MOFI - throttling and SIM question

[lawnmowerman]

New to this, recently converted from using booster. This forum is the best. Hope I'm not posting this question in the wrong place!

Got myself up and running with MOFI 4500, used SIM card from Verizon jetpack. Everything was great until I hit the jetpack data limit (it's an unlimited plan that throttles after 15 GB) last night and internet speed immediately dropped to 600 kbps.

I tried just now adjusting TTL to 64 but no dice. I guess it wouldn't make a difference though because Verizon's going to treat that usage as hotspot data no matter what since the SIM is tied to the jetpack? Any way around the throttling here?

I also have a Verizon unlimited plan for my iPhone XS (75 GB prioritized data, 30 GB hotspot) and tried putting that SIM card in the MOFI this morning. Booted it up but no internet connection. When I put my SIM card back in my phone, I could make calls but no data. And so after taking with Verizon customer support, had to go to Verizon store for new SIM card for phone. Did I do something wrong trying the phone SIM card in the MOFI? I didn't know about adjusting TTL when I did that.

Any help or advice on how to use the jetpack SIM but avoid throttling and/or use my phone SIM would be greatly appreciated!

[gscheb]

Hello,

Got myself up and running with MOFI 4500, used SIM card from Verizon jetpack. Everything was great until I hit the jetpack data limit (it's an unlimited plan that throttles after 15 GB) last night and internet speed immediately dropped to 600 kbps.

I tried just now adjusting TTL to 64 but no dice. I guess it wouldn't make a difference though because Verizon's going to treat that usage as hotspot data no matter what since the SIM is tied to the jetpack? Any way around the throttling here?

If this is a hard throttle after 15 gb which it sounds like it is there is no way around this one. It is always going to do this after 15 gb.

I also have a Verizon unlimited plan for my iPhone XS (75 GB prioritized data, 30 GB hotspot) and tried putting that SIM card in the MOFI this morning. Booted it up but no internet connection. When I put my SIM card back in my phone, I could make calls but no data. And so after taking with Verizon customer support, had to go to Verizon store for new SIM card for phone. Did I do something wrong trying the phone SIM card in the MOFI? I didn't know about adjusting TTL when I did that.

Don't believe you did anything wrong by putting sim in mofi have done this myself. Did have an issue once my mother sim got stuck on the mofi and they where convinced it was a hotspot plan now. Think this is more of a Verizon goof up in my opinion.
I know that verizon is a hard one to use. What are you goals with this? What are you wanting to do with the data?
Are you trying to game with it, work from home, netflix etc? Have allot of people on it?

[lawnmowerman]

My wife and I are trying to work from home and stream. No gaming. Would be fine with 5-10 mbps download speeds, just can’t do with 600 kbps throttling. I’m tempted to try putting my phone sim card back in the mofi but am worried about breaking the sim again and then having no internet (had to hook the booster up again to use phone data while I figure this out). But I also don't want to have to take my sim card in and out every time I leave the house, etc.

Where I live, Verizon has the best signal (though still weak and only 1-2 bars on a far porch at the corner of the house), I used to have AT&T but could never get good service anywhere and definitely not at home (most people around here have Verizon), and the mofi worked best locked into band 13 on Verizon signal.

If there's no way around the jetpack sim card throttling after the data limit is reached, and using my phone's sim card is not a long term solution, it sounds like I need some other data plan / sim card just for the mofi, and that's where I'm unsure, as I'm unfamiliar with Visible, PagePlus, etc., and not sure what would work best for my situation. Or if there's another Verizon solution I'm not thinking of. I tried tethering my phone (to use it's data plan at least) to the mofi via the mofi usb port, but there was no internet.

I've the antenna-router/modem part of my setup down, the last piece of the puzzle is the data plan/sim card. Definitely no way we can work on a monthly 15 GB data limit, which has even been doubled to 30 GB the last two months due to COVID-19.

[gscheb]

ok
Sounds like high latency should be an issue for you not unless working from home means allot of skype meeting and etc?
Does sound like you need to find another service to use other than this jet pack.

[lawnmowerman]

Yeah, video calls and WiFi calling, so high latency is no good. Tried satellite internet, high latency made those things impossible.

Thanks for advice! I will keep looking on the data plan options. I need something with no throttling and/or high data limit, works on Verizon network, and not too expensive... I know, probably asking for too much there haha!

[gscheb]

Some people use Visible thru verizon. But it has high latency and also haven't heard anyone getting it to work in a mofi device. Get to work in other lte routers but not the mofi. May be possible but haven't heard anyone doing it.
I know that T-Mobile will work in a mofi device. Look into how far away their towers are. They are way more forgiving about router use and etc. They don't see to slow you down as much either.
Have you looked into that option?

