Issues with AT&T. Need to switch to something else

[1337Jess]

Hi there. I like many others had the $35 AT&T iPad prepaid plan and it was cut off 2 weeks ago. I have since been looking for a replacement solution. I found that a handful of users on here recommended to switch from the $35 prepaid plan to the $20 postpaid plan. Well that sounded too good to be true so I jumped on it. After 3 days of troubleshooting slow connections on the postpaid plan I finally got to someone at AT&T who could tell me what the issue is. Apparently the $20 postpaid plan is not LTE but for 4g only (HSPA+) so that explains my slowness. I went from 60 down 20 up on the prepaid plan to 8 down and .6 up on the postpaid. That is enough to still work from home however it's pretty slow. From the looks of the map it seems as though T-mobile has good coverage in my area however im not sure if I should switch. I didnt have a single issue for 17 months with the AT&T prepaid plan but it does chap my ass they got rid of it with no replacement solution.

What should I do here? Switch to T-mobile or stick with AT&T and try to find a LTE solution through them? I am using a WG3526 router with a Sierra Wireless EM7565 modem.

Where are you guys finding your LTE plans at? I have researched this forum but nothing seems to be very clear cut. I dont see anywhere on the T-mobile site that offers data only plans. I called and they said I had to buy a phone to get the data plan. Are you guess buying through a reseller? Who are you all using?

[gscheb]

Hello,
I have been setting up T-Mobile and Visible in routers. And tethering a verizon phone.

They are all unlimited phone plans.

If you use T-Mobile can just call them on the phone and say a friend or relative are going to give you phone and not sure what it is. They will send you pre-activated sim that can be put right into the router.

Visible you have to activate it in a phone first.

Thanks for letting us know about the tablet plan. Been considering it myself but heard issues with it.

T-Mobile link
https://wirelessjoint.com/viewtopic.php?f=32 ... =140#p7409

There are links out there for visible as well.

[1337Jess]

Before I got AT&T I briefly had Verizon. I have great cell coverage with Verizon but the LTE was very slow. 5 down was the max I ever got. When I switched to AT&T my speeds went through the roof. I have yet to try Tmobile however they said I have 14 days to try it, if I dont like it they will refund my money entirely. At the moment (no TMobile testing yet) AT&T or a AT&T MVNO is my only option.

I will likely keep the $20 post pay AT&T tablet plan as a backup.

[mtl26637]

An AT&T rep. told you the post paid tablet plan is only for HSPA+? LOL, i'm not surprised I suppose. I don't think I have ever talked to anyone through tech support of phone/tv providers that had any clue about what they are doing other than the very basics like 'are you sure it is plugged into the wall outlet'. Not sure what the problem might be but I can tell you the post paid plan is NOT limited to HSPA+ and is indeed a 4G LTE connection. APN settings are same as the old 35/mo. plan too. As far as I can tell there is no difference between the two from the consumers perspective.

[gscheb]

An AT&T rep. told you the post paid tablet plan is only for HSPA+? LOL, i'm not surprised I suppose. I don't think I have ever talked to anyone through tech support of phone/tv providers that had any clue about what they are doing other than the very basics like 'are you sure it is plugged into the wall outlet'. Not sure what the problem might be but I can tell you the post paid plan is NOT limited to HSPA+ and is indeed a 4G LTE connection. APN settings are same as the old 35/mo. plan too. As far as I can tell there is no difference between the two from the consumers perspective.

Are you having a good experience with the AT&T post pay tablet plan?

[mtl26637]

I have 2 ATT and 1 VZW. First ATT is old ipad plan, 2nd is the newer ATT post paid plan and 3rd is prepaid VZW unlimited. Had the typical issues with ATT disconnect on both but I think I have it mostly resolved using connection monitoring/VPN. I have all 3 piped to a Linksys WRT32X running OMR and averaging around 150-250 down and 100 up. Pretty happy all around with the setup now that I have it all working fairly well. Was a learning curve with all of it for me but worth it in the end imo since my only other solution was local ripoff DSL telco at 5 down and 0.5 up on a good day at double the price almost. Local telco told me to pissoff even when they have a fiber linked DSLAM just at the end of my road and even offering 'new customers' across multiple counties FTTH options.

Sorry for the rant, LOL, as you can see I'm still not happy with the local telco provider eh.

[1337Jess]

Can you post your modem stats so I can see what yours says against mine? Mine has been stuck in HSPA+ for 3 days now and the tech said it should be. The only thing that changed in my environment is the plan. APN and TTL were not adjusted. Literally went from LTE connection to HSPA+ with postpaid in a matter of hours. No where does it say the type of connection you are promised. Again, I'd love to see your proof of LTE on the postpaid $20 plan. That would give me some ammo to shoot back at them.

