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Seems like Visible is capping me.
Posted: Mon May 04, 2020 7:58 pm
by dmc83
I drove out to the tower I always use today (as was suggested by a nice fellow here) to test out the speeds. Here is what I got:
https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/6035082761
5.7 Mbps down and 5.9 Mbps up. I have had Visible for about 6 months and haven't seen anything higher than that even once. I used to have Straight Talk with Verizon before that, and it would max out at about 12 Mbps (without driving out to the tower). Over on the Visible subreddit they have biweekly speedtest results posted and the current ones range from 33 Mbps to 350+ Mbps. I thought they weren't capping speeds anymore, and I thought it was only supposed to be for hotspot usage anyway.
Re: Seems like Visible is capping me.
Posted: Tue May 05, 2020 6:25 am
by terryjett
I too have had issues with Visible speeds in my local area. Spent some time chatting with them with no results.
Few days ago we took little road trip and I tested along the way. Speeds varied greatly but once I got away from home tower, speed got much better. One test I was getting constant 45 Mbps. Got back home and back to slow speeds.
Conclusion: my home verizon tower is overloaded and since using visible, getting leftover bandwidth. Middle of night my speeds are not bad (get 25 or so Mbps) so kind of backs up my theory.
If you have a chance, visit few different areas 15-20 miles from your home and try. If still real slow, chat them up...
Re: Seems like Visible is capping me.
Posted: Tue May 05, 2020 7:42 am
by gscheb
Hello,
Don't use visible currently but have Verizon post pay plan for cell phone the lowest tier available which is always data managed. In one town will literally get less than 1 down. Then drive down the road 20 minutes and it will just up to 40-70 down. Does seem some towers on Verizon act differently. Uncle uses Verizon prepaid hot spot plan had to change his directional antenna to different tower because of the same issue.
For fun you could go to that tower at a different time of the day. The town where get less than one down at lunch time would get over 100 at 6:30 am. Realize that doesn't fix your issue but just might want to see if it changes "for fun".
The only other thing is to look for another tower that you could use directional antennas to get too even if it was farther away if it performs better. Like had to do for my uncle with his Verizon prepaid hot spot plan. Which is always data managed.
If that is not an option and you can't live with those speeds only other option is to look into a different service provider.
Sometimes it takes awhile to find a solution.
Just because a cell phone provider won't work at your home doesn't mean that that antennas attached to a router won't. Hooked up several places with decent internet speeds where using a cell phone in that area would be a no go.
Oops one last maybe note. Not sure what kind of phone you are using? Is there is chance that it is a lower end phone that could be missing out on something lowering your speeds? Maybe missing a certain lte band that would up your speeds? Can anyone else chime in on this one? Is this a possibility?
Re: Seems like Visible is capping me.
Posted: Tue May 05, 2020 1:00 pm
by dmc83
Hey thanks for all the input. I am using a moto g7 power, which unless im mistaken, is cat 7 so pretty old. The bands are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 17, 20, 25, 26, 29, 30, 38, 39, 40, 41, 41, 66, 71. So it looks like it supports the Verizon bands well. The only band that gives me usable internet out here is band 5 (with Visible). It is able to do some CA, but I have only been able to get it to work on the new ATT sim I just got today. I got a 23 Mbps speed test on the same moto g7 power phone at my house :O. I didn't think that kind of speed was possible whatsoever out here. It wouldn't let me use wireless hotspot on the phone, but I did tether it to a wifi router. One speed test on that was only around 5 Mbps, but the pings have been 30-45. Gonna see how this does for a month. Trying not to get my hopes up lol.
Edit: Forgot to add that I have tried connecting to other towers by changing the direction of the yagi, but I think I would need some type of tower locking. It always connects to the same towers no matter what direction I point it. The signals are pretty weak to all of the Verizon towers, however, and the one I drove out to is the closest by at least a mile probably.
Re: Seems like Visible is capping me.
Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2020 4:55 pm
by LoveMeSomeCALTE
gscheb wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2020 7:42 am
Hello,
Don't use visible currently but have Verizon post pay plan for cell phone the lowest tier available which is always data managed. In one town will literally get less than 1 down. Then drive down the road 20 minutes and it will just up to 40-70 down. Does seem some towers on Verizon act differently. Uncle uses Verizon prepaid hot spot plan had to change his directional antenna to different tower because of the same issue.
For fun you could go to that tower at a different time of the day. The town where get less than one down at lunch time would get over 100 at 6:30 am. Realize that doesn't fix your issue but just might want to see if it changes "for fun".
The only other thing is to look for another tower that you could use directional antennas to get too even if it was farther away if it performs better. Like had to do for my uncle with his Verizon prepaid hot spot plan. Which is always data managed.
If that is not an option and you can't live with those speeds only other option is to look into a different service provider.
Sometimes it takes awhile to find a solution.
Just because a cell phone provider won't work at your home doesn't mean that that antennas attached to a router won't. Hooked up several places with decent internet speeds where using a cell phone in that area would be a no go.
Oops one last maybe note. Not sure what kind of phone you are using? Is there is chance that it is a lower end phone that could be missing out on something lowering your speeds? Maybe missing a certain lte band that would up your speeds?
Can anyone else chime in on this one? Is this a possibility?
Hello, I'm seeing EXACTLY this specially:
gscheb wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2020 7:42 am
In one town will literally get less than 1 down. Then drive down the road 20 minutes and it will just up to 40-70 down. Does seem some towers on Verizon act differently.
So I think your mention about an antenna to different tower is going to save me too:
gscheb wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2020 7:42 am
Uncle uses Verizon prepaid hot spot plan had to change his directional antenna to different tower because of the same issue.
I made a dedicated post:
https://wirelessjoint.com/viewtopic.php?f=31 ... 9741#p9741