[lawnmowerman]

Good to know about visible. I saw they had high latency but didn't know it may not work with mofi.

As for t-mobile, I don't think it'll work... Their site says I'm in their partner coverage area but cellmapper says they're not on the tower my antennas are pointed toward, but on band 2 on towers very much blocked by hills/trees (more so than the tower I'm pointed toward now). I tried locking the booster on band 2, moving the antennas around, RSRP was -128 dbm, so pretty bad. t-mobile isn't really used here, it's all verizon or at&t - to give you an idea, I'm in Vermont, there isn't even a t-mobile store in the state haha

[gscheb]

Technically think t-mobile and sprint are one now. If you have sprint towers around maybe would work on those.
Look at this website and see what t-mobile is around.
https://www.cellmapper.net/
What a cell phone can get and antennas on roof pointed at tower are two separate things.

[lawnmowerman]

Yeah, no dice with sprint either I think. The sprint towers wouldn't seem to cover where I am looking at cellmapper. And when I ran a band scan using the mofi interface, it found band 13 (-99 dmb) and bands 12 and 4 (-113), which weren't sprint bands. The signal strength reading from band 2 wasn't from my phone but from the booster app that's measuring the not-yet-boosted signal from the antennas.

Maybe I'll try t-mobile, see if it works.

(Thanks, gscheb, for all your help!)

[gscheb]

See you are asking someone else about verizon on another forum hope you get an answer.

[BillA]

Yeah, no dice with sprint either I think. The sprint towers wouldn't seem to cover where I am looking at cellmapper. And when I ran a band scan using the mofi interface, it found band 13 (-99 dmb) and bands 12 and 4 (-113), which weren't sprint bands. The signal strength reading from band 2 wasn't from my phone but from the booster app that's measuring the not-yet-boosted signal from the antennas.

Maybe I'll try t-mobile, see if it works.

(Thanks, gscheb, for all your help!)

While those online cell-mapper sites can give you a general idea about the signal, many times their data is lagging the current state of the towers, and carriers could be adding more towers/bands at any time which may not be reflected online. So, the easiest way to tell for sure whether you have a decent service or not, is by borrowing a phone on each carrier by inviting over family, friends, or neighbors, then run some speed tests in and around your home in the browser without having to download anything ( http://www.bing.com/widget/t/speedtest ). If you get at least 5Mbps download speed, chances are it will be significantly better on a router with standard whip antennas, and even better with external rooftop antennas.

[lawnmowerman]

While those online cell-mapper sites can give you a general idea about the signal, many times their data is lagging the current state of the towers, and carriers could be adding more towers/bands at any time which may not be reflected online. So, the easiest way to tell for sure whether you have a decent service or not, is by borrowing a phone on each carrier from family, friends, or neighbors, then run some speed tests in and around your home in the browser without having to download anything ( http://www.bing.com/widget/t/speedtest ). If you get at least 5Mbps download speed, chances are it will be significantly better on a router with standard whip antennas, and even better with external rooftop antennas.

Thanks for the info! The only problem there is I don't know anyone with t-mobile or sprint around here - like I said, their service in my area is pretty bad generally - but I'll keep an eye out. The thing is, I'm pretty rural, and at my house right now, with Verizon, I only get about 1 maybe 2 bars, and only at one corner of the house. No service on At&T, which I used to have before we bought our house last year. So I'm not really confident any other carriers will work. I should add the the

(Had I known getting internet here would be such an adventure... the only ISP offers 3 mbps, which was usually half that; tried satellite, but it was capped, latency, etc.; been using a cel-fi go booster for the last six months)

I should add that the band RSRP readings from the mofi ("And when I ran a band scan using the mofi interface, it found band 13 (-99 dmb) and bands 12 and 4 (-113), which weren't sprint bands.") from my previous post were actually the mofi running off the boosted signal inside, so probably worst if the mofi was hooked up to the antenna itself.

[BillA]

Well, that's a problem not having any family, friends, or neighbors with different carriers. lol
You could always get the cheapest prepaid service on all carriers without a commitment (around 25 bucks), even if it's not unlimited, at least you could test the coverage/speed. If one of them happens to work well, just upgrade the plan to unlimited. You can find a list prepaid carriers here > https://wirelessjoint.com/viewtopic.php?p=5790#p5790, most of of them have cheaper starter plans for testing your coverage/speed.

