OT: Anyone tether blackberrys on VZN?

[shawna1972]

I am looking at getting a BB and would love to tether to my pc for various reasons, looking at Tetherberry but would love to know what everyone is using if any? I heard great things about this program as well as the PDA one.

 

[shawna1972]

Also anyone have the blackberry curve?

 

[daveml]

I had the curve for verizon and thought it was a good phone. Moved on to the Droid and no comparison as the Droid blows the blackberry away. If you plan on using the BB for the internet I would consider going a different route.

What do you plan on using the BB for?

 

[daveml]

I had the curve for verizon and thought it was a good phone. Moved on to the Droid and no comparison as the Droid blows the blackberry away. If you plan on using the BB for the internet I would consider going a different route.

What do you plan on using the BB for?

 

[shawna1972]

hmmm now Ive heard tethering over verizon network will give me a faster connection than what Im getting now through verizon wireless broadband air card. "Which sucks by the way" and Im paying almost 70.00 a month for and going over the 5 gigs at a little less than .25 a meg isn't cheap and I cant see paying almost 200.00 for 10 gigs when I dont come close to that a month. Looking for a different option seems this one is my last and only other option.

 

[eugeneK]

shawna, VZW BB would be no better speed. VZ's current network was designed in late 90s and even though its very solid in coverage, its slow. The max possible speed with any VZ phone or device if you were the only person on a given tower is 1.5Mbs compared to Roadrunner's 30Mps.

Before you jump into a contract look into: WiMax, Timewarner Mobile or other cell carriers for a solution. Both AT&T, Tmobile and Sprint reach speeds around 8Mbs in rochester area.

hope this helps

 

[Namyar]

The speeds will be the same as you are still using the same network. Tether berry is the best one or there for doing what you want.

I will say working there gives me a little insite and I can tell you that everyone is correct that the droid would be a better way to go. Offers the mobile wifi hot spot.

Sent from my Droid

 

[oldimpala]

Shawna-

A few items of note:

1. The Wireless network, in general, wasn't/isn't designed for primary internet use. Yeah, it's slow. Even LTE/4G will be slow. It's designed for "bursting" of data to smartphones, not continuous work on a PC. Aircards are usually designed for using stuff in a pinch. Trust me, I use one daily. Corporate issued.

2. Regardless of if it's an Aircard or a BB, your wirelss signal is your wireless signal. They both use the same chipset; similar antennas. If you use the aircard, with the additional antenna, probably a better signal than your Curve. You'll can nothing than a $50 hole in your pocket for Tetherberry, and less memory on the Curve, which at 128MB is precious as it is.

3. I assume you're in a rural area, right? So you're probably getting 1XRTT, or 2G, if you're lucky EVDO or 3G. If it's 2G, consider Hughes satellite service, I'm pretty sure you're ouside of Time Warner/Verizon/Frontier DSL or RoadRunner Service, right? Hughes isn't the greatest, but it works, and pretty well.

4. WiMax is dead; and it's only supporter, Sprint, is near bankrupt. The spectrum they need isn't available for deployment. Period. When LTE rolls on Verizon/AT&T, it'll be completely dead. Don't spend the money on equipment you'll throw out in a few months/year tops.

5. Verizon's network, in Rochester, isn't from the late 90's. Tower placement might be, but the equipment isn't. It's the same era as AT&T's or T-Mo's; in the late 90's (When I was selling cellular), there was (virtually) no data, no e-911 service, and better than 90% of us were Analog. The present HPSA chips that Qualcomm uses are 2005-2006 vintage; and the TX/RX equipment is the same vintage. Same as our competitors. Mid '11, you'll have 4G/LTE CMDA Ev4 in urban Rochester. That's 2009 FCC approval, 2009 vintage technology. Rural, you'll get the '05-'06 tech stuff out there. The late-90's "age" of the networks is preposterous; the poster obviously didn't have my Motorola Micro-TAC in the late 90's to realize how bad off base his claim was..

6. Lastly, Tetherberry, tho I use it, is technically in violation of your terms of service for any carrier. You should pay either (I think this is the price) $30 for tethering service, or $70 for the aircard. There IS technology out there to detect non-smartphone use of data plans. AT&T, Bell Canada, and a few other have implemented it, to the surprise of many customers. Think multi-thousand dollar bills, with threats of retroactive collection. If you use it, be careful. Use it at your risk, and use it sparingly to avoid detection, like I do.

Good luck, and think about Hughesnet if you're outside traditional cable and telephone networks; it's probably your best bet!

