Reception is very low. And cannot use hotspot

Y Victory 18 Wang

Just got my victory from freedompop last night. Found two problem.
First, the reception is very low. I am in a solid green LTE area on Sprint's coverage map. But the 4G signal is close to none. The same for 3G signal. I put an Overdrive Pro next to it which can connect to 3G with almost full bars.
Second, the hotspot works only sporadically. Most of the time, I got the Hotspot Error "Unable to connect to data network, turning off Hotspot. Your plan may not have the Hotspot service. Please contact your phone company"

These two are really killing factors. If I cannot connect to mobile network and connect tethering, why do I need this phone?

Yunwei

Ali

You need to be on the unlimited plan or the premier service to tether. After subscribing update your PRL to get access.

For Sprint's coverage, you may want an airave activated for better coverage

joshadavis

@ali

Ali said:

You need to be on the unlimited plan or the premier service to tether. After subscribing update your PRL to get access.

For Sprint's coverage, you may want an airave activated for better coverage

How can I upgrade to the 19.99 unlimited plan when my service period ends. Also is tethering included in the unlimited everything plan?

Richard Allen

When you check the Sprint coverage map you need to check the data map instead of the voice map. FP is a VOIP provider which means your calls will be made using a data connection.

In my location the Sprint voice coverage shows 'good' but when I switch to the data coverage it shows 'fair'. The 'fair' signal strength is about par with whet I see on my Samsung Victory. My signal strength jumps around between 0 - 3 bars depending on which tower it is connecting to.

James Sewell

the antenna on the victory is weak imo. It cuts out compared to my iphone 4s.

And i can only get lte outside of the house, haha. But it's all good as I wanted to see android once more so I can decided between android and iphone for the long haul.

I don't like the color reproduction on the Iphone 4s nor victory. Victory is over saturated and the iphone 4s is under saturated. I know the color gamet will be accurate with the iphone5 with 100% adobe colors....and the galaxy s3 has too many colors. I have to check reviews of the s4 to make sure the colors are accurate as I know samsung finally got it correct with the recent note4.

matrx10503

Y Victory 19 Wang said:

Just got my victory from freedompop last night. Found two problem.
First, the reception is very low. I am in a solid green LTE area on Sprint's coverage map. But the 4G signal is close to none. The same for 3G signal. I put an Overdrive Pro next to it which can connect to 3G with almost full bars.
Second, the hotspot works only sporadically. Most of the time, I got the Hotspot Error "Unable to connect to data network, turning off Hotspot. Your plan may not have the Hotspot service. Please contact your phone company"

These two are really killing factors. If I cannot connect to mobile network and connect tethering, why do I need this phone?

Yunwei

Pretty much what I have going here. Coverage shows green for LTE and yellow for 3G
I ordered the Victory for the LTE coverage. I am signed up for premier services and all. I have tried updates PRL and Profile, to no avail.
I installed Open Signal app (shows signal stats)...and its says i'm connected at substandard 2.5g (although phone indicator shows 3G up/down animation) and that's usually 2 bars max
I think i'm about to sell this phone and buy an Overdrive Pro instead. :-/

matrx10503

Ali said:

You need to be on the unlimited plan or the premier service to tether. After subscribing update your PRL to get access.

For Sprint's coverage, you may want an airave activated for better coverage

If you get the Airave activated Ting....would you be paying for the freedonpop and the ting sub also?

Rich Sias (16th)

@Ali‌ posted elsewhere that Ting does not have a fee to connect the Airave. I know too little about it. He's also said it needs an internet cat5 connection. I'm not sure if it's a both or only either condition.

Ali

It's a both connection - Ting needs it activated and you need an internet source. No fee is there.

Brian McPherson

Cat5 Ethernet is just to connect to router. That does not cost that much, I look onto the ting web site and it cost $222.00. If you can come up with the money, that can help you for 3g.

matrx10503

Ali said:

It's a both connection - Ting needs it activated and you need an internet source. No fee is there.

But you would be paying two subs right? Sub for Freedompop (or even the free plan) and also Ting would charge you for usage?

