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Sprint Airave (Post #1 has a quick "FAQ" for help)

marctronixx said:
well you need to make sure the DSL modem works and the router works.. but yeah just patch the airvana into a empty ethernet port on the netgear and your golden.

yes you need to connect the GPS and make sure it has a clear view of the sky. that will be used to tell the cellular network where you are and to hand off your calls.

yes the router and modem should be all running 24/7. you cant just turn off one component in the chain.. they all three have to be on to work (DSL modem,, router, airvana...) :)
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Thank you so much! If you could possibly bear with me with some more questions! I now know how to hook it up pretty much. Do I need to call Sprint before I even do anything to register the device for use? I heard you need to do that, it never seems to work out of the box.

Next is what do I need to do to my Optimus S to make it recognize and work properly with the Airvana. My device is unrooted, I have never turned on GPS or Wifi since I do not need it and my set up on the phone is pretty basic. Just linked my AOL mail to my phone, I make and receive text messages and make and receive phone calls. Please tell me what I need to turn on (on my cell) in my home when around the Airvana and what can be kept on or even turned off once I leave the house and what I must turn back on before I get home. I am also new to Android and smartphones so I still lack a lot of knowledge on these type of phones! :)
 
wafa510 said:
Thank you so much! If you could possibly bear with me with some more questions! I now know how to hook it up pretty much. Do I need to call Sprint before I even do anything to register the device for use? I heard you need to do that, it never seems to work out of the box.

Next is what do I need to do to my Optimus S to make it recognize and work properly with the Airvana. My device is unrooted, I have never turned on GPS or Wifi since I do not need it and my set up on the phone is pretty basic. Just linked my AOL mail to my phone, I make and receive text messages and make and receive phone calls. Please tell me what I need to turn on (on my cell) in my home when around the Airvana and what can be kept on or even turned off once I leave the house and what I must turn back on before I get home. I am also new to Android and smartphones so I still lack a lot of knowledge on these type of phones! :)
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Hook it up, then call sprint to activate. Think I had to go to settings on the phone, and set it to sprint network. Past that... enjoy! Don't let the beeps weird you out!
 
hey im here all day everyday. you can message me off list any time you feel. im here to help you..

yes think of the airvana as a mobile handset you need to activate. sometimes they come already provisioned and sometimes they dont. all you have to do is call up sprint and connect to the airvana camp. thats a separate little department.

make sure you have installed everything and have placed the GPS antenna in the best position possible,, then call up the airvana folk.

once they confirm its setup, your done with them. bear in mind the GPS may not lock for an hour or so! this is perfectly OK and normal!!! dont think your system is messed up.

if a couple hours have passed, then try and re-orient your GPS antenna and see if it locks.

there are 4 (i think.. going off memory) lights on the airvana.. they each represent a service... GPS, LAN, etc etc... again i forget as im not looking at the gadget as i write this.

finally!! after all the lights are solid THEN you can use it. you do not have to do anything to your handset.. the airvana (femtocell) will broadcast to the sprint network and say "hey, i got this peeps! wafa's handset will come thru me and ill tunnel this traffic thru the internet backbone and THEN ill hand it off to the last mile.. k?" and the cellular network will say " oook Mr. Airvana... " :D

be advised that any sprint handset with the exception of nextel handsets (that use the iDEN network) will find your femtocel and be able to use it. this should not cause you any harm however if someone IS on your femtocel they will be using your internet bandwidth. this may sound more scary than i really is. im just letting you know this is a possibility. the airvana is strong enough to cover 3000 sq feet or something like that so a neighbor who has a sprint handset will "See" your airvana and connect to it.

now there is a page on your sprint account page that has a list you can put mobile numbers on.. what this would do is ONLY let those numbers be able to use YOUR airvana. so if you use this and your neighbors number is not on that list, they can have poor service.

see the Airvana will be so strong the neighbors phone will want to connect to it since its basically a cellular tower,, however that list you created wont let it, so the neighbors handset tries to connect to a distant, possibly weaker terrestrial tower. this could cause the neighbor to contact sprint and say "hey i used to have great coverage and now i dont.." well sprint can find out there is an airvana nearby and they could then just simply remove your list you created that only had the numbers you wish to use your service..

this is a SMALLLL.. SMALLLLL.. sMALLLLLLLLL.. :D possibility, however it HAS happened before and is documented across the world wide web.

so yeah that was WAAAY more than you bargained for however its here for your lazy reading as you wish if/when you have an issue.

for now though you dont have to do anything to your handset. once the Airvana is set up and the GPS is locked, you are golden. the handset will not know the difference. your battery life will be increased and your talk/call quality will be improved.

please if you have any more questions you can post them here. i do not mind answering. if i dont know the answer ill help locate it for you...
 
