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Old 01-25-2015, 09:22 PM   #21
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Quote: "The problem with the two antenna & amplifier systems is feedback. Too much gain & the two antennas start oscillating. This can shut down an entire cell tower, so both the phone companies & the FCC frown on it. The newest amps have circuitry to prevent feedback, however that lowers the available gain. The specifications for the new systems show gains as high as 50db, however I doubt they can operate at that level, at least in a fiberglass trailer with a non metal roof."

This is a red-herring IMO started primarily by one national carrier due to coverage inadequacies. They prohibited their dealers from even mentioning booster amps because they didn't want customers thinking there was any problem with their network. Wilson amps have never caused a tower to go down. Verizon has used the older 3 Watt amps to improve coverage in remote areas of Utah. The bad news due to this other carrier's lobbyists is that amplifiers are now 1/3 as powerful as they were for over two decades.

That in itself is not bad in many cases- just an antenna plugged into the older cell phones that would accept it did a great job- however it is a typical abuse of corporate power against consumers in a dishonest way.
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Old 01-25-2015, 10:31 PM   #22
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Originally Posted by Vermilye View Post
I've read that you can still go to the their billing website with your hotspot's phone number & find the actual usage there.
Well, sort of. The billing website itself has conflicting information. It shows a sliding "scale" for cumulative usage for the period that reads 0.00 GB. But I can also access a downloadable spreadsheet that shows daily usage for the billing period. I haven't looked at this closely since it doesn't show a cumulative amount, but it is probably accurate. A user can sign up to receive warning emails when various usage milestones have passed, starting at 50% for the billing period. I did this and haven't received one of these emails yet.

I put in a trouble ticket about the data usage display as well. I received a call from Verizon saying my account had conflicting information that I had an unlimited data plan and a 20GB / month plan, and this conflict was causing my problems with the Pantech hotspot. The man sounded totally unbelievable. But just in case I did get assigned an unlimited data plan by mistake, I'm going to keep my mouth shut and not complain about this again. Verizon is tired of talking to me anyway.
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Old 01-26-2015, 09:20 AM   #23
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Thank you once again Jon for the detailed info. Just so it's clear to me, the roof mounted Wilson Trucker connected to a Wilson Sleek with the Jetpack in the cradle- is there an issue with that setup?
That's correct. You may need to purchase an adapter to match the antenna connector to the Sleek, depending on which version of the antenna you purchased. If you check with Wilson, they may have an antenna model number that has the correct connector.


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Originally Posted by Rossue View Post
Quote: "The problem with the two antenna & amplifier systems is feedback. Too much gain & the two antennas start oscillating. This can shut down an entire cell tower, so both the phone companies & the FCC frown on it. The newest amps have circuitry to prevent feedback, however that lowers the available gain. The specifications for the new systems show gains as high as 50db, however I doubt they can operate at that level, at least in a fiberglass trailer with a non metal roof."

This is a red-herring IMO started primarily by one national carrier due to coverage inadequacies. They prohibited their dealers from even mentioning booster amps because they didn't want customers thinking there was any problem with their network. Wilson amps have never caused a tower to go down. Verizon has used the older 3 Watt amps to improve coverage in remote areas of Utah. The bad news due to this other carrier's lobbyists is that amplifiers are now 1/3 as powerful as they were for over two decades.

That in itself is not bad in many cases- just an antenna plugged into the older cell phones that would accept it did a great job- however it is a typical abuse of corporate power against consumers in a dishonest way.
While I have no way of knowing if I've ever shut down a tower with my older amp (the FCC never visited) I have had it go into oscillation twice, both times in strong cell areas. In both cases I had no problem operating both my phone & hotspot without any antenna or amplifier, but since I generally leave the amp on while driving (so I can use the WiFi signal in the tow vehicle), I didn't discover the problem until I looked at the LEDs on the amp.

According to at least one manufacturer, the newer amps incorporate better feedback prevention than the older ones. In any case, the gain figures for the newer Wilson 4G amp I quoted in a previous post (50db) is higher than that of the older 3 watt amp I previously used (and the quoted gain for the Sleek), so they must be obtaining this gain with less power. I just don't believe it can operate at that gain in a small trailer without a metal roof. The two antennas will be too close to each other. I've talked to Wilson about this & they agree that a Sleek is a better match for small trailers. Since they probably make more money selling the two antenna system, I can only go by their suggestions.
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Old 01-26-2015, 09:28 AM   #24
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Jon, my question dealt more with oscillation or signal issues than connections. I supplied the adapter to ETI along with the Trucker antenna and the sleek. I guess I'll have to wait and see if there are gain issues once I start using it.
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Old 01-26-2015, 01:41 PM   #25
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Jon, my question dealt more with oscillation or signal issues than connections. I supplied the adapter to ETI along with the Trucker antenna and the sleek. I guess I'll have to wait and see if there are gain issues once I start using it.
I have never has feedback (oscillation problems) with the Sleeks (I've used a Verizon only & the newer one that can be switched between Verizon & AT&T). My outside antenna is about 2' from the rear of the 17B on the driver's side; the Sleek is in the front driver's side upper cabinet.

One point - if you are going to put it in the cabinet, it does get hot.
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Old 01-26-2015, 06:37 PM   #26
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Good to know. I guess leave the cabinet door open. Also, I have a little 12v computer fan that I can aim at it.
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Old 02-13-2015, 02:49 PM   #27
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Originally Posted by Vermilye View Post
Just about everyone that made the switch from Millenicom to Verizon and does not already have a Verizon account has had the "0" GB usage problem.
As of today I can measure my data usage again, using Verizon's "my.jetpack" web-based hotspot management software.

Coincidentally (or not), my wireless data service, which has been flawless since I replaced my hotspot, has started to have occasional dropouts requiring a reboot of the hotspot. Perhaps I've discovered a variant of the Heisenberg Principle: if your data service is flawless it can't be measured, but if it can be measured it is subject to dropouts.
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Old 02-13-2015, 05:27 PM   #28
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.... Perhaps I've discovered a variant of the Heisenberg Principle: if your data service is flawless it can't be measured, but if it can be measured it is subject to dropouts.
That may be true if and only if you keep a cat in the Escape, with the door closed.
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