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Hello all. I have seen posts within threads about the samsung airave. I am thinking of obtaining one because a lot of places I go to away from my home don't have good sprint coverage. I am just curious as to how many people have one and how much u paid for the unit ad how much u pay per month. I have seen posts where people got it for free (no monthly and no initial cost) and others that have to pay per month or only paid for the unit. Any insist and help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
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MedicStuder said:
Hello all. I have seen posts within threads about the samsung airave. I am thinking of obtaining one because a lot of places I go to away from my home don't have good sprint coverage. I am just curious as to how many people have one and how much u paid for the unit ad how much u pay per month. I have seen posts where people got it for free (no monthly and no initial cost) and others that have to pay per month or only paid for the unit. Any insist and help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
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It'll only cover your home, and up to 5,000 feet (probably very poor signal outside the 1,000 foot radius). If you signal is poor inside your house, then you can get on for free.
Overstew said:
It'll only cover your home, and up to 5,000 feet (probably very poor signal outside the 1,000 foot radius). If you signal is poor inside your house, then you can get on for free.
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So I couldn't get one and take it with me to a family members house when I visit and plug into their internet and use it. I would have to leave it at home and only use it there?
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Yes, there is a gps chip in the airrave to ensure its not used to get service in an area other than your home.
063_XOBX said:
Yes, there is a gps chip in the airrave to ensure its not used to get service in an area other than your home.
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Really??? Wow!!! Did not know that. In my opionion that's kinda sh**y. But that's just my opionion. Thanks for the info everyone.
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I might be wrong but I thought the gps chip is to keep people from using it internationally.
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Jesse Buck said:
I might be wrong but I thought the gps chip is to keep people from using it internationally.
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This too. You have to also have the airave hooked up to a high internet packaged router/modem.
MedicStuder said:
Really??? Wow!!! Did not know that. In my opionion that's kinda sh**y. But that's just my opionion. Thanks for the info everyone.
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063_XOBX said:
Yes, there is a gps chip in the airrave to ensure its not used to get service in an area other than your home.
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That is not accurate. I have an Airave and I will try to answer all your questions.
On price, the hardware costs $99 retail. As you mention, there is lots of wiggle room there. I called retentions and told them I have no service out my house, which is true, and is why I need the Airave. You have to pay on your credit card upfront but they will give you a $99 statement credit, making it free. Then, to use the Airwave, the feature must be added to you account. It costs $5/month. The rep I spoke to would not wave this fee. I decided to pay it but you could try talking to a few people. They claim they cannot wave it because making calls using the Airave does not count against your minutes and so you have to pay something for the service. This is true, a tleast that it doesn't use your minutes. I never worry about minutes anyway, and I bet a nice rep could wave it, but it really is a good deal for $5/month to go from no bars to full bars in your house.
How does the Airwave work? It is a mini CDMA cell tower that uses VoIP as the backend to connect your call to the phone network. Specifically, the Airwave establishes a secure VPN to Sprint when it is booted, which can take a good few minutes. By default, any Sprint phone can connect to your Airave. You can choose to restrict to certain phone numbers to keep your neighbors from hogging your bandwidth. This is configured through Sprint, not locally on the device. Verizon phones cannot connect. I do not know about Boost or Virgin but I think I read they do not work either.
So why the GPS? While Sprint ideally only wants you using the Airave in your "home" location, the reality is that the GPS is required so that the Airave doesn't
run afoul of the FCC. Broadcasting in the CDMA spectrum must only be done in locations for which Sprint has a license, otherwise laws are broken, and ridiculous fines are theoretically involved. In other words, the GPS is there to keep you from using the Airave in other countries, but it should work most anywhere in the US. Otherwise, a specific "home address" is not being enforced. You can use it California today and Kansas tomorrow and it should work fine. If you do go oversees, I can think of a few cool hacks you could use, including spoofed GPS signals at the broadcast/antenna level using software radio, cutting the GPS output from the chip on the circuit board and replacing it with a microcontroller that just outs NMEA data, custom firmware hacks, the list goes on
The one hack I have done is replacing the stock antenna with a high gain one. I had to get a pigtail and cut the stock antenna "lock" ring with a dremel. I haven't measured the signal gain so I can't really say it was worth it, but it was fun.
emkman said:
That is not accurate. I have an Airave and I will try to answer all your questions.
On price, the hardware costs $99 retail. As you mention, there is lots of wiggle room there. I called retentions and told them I have no service out my house, which is true, and is why I need the Airave. You have to pay on your credit card upfront but they will give you a $99 statement credit, making it free. Then, to use the Airwave, the feature must be added to you account. It costs $5/month. The rep I spoke to would not wave this fee. I decided to pay it but you could try talking to a few people. They claim they cannot wave it because making calls using the Airave does not count against your minutes and so you have to pay something for the service. This is true, a tleast that it doesn't use your minutes. I never worry about minutes anyway, and I bet a nice rep could wave it, but it really is a good deal for $5/month to go from no bars to full bars in your house.
How does the Airwave work? It is a mini CDMA cell tower that uses VoIP as the backend to connect your call to the phone network. Specifically, the Airwave establishes a secure VPN to Sprint when it is booted, which can take a good few minutes. By default, any Sprint phone can connect to your Airave. You can choose to restrict to certain phone numbers to keep your neighbors from hogging your bandwidth. This is configured through Sprint, not locally on the device. Verizon phones cannot connect. I do not know about Boost or Virgin but I think I read they do not work either.
