Verizon vs Sprint, mobile broadband USB card, when near Denver?

Can anyone with Verizon verify that the coverage in northwest Oklahoma is as bad as the map shows? That is a nasty gap in coverage. I'd like to go with Verizon this Spring, but you're right, Tony, Sprint might be safer.

I chased near Alva last April. I had absolutely no data (using the "Rockies" amp and an external antenna) whatsoever for a major block of road between the Alva area and about ten or fifteen miles west of Enid. When I inquired about this with someone at Verizon, they told me there were problems reaching a roaming agreement with a standalone, local cell provider.
 
I chased near Alva last April. I had absolutely no data (using the "Rockies" amp and an external antenna) whatsoever for a major block of road between the Alva area and about ten or fifteen miles west of Enid. When I inquired about this with someone at Verizon, they told me there were problems reaching a roaming agreement with a standalone, local cell provider.
Ouch. Someone kicked Verizon in the balls. That is unfortunate. Tony, Jesse and Scott, thanks for the info.
 
I chased near Alva last April. I had absolutely no data (using the "Rockies" amp and an external antenna) whatsoever for a major block of road between the Alva area and about ten or fifteen miles west of Enid. When I inquired about this with someone at Verizon, they told me there were problems reaching a roaming agreement with a standalone, local cell provider.

That's interesting. I wish they would fix that problem. But obviously that's not high priority to them. :p

It's funny how you get service back when you immediately cross over the border into KS.
 
That's interesting. I wish they would fix that problem. But obviously that's not high priority to them. :p

It's funny how you get service back when you immediately cross over the border into KS.

It was my understanding that some FCC regulations were prohibiting the erection of Verizon towers in much of the area, so if the local cell providers (i.e Pioneer Wireless) don't like Verizon's terms of service as they related to roaming agreements, you won't have home voice service and data coverage (even 1xRTT) is evidently non-existent.

The only way around this that 'supposedly' worked for some people was to modify the Preferred Roaming List (PRL) on the data card (i.e. making a Verizon card recognize Sprint's EVDO network), but doing so could put you at risk of incurring unwanted data charges.
 
A very useful discussion since I have just moved to Denver and have been using AT&T and desperately need a change! I may also be getting a Baron satellite unit as a back up since you get to view all of North America including some of Canada. It's just a question of money for the purchase of the unit!
 
Cellular coverage has changed a TON since 2004. That would be like comparing internet access in 1993 (almost completely dial up everywhere) to internet access today.

I apologize. I should have been more clear. I began with Sprint in the early 2000s. I had Sprint until April, 2008. And, their coverage was still horrible up till that point. Additionally, for some reason between these two points in time, my name changed to Gorge. :confused: It took them nine months and dozens of phone calls to correct their data-entry error so that my name would appear correctly on caller id units.

Having a comp/sci degree, I'm acutely aware of the rapid advancement in technology. It's Sprint that has not kept with this pace. It's dearth of towers on the Plains is laughable. For example, in the Omaha Metropolitan area, Sprint has 16 registered antennae; Verizon has 36. Their customer service is horrible and their coverage is inadequate. CEO Hesse can star in all the commercials he chooses, but his advertising hasn't improved their service.

You plod along with Sprint. I'll race ahead with Verizon here on the central/north central Plains. ;)

Geo
 
Best way to sign up for either service is through www.millenicom.com . They are a reseller. Through them you can get Verizon with a 10gb cap instead of a 5gb cap . And Sprint service is unlimited if you sign up through Sprint there is a 5gb cap. Also there is no contract with either service which means no early termination fee if you drop the service.

Thanks for posting this. Since my razr started screwing up my EVDO and whatnot I decided not to replace it and just get something else for home and road net. They sold me the Verizon package with panatech usb device, which I purchased to get that 10 gig plan. Working great so far. My upload speed seemed like it was far far faster than I ever had happen with my razr. Almost looked like it was matching its own download speed.

It worked as good as my razr did tethered in the past on the first chase this year down to sw KS via Omaha to KC route and back. Had to reconnect it a few times in se KS, but nothing crazy. Stayed connected the whole way back on the MO side, till I shut it off at home.

Does the usb y cable thing really do much? Supposedly plug in the second usb plug to give it more power. I don't gather that is doing much but haven't looked at it that much either. Sucks it is $60/month but I dropped my cell phone down to prepaid and won't be paying anymore per month than before total, so it's cool. One doesn't use a cell phone much it is hard to top the prepaid options available now. $1 if used a day then unlimited to verizon people that whole day. So if everyone you know is verizon you couldn't spend more than $31 a month on your cell phone. Thinking I can average using the thing 2 times a week...so $8 a month. $100 lasts a year before expiring and almost seems one could do that. Beats the heck out of that $45 or whatever with fees a month for a cell phone if you don't use it much. I learned Alltel people right now are even considered verizon mobile to mobile so I can talk to them all day for a $1 too.
 
Yeah Mike I used Millenicom last 2 seasons. It worked very well for me. I did some tests with and without both connectors of the 'Y' plugged in - Speedtest.net and as I recall it made a substantial difference - almost like having a small power booster. It worked well for streaming video too.

This year I have an Iphone and figured out how to tether it for free. That is working ok so far but not much testing out in the field. I bought an external antenna for it that mounts to the bottom (outside).
 
I've done the Alltel tethering thing with my Blackberry for the last couple years and it has worked great. My contract is grandfathered in to Verizon for 10 bucks a month unlimited. Seems like a great deal, but I recently installed Windows 7 on my laptop and now my Alltel phone will not work as a modem. Having tried different solutions to no avail, I've concluded that it's time to bite the bullet and get a data card.

