did you have to change any settings on your phone to make it work, or did it just work?
it sounds like you did NOT connect that external GPS antenna, did you?
I called sprint's customer retention once it was setup and they activated it, 15 min later it worked nothing on the phone. Ext ant is hooked up don't really need it tough. I runs behind the cabinet to the window seal and covered up by the blinds.
Yeah I agree its completely unnecessary, but I suppose the reason why is that they don't want you to be able to take it over seas and be able to use it.
OK time to bring facts into this factless discussion. E911 is a FCC government mandate for all current cell phones. As such they need to give accurate location info in the event that a 911 operator needs it, and is given approval to obtain it BTW. An IP address is NOT, repeat NOT, good enough to give your exact location. It can tell that you are in whatever city and possibly down to a certain area of a city, but that is it. Before you start raving get your facts straight, m'kay?
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Originally Posted by jonnormand
OK time to bring facts into this factless discussion. E911 is a FCC government mandate for all current cell phones. As such they need to give accurate location info in the event that a 911 operator needs it, and is given approval to obtain it BTW. An IP address is NOT, repeat NOT, good enough to give your exact location. It can tell that you are in whatever city and possibly down to a certain area of a city, but that is it. Before you start raving get your facts straight, m'kay?
I bet you feel powerful when you impose your knowledge in a way that makes you come across as a high and mighty pompous self righteous know it all. I said I suppose. I didn't say it was a definitive fact. But thanks to you, you cleared it up for all of us.
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Last edited by ARR22; August 1st, 2010 at 09:23 PM.
Reason: someone took offense to woody LOL
OK time to bring facts into this factless discussion. E911 is a FCC government mandate for all current cell phones. As such they need to give accurate location info in the event that a 911 operator needs it, and is given approval to obtain it BTW. An IP address is NOT, repeat NOT, good enough to give your exact location. It can tell that you are in whatever city and possibly down to a certain area of a city, but that is it. Before you start raving get your facts straight, m'kay?
Hate to burst your bubble bud, but the Sprint e911 system runs off of aGPS, and all Sprint phones since 2002 have an aGPS chip inside, therefore complying with federal e911 standards. Since aGPS runs off of the data network, there is no need for the GPS in the Airave to comply with federal e911 standards.
Hate to burst your bubble bud, but the Sprint e911 system runs off of aGPS, and all Sprint phones since 2002 have an aGPS chip inside, therefore complying with federal e911 standards. Since aGPS runs off of the data network, there is no need for the GPS in the Airave to comply with federal e911 standards.
Before you start raving get your facts straight, m'kay?
I don't hate to burst your bubble. aGPS requires the phone to be able to see at least one cell tower (the more it can see, the more accurate the result) and it gets it's location information from the cell tower. The Airave IS the cell phone tower, and it needs to give your phone the aGPS location. It knows what to give your phone by doing a (real) GPS look up of it's physical location.
Remember, the Airave doesn't require access to any cell towers to operate, so, it cannot possibly perform an aGPS look up of it's own.
I was never able to get the airrave to connect to my EVO's with 2.1; so, I was wondering if anyone who had the same problem, can now connect after updating to 2.2
I don't hate to burst your bubble. aGPS requires the phone to be able to see at least one cell tower (the more it can see, the more accurate the result) and it gets it's location information from the cell tower. The Airave IS the cell phone tower, and it needs to give your phone the aGPS location. It knows what to give your phone by doing a (real) GPS look up of it's physical location.
Remember, the Airave doesn't require access to any cell towers to operate, so, it cannot possibly perform an aGPS look up of it's own.
Lol no it doesn't. aGPS works in a variety of ways, including WiFi positioning(gee, how does that work without having a GPS server built in eh?) triangulation(which would require more than one cell tower) and hybrid positioning systems.
And actually, the femtocell itself can fall under the VOIP service, (because that's exactly what it is) and adhere under those guidelines for e911 services.
Last edited by IOWA; August 2nd, 2010 at 06:59 AM.
Lol no it doesn't. aGPS works in a variety of ways, including WiFi positioning(gee, how does that work without having a GPS server built in eh?) triangulation(which would require more than one cell tower) and hybrid positioning systems.