Wow! That is great information and I thank you for taking the time for all of your helpful answers! I am so happy you explained it all to me! So, I do not have to enable wifi, gps, etc manually on my phone? My phone will just do that automatically or do I still have to myself? I gather that is my last question! (Probably until I get the Airvana in the mail!) :D
 
keep your phone as it is. dont change anything!! once you set up everything and its locked (NOTE: i just looked, there is a "VoIP" led lamp which is the first led lamp on the front. it SHOULD be OFF since Sprint is not currently using VoIP. all other led lamps should be solid) then make a call. :D take note of our signal bars and see if they increase once the unit is locked in.

but yeah leave the phone as is, make no changes. let the system fire up. make a test call. you should be good to go.

and my pleasure on helping you. thats what I am here for..
 
Hello Marctronixx, u seem very knowledgeable about the AiRave as I have read quite a lot of post here. I have questions of my own to ask you and I'd appreciate any answers/solutions you could give me.

Earlier today I bought a Belkin N150 wireless router (my first router of any kind, never had a use for one until now). I'm still waiting for the lights to stop blinking b/c I have only had it on for about 30 minutes or so. I only have one ethernet port on my (Comcast) cable modem and I think I'm missing a step somewhere (or maybe not). The router is connected to the AiRave w/ the yellow ethernet cord from A/R's LAN to the routers LAN. Is this right? And am I supposed to have anything connected to the modem besides the (grey) ethernet cord coming from the wall, again I only have one port on the modem. I'm not really a tech head so I'm not sure if I'm making a wrong turn somewhere.

Thanks in advance for reading!
 
hello Mally,

how long have you had the airave/airvana?

here is how you should have it setup:

comcastic modem ---> bottom yellow ethernet port labeled "modem" on the belkin.

Then with your airvana/airava plug it into any avail "wired" ethernet port on the back of the belkin.

i went off this image:

img4.jpg


please respond back if you need additional help or if i didn't answer your question properly.
 
marctronixx said:
keep your phone as it is. dont change anything!! once you set up everything and its locked (NOTE: i just looked, there is a "VoIP" led lamp which is the first led lamp on the front. it SHOULD be OFF since Sprint is not currently using VoIP. all other led lamps should be solid) then make a call. :D take note of our signal bars and see if they increase once the unit is locked in.

but yeah leave the phone as is, make no changes. let the system fire up. make a test call. you should be good to go.

and my pleasure on helping you. thats what I am here for..
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Thank you! I will report here once I receive the Airvana and set it up to let you know how it all goes! I am sure it will be a smooth process thanks to you! And it seems that all these posts will be helpful to everyone that is getting one of these! :D
 
I got mine bout week ago,Called Sprint told them that we just purchased new phones (wife and I got the same phones). The signal dropped to 1 bar to going into roaming and as these are our primary lines and she operates her business off of hers it was not acceptable. Rep said "well sir I can send you an Airvana free". I didn't pay for anything it was already activated when it arrived. Plugged it into my router,put the GPS antenna up plugged in the power waited about 20min. ,all lights were solid and presto mini cell tower all over the house. That easy. Some pics of setup.My cable is a 50ft. long as I have it about 30ft. from my router.
 

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I just got a call from sprint asking me if I was happy with my service. Being with them for over ten years my only complaint was zero wimax signal indoors in an area, even occording to the person on line I should be getting signal indoors. She tried to sell me an airave. First I was game, I even asked her if it was just a repeater and it needed no net access through my home. I have no net at home and strickly use my phone. While she was getting ready to bill me I looked at the quick start guide online and sure enough,need home network access. The rep tried to aggue with me. Ugh. I talked to her supervisor and told him to cancle it. He got snippy said thank you for calling sprint and hung up on me. Nice. Usually they are pretty good when I deal with them, and thats rare. Today, not so much
 
marctronixx said:
you can plug the airvana into either type of outlet.
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In your opinion, do you think a surge protector would be better? I live in the mountains and there are a lot of storms and brown-outs here all the time. I had to spend an arm and a leg on a surge protector for my TV, blu-ray player, etc., because of this. I just want to make sure all equipment is protected when the power goes out! :)
 
ooh for sure i would prefer to have those types of electronics on a backup and surge system so yes if you have a surge protector avail then sure id recommend using it.

