Mobile Internet

[skinorth]

@RogerC:

you need to remember that you are dealing with ultra high frequency, if not microwave, radio signals, which can be very very strange in their propagation.  They are affected by weather, reflect off buildings and walls, and can be blocked by building walls and damp foilage on trees.

From another of your postings, I understand you are on/in a boat.  I don't know the type/size of boat you are on.  But I would suggest you might want to investigate an external antenna for your RocketHub  Particularly if your boat is of metal construction, this will affect cellular signal propogation.

Even if the boat is of wood or fiberglass construction, there is still a lot of metal in and around the boat in the mast, rigging, lifelines, etc., etc., etc. all of which will affect cellular signal quality.  As far as I know, most of this metal is grounded to prevent problems with lightning.  And you are in a marina.  There will also be radio signal reflection from the rigging and structure of adjacent boats in the marina.  It is impossible to predict how that will affect cellular radio signals to your RocketHub.

And in Richmond, BC, you are in a damp climate.  What happens when the external boat structure is damp due to rain?  The lower mainland is of course well known for its dampness.

You should be able to determine the location of the closest Rogers Cell tower(s) from the following web site:

http://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html

If possible, position the RocketHub in a window facing the nearest cell tower at least temporarily to determine if that makes any difference.  If it does help, you can either position the RocketHub there, or alternatively, you can purchase a panel antenna for the Netcomm which you can mount in that window facing the cell tower.  Or even better, mount the antenna externally well above the main structure of the boat.

But what you need to do is troubleshoot the problems you are having to determine what is going on.  For sure, if you cannot access the RocketHub at 192.168.1.1 from your PC, it is not likely a cellular network problem.  When this problem arises can you still "ping" 192.168.1.1 from your PC?  If you cannot "ping" 192.168.1.1, then you have a more basic network problem, possibly with WiFi.

Just for the short term, try connecting your PC to the Netcomm with an ethernet cable.  If that works reliably, where WiFi has not, conclusions can be drawn regarding the next steps in troubleshooting, or even an actual solution to the problem.

skinorth

[RogerC]

@skinorth

Thank you so much for your help.  It's really appreciated. 

It's definitely not a reception problem... The closest tower is directly across the Fraser River and another upriver, both with a clear line of sight.  I'm hoping it was a flaky connection with the SIM card as somebody suggested.  So I reseated it several times (as evident by the scrape marks on the gold surface).  So far, no problems, but it took 3 days for that problem to appear, and it may re-appear in another 3 days.

BTW, the LAN side (both Ethernet and WiFi) worked when the 3G side went down.  I could watch my DVR (connected by Ethernet) from my laptop via WiFi.  And when I went to 192.168.1.1,  my browser would say website found but wouldn't load up.  It would seem strange that both the 3G would go down and the Hub server at the same time.  With the SIM card pulled out, the Hub server still works, so maybe it wasn't the Sim Card after all.  This would point to a firmware glitch that made the unit freeze.  Somebody else mentioned a "buffering lockup" problem too.  Not too sure what he meant by that.

I might have to put the hub on a timer when I'm away the next 2 weeks to reset it daily.  I was supposed to catch the ferry back home but this issue is holding me back.  Bad timing.

On another matter, I was having problems with WiFi going up and down especially on the iPhone... I have two MacBooks, one PC and one iPhone.  Lots of electrosmog.  So I switched the Wireless configuration "54g Mode:" to "802.11b only".  Sure it's only 11 Mbps but then I only have 6 Mbps download on the 3G network anyway.  So stable now that I decided to switch "Channel" back to "Auto".  So far, so good.  FaceTime is stable again.

There is the occasional pause when I re-load a web page and I attribute that to 3G network cloud congestion.   

I've spent hours since Thursday trying to troubleshoot.  One day was taken up with the public IP address issue (and port forwarding of port 80 in conflict with the Hub server, depending on whether accessing from the LAN or the Internet).  The last two days with stability (DNS, SIM Card connection?, WiFi, 3G congestion).  But things are getting better now... knock on wood.

Cheers!

[skinorth]

@RogerC:

I hate those flaky connections.  Whether it's with a SIM card, or with my wife.  She doesn't appreciate them at all

I'm glad to hear you are making progress.  And so sorry you missed the ferry.

With the SIM card pulled out, the Netcomm should still function as a router.  The SIM is required only to access the Rogers cell network.  You have to wonder what kind of testing and quality control is exercised before the initial deployment of the Netcomm device.