I'm hoping you know what the a in aGPS stands for. OK, good. Now look it up on wikipedia. Ok, now that's out of the way (you read the entire page, right?). Obviously the assistance can come from multiple sources, and the device (ie phone) can do anything from having a full GPS chip set (such as most modern phones, ie, the EVO) and using assistance to simply speed up it's GPS lock, or it can know practically nothing about GPS and have the assisting service do all of the heavy lifting. The Airave has to assume that devices connecting to it are as dumb as they get, and it has to be able to provide GPS coordinates for them whenever they can't provide their own. This would be one of the reasons why it needs it's own GPS lock, to provide that service.
Quote:
And actually, the femtocell itself can fall under the VOIP service, (because that's exactly what it is) and adhere under those guidelines for e911 services.
Sprint could have opted to require you to input your physical address on a form, on-line, every time you power cycle the Airave before it allows any calls through it, so that you can verify your physical location (think Vonage adapters), but that's annoying and not very user friendly, especially since the Airave doesn't otherwise require you to even own a computer to use. Thankfully, they didn't do that. It's a poor hack anyway. If Vonage wasn't so cheap, they'd put GPS in their adapters too and this requirement would go away for them, too.
I'm hoping you know what the a in aGPS stands for. OK, good. Now look it up on wikipedia. Ok, now that's out of the way (you read the entire page, right?). Obviously the assistance can come from multiple sources, and the device (ie phone) can do anything from having a full GPS chip set (such as most modern phones, ie, the EVO) and using assistance to simply speed up it's GPS lock, or it can know practically nothing about GPS and have the assisting service do all of the heavy lifting. The Airave has to assume that devices connecting to it are as dumb as they get, and it has to be able to provide GPS coordinates for them whenever they can't provide their own. This would be one of the reasons why it needs it's own GPS lock, to provide that service.
Sprint could have opted to require you to input your physical address on a form, on-line, every time you power cycle the Airave before it allows any calls through it, so that you can verify your physical location (think Vonage adapters), but that's annoying and not very user friendly, especially since the Airave doesn't otherwise require you to even own a computer to use. Thankfully, they didn't do that. It's a poor hack anyway. If Vonage wasn't so cheap, they'd put GPS in their adapters too and this requirement would go away for them, too.
Actually, no, they don't have to assume the devices are "as dumb as it gets". ALL, I reapeat ALL Sprint phones have built in aGPS chips with some GPS functionality circa 2002, so the GPS on the Airave isn't for that, but may provide as an additional use anyway.
The real reason, which someone mentioned already, is FCC regulations regarding Spectrum etc etc, as THAT would need controlling via GPS, to make sure they aren't broadcasting where they aren't licensed.
Actually, no, they don't have to assume the devices are "as dumb as it gets". ALL, I reapeat ALL Sprint phones have built in aGPS chips with some GPS functionality circa 2002, so the GPS on the Airave isn't for that, but may provide as an additional use anyway.
Except the Airave isn't limited to only phones manufactured after 2002.
Call 911 through the Airave on a phone made in 2000, and the Airave will supply the location information. It must.
e911 only applies to phones. How do you propose the iPad or other internet tablet, or a mifi, overdrive, etc, some of which don't have any gps capability, get tracked eh?
I've been a sprint customer w/ the same # for over 20 years now! In my basement apt. I get no reception. I got the airave system for $1.07 with monthly fees waived! I had to call them to get my system up and working only once! I also had to use the gps antenna wire. I just stuck it in my drop ceiling above the unit and pointed towards the closest block window i have. It works great!!!! I love sprint and though i've had my issues w/ them i've always been able to work it out w/ them to my satisfaction! I don't ever see me leaving sprint! There is no one better!!!
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I told my sister-in-law to get an airave, since they get about zero reception inside their house. She sent an email to The Wife saying they got it 2 days ago, but they aren't sure if it's working. I do not look forward to our next conversation (it's probably not plugged in). Every time we visit, I spend most of the time there fixing one computer issue or another.
Note to Admins - There needs to be a banging-my-head-against-the-wall smiley. I'm sure it would be used frequently.
