SURECALL2GO 3.0 RV is here. Testing & perma install soon

[rmkrum]

I'm just sooo happy I can live without internet and television when I'm out camping.

If I need emergency communication, I fire up the Ham Radio gear. No infrastructure required, just antenna, radio, and power...

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Does that magic box work via a true cell connection, or does it exploit broadband to do what it does?

Verizon offered me the latter at zero device charge (providing I agree to surrender it if I discontinue my service within 24 months). I didn't take it, because where I need cell improvements, there is no broadband available. Which is why I got the Mobley.

INTERBLOG - I am not familiar with Verizon's system or the strategy it deploys. But Sprint does amplify the LTE data signal and accelerates the LTE speeds from the nearest Sprint tower. You can look at this as true "MINI Cell Towers", far less costly to implement as more than 260,000 Magic Boxes have been self-installed/free to businesses & homes in >200 cities since launched 2017. That is one of the largest small cell deployments in the world. Sprint recently launched Sprint Magic Box for Hospitality Edition designed specifically for hotels and hospitality venues (guess which city benefits the most? LV of course, again in bleeding edge of tech )

But it does also support 3 different Backhaul settings (LTE, WiFi, and Ethernet). Obviously, the WiFI Backhaul serves a purpose if/when cell coverage is not available, so that it can take advantage of the the ever expanding networking via "MESH" Access Points all over.

BTW - Sprint does own the box, it is a "Smart" box, it knows which towers and satellites it is configured for, hence NoGo for my rv use, but SureCall2Go automatically works on every/all carriers anyway.

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by rmkrum

In defense of AT&T (it really hurts to say that) sometimes it takes a few minutes to hours to get a SIM card to properly activate over the network...

RMKRUM - Apologies in advance to BILLRECTOR, not meant to make light of your headache - In offense of AT&T, being a Sprint Magic Box Gold recipient, this is the entire instruction set that came in box on how to activate my device. And they wasted an entire sheet of paper, bad spelling & all

[billrector]

Originally Posted by billrector

To my surprise, ATT called back just a minute ago. To no surprise, even though they said the sim was active, the device still does not work. They will call me back.....

ATT called back again to see if the Mobley was working yet. It is not. They threw up their hands and said to visit a ATT store for help.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by billrector

ATT called back again to see if the Mobley was working yet. It is not. They threw up their hands and said to visit a ATT store for help.

Trust me on this one - the store cannot help you. Here is the procedure:

1. Call 800-866-1514
2. Get to a live CSR
3. Ask to be transferred to the secondary sales group
4. They will likely tell you that there is no such thing as a secondary sales group
5. Tell them, "Yes there is - please go ask your boss if you don't believe me"
6. Get transferred to the secondary sales group
7. Tell THEM that you need to activate your Mobley
8. They will find a SIM card problem and tell you that they have to "work on it"
9. Call them back if they take more than 2 hours to respond (repeating steps 1 - 6 above).

BTW, I hatched this thread on the AT&T forums to explain this fraud and this device in more detail:

https://forums.att.com/t5/Wireless-A...805138#M289036

[InterBlog]

So there is no cable line running to the Magic Box - just a power line? Interesting. I must question Verizon about this, because what I was offered requires Xfinity or some other household service provider.

[Bigventure]

As far as I can tell ATT Mobley devices are no longer available.

[billrector]

Originally Posted by Bigventure

As far as I can tell ATT Mobley devices are no longer available.

Based on what? I just received mine.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Bigventure

As far as I can tell ATT Mobley devices are no longer available.

Yes they are. We received ours and AT&T activated it on Monday of this week. Rumors of Mobley's death have been greatly exaggerated.

[Bigventure]

Originally Posted by billrector

Based on what? I just received mine.

Please post a link. I have search quite a bit. I can only find a Harmond device.

[billrector]

Originally Posted by Bigventure

Please post a link. I have search quite a bit. I can only find a Harmond device.