If you need anything else, let me know...

-Andy

 

[shawna1972]

shawna, VZW BB would be no better speed. VZ's current network was designed in late 90s and even though its very solid in coverage, its slow. The max possible speed with any VZ phone or device if you were the only person on a given tower is 1.5Mbs compared to Roadrunner's 30Mps.

Before you jump into a contract look into: WiMax, Timewarner Mobile or other cell carriers for a solution. Both AT&T, Tmobile and Sprint reach speeds around 8Mbs in rochester area.

hope this helps

I have and am actually as we speak working with a local time warner construction dept to see how we can get service (I guess we would need some grant money from our town board ect..... and 20 people signed per mile we are 3 miles out) Ughhhh

 

[shawna1972]

Shawna-

A few items of note:

1. The Wireless network, in general, wasn't/isn't designed for primary internet use. Yeah, it's slow. Even LTE/4G will be slow. It's designed for "bursting" of data to smartphones, not continuous work on a PC. Aircards are usually designed for using stuff in a pinch. Trust me, I use one daily. Corporate issued.

2. Regardless of if it's an Aircard or a BB, your wirelss signal is your wireless signal. They both use the same chipset; similar antennas. If you use the aircard, with the additional antenna, probably a better signal than your Curve. You'll can nothing than a $50 hole in your pocket for Tetherberry, and less memory on the Curve, which at 128MB is precious as it is.

3. I assume you're in a rural area, right? So you're probably getting 1XRTT, or 2G, if you're lucky EVDO or 3G. If it's 2G, consider Hughes satellite service, I'm pretty sure you're ouside of Time Warner/Verizon/Frontier DSL or RoadRunner Service, right? Hughes isn't the greatest, but it works, and pretty well.

4. WiMax is dead; and it's only supporter, Sprint, is near bankrupt. The spectrum they need isn't available for deployment. Period. When LTE rolls on Verizon/AT&T, it'll be completely dead. Don't spend the money on equipment you'll throw out in a few months/year tops.

5. Verizon's network, in Rochester, isn't from the late 90's. Tower placement might be, but the equipment isn't. It's the same era as AT&T's or T-Mo's; in the late 90's (When I was selling cellular), there was (virtually) no data, no e-911 service, and better than 90% of us were Analog. The present HPSA chips that Qualcomm uses are 2005-2006 vintage; and the TX/RX equipment is the same vintage. Same as our competitors. Mid '11, you'll have 4G/LTE CMDA Ev4 in urban Rochester. That's 2009 FCC approval, 2009 vintage technology. Rural, you'll get the '05-'06 tech stuff out there. The late-90's "age" of the networks is preposterous; the poster obviously didn't have my Motorola Micro-TAC in the late 90's to realize how bad off base his claim was..

6. Lastly, Tetherberry, tho I use it, is technically in violation of your terms of service for any carrier. You should pay either (I think this is the price) $30 for tethering service, or $70 for the aircard. There IS technology out there to detect non-smartphone use of data plans. AT&T, Bell Canada, and a few other have implemented it, to the surprise of many customers. Think multi-thousand dollar bills, with threats of retroactive collection. If you use it, be careful. Use it at your risk, and use it sparingly to avoid detection, like I do.

Good luck, and think about Hughesnet if you're outside traditional cable and telephone networks; it's probably your best bet!

If you need anything else, let me know...

-Andy

Thanks Andy! Yes I am out of options, I would go with Hughes but......the "daily cap" I might as well not work and I work 2 jobs from home. The air card is my primary connection as sad as that is! But as of right now its the only way I can get high speed where I live.
We are working with Time Warner to try to get it out to us but it's a work in progress and I'm one person and god only knows how many months/years it will take to make that a reality. Im not holding my breath! lol but I have a petition going and hope to get a bunch of sign-ups and some grant money so we'll see.
I also contacted a company (Broadnet Wireless) If we can get 30 people signed it would be $40/Monthly for high speed (dont know all the specs) but sounds as though it might be an option and They tell me faster than cable?
Not sure about that but am looking for more info on the company before I proceed to bring people in on this service.
Yeah it's frustrating to say the least!

Any other options send them my way! and thanks again.

Oh and I have been away Since my last post and I just ordered the blackberry curve We'll see though also I have 30 days to return so I guess
I can try it out.

 

[shawna1972]

shawna, VZW BB would be no better speed. VZ's current network was designed in late 90s and even though its very solid in coverage, its slow. The max possible speed with any VZ phone or device if you were the only person on a given tower is 1.5Mbs compared to Roadrunner's 30Mps.

