Yup... That's what I said! :)
For several years I saw a steady improvement in cell service. It's the reason I chose to not go satellite.
Everywhere we went we'd see more signal. We still do... Only... Now-a-days you can't do much with the signal!
The past several months... From Colorado, to Montana, to Washington, to Arizona, I've seen a steady and fairly steep decline in the function of my Verizon "Air Card".
From conversations with other people, the issue isn't Verizon...
THE big ugly monster in the corner, to my thinking is three fold. 1. Smart Phones 2. Tablets and 3. E-readers.
Think about it. How has the Smart phone market exploded in the last year or so?... Pile on that the millions of 3G tablets sold in the last year combined with The Boss only knows how many million 3G e-reader devices in the last quarter alone.
All those millions of devices all competing for bandwidth on a suddenly overrun cellular system.
I'm pretty sure that's why I commonly have 4 or 5 bars of 3G signal... And can't do - anything. No bandwidth available on a corked up system.
Our "devices" are their own worst enemy.
So... Not expecting any quick... Like in the next year quick... Solution... I'm thinking I may have to start, frequently falling back to good Ol' WiFi somewhere... 'Cause I'm tellin' you, the Status Quo is like pushing a rope uphill on rocky ground.
Hunting the Elusive Internet
Brian
A broken down Ol' Cowboy goin' RV Boondocking ...
...and Yondering, to the beat of a different Biker Cowboy Drummer
6 comments:
Ha Ha!!! Dang Phone corrector! :) Agitating? That was supposed to be COGITATING!!! Is what I get for posting a gripe about Smart Phones and Such.... From a Smart phone! :)
LOL! Is there such a word as cogitating? Dang smart phones. That's why I just have a regular phone. Only thing it does is keep numbers, names, and goes "Ring Ring"!
Gee, I wonder what kind of 3G internet I'm gonna get on the Virgin Mobile Broadband2Go USB modem I got for our North Carolina trip if there is so much traffic on the 3G bandwidth. (It uses Sprint Network). I'll let you know when we get back in July.
My TIGO USB stick does ok down here in Honduras. It is kind of amazing that I'm expecting internet fast enough to skype in a mountain town in Honduras when I move this weekend. If I don't post for awhile after this week, my expectations were not in line. However, sounds like I may have it at least as good as you do up there in civilization.
For all I know its that Damn Murphy jerking me around :) whoever and whatever the reason, more often than not the past few months especially I've seen a real slowdown, often to 100-200 kbps from what had been 1000 kbps and more... Frequently to the 50 of ancient dial up days :) since the signal is strong the only thing I can attribute it to is the glut of bandwidth hungry devices that have gone active in the last few months. The only cure being a huge investment by the cell tower operators to upgrade equipment... Seems pretty unlikely in the short term... Guess I better get used to sssssllllllowwww :)
CowBoy Brian,
You hit the nail!!! Hearing how well Air Cards worked and that Verizon was almost everywhere over the past five years, Bobbie and I finally made the decision to go for it last year. And yes, we rolled into campsites all over Arizona and had mucho bars of signal but couldn't even send a freaking email!!! Especially on the fringes of Phoenix... around Cave Creek to the north and Apache Junction to the east. We even had 4G in some places and it would take forever to load a simple page.
Same in places like Cottonwood, Tucson, and Green Valley areas. Strong signals DO NOT mean you are going to have a usable signal.
We figured out that the systems were over taxed because everything seemed to work fine at 5 am or midnight.
We have bought into a "monster" full of promises and sold a "bill of goods." Our internet while traveling was totally useless most of the time and yes, we ended up going to McDonalds and libraries to Wi Fi.
Think twice before you spend a bunch of money on Verizon air card plans that lock you in for years.
dissatisfied roamer.
I have only had a problem with full bandwidth on Verizon in a couple of places that I chose to park. This was almost a year ago, nothing recently. I have been very satisfied with my Air Card.
Disclosure, I am not usually parked near a large metropolitan area so that may make a difference.
Post a Comment