The link can be found earlier in this thread.

[Bigventure]

I meat to say Harman WiFi hot spot

[billrector]

So, just spent 1.5 hours on the phone with ATT. I called the 800-866-1514 number instead of the 1-800-331-0500 that is in the quick start pamphlet. Both numbers lead to the same place....at least for me. After swearing at the automated system, I was again connected to customer service. Again, the representative had never heard of a Mobley. I explained at least 10 times I needed to be directed to “secondary sales”. After looking for some time she came back and said she now knew exactly who I should speak with and said she was connecting me. Soon the phone was answered by a man who also did not know what a Mobley was. I asked him what department he worked in and he told me customer service. So, I was just transferred from one customer service rep to another!

After a lot of questions and time, he said that once a SIM card is deactivated it cannot be reactivated. He plans to send me a new one....presumably overnight. I need to call back when I get the new SIM card. So, at least 3 hours on the phone and still more to come with no working Mobley!

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by billrector

...
After a lot of questions and time, he said that once a SIM card is deactivated it cannot be reactivated. He plans to send me a new one....presumably overnight. I need to call back when I get the new SIM card. So, at least 3 hours on the phone and still more to come with no working Mobley!

Sounds like your CSR is not handling this properly, even WITH the redirection to the secondary sales group. The SIM card that you have just needs an update on their end, most likely. We did not have to get a new one.

BUT, if they have already deactivated what you were delivered, then yes, it's probably pooched.

[billrector]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Sounds like your CSR is not handling this properly, even WITH the redirection to the secondary sales group. The SIM card that you have just needs an update on their end, most likely. We did not have to get a new one.

BUT, if they have already deactivated what you were delivered, then yes, it's probably pooched.

So, went to the ATT store yesterday and with great difficulty, they were able to supply a new SIM and the unit is working finally!!

I can report that the unit, as received, does shut down after 30 minutes of usage. I was able to change this to 2 hours in the settlings menu, but that is the maximum. This morning when I woke up, the unit's "on" light was off and I picked up the unit and shook it. It immediately powered up, so I guess there really is an accelerometer in the unit. I also understand from reading other threads that higher voltage (>12V) may keep it on permanently.

[InterBlog]

Someone mentioned that there are a few threads on IRV2 that discuss how to manage the Mobley timer. I have not checked yet.

[Alex AVI]

Speedtest results from Sprint Magic Box Gold

Been doing speedtests the last few days. Consistently downloading over 50Mbps. Uploads are not the greatest but still a marked improvement compared to without the Magic Box. My son-in-law says I should see downloads close to 160Mbps when we get LTE-A, he consistently gets that after their towers got upgraded in CO. And with 5G and new S10 or Note10 should be much faster. Worth waiting for the new phones to come out later this year.

[billrector]

Originally Posted by Alex AVI

Speedtest results from Sprint Magic Box Gold



Been doing speedtests the last few days. Consistently downloading over 50Mbps. Uploads are not the greatest but still a marked improvement compared to without the Magic Box. My son-in-law says I should see downloads close to 160Mbps when we get LTE-A, he consistently gets that after their towers got upgraded in CO. And with 5G and new S10 or Note10 should be much faster. Worth waiting for the new phones to come out later this year.

My guess is that if you have a weak Sprint signal now, it will be a LONG time before you see 5G. It is quite an investment for the phone companies and they will start with the highest density of customers.

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by billrector

My guess is that if you have a weak Sprint signal now, it will be a LONG time before you see 5G. It is quite an investment for the phone companies and they will start with the highest density of customers.