So why the GPS? While Sprint ideally only wants you using the Airave in your "home" location, the reality is that the GPS is required so that the Airave doesn't
run afoul of the FCC. Broadcasting in the CDMA spectrum must only be done in locations for which Sprint has a license, otherwise laws are broken, and ridiculous fines are theoretically involved. In other words, the GPS is there to keep you from using the Airave in other countries, but it should work most anywhere in the US. Otherwise, a specific "home address" is not being enforced. You can use it California today and Kansas tomorrow and it should work fine. If you do go oversees, I can think of a few cool hacks you could use, including spoofed GPS signals at the broadcast/antenna level using software radio, cutting the GPS output from the chip on the circuit board and replacing it with a microcontroller that just outs NMEA data, custom firmware hacks, the list goes on
The one hack I have done is replacing the stock antenna with a high gain one. I had to get a pigtail and cut the stock antenna "lock" ring with a dremel. I haven't measured the signal gain so I can't really say it was worth it, but it was fun.
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Thank you. Now that makes logical sense.
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Emkman- would an airrave be.of any benefit.if you have say half signal at your house? Would sprint give it to me for free it do they only do that if you have no signal? Also are the speeds the same connected to an airrave or different? Thanks
Sent From My Evo Killer!
@emkman
The one hack I have done is replacing the stock antenna with a high gain one. I had to get a pigtail and cut the stock antenna "lock" ring with a dremel. I haven't measured the signal gain so I can't really say it was worth it, but it was fun.
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but it was fun
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/high five
I got my Airave for free, and it cost absolutely nothing per month on my bill, i got that waived too. The Airave is assigned a phone number on your Sprint bill, take it wherever you want to, you might have to call Sprint though when you relocate it to get it up and running again, I took mine to my fiancee's house, plugged it in the router, and was able to use it there with no issues.
I have an airave that Sprint gave me for free due to many dropped calls around my house. In my situation it does more harm than good, so it's been unplugged for the last 2 weeks or so. If you're on an airave call, it doesn't get handed off to the real cell tower network. So if you're on the phone and you want to leave your house, too bad. Likewise, if your on a call when you come home, it doesn't hand the active call off to your airave, so if I come inside and go downstairs to my office I drop the call anyway. Also, it only allows 5 or 6 sprint phones to connect to it - and not ones that you choose. So if you have some friends/neighbors with Sprint that come over and they fill up the airave before you do - too bad again. In many cases I had to power cycle the airave to get my own phone to connect again (which takes forever). Sprint also mandates that the Airave be the 1st device behind your cable modem. So if your modem is integrated with your router, WAP, etc... you'll have a problem. There are ways to get it to work behind your own device, but Sprint will always point the finger if you configure it as such (even when there is a known airave outage going on, gotta love scripted tech support). When you combine the fact that I have to quite often power cycle the airave and it sits between the Internet connection and my LAN - I had to kill internet to my house several times a week in order to use the thing.
On the plus side, you get blazing fast 3g speeds through the new generation airave (you damn well better, its your own broadband!) In the case of the smartphone, who cares - just fire up your Wifi. If you have very bad or no cell coverage whatsoever this is probably a very good solution. Personally I find Roam Control to be a better solution for my specific situation.
I am thinking about getting the Airave but this is what Sprint says:
Great news! You will be able to use the AIRAVE Access Point in the areas displayed below. However, there is no coverage for the AIRAVE at this location yet.
Now that is totally confusing! The map shows that I am covered. Guess I need to call sprint.
You actually can limit the users on the airave. I've done it just for that reason. Only my wife and I can use the airave. I believe you can set it by telephone #, look through the manual you will find it.
Edit: you can limit access on www.sprint.com you have to access your account.
insanity213 said:
I have an airave that Sprint gave me for free due to many dropped calls around my house. In my situation it does more harm than good, so it's been unplugged for the last 2 weeks or so. If you're on an airave call, it doesn't get handed off to the real cell tower network. So if you're on the phone and you want to leave your house, too bad. Likewise, if your on a call when you come home, it doesn't hand the active call off to your airave, so if I come inside and go downstairs to my office I drop the call anyway. Also, it only allows 5 or 6 sprint phones to connect to it - and not ones that you choose. So if you have some friends/neighbors with Sprint that come over and they fill up the airave before you do - too bad again. In many cases I had to power cycle the airave to get my own phone to connect again (which takes forever). Sprint also mandates that the Airave be the 1st device behind your cable modem. So if your modem is integrated with your router, WAP, etc... you'll have a problem. There are ways to get it to work behind your own device, but Sprint will always point the finger if you configure it as such (even when there is a known airave outage going on, gotta love scripted tech support). When you combine the fact that I have to quite often power cycle the airave and it sits between the Internet connection and my LAN - I had to kill internet to my house several times a week in order to use the thing.
On the plus side, you get blazing fast 3g speeds through the new generation airave (you damn well better, its your own broadband!) In the case of the smartphone, who cares - just fire up your Wifi. If you have very bad or no cell coverage whatsoever this is probably a very good solution. Personally I find Roam Control to be a better solution for my specific situation.
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Airrave will go 8,000 square feet. I have the soc on my account. They can power it up that far. I was able to get it free, you can restrict phones in your account settings or keep it open.
Did not work out!
Recieved the Airave tried to make calls but 2 out of 10 would drop after starting the conversation.
Tried to get Sprint Tech to help with FIOS router but to no avail.
Call FIOS but as far as they were concerned I had a 'Great' singnal, which I did.
Just called Sprint to return, I'm in Pgh, PA area.
