Cheap $20 a month Stand Alone Unlimited Rural Internet through AT&T Wireless

[Xfaxman]

motion does not affect mine. It always shuts off at the set duration. For those that have motion detection, hanging in front of a fan should work. My auto reset should arrive Thursday so it wont be a problem for me.

I suppose the accelerometer in the Mobley may be bad. After it shuts off shaking it or turning it on should turn both LEDs back on. It does on our daughter's new one. It did on the one that I bought two years ago.

I don't have first hand knowledge that movement will keep it from shutting off, although I've read that it does.

 

[TractorGuy]

When I was using the Mobley I plugged it into a timer that would restart it as programmed. They only cost 10 bucks.

 

[Xfaxman]

For people with Mobleys that go to sleep, when did you buy them? Or what is the firmware version? Mine doesn't do this. I probably bought it shortly after this thread was originally posted. I may have updated the firmware early on but haven't manually done that since.

All mobley's in use got updated to VM6200V1.0.3. The new one that I checked is VM6200V1.0.3.

I thought I set mine to 'sleep=never' originally but looking at it now it is back to '30 min' and there is no 'never' option. My firmware is VM6200V1.0.3

Rob

VM6200V1.0.3 deleted the "No Time Out" setting, but evidently didn't change the function in the Mobley, since mine and most that I've read about didn't time out after the Version change.

Seems like all the new ones time out since they never had the "No Time Out" setting.

 

[kf4uda]

I bought a Mobley not long after this thread started. I set it not to time out but that was overwritten by the new firmware that was automatically pushed to the device. I set it for the max of 2 hours. It sometimes will go to sleep after 2 hours and sometimes not. I have discovered that shaking it will wake it up without having to disconnect power. I keep my Mobley connected to a 120VAC power adapter. I may eventually connect a timer or a watch winder to keep it alive.

 

[Xfaxman]

As I have posted before, we are over 9 miles from three different AT&T towers. And I discovered the best location for the Mobley in our house with metal siding, was not by using the highest signal level but by using Internet Speed Test | Fast.com and moving it around for the fastest speed. Got 24.29 Mbps in December of 2017 with it in a second story window.

From Speedtest.net:

And the new fastest is slightly faster. From last Saturday:

Those download speeds are about twice as fast as normal and the upload speed of 1.24Mbps is real slow.

On second thought, there is no normal. The speeds go up and down like a yo-yo.

But usually the upload isn't this slow. Just now ran this:

And the yo-yo speeds, just 12 minutes later:

 

[kcflhrc]

Once you leave your ISP for a speed test they aren't accurate.

 

[BigBlue1]

Once you leave your ISP for a speed test they aren't accurate.

They are accurate. But accurate for what is the question. You have to understand what is actually being tested. In order to perform a test that gives you good insight into the speed between your access point and your ISP you have to minimize the amount of travel between the test device and the testing endpoint. That means using a wired connection to the access point (or a wifi connection with very solid signal) and ensuring that the testing endpoint is 'close' to your ISP. That can be a challenge but some speed tests give you choices and recommend servers close to your ISP, geographically (based on IP address, which isn't always a great indicator).

I do agree with your general premise though. If you can do a speed test that your provider offers (AT&T has a speed test site) that is likely the best you can do.

Ultimately it is all nebulous though. Any real-world transfer of data depends on the entire path between your device and the remote server which is different for every single thing you do on the Internet. You could have a 1 Gb/s connection to your ISP but that remote server could be on a congested net on the other side of the world and your download speed will suck.

Rob

 

[Xfaxman]

Once you leave your ISP for a speed test they aren't accurate.

Why and how would the Mobley leave AT&T?

Is AT&T my ISP?

This is what their Website says: SpeedOf.Me is an HTML5 Internet speed test. No Flash or Java needed! It is the smartest and most accurate online bandwidth test. It works well on iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows and other mobile devices, as well as desktop computers.

And when you click "About":

 

[kcflhrc]

Here's the deal, you run a speed test with your own ISP, every ISP has their own speed test. Once you leave your ISP you have no idea what path you are taking. So with the Mobley use AT&T's speed test. And a true test is a wired speed test, not wireless. So say all you want, I have been doing this for many years and know the test procedures. No one guarantees wireless speeds, no one. And wired speeds are typically guaranteed to 80% of purchased speed. The Mobley is kind of a different breed so no real wired speed test unless you have it connected to a router which I have. So much can affect the speed test of a wireless device their is no guarantee's

 

[Xfaxman]

Ok, that helps, thanks.

My AT&T IP shows me at Dallas, TX, over 200 miles from here.

Just for grins I ran these one after another:

===============================================================

===================================================================

At least the upload speed is back in the normal range and no tower congestion right now.

 

[Xfaxman]

From Bandwidth Place History:

 

[Welshman]

I'm not using a Mobley, but since we're talking about speeds - what is the correlation between upload speeds and download speeds? My many speed tests usually show my download speeds to be somewhat close to the speed that my provider shows I should have, but my upload speeds are very low, erratic and sometimes non-existent. What controls this, and what can I do about it?