You also have to wonder why Rogers has not corrected problems with the Netcomm by finding the problem and issuing a firmware update for the device.  This is, after all, still current product for Rogers.  They are still selling them to customers today.

skinorth

[RogerC]

@skinorth

I started getting dropped FaceTime calls on my iPhone and not connecting to WiFi (and unknowingly back on iPhone 3G eating up more 6GB data plan).  So I'm switching back to a fixed WiFi channel.  I'm going with channel "1" or "11" since they're the first and last channel/frequency in the range so hopefully not much interference from adjacent channels.

BTW, I tried forcing a 2G mode.  It was very slow (0.2 Mbps download; 0.09 Mbps upload), and I don't think it was any more stable (moot point at that speed).

I also decided to disconnect the printer from the Hub in case that was causing problems (doubtful).

Heading out tomorrow morning on the ferry hopefully.  Will have to put the Hub on a timer to power-down every 24 hours for half-an-hour.  Too bad there wasn't a way to hard reset it remotely in the event it locks up.

Cheers!

[kgag]

LOL so i got my rocket hub in the mail legit first thing i did was hooked it up and tested my speed pfft like .33 mbps so i checked my old internet before rogers dicontinued it and sucked us into buying the rocket hub becasue it was suppose to be better and faster and the  old internet was faster like this is the biggest ripoff ever we constaly have to reset the stupid thing and never ever even reach 1mbps  rogers has to do somthing about this because this is like frigan highway robbery it says i havve full signal strength so why do i still not  even get 1 mbps

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[Bert]

I have a similar problem where the 3G25WR hub freezes and requires a power cycle in order for it to reconnect to the network. This problems occurs about every 24 hours. Tier 2 tech support admitted today that they are aware of the problem but have no idea if and when there will be a firmware fix. The support supervisor stated " Rogers supports the service but doesn't support the device." Replied that you can't access the service without the device!! He suggested to contact Netcomm directly - in Australia... great. Rogers at its best. 

[BrendaR]

I have had exactly the same experience Bryan T. I live in rural Manitoba, have had unreliable internet service, switched to Rocket Hub and 'like an idiot' ported my phone no over. It worked for a few days and then nothing but problems! I am in the process of porting my number back to MTS, which has it's own share of complications, have had no landline phone for over to weeks! And now my internet disconnects ALL THE TIME. I get no help from tech support at Rogers. In fact I called 3 times just last night to reconnect my hub. All they do is put notes on my account. I would also NOT RECOMMEND THIS PRODUCT TO ANYONE!

[eddy]

http://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/forums/forumtopicpage/board-id/MobileInternet/thread-id/426/pag...

Did you try this with your device?   Look for author Chris page 2.

[RogerC]

I decided to cancel the Rocket Hub service with its special deal for "grandfathered" Portable Internet Service customers.  Even though the original bill said $149 for the Rocket Hub and a credit for $149, I got charged just over $200 (prorated) for the Rocket Hub.  While the transfer was faster, the bandwidth limit was less than with PIS (only 10GB rather than 30GB).  Tech support would only say that I had to reset the modem whenever it froze… which is a problem when I'm using it for my security cameras remotely.  I'm still very upset that PIS was cancelled without any notice to me, not even an e-mail.  Neighbours had the same experience.  I could not get any satisfaction from the Office of the President who wouldn't allow me to return the Rocket Hub.  I just found out there is an Ombudsman even though I had asked if there was a higher level of complaint.  When my 2 iPhone contracts come up for renewal, I'm not sure if I want to renew with Rogers after this experience.  Having left Telus Mobility for similar reasons, I guess Bell is the only one left.  There was a time when I would recommend Rogers because they were honest about fixing their mistakes which do happen in any business.

[gr]

Nothing at all wrong with the hub.

To wit, here is a record of my slow speed over the last year to Rogers

http://www.speedtest.net/results.php?sh=5336dff197a5cea9c0db155f69f35890

The techies have given me every excuse from external antennae requirements to internal inhouse wifi problems,

and I have disproved them all, to the extent that I took my hub/laptop to within 300 metres of their tower on

Richardson Side Road (Ottawa area) with no change and then took the same setup to another tower location

and surprise, surprise!.  I suddenly got 8 MBps speeds, which is 4x orders of magnitudes over my BEST speeds to my

local tower.  CONCLUSION - this tower is overloaded and has been so for over a year.  In November 2011

they "promised" an upgrade to their tower by January 2012 but it didn't happen.  They even gave me a 50% DISCOUNT

on the rate for 4 months but then stopped that.

To ADD SALT TO MY WOUNDS, I am surrounded by Bell customers who use the same technology/hardware but routinely get  8 Mbps speeds.

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