Hope this helps.
ps-Sprint should take the time to provide instructions to provide info to setup different routers, ie FIOS.
ive seen some misconceptions in this thread.
on sprint.com you can limit and restrict airave usage to only numbers on your account, or just numbers of your choosing.
also on sprint.com you can provision it to broadcast up to 8000 feet. mine works well 14 houses up the block. i dont know how many feet that is.
to who said it doesnt hand off to hard towers, you are correct. mine drops the call on the 15th house. also, when me and the old lady are fighting, and i hear her out on the porch talking **** to her friends, i can unplug it and it drops the call instantly. she hates me.
i have an airave 2 (capable of 3g). i was not charged anything for this. not for the equiptment or the service fee. i was told by a sprint rep that they didnt even have a way to charge for it and it was specifficaly a free item upon approval by retentions. im not sure why one would have to put it on their credit card, doesnt sprint bill to the account for small charges like the supposed 99 dollars?
last point. it is "airave" not airwave.
I heard that they stopped doing the free deal.....but not 100% on that....I got mine for free back about 6 months ago....I never paid a penny nor do I pay $5 a month for it.....but as I said I have heard they changed their policies.....so you may want to check it out first....
My dad got one around the first of january for free. Its not even at his house. My grandmas house burned down last year and he's rebuilding. He just told them he was spending most of his time there and she's down in a deep valley with no service, so they gave him a second one. (for free)
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So I'm moving to a new apartment in a couple of weeks, and the area is notorious for having crappy sprint coverage. Being as that I'm a 3rd party retailer for sprint, my rep set me up with a free airrave, no questions asked.
MY question is, does the Airrave have some sort of password protection so that i won't have 5 neighbors constantly using my Airrave? I know it works through my internet, so I don't want to have a bunch of people slowing down my internet.
Also, I was reading about an issue with text messaging with the airrave. Does anyone know if they fixed the problem yet?
Slash8915 said:
So I'm moving to a new apartment in a couple of weeks, and the area is notorious for having crappy sprint coverage. Being as that I'm a 3rd party retailer for sprint, my rep set me up with a free airrave, no questions asked.
MY question is, does the Airrave have some sort of password protection so that i won't have 5 neighbors constantly using my Airrave? I know it works through my internet, so I don't want to have a bunch of people slowing down my internet.
Also, I was reading about an issue with text messaging with the airrave. Does anyone know if they fixed the problem yet?
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You can lock your airave to just your number. And I have no problems at all when using the airave, texting, calling, or data
Slash8915 said:
MY question is, does the Airrave have some sort of password protection so that i won't have 5 neighbors constantly using my Airrave? I know it works through my internet, so I don't want to have a bunch of people slowing down my internet.
Also, I was reading about an issue with text messaging with the airrave. Does anyone know if they fixed the problem yet?
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The Airrave has made a tremendous difference for my coverage at home-- I live 35 flights in the sky here in Chicago and prior to the Airrave there were some places in my condo unit that I got full signal strength and other places within the unit that I got no signal; with the Airrave I am full strength and no longer need to worry about missed calls/texts due to my phone being in one of the dead zones in my unit.
I don't have password protection enabled on the Airrave (my Wi-Fi & broadband is PW protected) and haven't noticed a negative impact on my web speeds due to the potential of other's accessing Airrave. I would be happy to see if PW protection makes a difference if you'd like me to test it out.
As far as the sending of texts issue-- yes on RARE occasions w/the E4GT on wi-fi (which is connected to Airrave) I will get a Failed message when trying to send a text (surprisingly NO issues receiving texts, I even get texts at the same time I am getting Failed to Send notifications). My solutions, both which have worked consistently: 1) Disconnect the E4GT from wi-fi and try to resend 2) If that doesn't work reboot and try to resend.
Hope that helps
There is a way to lock it down so only you could use it.. and possibly any other lines on your acct. However when i asked sprint about it they either didnt want to hassle with it or it really doesnt matter because they didnt want me to lockit down.. either way it has a certain range which can be extended.. i think 800ft then can be extendended to a certain amt of feet. Rarely does it have issues and the only thing they make you do is reset everything. The speeds are still 3g speeds but where you have no service it works perfectly.. i use the antennae and have it close to the ceiling (i have two floors) and of course practically in thw window which is needed to maintain a good gps lock.. other than that, cant complain about something your using free of charge. There is also the time i wanted the gs2.. and what would ya know, my airrave was elig for a full upgrade ;-). So got the sgs2, did esn chng with my line, switched airrave back, sold the og epic.. win/win situation!
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Slash8915 said:
So I'm moving to a new apartment in a couple of weeks, and the area is notorious for having crappy sprint coverage. Being as that I'm a 3rd party retailer for sprint, my rep set me up with a free airrave, no questions asked.
MY question is, does the Airrave have some sort of password protection so that i won't have 5 neighbors constantly using my Airrave? I know it works through my internet, so I don't want to have a bunch of people slowing down my internet.
Also, I was reading about an issue with text messaging with the airrave. Does anyone know if they fixed the problem yet?
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Once you get it...it'll be an active line on your account.. click and open it online and put in numbers you only want to have access.
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The moment you get your airwave up and running marks the end of texting as you know it. It is really that bad.
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revamper said:
The moment you get your airwave up and running marks the end of texting as you know it. It is really that bad.
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Lol probably a sprint issue in your area..no problems here at all.. once upon a time there was until i got my airrave replaced.. no problems since and ive been on it over a year
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revamper said:
The moment you get your airwave up and running marks the end of texting as you know it. It is really that bad.
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Had mine 6 months and haven't had any problems sending or receiving any texts
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I got my airrave in late November and hated it.
The unit caused my phone to constantly think that it was in Tulsa, OK (when in fact I live just north of Oklahoma City, OK) - which was pretty annoying as trying to get the weather or GPS navigation was pretty useless until I got out of the airrave's range.
Then I did some testing and found out that in fact I was missing a rare amount of incoming text messages - like perhaps 1 in 20 or so.