 

[cqaigy2]

I'm not using a Mobley, but since we're talking about speeds - what is the correlation between upload speeds and download speeds? My many speed tests usually show my download speeds to be somewhat close to the speed that my provider shows I should have, but my upload speeds are very low, erratic and sometimes non-existent. What controls this, and what can I do about it?

The people you are buying your Internet access are for the most part, responsible up to the point where they hand off to you and your network.

Most cases, it's not beneficial to spend the money on getting symmetrical upload and download, it cost money to do that. Reason it's not beneficial to most of us, is we typically download a lot more data than we upload.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I'm not using a Mobley, but since we're talking about speeds - what is the correlation between upload speeds and download speeds? My many speed tests usually show my download speeds to be somewhat close to the speed that my provider shows I should have, but my upload speeds are very low, erratic and sometimes non-existent. What controls this, and what can I do about it?

Unless you are providing web services on your servers, you really don't need blazing upload speed.

 

[Welshman]

Unless you are providing web services on your servers, you really don't need blazing upload speed.

I'm not expecting "blazing" speed. For example, this morning's tests showed upload speeds of 430kbps, 0kbps, 2.7kbps, 5kbps, and 3.2kbps. In some cases, I'm not able to log into my bank account before the site times out.

 

[BigBlue1]

I'm not expecting "blazing" speed. For example, this morning's tests showed upload speeds of 430kbps, 0kbps, 2.7kbps, 5kbps, and 3.2kbps. In some cases, I'm not able to log into my bank account before the site times out.

Upload speeds are usually 'close' to download speeds. By 'close' I mean often around 20% of download speeds. Not typically an order of magnitude lower. And definitely not low enough to not be useful. The numbers you cited for upload speeds seem abnormal given any modern ISP plan, even 'bottom end' of 1.5-2 Mb/s.

My first suggestion is to test with another device on your network, preferably on a wired connection. If the speeds are consistent then call your ISP.

As for why they are lower in the first place, that because most people tend to need to download way more than they upload and they typically don't upload large quantities of data. So provider prioritize their network plan in order to offer better download speeds and be competitive.

Rob

 

[lman]

I'm not using a Mobley, but since we're talking about speeds - what is the correlation between upload speeds and download speeds? My many speed tests usually show my download speeds to be somewhat close to the speed that my provider shows I should have, but my upload speeds are very low, erratic and sometimes non-existent. What controls this, and what can I do about it?

Who is your provider? If you are using DSL, it's normal to have a low upload speed.

 

[kcflhrc]

To say download and upload speeds should be within 20% of each other is just false info. In a perfect fiber world maybe. But is not the norm. Each carrier has packages they sell. The higher download speed you buy the higher upload speed you get, but rarely is within 20%. One package we sell is 80/10 but if you step up to 100 meg then it's 100/50. Like I said, each carrier and market is different. Bigger cities you will be able to get Gig Service on fiber, but in rural America you are going to typically be on copper and speeds are going to be around 10 at best, closer to the remote the faster the speeds. CAF mandates minimum 10 meg. Distance doesn't affect fiber.

 

[BigBlue1]

To say download and upload speeds should be within 20% of each other is just false info. In a perfect fiber world maybe. But is not the norm. Each carrier has packages they sell. The higher download speed you buy the higher upload speed you get, but rarely is within 20%. One package we sell is 80/10 but if you step up to 100 meg then it's 100/50. Like I said, each carrier and market is different. Bigger cities you will be able to get Gig Service on fiber, but in rural America you are going to typically be on copper and speeds are going to be around 10 at best, closer to the remote the faster the speeds. CAF mandates minimum 10 meg. Distance doesn't affect fiber.

I said typical. As in pretty much every residential data plan I've ever seen advertised had an upload speed in the neighborhood of 20% of download speeds. Not exact, sometimes more or less, but closer to 20% than 1% or 50%, typically. If your experience is different then I guess we live in different markets.

And in any event, my overall point was that exceptionally slow upload speeds, such as those reported by the guy I was replying to, are not normal.

Rob

 

[Welshman]

Upload speeds are usually 'close' to download speeds. By 'close' I mean often around 20% of download speeds. Not typically an order of magnitude lower. And definitely not low enough to not be useful. The numbers you cited for upload speeds seem abnormal given any modern ISP plan, even 'bottom end' of 1.5-2 Mb/s.

My first suggestion is to test with another device on your network, preferably on a wired connection. If the speeds are consistent then call your ISP.

As for why they are lower in the first place, that because most people tend to need to download way more than they upload and they typically don't upload large quantities of data. So provider prioritize their network plan in order to offer better download speeds and be competitive.

Rob

Thanks for that. I have two desk top computers in the house - both hard wired. The speed tests are comparable with each.
I've called Century Link and they tell me that when they test, my download speeds are close enough to my "plan" and they can't do anything about it. When I ask about upload speeds, they say they have "no control" over that. My "plan" by the way is 512kbps - the fastest they can offer at my location.
This plan has been tolerable - it's only been in the last few weeks that I've been experiencing what appears to be inconsistencies and extremely slow uploading.
Yesterday, by the way, I went to the Century Link site to confirm what speeds were available at my address. It came up with "no service available at that address"!