[mtl26637]

Not sure why the attitude. Definately wasn't expecting that. I'll 'prove it' if I get spare time. In the meantime i'm sure others will chime in as im sure there are plenty here using the $20 postpaid with full LTE speeds.

And no your wrong, its not fail-over nor is it load balancing. It's OMR (openmptcprouter) and its aggregated. I can tell you now i'm getting those speeds via an aggregated connection. Various posts about it right here on this site.

[1337Jess]

I am asking you to provide proof that the $20 post paid tablet plan is for LTE and not 4G. You dont have to prove anything but it's not helpful to say what I have been told is incorrect without providing the correct information yourself. My apologies about the LB and FO comment. I know just enough about LTE to get me in trouble. That's why I am here...

[Didneywhorl]

Easy there fellers. Text conveys no emotion.

Proof like this? ipad plan post paid. No IMEI change trickery.

ipad-plan-LTE-EM7565.png

[1337Jess]

I just don't get it then... I can put the SIM in any device (cell phone, iPad, Sierra modem) and it doesn't get LTE. I went to T mobile today and got a SIM for their unlimited plan but was told the old iPhone I provided (iPhone 6) will not work with a T mobile SIM and will only work with a Sprint SIM. I purchased and brought it home to test and I am online getting 2 down and .2 up and thats connected to LTE!

I sure do love living in the Smoky Mountains but damn it's tough getting any kind of decent connection.

[mtl26637]

I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings by "LOL"ing that an ATT rep. told you that. It wasn't even directed 'at' you but at what they told you. As far as fact, I wasn't aware that I would be put in a position to have to give facts or proof, it was just what I thought would be useful information for you in regards to not having to find alternatives. And edited what? I haven't edited or removed a single word in any post? No idea where you got that from? In regards to not being helpful or having to prove anything, I'm sorry you feel that way. Everything i've posted is correct information. I remoted into home and ran an 'omr-test-speed' on that link with the ATT Postpaid tablet sim and was averaging ~20MB down. Take it for what its worth. I'll leave it at that.

[1337Jess]

This is what I am showing in my router.

[Didneywhorl]

Have you tried placing it in LTE only mode? Are you using external antennas? your signal is super low

[Didneywhorl]

Not sure why it says EM7565U, wonder what the U is for?

[1337Jess]

I have not tried to set it to LTE only. I'm pretty sure if I do it wont even connect but at this point it's worth a shot. I'll have to research how to do that.

My signal is normally 60+% but thats when it was connected to LTE.

I haven't changed a thing with my router, modem or antennas for a year and a half. Again, the only change was going from prepaid to postpaid.

Not sure what the U stands for either. Im not sure if it's been like that but I have never payed any attention to it honestly.

[Didneywhorl]

HSPA+ is 3G, not 4G.

[Didneywhorl]

It is odd though. What ipad version did you use to register for the account? Some of the older ipad IMEIs will get you a SIM that is 3G only. That I am certain of.

[1337Jess]

Model A1460

CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1900, 2100 MHz)
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)
LTE (Bands 1, 3, 5, 13, 25)

[1337Jess]

Post deleted

[mtl26637]

I take it back. I can't leave it at that as I think I see the issue. Putting everything aside and looking at your screenshot, first thing I seen was your signal strength. I know you said your signal strength was better at some point but 29% is pretty low. It's possible for whatever reason, the new sim/modem combo is latching onto different tower/band? The signal strength may be to blame. In the past when aiming antenna's and swapping out antenna connections I would see connection status drop from LTE down to HSPA+ and back to LTE once the signal strength was strong enough to reconnect. You might play around with that or take the setup close to a tower and see if you can get back to LTE?

[1337Jess]

You know what? Could it be that I gave AT&T the IMEI of my old iPad that has limited LTE bands? I know for a fact I was on band 2 when I had the prepaid iPad plan. I never had to provide an IMEI with that plan but I did have to give one for the new Postpaid plan. I see the IMEI I provided doesn't have B2 listed as a support LTE band... I think I we are getting somewhere!

[MattB29]

When I first tried my WG3526 with EM7565 and a Red Pocket data only sim (AT&T is the carrier) it came up only as HSPA+. The only way it was corrected was for Red Pocket customer service to contact AT&T and get them to change it to LTE. Nothing I did made any difference. But within a day of me contacting RED Pocket CS they had it corrected and I started getting LTE (upon a reboot).