I hate missing any message so that combined with the GPS issue was enough to make me discontinue using the airrave. Fortunately by then some of the better modems for our device had been released which made it to where I didn't need the airrave just to get reliable service at home anymore. I still occasionally miss a call because it takes so long for the phone to receive notification of the call, but I'd rather miss a call than a text message, as voicemail ALWAYS goes through, whereas a missed text message just goes off into the ether.
I came to this thread hoping to see if the problems had been solved yet, but I figured I should share my issues as well. Also I tried a ton of stuff to get the airrave to work properly even with some really knowledgable sprint techs and nothing worked - there was supposed to be an update out "sometime 2012" though so not sure if that's been pushed yet or not.
Edit: Oh also, I wanted to mention that yes you can lock down the unit to only respond to your phone number(s) pretty easily. Thing has a HUGE range as well so it has that going for it. Oh and it's not a big deal for me but do keep in mind your bill will go up by $1.50 a month for that stupid "administration fee" - but you can work it to get a free upgrade out of the line sometimes so you can make it worth it for you.
Hope this helps!
The only time I needed it was when I had the evo3d, I had no signal in my house. Since I had it I've had the texting bug, it been unplugged in my kitchen for the past 3 months.
I have had the Airvana with no issues with the Evo and then Evo3D. Got my E4TG and had texting issues for the first day, then I was fine for a few months. Starting last Thursday, I can no longer receive texts from Sprint or any carrier, I can send fine. I reset the Airave at least 15 times and still the same issue. Sprint says that's just the way the Airavana model works and sometimes it has text problems. They can't explain why it worked fine for months and then just stopped. I am going to hook up my original Samsung Airave that only did 1x data and see if it still happens. I use wifi at home so no need for the Airvana 3G data, especially if I am going to have more texting issues.
I've had my airave since October 2011 and it's made a HUGE difference in service. I live in an area that the Sprint coverage map says has great voice and full 3G, but in actuality I can barely get 1 bar anywhere in my neighborhood, data is deplorable and, often I was roaming in my own apartment. Because of this I had to argue through 3 CS reps before they just gave me one without trying to charge the $120. I do not have it locked down to my number, and i have not noticed any issues with my internet speed - Netflix works flawlessly on my laptop and through my bluray. I have noticed that my phone will sometimes not switch over once in range and I have to toggle airplane mode to straighten it out. Frustrating, but rare.
I would like to know how one of the the previous posters was able to finagle an upgrade out of the Airave line though.
luckychef28 said:
I've had my airave since October 2011 and it's made a HUGE difference in service. I live in an area that the Sprint coverage map says has great voice and full 3G, but in actuality I can barely get 1 bar anywhere in my neighborhood, data is deplorable and, often I was roaming in my own apartment. Because of this I had to argue through 3 CS reps before they just gave me one without trying to charge the $120. I do not have it locked down to my number, and i have not noticed any issues with my internet speed - Netflix works flawlessly on my laptop and through my bluray. I have noticed that my phone will sometimes not switch over once in range and I have to toggle airplane mode to straighten it out. Frustrating, but rare.
I would like to know how one of the the previous posters was able to finagle an upgrade out of the Airave line though.
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+1
my airrave is awesome .. i had to ***** to like 3 people to get it free with no monthly payment but i finally got it . but when i leave my house i dont get the reception .. even like in my driveway so unless your in an apartment building with thin walls i dont think the reception would even reach anyone elses place
I love mine. You finally get some decent 3g speeds. I don't think you have to worry about locking it though. The range isn't that far and you have to also take into account that not everyone has a sprint phone. Plus it doesn't effect my computer speeds at home. We can have Netflix going on two computers and i can talk on the phone with no hiccups.
Sent from Team KC's founding member HTC Evo 4G LTE.
Thanks for the replies, everyone. Where I currently live, I have decent coverage, but I wanted to have it before I moved. I REALLY hope I don't have any text issues, because that would really irritate me. As far as admin fees, I doubt I'll be charged anything. Being as that I'm a store manager, every fee so far has been waived. It also meant I was able to get my E4GT for $50 the day it came out.
I have the texting issue... they have reset the air rave continuously, replaced it twice... and it still base the same problem. Doesn't matter if I am connected to wifi or not.
Slash8915 said:
Thanks for the replies, everyone. Where I currently live, I have decent coverage, but I wanted to have it before I moved. I REALLY hope I don't have any text issues, because that would really irritate me. As far as admin fees, I doubt I'll be charged anything. Being as that I'm a store manager, every fee so far has been waived. It also meant I was able to get my E4GT for $50 the day it came out.
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The Epic 4G Touch forum, as well as the XDA site is rife with complaints about the Airave. I had it and I had the problem with handing off calls once I left its range but my kids had tons of problems with text messages queuing up. Others swear by it.
Just remember: You have to return it or they will charge you for the device. Not hard but when I returned mine they tried to charge me. I think it was $250. I kept my tracking number tho so no problem... Except for one more 30 minute to Sprint.
Do not, I repeat do not lock the airrave down so only you can use it.
This results in anyone else trying to use a sprint phone within the airraves coverage not able to get service at all.
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R1ptide said:
Do not, I repeat do not lock the airrave down so only you can use it.
This results in anyone else trying to use a sprint phone within the airraves coverage not able to get service at all.
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And yet if you don't lock it down you allow anybody with Sprint service to use your internet... unlimited... unknowingly... Yeah, the last thing I want is for my wacked out neighbor downloading kiddie porn through my internet connection.
Too bad i had to return my galaxy note 10.1 2014 just because of a screen bug :| . I got a refund though so am happy but now i am thinking as to why i should get a 3g tablet and just get a wifi version which is cheaper. Is it possible to just set up mobile hotspot on my blackberry q10 and get the wifi note 10.1 and connect to it ? :|
I personally wouldn't own a Wi-Fi tablet and have been using a 3G Note 10.1 since last August when the N8000 was released. I now have a SM-P601.