But when I look at cards, I don't see anything that supports Windows 7. Is anyone running Win7 on their laptop, and if so, have you had any problems with your air card, or is it working fine for you? In particular, if anyone is using the Millenicom device with Win7, how's it performing?
 
If your USB card comes with a "Y" adapter / power booster, I recommend using it. What I was told by Alltel and Verizon tech support is that the power boost kicks in when the signal drops below a certain -db threshold. So, you might not see a difference sitting in the downtown area of a big city, but out in the "boonies", you should see a major improvement.

The most important part is to have an external antenna that connects directly (hard wire) to the air card with the proper adapter/dongle. If you can get a booster from Cyfre or Wilson, that helps too! But external antenna is critical.

I know Gordon @ Max. Signal can help you put all the proper antennas/boosters/cords/dongles together to make it work.
 
Thanks for posting this. Since my razr started screwing up my EVDO and whatnot I decided not to replace it and just get something else for home and road net. They sold me the Verizon package with panatech usb device, which I purchased to get that 10 gig plan. Working great so far. My upload speed seemed like it was far far faster than I ever had happen with my razr. Almost looked like it was matching its own download speed.

Local related rant:

Rapidly changing my mind, but maybe just cause I'm trying to use this for home net as well as chasing. It's largely become a piece of **** at home. Only time it works well is after 1 a.m. anymore. It's bad when you can never stream 36k music. Plays for 20 seconds, stops for 5 minutes. Even with my messed up RAZR that would never go back to EV and would drop the connection if I DIDN'T have some music streaming...it would stream that music for hours on end without a hiccup.

More often than not it's making 56k dialup literally seem like a dream. Shut the computer off this morning, sick of waiting on a damn model image to load. We're talking a couple minutes IF you could get it to finish. That is becoming the norm. Sorry but if one pays $60/month for internet, even if it is wireless.....this should be a very rare occurrence, not common. This with all 5 bars in middle of town.

It's been night and day different since the Alltel switch here. I know of another chaser in eastern NE that has noticed it's never as quick as it used to be on Alltel.

I talked to Verizon so many times before I went this route and got no where. The last I heard they were going to check the tower, then they called to see if my problem went away after that(but before they ever checked any tower). I was like no. Then never heard anything again and made the switch figuring my RAZR was junk now or they did something to get the $25 grandfathered Altell people on something else.

This usb/millenicom/verizon thing worked well for a short while. If it is just this town stressing out the system....well beef it up! Can't beef it up, charge less than $60/month. Hell they already have the 5 gig restriction on all their people(while I get 10 gig via millenicom route..which to get you'd have to suck it all off at 2 a.m.). Just annoying this wasn't a problem before the Verizon/Alltel switch. And annoying it's now $60 I'm paying for crap.

As for chasing doesn't seem bad, but at the same time it's rare I'm ever trying to get it to pull much. And it's probably an overrun tower here they aren't beefing up. Pointless to call as if that is the problem it's not like they are going to tell you.

Frustrated and no longer recommending Millenicom or Verizon. My tolerance level is pretty damn high, but it's fading rapidly on any sort of wireless net for home use here(and $60/month just for chasing data sure ain't worth it). Wish I didn't buy their damn modem to get the 10 gig bandwidth. I should have known better given I knew it would still be Verizon and it would still be the same area here.

It reminds me a whole lot of the Verizon data at Rockport MO. Each time I'd go through there chasing and try to get data it was just pathetic. Same deal, wait 10 minutes for one image to load....if it would load. Stopped on another chase and thought, I know better than to try and sure enough, same exact way and it's not a signal strength deal either with all bars.

I guess there are still a lot of Alltel people here on the network with those unlimited plans. Maybe they are all going crazy with unlimited data and that is bogging it down. Then again that's what most here before were on, unlimited with Alltel...and the problem just wasn't there. $#%#@$#@$
 
Carol,

I bought my novatel usb727 modem used off ebay for $30. I also bought a new external antenna adapter on ebay. For my cell phone antenna I am using a Wilson 301103 mag mount antenna. I also have an usb cord extender for connecting my modem to my laptop.

The following links are the setup for data that I have.

Novatel usb727 modem: http://cgi.ebay.com/Verizon-USB727-...dZViewItemQQptZPCC_Modems?hash=item414cebb305

Wilson 301103 cell phone antenna: http://cgi.ebay.com/Wilson-Dual-Ban...wItemQQptZPDA_Accessories?hash=item53dbb46590

Novatel usb727 antenna adapter: http://cgi.ebay.com/External-Antenn...wItemQQptZPDA_Accessories?hash=item562c5517ea

Usb cord extender: http://cgi.ebay.com/5FT-Extension-U...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4a9e265941

I hope this helps ya out. :)

Mark, I wanted to THANK YOU for posting all this detailed information. I am so worn out from researching ham radios, ham radio antennas, ham radio mounts, that I am sick to death of trying to figure out exactly what I need to buy! I did a search to start this long process of what I would need to get mobile broadband in my Xterra, and when I found your post, I thought I was going to cry! I ordered every single piece you specified, it all came in in 3 days, and I just finished installing it all in my truck. Works like a CHARM. Last weekend I was chasing in Arkansas with my iPhone (ouch). Thanks.
 
I have used my setup 3 times so far this year and have been very pleased thus far. Verizon has been outstanding for me like usual in the Midwest. I have lost a connection maybe twice and then had to reconnect. Now if only the damn cin would not move in and kill off the storms over IL like it has done all year thus far on potentially good chase days then I would be in a much better mood, lol..
 
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