Sprint MiFi -good or bad?

[raypesek]

On 9/28/2020 at 5:48 AM, hermanmullins said:

Ray I haven't had this issue but incase I do, which button on the top are you speaking of. 

Herman

On the top of the Mifi 8000L at the upper right corner, right at the bend downwards, there is a button.

Ray

[hermanmullins]

Ray if you haven't changed your Sprint Jet Pack from 10gb here is the steps to do so. I did as Brett said and I now have the truly unlimited data. (1,000GB)

 

Hi Herman,

 

Please use the following steps to navigate to the web portal on your hotspot and remove the data cap that’s displayed on the home screen of the device. This should also resolve the issue with the speeds that you are seeing as well since you are over the 10GB limit:

 

1. Connect to the hotspot using a laptop or tablet over Wi-Fi.
2. Open up a web browser once connected (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Etc.)
3. Go to the following address: (Note: Refrain from entering .com or www. or http:// when entering this address as it will not open if you do. You can also just click the link in the email and it should open right up.) 192.168.1.1
4. Once you are logged into the web portal, look for the section that says “Data Usage”.
5. Click the arrow pointing to the right under the Data Usage section, and then type in the password when prompted (Password is the password that you use to connect to the unit over Wi-Fi, you can find this by tapping the WiFi Name/WiFI Password button on the home screen of the device on the right side.)
6. On the next screen you will see a section titled Maximum Data Limit. Click on the text box, and add 2 more zeros to the end, and then hit “Save Changes”. This should remove the data cap which should prevent any sort of throttling on the device.
7. Check the hotspot as it should now say “X.XX of 1000 GB remaining”. If you see that on the home screen of the device, the change was successful.

 

Please let me know if this does not do the trick! If not, we may need to try one more step in addition to this.

Thanks!

 

Brett Wulfeck

Tech Connect Support Specialist, www.fmca.com                  

800-543-3622 x 312

If you have any problems give Brett Wulfeck a call. However if you have troubles please wait until after the 15th of October to call. Brett is going to be really busy till then.

Herman

[raypesek]

On 9/30/2020 at 8:12 PM, hermanmullins said:

Ray if you haven't changed your Sprint Jet Pack from 10gb here is the steps to do so. I did as Brett said and I now have the truly unlimited data. (1,000GB)

Actually I noticed that a few weeks after I got it. It seemed to just be an informative counter because I was way over the 10 GB default due to streaming and it kept on working. I did find that setting and bumped it up several zeros just so it would stop annoying me whenever I looked at the display.

Ray

[pixelpro]

What is the number to tech support? Sprint won’t help me because I don’t have a plan. 

Edited October 31, 2020 by pixelpro

[rossboyer]

You probably will not get anyone today, Saturday. But I would call FMCA, Monday morning about 8:30EST or after and ask for Dan Wulfeck. He is the one I have talked to. 
 

I have both the Verizon and Sprint. Both work very well if there is coverage. Don’t go by cell phone coverage. Use an app to actually measure speed. Consistently, Verizon is double or more than Sprint and service coverage is better for Verizon. But I have found a couple of locations on or trip from Indiana to Arizona where Sprint exceeded Verizon. Just depends on where you are. 

[allstarr]

I know some of the earlier posts said the Sprint coverage was bad in certain areas of the US. What I'm wondering, is now that Sprint & T-mobile have merged, has there been any improvements.

[docj]

My new T-Mobile Inseego 5G M2000 hotspot covers both T-Mobile's bands as well as those legacy bands that used to belong to Sprint.  I know that because one day I was getting fantastic download speeds and discovered that it had connected to Band 41 which is a Sprint band at ~2.5 GHz.  Unfortunately, the connection didn't last and hasn't been repeated.  But it evidence that T-Mobile is using the old Sprint spectrum.    What I've read is the T-Mobile expects to bring out a lot of what's being called "<6GHz 5G" because Sprint had made a large investment in that part of the spectrum.

[C-923954]

Hey Doc.  I thought you said you stay away from T-Mobile and Sprint??
 