It's always connected. If you're at an airport you can just pull it out and you're online. Boarding called? Just stuff it back in your bag. The whole concept of pulling out my phone, turning on tethering, connecting the tablet and then having to do the same thing in reverse is just tedious. Leave tethering on your phone on accidentally and your phone's battery is toast.
Battery maximization. Why use Wi-Fi from your phone with a small battery to power your tablet with a massive one? I always use my tablet for long conference calls and video calls because its battery is enormous and I can count on my phone being charged enough when I need it.
Syncing. I have nine syncs running in addition to any apps that may need syncing too. When you turn on a Wi-Fi tablet that's been offline tons of syncs all hit the now available connection at the same time to update themselves. Your device will move like sludge until their done.
Convenience. I have my phone and tablet configured the exact same way so I can get the same information from either. The phone's convenient for fast things like short MMS and quick calls. The tablets great when you're reading or composing longer items like e-mail. I sync bookmarks, Scrapbook, and S Note between my tablet and phone so I can start something on one and pick up where I left off on the other.
Wi-Fi isn't everywhere and where it is available it can be weak and inconsistent. I can send an e-mail via 3G faster than I can find a Wi-Fi AP and sign in to it. Overseas, Wi-Fi isn't free and isn't as readily available as it is in the U.S. A PayG data card can be cheaper than Wi-Fi in a lot of countries.
Adding an unsubsidized device like a 3G N10.1-14 to your plan has dropped in price on both AT&T and T-Mobile. The additional price difference for the 3G vs. the Wi-Fi N10.1-14 cost me about $120 which is like $10 a month if I keep it a year. The freedom of being always connected is worth the extra cost, monthly and upfront, for me. And if you're on a shared data plan the same amount of data is consumed whether your device is connecting directly or being tethered via your phone.
YMMV.
Interesting!! my main concern would be gps pinpointing my location since i do a little traveling here and there but my q10 can do that... :/ Any kind of ratio as to which model has the most problems? i developed a little phobia of recieving problematic devices :| this is the first time i had to return a device. I am leaning on to the wifi version now Thanks btw .
I would go with 3g like Barry_GEG said.
I almost bought the wifi only but the Samsung Store here in South East Asia had the 3g for $600 so I couldn't pass it up.
I use it as a home phone now also.
I would never buy a wifi only in the future.
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I bought (and love) the Wifi version and use a Karma device when I need non-wifi connectivity.
Po678 said:
My main concern would be gps pinpointing my location since i do a little traveling here and there but my q10 can do that
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Tablets, especially large ones, make great navigation devices. Here's mine showing a route in Garmin. That's another advantage of a 3G tablet. You don't have to cache maps in Google Maps and Google Now and S Voice which require Internet access to work are always available. I wouldn't mount a 10" tablet on my windshield but I'll prop it up in the seat next to me or allow a passenger to be navigator.
Hmmmmm .....i checked in one of the stores and it seems there is a 4g version available here and there is a hype about snapdragon in the forums. is the snapdragon worth the extra bucks? because the wifi only version is alot expensive than it is worth in the middle east , i might as well pay high for the 4g version? what do you guys think?
Where I live 3G contracts are way too expensive... It takes me one second to turn on the hotspot on my phone and im not travelling that often to really make use of another 3g contract.
But i can see the arguments in the first post
This looks pretty interesting, just noticed that a few news aggregators that I check had some info about the "Uncarrier 7" announcement. Apparently, starting on 9/17 for only a $25 DEPOSIT (easily reclaimed if I understand correctly) for what they're calling a "Personal CellSpot" wifi router. I'm super curious about the specifics of this device, this article http://www.geekwire.com/2014/t-mobi...nal-cellspot-wifi-router-boost-call-coverage/ reports that in the announcement Tmo said that it could even replace your current router... which is not something I'm at all interested in doing, but adding it to my network to get max LTE inside is something that I'm most definitely interested in doing. So just wanted to let you all know about this news, which I find quite interesting (particularly the literally unbeatable price). Anyone feel free to post any details that you can uncover about the device; I'll continue researching and do the same.
jazzmachine said:
This looks pretty interesting, just noticed that a few news aggregators that I check had some info about the "Uncarrier 7" announcement. Apparently, starting on 9/17 for only a $25 DEPOSIT (easily reclaimed if I understand correctly) for what they're calling a "Personal CellSpot" wifi router. I'm super curious about the specifics of this device, this article http://www.geekwire.com/2014/t-mobi...nal-cellspot-wifi-router-boost-call-coverage/ reports that in the announcement Tmo said that it could even replace your current router... which is not something I'm at all interested in doing, but adding it to my network to get max LTE inside is something that I'm most definitely interested in doing. So just wanted to let you all know about this news, which I find quite interesting (particularly the literally unbeatable price). Anyone feel free to post any details that you can uncover about the device; I'll continue researching and do the same.
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This actually looks pretty cool. Reminds me of the AT&T 3G thingy that they have, except full LTE
Just thought "Hmm, I wonder if there's any info about it on the TMo site... durrr." Here's a like to the overview of the device on their support site: https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-15754
After looking through that info: the setup instructions basically tell you to replace your current router with it (plug into modem, web setup gui), but there has to be a way to set it up as a bridge. Interestingly, In the troubleshooting section they link to the Asus support page for the (newer version) of the router that I have for advanced configuration, which seems promising. The device itself definitely has solid specs though: AC wifi, dual band, USB input etc. If my current router didn't have the same features, I'd definitely consider upgrading to it (after learning about it's firmware, config capabilities) if I didn't currently have an Asus RT-AC66U running Merlin's custom AsusWRT firmware (adds many features to the router, and I actually thought the stock AsusWRT wasn't bad... builds of DD-WRT ect. seem kind of iffy for it though). Anyways, if putting it in bridged mode isn't possible, I would look into attaching it via an ethernet splitter at my modem... that would actually work well (if it would work, continually trying to expand my knowledge in the complex realm of networking) because I almost always connect to a VPN client on my desktop machine... if I could set up an additional router, then I could just connect all the devices I wanted on the VPN to the Asus router which I would configure with OpenVPN, and my phone on other devices that I prefer I straight connection on to the T-Mo router.