It looks like Sprint released a new and improved Airave that supports 3G connection. I dont need it, but thought some of you in this thread may find it useful.
It looks like Sprint released a new and improved Airave that supports 3G connection. I dont need it, but thought some of you in this thread may find it useful.
I just got the new version "Airvana" today, was expecting a regular Airave but was nice to see the updated hardware. Like you I don't need the 3G part, although for people visiting the house it could be useful. The 6 call limit vs 3 call is also nice, although would rarely be used. (Basically again when people with Sprint visit the house.) I don't know how well it works yet though, I just got it hooked up a few minutes ago, so it is going through the setup process, which takes a little while.
Edit: I mistakenly referred to the hardware model as "Airvana", but that is just the manufacturer. I had assumed it was an updated name because it is what is printed on the device, sorry for the error.
I just got the new version "Airvana" today, was expecting a regular Airave but was nice to see the updated hardware. Like you I don't need the 3G part, although for people visiting the house it could be useful. The 6 call limit vs 3 call is also nice, although would rarely be used. (Basically again when people with Sprint visit the house.) I don't know how well it works yet though, I just got it hooked up a few minutes ago, so it is going through the setup process, which takes a little while.
Edit: I mistakenly referred to the hardware model as "Airvana", but that is just the manufacturer. I had assumed it was an updated name because it is what is printed on the device, sorry for the error.
Update: It took me a bit longer to get it running than expected, however it was my fault for not double checking my router settings (I had VPN pass-through disabled from some unrelated recent troubleshooting, and forgot about it so I assumed it was turned on in the router even after seeing the Airave manual mention VPN settings).
I'm assuming setup is similar to the previous version. I still haven't found a permanent location for it, but for now it is in the basement up on a cabinet and using the external GPS antenna. (I didn't even bother trying it without the GPS antenna due to being in the basement.) But after hooking things up, it didn't take too long to show it was connected to the internet and get a GPS lock, but then the "mobile" light was flashing yellow. Once I actually double checked my router settings I realized my mistake and got the VPN settings back where they should be, then the light starting flashing green (correct behavior when initializing), then about 15 minutes later I noticed my phone had full bars!
I just made one test call so far, so far so good ... later I am going to test it from everywhere in the house and see how much the signal varies between basement and second floor. And tomorrow I'll test outside in the yard (where I can get a weaker but stable signal from the real tower from) just to see how well this thing works. Hmm, and on labor day weekend, I should have a couple people with Sprint phones at the house as well so I think I'll have them to help me try out 5 simultaneous calls, just to see if it works! (And I have the router QOS settings to give the Airave high priority, so when I do the simultaneous call test, I'll have to load up my internet connection first to make it more interesting)
Last edited by Cache22; August 21st, 2010 at 10:28 AM.
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if yours is working well now, why would you want to bother upgrading?
Especially, if you have Wifi in your house, you are already getting faster data speeds than you would with the new airave..
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I cant wait to get my the new airave. After talking to 3 different reps I finally got it free of charge and no monthly fee.
Good to hear, sometimes it takes a little persistence. As it happened, the day I called to get mine (about 4 hours before I called) someone posted methods of calling to get it free on slickdeals.net which got a lot of attention, then the next day news of the new model came out, so I'm sure right now it is a little tougher to get them free due to lots of people calling for them compared to normal.
For anyone that does have trouble getting it free (and really needs one) the retentions department is the most effective place to talk to about it. For anyone that doesn't really need one, I won't take a position on whether you should be trying to get it free or not, but if you do try, please wait a while until demand drops down to try to make it easier for customers with poor reception/dropped calls to get theirs first. I only say this due to comments I have seen on various sites in the past few days about people getting free units that have very little or no real need for them.
if yours is working well now, why would you want to bother upgrading?
Especially, if you have Wifi in your house, you are already getting faster data speeds than you would with the new airave..
well, considering there is a shortage of these things right now, the "right" thing to do would be to wait until the people who REALLY need this to get reception in their houses actually get one..
If your the type of person who doesn't give a damn about anyone else but themselves, then go for it..
well, considering there is a shortage of these things right now, the "right" thing to do would be to wait until the people who REALLY need this to get reception in their houses actually get one..