Before you jump into a contract look into: WiMax, Timewarner Mobile or other cell carriers for a solution. Both AT&T, Tmobile and Sprint reach speeds around 8Mbs in rochester area.

hope this helps

Yeah odd thing is on my Verizon broadband card has (1) bar for signal "Mind you this is with an antenna" and then my cell phone has 4 bars in the same area ? That's what made me think it may be a better signal with a cell and better speeds.

 

[oldimpala]

Shawna-

Signal meters can be deceiving. First off; it's an engineer's choice as to what he/she displays. There's no "standard" as to what a bar means on your display, like in FM/AM radio days when the industry standard of 1w/m^2 was considered minimal reception.

Secondly; your phone may be measuring the ability to make a call. Your aircard is measuring 1XRTT or EVDO (Data) signal strength; they're different frequencies, and different transmitters/receivers on the tower.

Sorry; if I lost ya, feel free to ask questions. I just spend my days wrapped up in this junk...

-Andy

 

[talon4x4]

I have and am actually as we speak working with a local time warner construction dept to see how we can get service (I guess we would need some grant money from our town board ect..... and 20 people signed per mile we are 3 miles out) Ughhhh

Good luck with Time Warner. Their requirements to put cable where there currently isn't any are completely ridiculous. My Uncle has been fighting with them for years to get cable service to his house. He lives right across the street from Kissing Bridge. They only have cable running half way up the street and he happens to be the 2nd last house on the street. A couple years back they told him they could do it for $10k because he didn't meet the requirement of x number of new accounts needed per mile (he lives 2500ft from where the cable stops). Anyways, he ended up with HughesNET. The speeds really aren't bad but the 500mb daily download limit is.

 

[oldimpala]

Talon-

That's pretty common, and actually a tariffed rate (Set by the NY State PSC.) Verizon is about the same for cable/installation in rural areas.

First 500' away is free. Above that it's roughly $5K/1000'. Depends on terrain, buried/elevated, required poles, snow-load, etc.

It's ridiculous, but at the same time, believe it or not, we're still taking a loss at that rate... Poles are EXPENSIVE.

Time Warner and your local phone company will both be reluctant to extend their network; you're going to have an uphill fight. It's all about revenue per mile; and believe me, both companies have gone everywhere they can make money, already...

 

[shawna1972]

Shawna-

Signal meters can be deceiving. First off; it's an engineer's choice as to what he/she displays. There's no "standard" as to what a bar means on your display, like in FM/AM radio days when the industry standard of 1w/m^2 was considered minimal reception.

Secondly; your phone may be measuring the ability to make a call. Your aircard is measuring 1XRTT or EVDO (Data) signal strength; they're different frequencies, and different transmitters/receivers on the tower.

Sorry; if I lost ya, feel free to ask questions. I just spend my days wrapped up in this junk...

-Andy

Hmmm,Yes they can. Now looking at where my bars are Im picking up 1XRTT and not evdo although before I connect I have bars in both Evdo and 1XRTT
(so confusing) I called verizon last night and I guess I am in the 3G network

Yeah easy to loose me in this techy stuff lol But thank you so much for explaining in layman terms for me . All I want is to be able to get rid of this air card, use my phone to tether (a little) and I plan on staying way under the 5 G for tethering because Im going to use my phone personal surfing and tethering for business. Now verizon said my phone with the unlimited data package is trully unlimited (to the phone) no caps what so ever! I checked this with 2 reps. But tethering is limited to 5G. So I should be good! Im just hoping that I will have better luck with my cell than this air card (rep also told me this air card i have now is (bottom line) and is not the greatest
Pretty funny because when I upgraded to this card I was told this card was top of the line lol I went from the 727 to the um175 anyhow thanks so much for the help!

 

[shawna1972]

Good luck with Time Warner. Their requirements to put cable where there currently isn't any are completely ridiculous. My Uncle has been fighting with them for years to get cable service to his house. He lives right across the street from Kissing Bridge. They only have cable running half way up the street and he happens to be the 2nd last house on the street. A couple years back they told him they could do it for $10k because he didn't meet the requirement of x number of new accounts needed per mile (he lives 2500ft from where the cable stops). Anyways, he ended up with HughesNET. The speeds really aren't bad but the 500mb daily download limit is.