However it ends up working, getting a device with those specs that also gives you strong LTE for approximately zero dollars and zero cents flat out kicks ass (unless it has some kind of backdoor to intercept all packets or something, that's my fear about using it as a solo router). Keep on un-carrying TMo!
toastido said:
This actually looks pretty cool. Reminds me of the AT&T 3G thingy that they have, except full LTE
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Yeah, back during the lengthy time that I paid ATT excessively due to the flat out false impression that my "grandfathered unlimited" plan still resembled the plan that I initially signed up for in any way... AT&T actually sent me one of those ($300 I believe) devices completely gratis because inside my old apartment, my phone could barely touch a mobile network other than AT&T's and still, the signal was super weak. They never asked for it back after I ditched them after finding out in an emergency situation just how "unlimited" my data plan really was, when I hit 5 gigs for the first time in years, and was immediately throttled down to "can't load a webpage" unusable. Calling CS several times, I had NO option to regain usable data until the month rolled over short of changing to a new plan where I would be *allowed* to buy additional data (and of course, signing a fresh contract, when my prior two years had just ended). But wait! there's more! Despite no-longer being an ATT sucker.. er, customer, I still receive a monthly bill for $16 from them. It's because of the fact that at one point, I had to buy a new un-subsidized phone, and they had this deal where you could get an S4 or something and an LTE tablet for the price of just the phone (but the tablet needed a data plan). That sounded pretty good, so I grabbed a Note 8 (i467, not realizing how crippled it was vs. the wifi 5110 version). So that tablet got stolen soon after purchase, and I replaced it with the wifi only model (in retrospect, MUCH better device... quite dev friendly vs AT&T model w/ obligatory locked bootloader which took forever to even find a working root method but custom ROMs pretty much out of the question). So I obviously didn't need want the tablet data anymore... well, they did me a huge favor, and changed my tablet plan to this one that costs $16 / month, which they clearly plan on charging me for the duration of 2 years, unless I can figure out how to void it or something.
Man, a totally OT tirade in my own thread! Actually that thought was sparked by your mention of the AT&T device, which I seriously need to sell on eBay! That could quite possibly cover this BS data-less data plan that AT&T insists that I owe them...
Slightly back on topic, this device appears to beat the pants off of the AT&T thing on every level. Spec-wise, it really does look like a very solid router available for only a refundable deposit! Good job TMo, this is definitely one of the more interesting un-carrier announcements...
This could be T-Mobile's replacement for their cell phone signal booster. They were $500 but giving them away free if you were in a bad area. Idk how much these cost to make but at least they arent giving them away for free.
A little more relevant detail (bolded) from a BGR link w/ more info about the whole announcement:
"T-Mobile’s second big announcement is a clear effort to work past any real or perceived indoor coverage issues by offering subscribers a free WiFi cell tower of sorts that can be used in their homes or offices.
Dubbed the “T-Mobile Personal CellSpot,” the device is basically a WiFi router that can work alongside or in place of your existing router. The CellSpot will allow all devices to connect to it, but it will prioritize WiFi calling voice traffic in order to ensure that calls are always as clear as possible.
A free Personal CellSpot can be obtained from a T-Mobile store or by calling the carrier’s customer service department, and a refundable $25 hardware deposit will be required."
http://bgr.com/2014/09/10/t-mobile-wifi-unleashed-announcement/
This would be great if your home network is good. Pointless if it's not. It sucks that I get LTE in one part of our house and then 4g/2g in another. An lte signal Booster would be more useful. I have an older signal Booster but it only boost 4g.
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Please don't get me started on ATT, it took 4 months, about 8 calls and 4 trips to different att stores to cancel expired contract account. Spoke to many different agents and managers, so it was company wide. On top of that they stole $150 (overpayments on cancelled account they promised refund, never did). I would take those gangsters to court, but just too busy and not worth my time. However I will never ever use their service, even if it was for free. Got great satisfaction when they paid billions to support my current cell company, T-mo. Sorry for my rant, couldn't resist.
Back to topic: Let us know how it works, I have LTE service at home, (about 10Mb down, 2Mb up) but this could speed things up a little.
jazzmachine said:
Yeah, back during the lengthy time that I paid ATT excessively due to the flat out false impression that my "grandfathered unlimited" plan still resembled the plan that I initially signed up for in any way... AT&T actually sent me one of those ($300 I believe) devices completely gratis because inside my old apartment, my phone could barely touch a mobile network other than AT&T's and still, the signal was super weak. They never asked for it back after I ditched them after finding out in an emergency situation just how "unlimited" my data plan really was, when I hit 5 gigs for the first time in years, and was immediately throttled down to "can't load a webpage" unusable. Calling CS several times, I had NO option to regain usable data until the month rolled over short of changing to a new plan where I would be *allowed* to buy additional data (and of course, signing a fresh contract, when my prior two years had just ended). But wait! there's more! Despite no-longer being an ATT sucker.. er, customer, I still receive a monthly bill for $16 from them. It's because of the fact that at one point, I had to buy a new un-subsidized phone, and they had this deal where you could get an S4 or something and an LTE tablet for the price of just the phone (but the tablet needed a data plan). That sounded pretty good, so I grabbed a Note 8 (i467, not realizing how crippled it was vs. the wifi 5110 version). So that tablet got stolen soon after purchase, and I replaced it with the wifi only model (in retrospect, MUCH better device... quite dev friendly vs AT&T model w/ obligatory locked bootloader which took forever to even find a working root method but custom ROMs pretty much out of the question). So I obviously didn't need want the tablet data anymore... well, they did me a huge favor, and changed my tablet plan to this one that costs $16 / month, which they clearly plan on charging me for the duration of 2 years, unless I can figure out how to void it or something.
