"No Service" on WiFia with good signal.

[Kayteg1]

I hope someone can explain what is happening with my service.
We travel from state to state and at several parks strange things happens to our connections.
-In 1 area my Sprint WiFia would show 2-3 bars of signal and "no service". At the some spot my android would make calls no problem, but internet-connected apps would not connect.
-I drive with modem plug in constantly. Just pulled into rest stop in TX and having good service was able to surf the net for about 20 minutes although with so-so speed. Than the service died and regardless walking around and changing positions, I still have "no service" display on my modem.
-Than after about 1 hr, with modem still displaying "no service" I am sending this message via it and seems the speed is better than the first 1/2 hr.
What da hack those electronics do?

[Bill_Satellite]

OK, that did get answered. Thought I missed something.

[Kayteg1]

Just like title says
Why would Wi-Fia show "No Service" with perfect signal?
And phone with different carrier did the same?

[Bill_Satellite]

Maybe we have not explained properly or don't understand your question.
The first question was "What da hack those electronics do?" and just above you ask "My question is just out of curiosity if anybody would know how the system is set."
Could you clarify what it is that you are trying to understand that has not been explained properly?

[shastagary]

you should check there data coverage map where are you? sprint data map click on the data tab and zoom in to where you are.

[Kayteg1]

I bought Wi-Fia about 6 months ago. It works most of the time and to date it is always faster than campground WiFi, so hearing about all the problems with the system, can't complain.
My question is just out of curiosity if anybody would know how the system is set.
Evidently nobody can answer that.
My guess is that in areas like beach, with lot of tourist the system might limit data to leave phone connections for important stuff.

[Bill_Satellite]

Thanks for the info. I have a Sprint MiFi and it does not use that name but I will not dispute what you say. Is this something you have had for a long time? If so, that may be the problem.
I have a Sprint Netgear Zing MiFi and there is/was another available when I bought a couple of years back but can't remember the model. If I Google Sprint MiFia/Mi Fia I get nothing.

[Kayteg1]

Wi-Fia is Sprint name for their Mi-Fi. Works (or doesn't) the same way my old MiFi did.
No, I don't see it as separate Wi-Fia issue as my Tracfone did not allow data as well.
Than again I had 2-3 bars out of 3 on my modem for signal strength and "No Service" display.

[Bill_Satellite]

Sounds to me like issues with your MiFi device assuming that's what you have. Not sure what a Wi-Fia is but I am guessing you really have a MiFi device. The MiFi sends out a signal to your other computers via WiFi just the same way that a campground would provide WiFi from their router to your computer.
A no signal message would mean that the MiFi device is not seeing ANY usable signal from the tower and this should not change while staying at the same location unless someone moves in between you and the tower or your device is overheating or having some other issue which causes it to shut down for a period of time before becoming usable again. Be sure it's out of the sun as that's a killer!
When the MiFi device is showing that service is available, the number of bars is not a determining factor with speed. More bars "can be" better but is not the #1 thing that would let you know whether you should be getting great speed or not. You can be on a fully loaded tower with 4 bars and the speeds can stink and you can be on a lightly loaded tower with 1-2 bars and the speeds can be excellent.
This is also vary by time of day and whether it's a weekend and all the kids are on their computers and phones. Evenings can be the worst as everyone is home every where and they are all on their devices, many of them streaming Netflix and the like.

[2oldman]

Sprint is not known to be a good service for travelling.

[Kayteg1]

Let me say it different way. When my WiFia modem do have its migraines, at one Lake I did not have data service on both - modem and android.
They have different providers and again - signal was good on both, yet seem data transfer was block.
Then yesterday the modem would transfer the data, while showing "no service". I left it on overnight and it is showing service now.
All of that has nothing to do with WI-Fi provided by campgrounds.

[wa8yxm]

First: WI-Fi and Wireless are TWO DIFFERENT SERVICES..

Wi-Fi is generally park provided. WIRELESS is your cellular provider Now your phone (or other "Hot Spot" Device may convert Wireless (Cellular internet) to Wi-Fi and it may also be able to use Wi-Fi to make phone calls but this is under your control... to a point.

Wireless internet (No Service but a strong signal) YOu have SPRINT which advertises the IN NETWORK reliability is within 1% of Sprint. they do not advertise what IN NETWORK means.. (It means when you are connectred to a SPRINT tower) and they do not tell you that sprint has perhaps 10% (I am being kind) of the towers Verizon or AT&T or T-Mobile have .. Smallest "Nationwide" network in the country They mnerged with Nextel many years ago (over 10) and Nextel was nicknamed NO-Tel. Well. that covers it.

YOu may get a strong signal off a Tower due to a Roaming agreement but as a SPRINT customer. they may limit or even block internet access since they are NOT Sprint You phone should have an option to tell you what's happening or there is an app for Androids (Network Signal Info) that tells you who's towers you are using.. Most of the time *I have the freee version*

Wi-FI now is a whole different can of fish bate.

Many parks have simple Wi-Fi routers Like a common Linksys Home/Small office router. So here is the story of where I"m parked (Multiple routers.. today)(

Several years ago Id' head to the Family center (Internet hot spot) and hook up right about now.. I got connected no tribble. but as more and more folks came in suddenly they had a strong signal but no joy.

Turns out Linksys routers (They had basically taken it out of the box and plugged it in) only assign 50 IP Addresses

Think of a post office box store with 50 boxes. when they are all rented out "NO VACANCY" as it were.. Well I'd connect 'em by going Static IP and it worked (I wont bore you with that) ANd finally I though "I'll bet they never did something" sure enough they did not so I logged in and upped the box count to 100.. THere is a funny story after that.

Today that router is a an insustrial router which can do 500 or more boxes

So is the one I'm parked by but alas it's overloaded too

So you get a strong signal. but the router can not talk to you because either it does not have the bandwidth (Too many streaming videos) or it's out of addresses.

[Fizz]

doxiemom11 wrote:
Maybe your connection is being prioritized by a busy tower. When it says no service, have you tried disconnection, then re-connecting to establish a new connection? Pay attention to the time of day this is happening.

That's the way it works for us with only one cell tower in range.
We spend the summer at the cottage and get great service except for weekends when everybody shows up. Get three bars but no service so I'm constantly rebooting to get through. Sometimes I have to give up. Come Sunday afternoon all is back to normal, great connection.

[doxiemom11]

Maybe your connection is being prioritized by a busy tower. When it says no service, have you tried disconnection, then re-connecting to establish a new connection? Pay attention to the time of day this is happening.

[Johno02]

Good cell signal is not necessarly good data service. Lots of places you can talk, but no or very slow data service. Lot depends on your carrier, and your location. My carrier used to be very good, but has gotten terrible in most places. The other major carrier is getting a lot better most everywhere.My phone is on one carrier, my MIFI is on the other. I plan on changing phone carier, but i'm too cheap to buy another smartphone.