I have several APC backup/surge units for my music production and video editing equipment... its saved me many times.
 
marctronixx said:
ooh for sure i would prefer to have those types of electronics on a backup and surge system so yes if you have a surge protector avail then sure id recommend using it.

I have several APC backup/surge units for my music production and video editing equipment... its saved me many times.
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Thank you! Then a surge protector it is! I just tracked the Airvana and it will be on my doorstep on Monday (the 11th) by end of the day! Will report once it is set-up and of course will ask questions if I have any problems with setting it up! Again, thank you so much for all of your help and patience with all my questions! :D
 
marctronixx said:
hello Mally,

how long have you had the airave/airvana?

here is how you should have it setup:

comcastic modem ---> bottom yellow ethernet port labeled "modem" on the belkin.

Then with your airvana/airava plug it into any avail "wired" ethernet port on the back of the belkin.

i went off this image:

img4.jpg


please respond back if you need additional help or if i didn't answer your question properly.
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Thank you for answering my question, but I'm still just a tad bit confused.

To answer your question, I've had my AiRave for about a week and a half so it is the newest one. I THINK my problem is I have an old(er) computer that has only one ethernet port on the and as previously stated in my original post, I only have one ethernet port on my "Comcastic" (lol) modem. The original Comcast ethernet cord is connected to the back of the Comcast modem and the other end is in the back of the (only) port of my PC.

I have one ethernet cord connected to the WAN port of the AiRave and the other end is in a LAN port of the Belkin router. I have another yellow ethernet cord and I could connect it to the (yellow) modem port on the Belkin, BUT where does the other end go?!?! :confused: I have no other empty ethernet ports to connect too. This is where I'm lost @. Do I need something like a splitter or am I just doing something wrong?

I really do appreciate your help btw!
 
im happy to help! no worries at all. :) :)

ok lets make sure we are on the same page.

you have:

a computer

a router (the one above thats in the photo)

a comcastic modem

an airavana.

you do have all of those items yes?

if so,

the modem has one ethernet port. connect that to the belkin routers yellow port (modem).

now you have 4 ethernet ports on the belkin router yes? again im referring to the photo above.

if you have the router above, all you do is plug one ethernet cable from the computers ethernet port to any unused "WIRED" port on the back of the bellkin.

do the same thing with the airvana.

so when you are done you should have 3 ethernet cables attached to the belkin router.

make sense? :)
 
wase4711 said:
ok, does anyone have an EVO phone working with the airave?

I got mine today, and, it does NOT work with the 2 evo's in this house; my son has a cheapo samsung slider phone, and it works great, but, with the EVO's, you can NOT make a call..was on the phone with tech support for 2 hours; finally the guy hung up on me..
I called back and spoke to someone, and he said there are major problems getting these things to work with the EVO..
I get the GPS lock in about 10 minutes, and 20 minutes later, got the signal lock, so I thought I was home free, but, no matter what I try, I can not get it to work on our 2 EVO's..We have a new Netgrear wireless n router, and I am keeping the airave at least 10 feet away..Like I say, it works fine on the cheapo samsung slider, but not on my 2 EVO's.

Any one else get it to work on an EVO?

thanks
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I've had major Airave issues with my Evo 4G for over a year. Dropped calls, phone doesn't ring, etc. I finally figured out that you cannot have any of your DSL cables on or near a surge protector. The surge protector should not be near the phone jack either. I moved the surge protector away from the jack and cables and have had no more problems.
 
marctronixx said:
im happy to help! no worries at all. :) :)

ok lets make sure we are on the same page.

you have:

a computer

a router (the one above thats in the photo)

a comcastic modem

an airavana.

you do have all of those items yes?

if so,

the modem has one ethernet port. connect that to the belkin routers yellow port (modem).

now you have 4 ethernet ports on the belkin router yes? again im referring to the photo above.

if you have the router above, all you do is plug one ethernet cable from the computers ethernet port to any unused "WIRED" port on the back of the bellkin.

do the same thing with the airvana.

so when you are done you should have 3 ethernet cables attached to the belkin router.

make sense? :)
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By George, I think I've got it! LoL

My problem was I wasn't using the original ethernet (grey) cord that connected my "Comcastic" modem into the PC. The breakdown you did helped a lot. I felt like a dunce after I realized how easy the concept is, but it's all hindsight now. lol

I'm just waiting for the lights to turn solid green. Thanx a mill Mac!
 
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