Man, a totally OT tirade in my own thread! Actually that thought was sparked by your mention of the AT&T device, which I seriously need to sell on eBay! That could quite possibly cover this BS data-less data plan that AT&T insists that I owe them...
Slightly back on topic, this device appears to beat the pants off of the AT&T thing on every level. Spec-wise, it really does look like a very solid router available for only a refundable deposit! Good job TMo, this is definitely one of the more interesting un-carrier announcements...
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pete4k said:
Please don't get me started on ATT, it took 4 months, about 8 calls and 4 trips to different att stores to cancel expired contract account. Spoke to many different agents and managers, so it was company wide. On top of that they stole $150 (overpayments on cancelled account they promised refund, never did). I would take those gangsters to court, but just too busy and not worth my time. However I will never ever use their service, even if it was for free. Got great satisfaction when they paid billions to support my current cell company, T-mo. Sorry for my rant, couldn't resist.
Back to topic: Let us know how it works, I have LTE service at home, (about 10Mb down, 2Mb up) but this could speed things up a little.
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Yo, strictly on topic man! JUUUUST KIDDING! Actually, it's rather shocking how many topics "Yes, AT&T seriously pulled this BS" stories are at least tangentially related to! I imagine that I would have had a similar experience, had T-Mobile not only kindly handled the entire process for me, but then also gave me money! That has worked out VERY well.
No need for this of you have a asus rt-n66u or higher router with qos(quality of service). If your have a cheap comcast or att router this is for you.
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How would a router increase your LTE signal? I don't think it's a cell phone reception booster so it wouldn't increase our signal strength. I think T-Mobile would rather give out cheap routers so we will leave our wifi on for wifi calling/texting/surfing instead of using their cell towers.
It's both. LTE and Wi-Fi. At least that's what I got out of it.
Sent from my leanKernel 3.8 powered stock 4.4.2 (NF9) SM-N900T
Here's a hands-on account: http://www.phonearena.com/news/T-Mobiles-Personal-CellSpot-hands-on_id60587 In addition to a little more hardware info (USB 2 & 3 port... not too shabby), there's some decent discussion, particularly re: QoS being configured heavily for optimal VoIP, and who knows if that can be re-configured. It also answers a question that I couldn't help but wonder about...
So you throw down $25 bucks for this thing, then strip it for parts that you need for your legit A.I. quantum computer... are there any consequences other than being down $25 (and obviously the inevitable outcome which follows the Terminator movies plot lines precisely, including dialogue)? This article states that you can just straight up buy the device for $99, so I imagine that you'd be on the hook for an additional $75 if you can't return it... when the time comes (? whatever than ends up meaning). That is unless you use that new QC to travel back to before you ever picked it up... as long as you're willing to risk almost certainly causing several tears in the space / time continuum in order to save $99 (which could VERY possibly actually be worth $99.01 due to reverse inflation). Either way, you win!
If I'm not mistaken that tmo-ac1900 is a asus rt-ac68u(that I own) selling for real cheap.... The only router better on the market is the rt-ac87u
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Folks, this is a QOS modified Asus router. IT does NOT increase or rebroadcast ANY cell frequencies. LTE, 3g, 4g, nada.
It's purely QOS enhanced to give you WIFI calling QOS settings which most NORMAL users have no clue how to set up.
That being said, if you do not have a quality sim dual band router or only B/A/G/N and want a high quality router with AC standards, this is an extremely nice device.
For those of us who are professional engineers in the field and already have a quality router, you can always get this and add it as a signal repeater for wifi elsewhere in your home/office.
I shall probably get it just to have it on hand in case Netgear dumps a bad firmware and wipes my current router.
Admiral2145 said:
If I'm not mistaken that tmo-ac1900 is a asus rt-ac68u(that I own) selling for real cheap.... The only router better on the market is the rt-ac87u
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OK, hmm... thanks for that interesting info! I have the previous model of that router (rt-ac66u). Have you ever come across Merlin's AsusWRT firmware? I found it it because the stock gui tool to update the download and flash firmware upgrades is just broken (at least for my model). Apparently AsusWRT is open-sourced, which is pretty excellent, particularly for router firmware, and I later came across other customized builds but it looks like Merlin's is the most popular (at least that was what Google told me when I was inquiring about that built-in firmware update tool constantly failing), and it adds some nice additional settings. The hardware itself is also solid; only power-cycled it a handful of times over several months of ownership (it was pretty new when I got it), and that likely wasn't even the issue some of those times. Well, actually, I suppose it did kind of start resetting itself at one point... the power adapter is crap for some reason, and I eventually noticed that a little bit of the wire had gotten stripped, so i put electrical tape around that part, but if I touched the wire after that point the messed up part would lose alignment until I messed with it and saw the router reboot. The adapter I replaced that with feels much better; plug connection (in router) is perfectly tight vs. stock which is slightly loose, and it's both significantly longer and thicker. Actually, that Just reminded me that that I had broken one of the stock antennae, so I bought a replacement set (made for the router) that are a bit longer/thicker and did improve the signal strength. So, two thumbs up for the router itself, but just one sideways thumb for the quality of the included additional components.
