Nighthawk hotspot shows 4 bars of service as it connects, but then 2 bars then no service--why?

[peteygrr]

I have a 20019 M1100 Nighthawk that I've used successfully for 2 years. I'm currently using AT@T for service. Saturday (8/7), I tried to connect & setup a hotspot for a live stream. As the Nighthawk booted, it showed great service--4 bars constantly & frequently 5 bars--which held steady until the connection was completely established. However, 20 seconds or so later, the display would change to show 2 or 3 bars of service & then change again to show no connection at all w/an X over the bars. This happened repeatedly. I checked service on 2 different phones w/2 different AT&T service providers & both showed 4 to 5 bars. I was able to replicate this problem at a different location a mile or 2 from the first one.

I have no idea what could be happening, but I need a solution asap. I *do* know that factory resets do not help.

Any suggestions?

[JohnPeng]

Please capture a model.json following the steps below.

- Logon to the webui (http://192.168.1.1 ) as an administrator
- Navigate to URL http://192.168.1.1/model.json via the same browser window
- Capture the results (by selecting all + copy) and send it back

You can send me a private message for the log.

Thanks

John

[AyeAyeAye]

Sound like you are being handed off to another band/different base station transmitter.

This could be as you are using a
Mobile Broadband device & the network (usually) gives you less priority on higher speed bands, so you pass to a slower band on a base station further away. That is why the mobile phone does not behave in the same way.

IMEI control. Even in the EU where net neutrality exists the mobile networks abuse IMEI & sim/account provisioning details to prioritise phones over mobile broadband devices, esp personal account/sims. If you pay top dollar for Business sim/account you rarely have the same issues as you pay for priority.

I’ve had the same issue as you on numerous devices on one certain certain U.K. network, constantly passing me to band 20 800MHz at my home address where Band 7 2600MHz is readily available 200 metres away transmitter.


You’ll have to do some research on base station transmitters near you and see exactly how the network is treating you. Netgear can’t help with shoddy network carriers IT & prioritie$ cu$tomers, John will check your logs incase anyway.

To note: 5G rollout planning also has networks fiddling with transmitters & account reprovisonings so their 5G customers get the best out of 5G Non Stand-Alone that’s built ontop if the 4G transmitter as it’s first generation 5G.

[peteygrr]

I had to read this 3x to make sure I understood it all--and I think I do--sounds like a right cluster----.

I had a long phone conversation w/ATT wireless tech support. After looking over my current service plan--purchased in-person from a nearby ATT shop--I discovered that my "hotspot" data support wasn't for dedicated hotspot devices, only phones & tablets. The tech I spoke with made some "updates" to my account which he hoped would remedy this discrepency. So far, so good--but I'm not calling this "resolved" yet, not by a long shot.

I will continue to pay close & careful attention to the hotspot's performance. I'm also happy to send off log data upon request.

Thanks for all of the info.

[AyeAyeAye]

A hotspot (Mobile broadband) device shouldn’t matter although network carriers can identify such by IMEI and they have control, networks seem to have IT in the dark ages.

Good news going forward is 5G onwards doesn’t saturate like 4G, it’s generations ahead not just a generation jump in tech specs so the dark ages programming IT will become less and less a hurdle for consumers just trying to get what they paid for. A square mile of 5G will hold a circa a million 5G devices, 4G/LTE on average (dependent on how base station transmitters cover the sq mile) can be 10-30000 connected devices, so IMEI, price plan, MVNO, all come into play to stop saturation with the dark ages IT. If you want the best you have to pay for the networks top (business) plans for priority or in most cases be handed off to other transmitters further away on slower bands, network management it’s called.

Sounds like some options/codes have been added to your account. How are your speeds now?


Yes keep us updated, you can have a top of the line M2 but the firmware and network ‘management’ (& account provisioning codes/options) can make massive difference in results on all network sims.

That was the good thing about CDMA, there was no hiding data issues behind network firmware ‘variants’.

I’ve now went 5G Android Moto G50 (mino/carrier aggregation) as a dedicated hotspot, £143, its 4G is way better than the firmware on my (British Telecom) M2. Still would like my M2 as back up but it’s shockingly poor BT firmware makes all 4 networks sims half the 4G speeds of any Mimo 4x4 Android (iPhone mini Qualcomm 5G X55 modem is hampered by iOS (longer battery life?).

If anyone sees a cheap 5G prepaid advise you buy it, mimo/carrier aggregation is standard due to 5G on board, you can’t be falling back from hundreds of Mbps to slow even 2x2 mimo on LTE 4G.

Even TP-Link are updating their old 4G wired to the wall modems firmware for band lockdown to get around how networks are treating customers via IMEI and network ‘management’, their mobile broadband units are no doubt next. Netgear better start getting on it or they will lose market share to a much cheaper competitor.