) doesn't see the need to cover anywhere from St. Joe north to Nebraska City on I-29. Cell coverage is horrible for an interstate, and still no EVDo. To me the stretch from Omaha to KC should be completely covered ... right now it's anything but.

 

[Bill Tabor]

This Alltel issue may be a deal breaker for me. I've been thinking of signing up as price wise they seem to be best because they have month to month if not day to day tethering. I thought it was comparable to Sprint because supposedly they all have agreements to share towers, etc. If connectivity is an issue though I might be better off going with the (much) higher Sprint option that seems to work really well for Drummond.

Tony, you should contact Alltel data support and see if they can tell you anything intelligent about this error message and situation. Let us all know what you find.

 

[David Drummond]

I am probably screwing myself telling everyone to get Sprint. We are going to overload some of those rural towers one day. LOL

I can't say enough good about Sprint data. With the right setup, data availability for me is now at an unprecidented 99% of the time based on the results Sun/Mon. Sure there are still a few gaps. They are negligible in the southern plains now.

Now if they could only get their customer service up to the level of the actual service, it would be darn near a perfect world. heh

I can't stress enough how crucial it is to have a data card with an external antenna port and an external antenna. So far I haven't gotten an amp. I suspect it would help in those 1 bar areas, but I don't think I can afford any more expensive toys now that we are here in the chase season.