This deal would be particularly killer if you're able to flash alternative firmware, which I would imagine they at least attempt to prevent, particularly if you just drop the temporary $25 to use it vs. the $99 to own it. However, even if it requires a JTAG and some skills, one can now get a high end router for only $99. If you want to experiment, ya think you could just throw down $25 to grab one, brick it quickly, return to store, "The one I got is defective, I tried to set it up and it won't turn on! Now I can't even access the cloud tube!! Blah, blah, obviously I'm not technical enough to have messed it up, can I get a different one?" So I guess we'll find out how locked down this thing is... using a router that needs to be "rooted" is a major red flag IMO...
jazzmachine said:
OK, hmm... thanks for that interesting info! I have the previous model of that router (rt-ac66u). Have you ever come across Merlin's AsusWRT firmware? I found it it because the stock gui tool to update the download and flash firmware upgrades is just broken (at least for my model). Apparently AsusWRT is open-sourced, which is pretty excellent, particularly for router firmware, and I later came across other customized builds but it looks like Merlin's is the most popular (at least that was what Google told me when I was inquiring about that built-in firmware update tool constantly failing), and it adds some nice additional settings. The hardware itself is also solid; only power-cycled it a handful of times over several months of ownership (it was pretty new when I got it), and that likely wasn't even the issue some of those times. Well, actually, I suppose it did kind of start resetting itself at one point... the power adapter is crap for some reason, and I eventually noticed that a little bit of the wire had gotten stripped, so i put electrical tape around that part, but if I touched the wire after that point the messed up part would lose alignment until I messed with it and saw the router reboot. The adapter I replaced that with feels much better; plug connection (in router) is perfectly tight vs. stock which is slightly loose, and it's both significantly longer and thicker. Actually, that Just reminded me that that I had broken one of the stock antennae, so I bought a replacement set (made for the router) that are a bit longer/thicker and did improve the signal strength. So, two thumbs up for the router itself, but just one sideways thumb for the quality of the included additional components.
This deal would be particularly killer if you're able to flash alternative firmware, which I would imagine they at least attempt to prevent, particularly if you just drop the temporary $25 to use it vs. the $99 to own it. However, even if it requires a JTAG and some skills, one can now get a high end router for only $99. If you want to experiment, ya think you could just throw down $25 to grab one, brick it quickly, return to store, "The one I got is defective, I tried to set it up and it won't turn on! Now I can't even access the cloud tube!! Blah, blah, obviously I'm not technical enough to have messed it up, can I get a different one?" So I guess we'll find out how locked down this thing is... using a router that needs to be "rooted" is a major red flag IMO...
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Already asked merlin he said no lol... Even still I would get it and try flashing merlins on it. I use the fork version for my ac68u (it allows all channels and unlimited power). http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=18914
[Fork] Update for 374.43 available
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This was listed under the "Personal Cellspot" section as well:
http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-14947
toastido said:
This was listed under the "Personal Cellspot" section as well:
http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-14947
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ya who knows but we all here will know soon I know i will get one as soon as i can :silly:
Tried to con the rep into pre-ordering the Cellspot today but no luck. Said they will be up for ordering on the 17th.
Not sure if this would really require it's own area, but this is the official thread for the T-Mobile Cellspot.
It has been released today 9/17/2014 and most, including myself, are reporting a delivery date of 9/26/2014.
I think most of us here are wondering how much work will need to be done to customize it the way we normally customize our routers, as well as anything that can be done to work better with the work many of our favorite developers have been gracious enough to bestow upon us!
Anyone else order one today?
I must say, I do love it. Much faster than my last E2000 router for obvious reasons and much better when it comes to the settings. I am very pleased.
I got mine from the store when they activated my phone on Monday. It replaced my Cisco E3200, but I only have 15Mb down and 1Mb up service with Time Warner, so I don't notice any speed difference. In fact I've had a lot of trouble getting it to work consistently. My Windows 7 64 bit PC sometimes takes over a minute to connect after I log in. With Speedtest, a lot of my pings are over half a second, and a lot of tests have been under 1Mb/sec down and up. I'm tempted to reset it and start over, but it's been working fine today.
Here's the thing I'm wondering...just how necessary is the cellspot?
I briefly had a TMobile phone last year, and that phone supported an apparently early version of what they're pushing now; the only difference being I don't think it would hand a voice call back over to the cell network. However, that feature ran perfectly on my standard wifi gear without any additional help from me. It even worked pretty well on just about any wifi connection I was able to jump on.
It seems the only advantage to the cellspot is it's a rebadged Asus 802.11ac router for cheap. What's TMobile's angle on offering it so cheap?
dewdude420 said:
Here's the thing I'm wondering...just how necessary is the cellspot?
I briefly had a TMobile phone last year, and that phone supported an apparently early version of what they're pushing now; the only difference being I don't think it would hand a voice call back over to the cell network. However, that feature ran perfectly on my standard wifi gear without any additional help from me. It even worked pretty well on just about any wifi connection I was able to jump on.
It seems the only advantage to the cellspot is it's a rebadged Asus 802.11ac router for cheap. What's TMobile's angle on offering it so cheap?
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I used Wifi calling on Sprint with my old router and haven't noticed any difference in call quality with T-Mobile and their cellspot router yet. With Sprint, the call wouldn't automatically transfer when I got in or out of range. T-Mobile says theirs does switch mid-call, but I haven't tried it yet. They also say that calls have priority, so a big download in the background won't affect call quality.
As for the cheap price, I paid the $25 deposit, but will have to return it if/when I leave T-Mobile or pay full price for it. I suppose it's great advertising for both T-Mobile and Asus.