Your problem is to get AT&T to set your account as LTE. Your signal is bad at HSPA+ because AT&T is not maintaining that frequency anymore and few towers are broadcasting it. So you need to convince AT&T that you are a iPad customer with a valid IMEI.

[1337Jess]

Update:

I called AT&T and ordered another $20 unlimited tablet plan. This time I gave them a IMEI of an iPad Pro (A2014). I received the SIM but it was not activated. Took me a total of 8 hours and 10 separate calls to AT&T to get them to activate the SIM. Finally I got with a sweet lady in Mississippi who got me all sorted out. Apparently the issue on their end was they entered the IMEI incorrectly when I gave it to them and what they had was showing for a Galaxy Tab. Once the SIM was activated I put it in my WG3526 router and it immediately connected to LTE. My plan now is to cancel the original plan since it only connects to 3g. I will then add another $20 tablet plan to a completely different account so I can have it as a backup.

One thing I do find odd though is I was getting 60 down 20 up on the prepaid plan. Now that the postpaid plan is connecting to LTE I'm getting 30 down and 10 up but my stats (tower, band, frequency, signal, etc) are the same as the prepaid plan. I wonder of the postpaid plans are being de-prioritized for some reason? Hey, at this point I'll take the 30 down and 10 up.

[kalyado]

Do you have to call AT&T to find this unlimited iPad plan? Does it have to be an iPad, or can you use an Android tablet? I have heard many people talk about these AT&T tablet plans, but have yet to find any reference to them on an AT&T website. I also don't have an iPad...

[punkguy00017]

I have visible in another router never activated it on a phone just went on the app and activated it thru there.

[Dr-BroadBand]

SIM Solution, 100GB, 5G, T-Mobile, $50

https://www.t-mobile.com/news/network/5 ... got-better

[mtl26637]

Do you have to call AT&T to find this unlimited iPad plan? Does it have to be an iPad, or can you use an Android tablet? I have heard many people talk about these AT&T tablet plans, but have yet to find any reference to them on an AT&T website. I also don't have an iPad...

https://wirelessjoint.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1923

First post on this page...

[vegetto4093]

Hello,
I have been setting up T-Mobile and Visible in routers. And tethering a verizon phone.

They are all unlimited phone plans.

If you use T-Mobile can just call them on the phone and say a friend or relative are going to give you phone and not sure what it is. They will send you pre-activated sim that can be put right into the router.

Visible you have to activate it in a phone first.

Thanks for letting us know about the tablet plan. Been considering it myself but heard issues with it.

T-Mobile link
https://wirelessjoint.com/viewtopic.php?f=32 ... =140#p7409

There are links out there for visible as well.

Will this work in a MOFI 4500? I was reading your other thread that you linked, and I noticed you said you used rooter to send and receive texts with your modem? Was searching around the MOFI's home screen and didn't see anything that could use SMS. Thanks.

[thejohnfist]

Very late to the game, but glad you figured out the IMEI was incorrect. Using old device IMEIs can lead to not being provisioned for all LTE bands.

Also - AT&T is undergoing a bit of network changes in some rural areas. My tower (it's actually owned by Sprint, not T-Mo) leases space to Verizon and AT&T... until AT&T either didn't renew or T-Mo kicked them off the tower. My speeds went from 90-100mbps to 15mbps.

After several months it looks like they've restructured into some other towers around my area, so I'm back into the 80s on B2+B66+B66 usually.

[gscheb]

Will this work in a MOFI 4500? I was reading your other thread that you linked, and I noticed you said you used rooter to send and receive texts with your modem? Was searching around the MOFI's home screen and didn't see anything that could use SMS. Thanks.

Don't think you can do this with Mofi Firmware. But T-Mobile post pay will work in mofi firmware just fine after it is set up. You could just put the sim into an unlocked phoned until you got everything ready to go then move to mofi and use a sim adapter kit.
I just liked having the whole sim card intact.

[gscheb]

Very late to the game, but glad you figured out the IMEI was incorrect. Using old device IMEIs can lead to not being provisioned for all LTE bands.

Also - AT&T is undergoing a bit of network changes in some rural areas. My tower (it's actually owned by Sprint, not T-Mo) leases space to Verizon and AT&T... until AT&T either didn't renew or T-Mo kicked them off the tower. My speeds went from 90-100mbps to 15mbps.

After several months it looks like they've restructured into some other towers around my area, so I'm back into the 80s on B2+B66+B66 usually.

Hello,
What kind of AT&T you getting those speeds from?

[thejohnfist]

Hello,
What kind of AT&T you getting those speeds from?

Most recent Post Paid iPad plan. $20/mo solo plan.