Ali

@matrx10503‌ No no no... Ting activates the airaves for free, and you need an ISP to use the airave (meant to be something unlimited but FP will work too if you have a hub and wimax).

matrx10503

Ali said:

@matrx10503‌ No no no... Ting activates the airaves for free, and you need an ISP to use the airave (meant to be something unlimited but FP will work too if you have a hub and wimax).

Thanks for the reply.
I'm thinking its no use for me to use the Airave......because its using the internet as a backhaul to carry the voice/data.
I have satellite internet and its plenty fast, but the latency is around 600-700ms
At the best, I get a mediocre -90dBm 3g signal (not good, but not bad), and latency is around 200ms. This is decent, but the speeds are slow due to signal.

My thoughts are this.....since the satellite is carrying the load, i'm thinking my latency from the Airave will be around 600-1000ms, not closer to the 200ms or less, which is desired, from the cell tower.

I'm looking into Wilson signal boosters/signal amplifiers now.
If not, does anyone think a Freedompop mobile hotspot (overdrive, mifi, 803s, etc.) will catch a stronger/quality signal than the Galaxy Victory phone??

Rich Sias (16th)

Best is if another forum member chimes in they have both a Victory and any other of those devices. They can then report respective signals received at same spot. Crude, but good enough for first quick eval. So who out there can do this ?

I got a Victory but only three Photons, so can't compare.

njfulwider5

@Y Victory 19 Wang ·
Have you figured out the Reasons you need these phone/Hotspot?

I am hoping you purchased the phone because you like the fact that you get free 200 voice and 500 text along with 500 mbs free data.

As for Tethering, you would need to purchase the plan that allows this. The only sentience that speaks about tethering is the last one. Are you considering the hotspot device a tether device?

Comparing how one device connects compared to another device, can sometimes help you find great signals. I like to use my phone to find that perfect spot inside my home, to place my hotspot. But the fact is each device has its own special setting, and requesting signal from the tower in it own special way. You will not get the same signal strength across all device. I have tried(NON-Freedompop devices are the same as Freedompop device) The signal doesn't discriminate.

It looks like you Post might have gotten way off topic. What have you tried? Something must have worked perfect for you, you purchased another freedompop item? Was the Hotspot first? Did it use to work Great, and just recent, you having the issues connecting? On the Phone, have you made sure you have all the correct settings? Did you buy anything recent(non-freedompop) That might have disrupted the airwaves received at home?

I'd like to know, what happens if you use your phone in other places. Same with the hotspot. Was your test done in one place? Did you have a chance to test in multiple place? In Your home-Did you test in only one place in the home? I'd like to hear some more on the subject straight from the OP

Hope to hear from you soon

matrx10503

Firstly, Sorry to hijack the thread...these questions kind of lead to other questions.

Yes the phone was purchased for the free plan which I am perfectly content with..I don't need any assistance with tethering, i've gotten all that figured out permanently (i'm a XDA frequent)

I know that the phone does work to my acceptable standards if and when it has good signal.
I went to another location (unfortunately I wasn't checking strenght (dBm) at the time...really because the location is luckily very near some towers, so strong Sprint signal and it also has pretty much full AT&T signal also at the location...so it has a consistent signal)
The issue is at my home location, i've walked about a 1.5 acre perimeter and the strongest signal I got was -90 dBm, which shows as 3 bars max on the phone). At this strength it performs no where near the level when it had good signal at the other location near the towers.
So all in all...i've come to the conclusion, I need either a signal booster/amplifier, to just use my AT&T LTE plan, or see if a mobile hotspot will receive a little better/stronger quality signal than the phone. (And technically I could get a hotspot that accepts antennas and use a external antenna for it also)
At the lowest level of signal boosting, there is a cheap car/home window booster that claims 6db of gain booster. So if i'm getting -90dBm now, i'd hope to achieve -84dBm signal max out of it.
On the Wilson spectrum of signal boosters (very much higher priced)... Extrapolating from readings, i'd achieve about -40 to -70/80 dBm strength.