Anyone tried Verizon Network Extender with Excede?

[wm4bama]

How much bandwidth does something like this use?

Well, as many other web sites demonstrate, bandwidth consumption for VOIP varies slightly depending on what Codec (encoding scheme) is used by your system..

But a good estimate is:

I think the number you want will be the 0.02MB/s, that's megabytes (rather than bits)

So, for 1000MB per month, divide that by 0.02 = 50,000 seconds, which is 833 minutes - about 13 hours.

So 13 hours/month uses almost 1gB...

[SteveO]

Hey guys,

This thread led me to acquire one of these boxes. Opened the packing, followed the instructions. Patiently waited for four blue lights. After getting gps lock and seeing the network light blinking red, found the small paper that had come with it, telling me I had to call Verizon wireless and simply tell them I had it. Once I informed them of the MAC ID on the device, they "enabled" it. It took about 20 minutes for all the doo dah blinking to finish. Once I got four lights, all blue; the cell phones registered FOUR bars. In the house. Everywhere! Previously we had to stand in the open front door facing east to get one bar! All enabling took place here.

Called the wife and we agreed that if we hadn't been in the same room the slight delay would not be an issue.

Some thoughts:

Verizon did say "NO SATELLITE INTERNET"

Verizon is rolling out a newer version of the Network Extender to include the LTE data link

No guarantee is offered by either Verizon or ViaSat

The list price is $250

Check out Amazon, EBay etc. It might be that this now obsolete product could lose some value to the sellers.

Might not

or

we could go fish

How far is the range on it before it no longer is worth having? Can you get say 150 feet or so away and still get a bar or two?

[wm4bama]

How far is the range on it before it no longer is worth having? Can you get say 150 feet or so away and still get a bar or two?

There's no way to provide a definitive answer to your question...the signal travels the same way a router wireless signal does...if you can get 150' from your router with a wireless computer and still get a good signal then the same should work for the adapter..

If your signal has to pass through multiple walls, brick, cement blocks or metal then the effective distance will be much less..a good test would be with your laptop and wireless router...wander around with the laptop and find out where it's OK and where you lose connection...your network adapter and wireless phone should have similar capability/restrictions.

No two locations provide the same test bed, so estimating distances is just guessing..

[Bobbin]

Mr Bama,

The phone range exceeds the wan range here. We're in the middle of an annual family reunion and everyone that comes in has a couple of devices in their bags. So far the approval of the Exede based wan is A+ but the cellphones addicts are just blown away when they see four or five bars in the lower part of the house where their devices have always failed previously. They give the Extender A+++.

One family left planning to get an Extender for their Exede site hear Roanoke. They have been paying for three land lines to support their business interests and can see a benefit from dropping two, paying for the extender in reduced phone bills in a month. Their cell coverage stops at the highway a mile from the house.

Maybe I can run some tests on coverage when things slow down here. Basically I think I'll be relocating the extender into the basement to limit access to the interior of the house.

Users of AT&T iPhones are very disappointed. But that is a different discussion.

I'd also like to get a plan designed to measure bandwidth used by the Extender. Someone think it out and PM me a strategy.

Meanwhile, the fish, the fish!

[Phainein]

measure bandwidth used by the Extender

QuotaSatellite...one could estimate usage, if only phone is used during a session. Or a program like Networx.

Some routers, like Cisco RV 120W, can be setup so a device has a quota limit.

[Bobbin]

QuotaSatellite...one could estimate usage, if only phone is used during a session. Or a program like Networx.

Some routers, like Cisco RV 120W, can be setup so a device has a quota limit.

OK, I'll get to it in a couple of weeks when all the kids leave. By the way it's important to have a Verizon wireless account number when you call to enable
the extender. My daughter-in-law tumbled to using one of her kid's account.

Other than the potential BW drain, it looks good. (It must have lots of RF components or something. It really gets hot.) I expect data rates will increase based on the number of simultaneous calls in process. With 12-15 devices in the house and most of them on WIFI for data. We've not missed any calls that we know of. The extender is supposed to support three simultaneous voice calls with the ability to add one 911 call. May be dropping the signaling channel in that event??

But, it has been fun to have so many playing with the toys. When they're not fishing.