[Jimmysmith22]

On 6/13/2020 at 7:24 AM, docj said:

In the cellular world, the kind of plan that FMCA sells is called a "reseller plan" since it isn't sold directly by the carrier.  Many (most?) reseller plans don't work in the "extended range" portions of the coverage maps.  I'm not sure why yours did work there before, but that's probably the reason you're having so much trouble now.

Historically, Sprint has always been the weakest of the cellular carriers with more holes in its coverage map than the others.  Supposedly Sprint customers can now roam on the T-Mobile network (as the first phase of the merger) but I don't know if that applies to reseller plans.  IMO T-Mobile's coverage is also pretty poor compared to Verizon and AT&T so, as a full-time RVer, I won't consider them either.  I have low-cost unlimited connections with both Verizon and AT&T and use both of them in a load balancing router.  That's what it takes to stay connected all the time and even that solution isn't perfect.

Hey Doc

you said  I have low-cost unlimited connections with both Verizon and AT&T.  What did you end up using for this solution?  We have V phones and they work most every where but have not found a V solution for our RVing.  what is your low cost unlimited solution?  TY Kim

[kaypsmith]

6 hours ago, Jimmysmith22 said:

We have V phones and they work most every where but have not found a V solution for our RVing.  what is your low cost unlimited solution?  TY Kim

The solution with Verizon is called Mifi, the company sells a device that provides a wireless device that uses the cellular signal and sends the internet signal to youre laptop or any internet device through wifi router. If you need a wired connection to your devices, there is a wired device called a cradlepoint, uses same method. The device that Doc is referring to is called a load balancing router, this tyoe router us multiple internet signals which combine those signals for simultaneous use through the multiple carriiers, works great but more costly because of paying for more than one carrier at a time. I assume that V stands for verizon.

[mikecindymail]

Jimmysmith22 - We use both the Sprint MiFi from TechConnect and Visible.  Visible runs on Verizon's network.  $40/month unlimited data.  You can get it cheaper if you hook up with someone else (see their website).  Of course their are limitations.  The biggest is that your bandwidth is capped at 5Mb.  Enough for browsing the internet, but streaming or playing games probably isn't going to work very well.  Also, you have to use a phone that is compatible with their service, not a MiFi/Hotspot device (not a great selection, we use the cheapest ZTE phone).  Finally, using the phone as a hotspot, you can only connect one device.

We have a travel router in our trailer that our computers and other devices connect to.  The travel router then connects to the Sprint MiFi or the Visible phone, whichever gets better service.  Having the router connect to the Visible phone gets around their limitation of one device.  When on the Visible phone, even capped at 5Mb, there is enough bandwidth for my wife and I to work connected to remote environments and making calls using Skype or MS-Teams.  If we are using the Visible phone, streaming TV will pause for buffering but usually not enough to be too annoying.

As Sprint converts more to T-Mobile, we have been using the Sprint MiFi more and more.

Mike

 

[homny1@aol.com]

We have Verizon wireless as our cell phone providers and I tried the Sprint Hotspot program that is offered here.  Well, for us, it was a return item as the Sprint service was lagging in Long Island, New York (just 3 miles from the NYC border) and in Pennsylvania it was almost useless.  In both spots, the Sprint/Tmobile map showed that the coverage was excellent, but it was the same as the old Sprint phones that we tried years ago. (the Pennsylvania location is not in the middle of the state, its actually just over the Delaware Water Gap on I-80 / New Jersey).  Verizon does not supply "unlimited" as true unlimited since they throttle down their service to almost useless or email sending only once you hit the monthly data cap, which is low, then they want to charge $10 for every 10 gigs you use, which can add up.  BTW, Sprint is going to be phased out by Tmobile supposedly by the end of 2022 and the LTE signal is being replaced by their Tmobile 5G network (works better than the Sprint hotspot) but still not as good as Verizon.  

Depending on where you plan to travel and call "home base", it can be daunting to find good coverage.  I'm hoping that Tesla turns off the geofencing and allows you to move your dish with you when you travel but at $100 a month, it becomes questionable, unless you can use it at home as well.  For example, our internet service for FIOS from Verizon is $50 a month and the small company in Pennsylvania wants $75 a month for internet service, possibly I could consider switching to the Starlink for $100 provided they don't change the price for the capability of moving to different areas, and if so, then the house would have no internet while we took the dish on a trip.... its a dilemma with teenagers for sure! 