Yeah I've been personally requesting service for 5 years now! and verizon DSL also.I called verizon and they said they are not extending the dsl service any longer so I guess DSL is out and now it's FIOS but...... Heres my question
Why is Verizon extending the FIOS when they can't even get DSL out to their own customers who have no high speed as it is. Very sad. Called time warner I'm 3 miles to far- called frontier-Cant help me because Im in verizon territory , Hughes- Daily caps,Quest,comcast same deal ect ect So Yeah I hear your frustration!

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I dunno if satellite has improved recently or not, but a relative had Hughes around 2007 - 2008. The speed was OK, but the latency was HORRRRRRRIBLE. Sure, I could download a file at a halfway decent rate, but trying to do anything interactive (i.e. use a web-based application) was literally pointless.

 

[shawna1972]

Talon-

That's pretty common, and actually a tariffed rate (Set by the NY State PSC.) Verizon is about the same for cable/installation in rural areas.

First 500' away is free. Above that it's roughly $5K/1000'. Depends on terrain, buried/elevated, required poles, snow-load, etc.

It's ridiculous, but at the same time, believe it or not, we're still taking a loss at that rate... Poles are EXPENSIVE.

Time Warner and your local phone company will both be reluctant to extend their network; you're going to have an uphill fight. It's all about revenue per mile; and believe me, both companies have gone everywhere they can make money, already...

Hmmm does not sound promising

 

[shawna1972]

I dunno if satellite has improved recently or not, but a relative had Hughes around 2007 - 2008. The speed was OK, but the latency was HORRRRRRRIBLE. Sure, I could download a file at a halfway decent rate, but trying to do anything interactive (i.e. use a web-based application) was literally pointless.

I've heard this also

 

[oldimpala]

Yeah I've been personally requesting service for 5 years now! and verizon DSL also.I called verizon and they said they are not extending the dsl service any longer so I guess DSL is out and now it's FIOS but...... Heres my question
Why is Verizon extending the FIOS when they can't even get DSL out to their own customers who have no high speed as it is. Very sad. Called time warner I'm 3 miles to far- called frontier-Cant help me because Im in verizon territory , Hughes- Daily caps,Quest,comcast same deal ect ect So Yeah I hear your frustration!

Well Shawna...

The DSL protocol is dependent on a lot of stuff; primarily what's called loop-length and signal quality. If you're in a rural area, you're far away from the Central Office (the building that generates your dial tone), and without getting too technical on how telephone networks are built, there could be other electronic pieces in the way making the signal poor/impassable.

Not only that, but if it's rural, it's probably old facilities (we regularly replace cables in out-of-the-way places that were originally installed in the 50's and 60's, some from the 40's.) So, poor cable condition, long lengths, and signal degredation are the reasons DSL won't work.

Cable's better, but still inhibited by length. The further out you are, the poorer the picture.

FiOS is replacing the existing copper lines with fiber; basically the company is drawing a line in the sand to stop spending money on outdated technology, and replace it. It's like asking if you want to spend the money replacing a transmission on a 1993 Chevy with 300K miles, or just use the money for a new car.

DSL, as a corporate strategy, was never intended to reach all customers, so not hitting you is by design. The DSL Standard is 15,000 loop-feet. So, 3 miles, via wire, from the central office (the place that provides you with dial-tone), not as the crow flies. We dumped hundreds of millions into deployment in upstate; but it's a done deal, at least as far as I know. And when it was deployed in the late 80's, was intended only for urban customers to begin with (3,000 foot loops.) Bluntly, structural limitations, and yes, budgetary/ROI limitations mean not everybody is going to get it. We'll deploy it to you, if you're willing to pay equipment costs. And, believe me, it's higher than you'd want to go.

Sadly, FiOS won't be reaching all customers, either, at least in present plans. I have/know deployment through EOY 2012 (projected) but not much beyond that. What town are you in?

And, you guessed it, urban areas where we get a quicker ROI are being deployed before rural areas. It's just business. If we spend $20K running a cable, would we put it where it reaches 20 people, or 2000? Even wireless; I wouldn't wait for 4G; it's not going to hit rural areas until every area with greater subscriber density above you gets filled.

It's not personal, believe me, it's a business decision, and if it were either of our companies, we'd do the same.

My mother has Hughesnet in rural SC; it is reliable, it isn't cheap, and does have latency issues (You're bouncing a signal off a satellite, it takes a while.)

But, it may still be your best move. I wouldn't bank on TW or VZ in the near future.

-Andy

PS: These are my opinions; I'm not a company spokesman, by any means..