[terryjett]

Yeah, no dice with sprint either I think. The sprint towers wouldn't seem to cover where I am looking at cellmapper. And when I ran a band scan using the mofi interface, it found band 13 (-99 dmb) and bands 12 and 4 (-113), which weren't sprint bands. The signal strength reading from band 2 wasn't from my phone but from the booster app that's measuring the not-yet-boosted signal from the antennas.

Maybe I'll try t-mobile, see if it works.

(Thanks, gscheb, for all your help!)

thewirelesshaven offers tower surveys that show which towers are in your area. Might be worth a shot. Least you will see what your options are / are not. Beats the heck out guessing.

[Molar]

verizon ttl 117?

[Visibull]

<r>This is a borderline necro but Visible is owned, not leased by Verizon and has the same MCC/MNC and identity on the network as any Verizon SIM, and in my experience has not suffered from the deprioritation speeds I encountered with Boost and Cricket as of 01/18/2121
<br/>
As of my installation date, Luci (the 4500 embedded) has a a specific APN from the dropdown for Visible in the Mobi module config and the connection wizard automates that and sets up local wifi. I did this initially, but there a myriad options if you're comfortable with DD-WRT it will be familiar. I couldn't find a proper load balancing option, so using an additional SIM to double the speed was a no go, if that even works.<br/>

As for your question, I'm going by layman's experience, but the network recognized your SIM as a hotspot since it was provisioned exclusively as a hotspot. Here's what I did:

When I first put my phone SIM into the router I was stoked! Getting 4x the hotspot speed (which is 40-50Mbps), then the connection slowed to a crawl. I went to log on to my Visible account and I got an invalid data or something error. I called Visible and they reprovisioned my SIM card. I initialized the SIM by rebooting it from my phone. Then once the home screen appeared, and no further action, I transitioned the SIM to the 4500 and have had data+ speeds since.<br/>
<br/>
The 4500 connects to the network as data and I am currently bandlocked with speeds not only faster than the throttled 1Mb/s hotspot speed, but twice as fast as my Pixel 4a 5g on <URL url="https://testmy.net/">https://testmy.net/</URL> which usually connects to a different tower and band.<br/>
<br/>
The connection is so stable and fast that I've bought another SIM card and account that I first booted with the free phone they gave me once upon a time, then put it in the 4500 and haven't had an issue since. In fact, on some protocols, I surpass 7Mb/s which is light speed for me on a SIM.<br/>
<br/>
Side note: I bought the SIM4COMBO which I thought was a mistake, given the SIM7 can receive band 66, an AWS for Verizon, but 13 has been rocking compared to my phone which often connects to 66, so I'm not messing with it until they release the 5500 in March which is 5G.</r>

[Didneywhorl]

...
<br/>Side note: I bought the SIM4COMBO which I thought was a mistake, given the SIM7 can receive band 66, an AWS for Verizon, but 13 has been rocking compared to my phone which often connects to 66, so I'm not messing with it until they release the 5500 in March which is 5G.</r>

Where did you find info on the MOFI 5500? Quick Google search found no info

[BillA]

Where did you find info on the MOFI 5500? Quick Google search found no info

As a joke... lol
https://neverthrottled.com/product/5500/

[Kicoman]

Not a joke anymore.

MOFI5500 releasing May 3 2021

Dual band WiFi
Gigabit ethernet ports
Faster processor
Sierra Wireless EM7411

399.00

[toddw]

The sim8 is a EM7411 but still 100mb ports in an 826 shell. The 5500 has gige ports and will also eventually offer a EM7690 and EM9191. Got the info via an email from them.

https://mofinetwork.com/files/MOFI5500-back-new_web.jpg
https://mofinetwork.com/files/MOFI5500_SIDE_web.jpg
https://mofinetwork.com/files/MOFI5500- ... ew_web.jpg

[ylrkdr]

I'll bet the 5500 isn't cheap, especially with the 9191! Wonder if they're working out the kinks in the software?

[Didneywhorl]

And everyone will still come here and ask for help, since their customer support is non-existent for all but the simplest issues.

[Didneywhorl]

The sim8 is a EM7411 but still 100mb ports in an 826 shell. The 5500 has gige ports and will also eventually offer a EM7690 and EM9191. Got the info via an email from them.

https://mofinetwork.com/files/MOFI5500-back-new_web.jpg
https://mofinetwork.com/files/MOFI5500_SIDE_web.jpg
https://mofinetwork.com/files/MOFI5500- ... ew_web.jpg

When do they plan on releasing it and at what price?

[toddw]

They are do out between June and July. Will ask about pricing.