BILLRECTOR - Yes we had bad signal but that was prior to the Magic Box Gold deployment. Yes it is big investment. Define "LONG time"? No, it won't be a long time (at least for me in Las Vegas, read further below). I am pretty confident I will have it within 12-24 months. The upper end of that time frame is due to phone rollout of LG & Samsung, which would be the Sprint offerings for 5G. But will the phones be ready? How do I know this? My son-in-law is in Sprint regional management. He updates me on the LTE Advanced & 5G rollouts for my area. It doesn't hurt that I have a cycling buddy who is a field installer for Sprint and his nose is closer to ground level than some mid-management person like my son-in-law. Although my buddy retired last year, he still gets inside scoop of local rollout progress. Both guys give me info like these that allows me to decide when it is best to hold off for the next gen of phones capable of 5G, rather than get an intermediate device. All the advice I get from both is just hold off on upgrading for a few more months. Soooo, I will wait for Samsung Galaxy S10 or Note10. I am leaning towards waiting a little longer for the Note10


Even without the inside info I get, it is pretty easy to see where my area is with regards to 5G implementation if one is observant:

1. I can confirm LTE-Advanced is available in LV and is already one of the cities that is able to access gigabit-class LTE performance. LV was actually in the 2nd wave of cities, after the likes of NY, LA, Atl, Phx, Chicago, etc. Per Sprint datasheet - "to be gigabit class you need a device capable of 4x4 MIMO on 2.5, 3x 20 MHz B41 CA, 256/64 QAM DL-UL". The Magic Box Gold sitting in my windowsill is an LTE-Advanced capable device. It uses 4x4 MIMO, higher order modulation (256QAM). This is all part of Sprint's small-cell integration deployment nationwide.


2. The above Sprint network upgrades are the stepping stones to 5G. This includes the installation of the MASSIVE-MIMO radios/antennas that I am seeing all over town and the deployment of the thousands of Magic Boxes in my area, not just in businesses but thousands of homes. This is the key part of the puzzle that addresses your "investment" concerns. Unlike the other carriers, Sprint is not relying on expensive big towers to accomplish 5G. But at the same time that existing towers are getting retrofitted with MASSIVE-MIMO, it is utilizing the small-cell deployments (strand mounts, mini-macros, and hundreds of thousands of indoor Magic Box Gold units). You have to know what you are looking for to spot these changes. If you just drive around town, you won't be able to spot these at automobile speeds. But since I log 10-15,000 miles training on my road bike, I go at much slower speeds to easily notice these on trails & access roads normally closed to automobiles. Some pics of what to look for

Massive MIMO radio/antenna


Strand Mount



Mini-Macro towers


3. Below I have the info on the speedtest comparisons from OpenSignal as of Jan 2019. You can see Sprint's national avg is at 32.5Mbps, which was pretty spot on in my area prior to the Magic Box. But, the 32.5Mbps was probably best case scenario for the LV valley, not my house. My house was usually 30% slower. But I have now consistently hit over 50Mbps (and even over 60Mbps) download speeds after installing the Magic Box. That is way better than the other carriers are averaging in the heart of town. I live in the edge of town and 2,000 ft. in altitude higher. I just downloaded a folder with 175MB of pics from my OneDrive folder and it look less than 30 secs. to do so


BTW - FYI - Density of customers is only 1 variable when Sprint decides which cities to choose for their rollouts. Case-in-point, Kansas City was on the 1st wave - this is pretty obvious because Sprint HQ is there. LV gets to be part of 2nd wave because this is a big tourist hub with terrain & temperature challenges not seen in other cities. While the popluation is only a bit over 2M, the constant influx of tourist cell phones generate daily transient traffic that is comparable to the big cities.

[Alex AVI]

Many of you probably already saw today's e-mail. Very pricey (MSRP $999.00) . But consider since my SureCall2Go cost +$400 (on sale) + my free labor - may not be a bad route to take for those who can't DIY. The AT&T Unlimited Plan is $30/mo.:

Airstream Connected - requires professional installation through AS dealer.
https://www.airstream.com/connected/

Wi-Fi Boost and 4G LTE-A- boosted Wi-Fi signal or dedicated 4G LTE-A