Attention Virgin Mobile Internet USB Users

[fleamarketeer]

<snip>  I did a speed test today.  Latency was 1386 ms.  Download was .41mbs, and upload was .09 mbs.

Paul

How does that compare with a dial up connection at 26 Kbps?  By the way, I have absolutely no idea what the abbreviations either of us are using stand for or what they actually mean in the real world.  What I'm looking for is "faster" or "slower".  Something like, "twice as fast" or "half the speed" would really be helpful.

Thanks,
fleamarketeer

 

[John From Detroit]

56K dial up has a theoretical top download speed of about 0.1M, he was getting over 4 times that.. The practical speed of a 56K connection is lower... Closer to 0.048M as I recall on public phone lines. (Bit faster on dedicated private lines) the 0.1M assumes modem data compression.. (text only) but most speed tests use compressed data so as to be honest... The modem compression there is not significant.

 

[fleamarketeer]

<snip> he was getting over 4 times that.. <snip>

Thanks John. 

I guess everything is relative.  I'd be happy as a pig in sh.... well pretty pleased anyway if I could get the speed I have now, only mobile.  Four times that speed would be heaven!

Thanks again,
fleamarketeer

 

[two2go]

Latency was 1386 ms.  Download was .41mbs, and upload was .09 mbs.

Paul

That was typical or better than I was getting at my house with Verizon where I can see their cell tower out my window 3 blocks away.
Same physical location but with Virgin today, 166 ms, 1.57Mb down, .30 up. We will start traveling next week, so we'll see if Virgin holds up.

 

[Scott-0168]

I see WalMart has a special going with a air card, no contract! I'm looking for something with no contract when we hit the road to Florida soon.

Scott

 

[BernieD]

I see WalMart has a special going with a air card, no contract! I'm looking for something with no contract when we hit the road to Florida soon.

Scott, pay attention to the coverage map. I don't remember which carrier's network is being used, but it won't work if you don't get a good signal where you want it.

 

[Scott-0168]

Scott, pay attention to the coverage map. I don't remember which carrier's network is being used, but it won't work if you don't get a good signal where you want it.

Thanks for the head's-up!

Scott 

 

[PJ Stough]

Thanks for the head's-up!

Scott 

And just to reiterate; dont necessarily believe the coverage maps.

Paul

 

[Wendy]

We just got the Virgin Mobile MiFi at Best Buy. Wanted something with no contract to use until we get the HughesNet fixed. The salesman at Best Buy said it was Sprint's network they were using. Will let you know how it works for us here.

Wendy
Rancho Jurupa RV Park, Riverside

 

[yolo]

Wanted something with no contract to use until we get the HughesNet fixed.

Wendy
Rancho Jurupa RV Park, Riverside

Wendy, You may not want to fix the Satellite Internet when you get used to the Air Card.

 

[John From Detroit]

I have been watching the price on the USB dongles on E-bay.. Looks like they are going from around 70 bucks to around 120 bucks.

Retail is 80

There is a Retail store less than a mile from where I plan on using the thing...

We will speed test BEFORE I walk out the door.

 

[Wendy]

Wendy, You may not want to fix the Satellite Internet when you get used to the Air Card.

We visit a lot of places with no cell reception, like Death Valley, so we'll get the roof mount fixed and keep using it until the day that there is strong cell service everywhere. Looking forward to that day

Wendy

 

[FrankNSharon]

In the US Virgin Mobile uses the Sprint 3G network.

 

[BernieD]

Wendy, let us know how it works out. I've heard that Virgin Mobile only works on Sprint's own network, not the roaming areas where Sprint's data phones still work.

 

[Wendy]

Bernie, Salesman (and we all know how much we believe them ) said that the roaming area worked on the MiFi, just slower. Only time will tell. In any event, the HughesNet is now working so we'll just use our 30-days on the MiFi and then wait until we're somewhere we think we want to use it instead of the HughesNet or if we're surrounded by trees.

Wendy
Fantasy Springs Casino

 

[phil-in-nc]

I have had the Virgin moble usb for about a year with good results. we only use it when we travel as we have highspeed broadband at home. We only pay when we need it and that saves us about 6 months worth of fees a year due to no contracts.

 

[Terry A. Brewer]

I've been using the usb dongle for about 4 days & am not impressed....VERY slow  0.1-0.3 Mbps download & 0.05-0.15 Mbps uploads in a supposedly good EVDO area.  I spoke with Mike & Wendy who have the Mifi version & they are getting similar  speeds.

I contacted Virgin's tech group to complain about the speed & they tried to tweak my service & ended up putting me in a loop that I can only contact their website & no where else on the Web...... They said it would be 24-72 hrs before they could fix it....It's already been over 36 hrs.  Of course they said they will credit my account with those days.

 

[PJ Stough]

We have been using the Virgin Mobile usb modem here about 30 miles south of Phoenix for the last 10 days, and the speeds have been horribly slow.  One "speed" test was .06mps up, and .07 down.  We are in an area that their coverage maps shows to be 3G

A call to tech support was a waste of time, all the tech said that they were really busy today, and "they were having problems", but would fix them ASAP.

I wonder if their problems have anything to do with information I read on another board that even though usage is unlimited, they are going to start throttling anyone who uses over 5G in a month to 256 kps.  Seems that is about the speed we are running now.

Paul

 

[Howard Kelly]

very interesting,  how can they tell how much someone is using the service????
we are 5 miles south of Tucson and have been for 6 weeks. Service was slow over christmas but has been ok since the new year.  only 1 o 3 bars but speed seems the same.
H

 

[Jeff]

very interesting,  how can they tell how much someone is using the service? ???

H

Howard:

All cellular systems track usage by phone number.