[Kengineer]

I just got the MIFI and getting good results. I got it for a trip in June. Any recommendation on antenna on the MIFI? Thanks.

[manholt]

Verizon or T-Mobile?

[Kengineer]

2 hours ago, manholt said:

Verizon or T-Mobile?

It is Sprint. I got it from FMCA. Shipping was real quick, 2-3 days from order.

[manholt]

T-Mobile is the owner of Sprint.  Same thing!

We use a Wilson booster on a pole when camped.  Our coach does not come with a fixed ladder on back, so my wife got inventive with suction cups! 

[quint]

My understanding is the MiFi hotspot device for the FMCA TechConnect Sprint package is the Inseego M2000 does this device have an option for an external antenna? It doesn't look it from the datasheet on their website.

Edited June 24, 2021 by quint

[rossboyer]

1 hour ago, quint said:

My understanding is the MiFi hotspot device for the FMCA TechConnect Sprint package is the Inseego M2000 does this device have an option for an external antenna? It doesn't look it from the datasheet on their website.

Yes, you can attach an external antenna. There are two small rubber plugs on top. The external connections are below. I did try this and found that reception actually decreased. Therefore, I do not recommend using an external antenna. 

[quint]

Thank you....

32 minutes ago, rossboyer said:

Yes, you can attach an external antenna. There are two small rubber plugs on top. The external connections are below. I did try this and found that reception actually decreased. Therefore, I do not recommend using an external antenna. 

 

[tom73]

I was thinking about one of these, but decided that for what I do I will use my phone as a hot spot. It's a TMobile phone and the unlimited data hot spot is a $15 add on. I don't know if that is still offered since wife and I got our phones a few years ago.

[rossboyer]

23 hours ago, rossboyer said:

Yes, you can attach an external antenna. There are two small rubber plugs on top. The external connections are below. I did try this and found that reception actually decreased. Therefore, I do not recommend using an external antenna. 

One correction, the two rubber plugs to remove to get to the external antenna connections are on the bottom, not the top. 

[obiwan_canoli]

I've had great coverage with my Verizon MiFi... so much so that I increased my available Gigs 

[houstonstroker]

I just received my Sprint MIFI today and there are no external ports for an antenna.

[kaypsmith]

1 hour ago, houstonstroker said:

I just received my Sprint MIFI today and there are no external ports for an antenna.

Is it an Inseego M2000? If so then Ross is correct, there is a two plugs on the bottom. I don't have a ladder on the back of my coach either, I use a receiver (hitch) flag pole mount with a 30 foot extendable flag pole for the mast for the antenna, portable and works great.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/174583503503?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item28a5fcda8f:g:IokAAOSwRYZf882k&amdata=enc%3AAQAGAAACkPYe5NmHp%2B2JMhMi7yxGiTJkPrKr5t53CooMSQt2orsSDAeS9EQtjPGVfKXTxF0%2BjoCFDZWyFhbuMcgRDwPTGKQZz0mZ

[cdtolson]

On 7/21/2021 at 9:09 PM, kaypsmith said:

Is it an Inseego M2000? If so then Ross is correct, there is a two plugs on the bottom. I don't have a ladder on the back of my coach either, I use a receiver (hitch) flag pole mount with a 30 foot extendable flag pole for the mast for the antenna, portable and works great.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/174583503503?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item28a5fcda8f:g:IokAAOSwRYZf882k&amdata=enc%3AAQAGAAACkPYe5NmHp%2B2JMhMi7yxGiTJkPrKr5t53CooMSQt2orsSDAeS9EQtjPGVfKXTxF0%2BjoCFDZWyFhbuMcgRDwPTGKQZz0mZ

The Inseego M8000 had two external antenna plugs beneath two rubber plugs.  I'm very familiar with using the antenna connections on the M8000 but just upgraded to the M2000.  There are no external antenna plugs on the Inseego M2000, period.  In the reviews online that is one of the complaints about the new M2000.