raifordr

No one asked anything about APN. They were too busy pushing me off saying that it wasn't their fault since I wasn't directly on their network. As if ATT and Verizon were flaky and Sprint was not. The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that they cannot keep my device activated. I get a message that "Your device is not activated, contact customer service for assistance." The first time I did, the lady claimed to have sent some type of message and voila, it started working. The second time, the lady refused saying it wouldn't help. I've sent a direct email to Jason Gabbard; we'll see if he can make this work or back it goes - no revenue for Sprint for bad service.

Thanks for that background, Doc! I still don't see how this thing can connect to the internet (it was even able to look for s/w updates this morning) but I not be able to access any sites. I asked the Sprint techie if they somehow blocked me, but that idea was adamantly rejected. Still, no one seems to know why this thing worked perfectly two days in a row but will not start up once turned off.

Just got my Mifi 8000 from Sprint. Am preparing for an RV trip so have been trying to use it at home which is in an extended range (roaming) section of the Sprint coverage map. I never suspected that the colored and cross hatched extended area meant that the device wouldn't be able to work as two Sprint tech supports very unhelpfully volunteered. Interestingly enough, right out of the box it fired up and worked just fine. Did the happy dance, but WAIT! I turned the device off for the night. When I turned it back on the next morning, got the "your device is not activated" message and told to call Sprint. Before I did that, I explored all the menu options and settings logged into my device from my laptop. Nothing jumped out, so I did a hard reset. Still nothing. Called Sprint Tech Support group at 800-927-2199 per FMCA email. Well. Since I'm not in direct Sprint coverage, the lady couldn't help. She did offer to send some type of reset signal but doubted this would work since I wasn't on their network. I verified that "roaming" was turned on, and in a few minutes (presumably after the special signal was sent) the Mifi8000 started working again and did so all day just fine. Well, turned if off again last night and tried again this morning. After resetting, doublechecking and testing, the device said it was connected to the internet but I could not access anything on the internet - like the DNS didn't even exist. Kept getting site unavailable type messages from many common sites (e.g. MSNBC.com, CNN.com, my bank, etc.) Another call to Sprint tech support resulted in another lady informing me that she couldn't help since I wasn't directly on their network. Denied any responsibility for this failure and suggested that FMCA should have known this wouldn't work well in a mobile RV environment unless you only drive near Sprint towers. So, I'm wondering if any techies on this forum might realize what's going on and be able to suggest something other than mailing this back to FMCA (they did furnish me the address) and giving up. Recall that this worked just fine out of the box until I turned it off for the night. Never the same since. I liked the Sprint plan of month to month with unlimited usage, but doesn't help if it won't work from day to day or only in their special spots. I won't spend two hours each morning hoping to get the thing to work, and I don't really intend to leave it on all the time as Sprint suggested. Wouldn't help anyway now that it isn't working. So, for those still thinking about this, proceed with caution. If the FMCA contact mentioned in one of the other replies can help, I'll let everyone know what the problem was/is.

Does anyone know if the propane gas detector typically installed in RVs will alarm in the presence of Hydrogen? Recently I've noticed that my propane detector will alarm after about one hour when I'm recharging the coach batteries (4 6V golf cart style batteries) that have been fairly (>70%) discharged. Happens whether I'm running the generator or plugged in to shore power. This only started happening within the last 2-3 months. Also, if my multistage charger senses that the batteries aren't heavily discharged and quickly moves into stage 2, then no alarm at all. I understand that lead acid batteries give off gas (I presume it's hydrogen?) when recharging and am wondering if this is what's happening. The batteries are located about 5-6' aft of the wall (down near the floor) mounted sensor in an outside fully vented (mostly wide open) compartment and this didn't previously happen so I'm puzzled and of course concerned about safety.