If your the type of person who doesn't give a damn about anyone else but themselves, then go for it..
I have no real intention of doing it at all but I'm glad your so passionate about it it's entertaining.
You could possibly get a free Airave to help with bad reception issues in your home if you are with Sprint. Free femtocell and no monthly charge if your case fits.
No 4G coverage with these yet i think.....
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Mine is in the mail! I must say I am very impressed with sprint customer service... I explained how i have full 3g coverage out side of my apartment but only 1 bar inside. They then transferred me to retension and said they will send me an airwave system at no cost or monthly charge! I spent a total of 11 mins on the phone and ot was a done deal. Thanks for the info!
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Mine is in the mail! I must say I am very impressed with sprint customer service... I explained how i have full 3g coverage out side of my apartment but only 1 bar inside. They then transferred me to retension and said they will send me an airwave system at no cost or monthly charge! I spent a total of 11 mins on the phone and ot was a done deal. Thanks for the info!
I did this today too. I just moved at the beginning of the month. It was funny I demonstrated on the phone to the rep how standing outside I get full coverage, I took two steps into my apartment and the call dropped. Rep called right back, told me Airave is on the way. I don't care if I get the new or old model, I have Wifi in my place anyway. (really, the only difference between the two is 3g data)
BTW, my evo states Time without signal at 96%, yikes! that further cemented my case for a free airave.
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After using the updated Airave for a few days, I am very happy with it. Eventually I still need to move it to a bettery location, but I get 4-5 bars in most of the house. Upstairs I almost lose signal in the master bathroom, but everywhere else is not an issue. (My wifi connection from there is pretty poor as well.) Once I finish getting some CAT6 cabling run (part of an unrelated project for the media center PC to get it on the gigabit LAN) I'll be moving it to the main level. But so far no call drops or other issues!
One thing to note though ... when connected via 3G, it seems like there is a 600kbps cap on speeds. Now this is just an academic exercise for me, since I connect via wifi, but my speedtests I ran for testing with wifi turned off are pretty consistently in the 600kbps range up and down. My thoughts are since this is designed to run multiple phones, and based on their recommended ISP bandwidth for data, this is either intentional, or some sort of QOS for 3G data going through the airave that isn't quite optimized. (for reference: So far I tested with just one phone using it, I have the router set to give the Airave high priority in the router QOS settings, and my broadband connection is 60mbit down/5mbit up, so I have plenty of spare bandwidth available.)
So any one who is getting an airave now getting the whole 7-10 business day eta? I wonder if they are that back ordered or if I should place another call inquiring on the status etc.
After using the updated Airave for a few days, I am very happy with it. Eventually I still need to move it to a bettery location, but I get 4-5 bars in most of the house. Upstairs I almost lose signal in the master bathroom, but everywhere else is not an issue. (My wifi connection from there is pretty poor as well.) Once I finish getting some CAT6 cabling run (part of an unrelated project for the media center PC to get it on the gigabit LAN) I'll be moving it to the main level. But so far no call drops or other issues!
One thing to note though ... when connected via 3G, it seems like there is a 600kbps cap on speeds. Now this is just an academic exercise for me, since I connect via wifi, but my speedtests I ran for testing with wifi turned off are pretty consistently in the 600kbps range up and down. My thoughts are since this is designed to run multiple phones, and based on their recommended ISP bandwidth for data, this is either intentional, or some sort of QOS for 3G data going through the airave that isn't quite optimized. (for reference: So far I tested with just one phone using it, I have the router set to give the Airave high priority in the router QOS settings, and my broadband connection is 60mbit down/5mbit up, so I have plenty of spare bandwidth available.)
Dont think that is the case; I get 2.2 megs down consistently on the AIRAVE
I have Comcast HSI, 50-10 internet, and installed the AIRAVE AFTER the router..
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I just got the new airave today. It is the current version I believe 2.0. It is getting set up as we speak. I have only 1 bar out of 5 bars on my EVO in most of my house, well see how it works once it is connected. My wifi is amazing tho i pick up around 10mbs on the Evo.
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