Well, just when I thought that Verizon's 1XRTT Express Network service couldn't get an worse, I found a "third type" of drop/hung connection -- sort of like all the other problems which I've noted in earlier posts, but with this "third" type, not only can you not reconnect once Verizon drops you, but you can't even re-start the service or any other IP connections until you REBOOT the laptop! :( (For a detailed list of problems with Verizon's Express Network Service and for some background info so I don't have to re-post it all here, see http://www.wirelessnotes.org/verizon-and-express-network-drops ) Anyhow, I'll classify the three types of drops below; note all of these are NOT the result of poor coverage or no coverage (indeed, in areas of no coverage or poor coverage the connection does not drop and regains throughput as you move to a better coverage area. These issues seems to be technical and systemic issues with Verizon's implementation of 1XRTT (since to the best of my knowledge they do not affect Sprint customers). These problems occur with Sierra 555 PCMCIA (PC) Aircards on laptops with Win98, Win2000 and WinXP, with a variety of antennas, so they are not isolated to a given device or operating system. Type 1: Connection DROPS, all data sessions (Web, FTP, Telnet, etc.) are lost. Sierra Wireless Watcher software says "Ready to Connect" about 30 seconds after connection drops. You can hit the "Connect" button and the service will re-connect. If you re-start your FTP or Telnet sessions you should be able to re-connect. These are the least annoying drops and occur most often (approx 65% of the time). Type 2: Connection HANGS (not drops), all data sessions can not move any data through the Verizon 1XRTT network. There is NO WAY to tell exactly when or where these occur, since the Watcher does NOT reset - it just sits there, in a "hung" state, not indicating that anything is wrong other than that the "RX" and "TX" data throughput indicators do not increment (ie, no data is going through). If you quit the Watcher, disconnect all TCP/IP sessions (or rather close them; they all have already been disconnected!) and then re-start the Watcher, you should be able to re-start your FTP and other TCP/IP sessions. These are somewhat more annoying and require a lot more work to restore your service (ie, you need to close and re-start everything). Type 3: Connection HANGS as above (Type 2), all data sessions are lost and can not move any data, and the Watcher does not indicate there is any problem other than the TX and RX indicators not incrementing. However, YOU CAN NOT QUIT THE WATCHER!! If you click on "Disconnect", it does nothing! If you go to the Task Manager (via control-alt-delete) and stop/kill the Watcher process, it eventually dies, but when you try to re-start the Watcher, all you get is "Searching for Aircard 555 modem" (which again can not be stopped/killed). If you go once again to the task manager and try to kill it, it will again eventually die, and then when you once again try to re-start the Watcher it still can not find the modem. Removing the Aircard 555 and then re-inserting it won't work either. You need reboot the laptop and start all over -- something you probably can't do too well in a mobile environment, and generally a pain in ANY environment. (I just noted a Type 3 drop on the New Jersey Turnpike, heading south after the Car/Truck lane merge, roughly 4 miles north ox Exit 7A (JCT I-195)...Again, with Type 2 and Type 3 drops there is really no way to tell exactly where the drop occurs, but from reviewing my logs and "dead reckoning" I am pretty sure it was around there. (I was at the same time running a comparison with Sprint since I know they have coverage along the NTJP between exits 10 and 5 (as well as elsewhere; I just know there is uninterrupted coverage there). I connected to the same server, did the same transfer, with the same OS on a different laptop, and no problems at all. (This is not an endrosement per se of Sprint; I haven't been able to try them out in a large sampling of areas yet, but it does indicate that Sprint doesn't seem to have these problems with 1XRTT which seem to permeate the Verizon 1XRTT Express Network service). (I was also running a session with one of our Verizon CDPD accounts, which is a slower but MUCH more robust network (but a smaller coverage footprint), and no drops or anything occured with that (they never do; CDPD is very reliable and never has any of the "drop" problems which Express Network does.) Anyhow, I've pretty much had it with Verizon and their Express Network Service; it is obvious to me that it simply does not work well in a mobile environment. Come Monday, I'm having my office manager send one of the cards back; if Verizon wants to make a big deal let them sue us and we'll explain just how pathetic and ineptly implemented their 1XRTT service is. (We'll keep the other one until we are sure we want to move everything to Sprint; I'm not sure that day will ever come since Verizon's Express Network goes to many areas where Sprint's does not; I will do some testing on Nextel's packet network and see if they do the job.) All in all, if you move around, STAY AWAY from Verizon's 1XRTT Express Network Service -- the service's drops, hangs, and generally not-too-great throuput (see my posts on wirelessnotes.org and some of the other posts on alt.cellular.data and alt.cellular.verizon) are more than enough reason to use Sprint instead (coverage permitting). The fact that these issues have been going on for over a year (we started to open trouble tickets with Verizon almost a year ago today) and that Verizon has apparently done nothing to remedy them and just kept adding customers, promising them service levels which they can't seem to keep (and indeed, the problems just seem to be getting worse) indicates to me that no matter how good a cellular *voice* carrier I think they are (I think they are the best in New England and the Mid-Atlantic area), their 1XRTT service is so pathetic and subject to such ridiculous shortcomings (I have to REBOOT when they drop the connection??? Outrageous!) that not only is it not worth the money, but they should pay YOU to put up with such a problematic and infuriating service offering! If you need high speed wireless data stay away from Verizon 1XRTT and try Sprint or maybe (sigh) Nextel (and you know Verizon's 1XRTT is pathetic when I'm actually recommending trying Nextel for anything! :) )...if you can do with slower speeds and live in an area which it covers, Verizon's CDPD service offers reliability and ease of use orders of magnitude greater than anything which their 1XRTT service presently does. Overall, the Verizon 1XRTT Express Network service is prone to failures, drops and wasteful system TCP/IP crashes -- save yourself some time, money, and aggravation and find a better alternative. I'd be glad -- thrilled in fact -- to report otherwise if and when they do make any improvements, but sadly, as of June 2003, Verizon's high speed data service is so repleat with problems that I must unfortunately drop them and not consider them for any future wireless data needs which I personally or our company may have until they remedy these glaring problems. (This post and SID list are also available at http://www.wirelessnotes.org) Regards, Doug d2@interpage.net Interpage(TM) Network Services Inc. / http://www.interpage.net +1 (510) 315-2750