VZW and Samsung Hotspot Issues

[STexan]

I recently acquired a "Samsung Hotspot" 3g/4g device through Millinicom. I have not contacted Millinicom about this issue yet but ...

I've noticed that sometimes (mostly, but not always in fringe or weak reception areas), the lights on the device appear as though it is "restarting" and it might do this a few times inside of a minute, and the laptop is looking for a wifi signal as this is going on. Anyone else seen this? Does it have some sort of a heat issue that might cause it to "restart" intermittently? BTW, I leave mine on charge the entire time I'm regularly tapping the device and I do notice it is sometimes pretty warm to the touch, also FWIW, I'm not presently using any booster devices.

I noticed mention of 3g to 4g handoff issues with verizon and VZW devices, but many of the areas I've noticed this happen in should not have been in range of any 4g. As was mentioned, it seems to mostly happen when a less than strong signal is indicated.

Thanks

 

[Jeff Snyder]

The reviews for this device are, by and large, very bad. If you look on Amazon or other review sites, you'll see a *lot* of reviews that state that this device has very significant reliability problems. I ended up getting the hotspot through Millenicom as well, even knowing about the generally bad reviews. I had issues with the hotspot the first time I used it -- the wifi would disconnect / disappear repeatedly. I changed some of the settings (e.g. changed to 802.11 b/g/n, changed WiFi security to WPA2, etc.), and I haven't had a problem since then. It may have just been coincidence, though it's been pretty solid since that time. I always leave the device plugged into a 12v cigarette lighter outlet too.

 

[STexan]

Appreciate the feedback. I have applied the same settings you mentioned, as well as disabled the VPN passthrough (on by default I suppose) will report back my findings.