The Internet Saga Continues

Spent a good part of my evening over at the Verizon store yesterday.  Once again, on the phone with Tech support.  They tried many things, but to no avail.  The tech I was speaking too, finally admitted defeat.  He imputed a "trouble ticket" to some higher up techies and apologized for all my troubles.  He says they have had very little trouble with this newest card and just can't seemed to see why my card keeps disconnecting itself from the internet. 
They asked me to give them a couple of days to work on a solution.  I agreed, but if they can't solve the problem...then I need to move on to a different device.  I will let you know how it all plays out.
On to a more pleasant subject.  I have started my next painting.  It is going to be a portrait of a baby giraffe that I saw while visiting the Living Desert Zoo in California last winter.  I was fortunate enough to catch this guy with the most whimsical expression....chewing on a piece of grass....check it out here.

Verizon Card Issues.....

Thanks for all the input on the Verizon air card.  I have not made it over to Verizon as of yet.....I know I'll be in for a long day.  I also wanted to really have some time in with the card so I can describe exactly what it is and is not doing.  I'm sure the dang thing will behave beautifully while at the Verizon store.  
My main complaint is that it either disconnects itself or goes dormant and it is difficult at times to re-connect.  Sometimes it thinks it is connected when it is not.  My computer has also gone "grey" with a request to shut down and restart....so I am suspecting the Verizon software is at fault at this point.  It is just not playing well with my mac.
Many of you mentioned you have the "mifi" as opposed to the "aircard" and I would have went that way if the decision were up to me alone.  My hubby wanted the aircard.  He wants to purchase the Wifi Ranger and use the aircard with it.  I recently found out that this particular card is not currently compatible with the Ranger, but they will be releasing the appropriate software in the next few weeks.  Another feature of this particular card, is that you do have an access point to directly plug an external antenna into the card and boost it's signal.  We have used this before with our old card that also had an antenna port and it does work.  
 Bottom line.....I'm heading back to Verizon tomorrow and hopefully we can get this thing working in a more reliable fashion.  We really like the card and it's features (when it works)......so we shall see.

New aircard

We made the decision to upgrade to the Verizon 4g aircard USB551L.  We know that 4g is not everywhere, but it is here in Lafayette.  They also claim that even with 3g service the card will provide higher more reliable service.  Well, so far this has been a nightmare.  I spent the better part of an afternoon trying to get the first aircard they sold me to work.  I will say....I was working with the store manager and he stuck with it till we had a solution.....a replacement card.  Took that back home and we are still having issues.  I did realize that I needed to upgrade the verizon software.....which I did....and did notice some improvement.  Still, we have issues.  The thing goes dormant at the drop of a hat......that is suppose to be a temporary condition......as soon as it senses activity is should awaken itself.....it doesn't always follow through.  Many times I have to disconnect and then re-connect manually.  We also have problems at start up.....sometimes it will show it is connected and it is not.  Again I have to disconnect and re-connect until it actually starts working.  Don't you just love technology?  I'm guessing I will be returning to the verizon store tomorrow for another long session.  I'm really not sure what our solution is here.  I'm starting to wonder if the card and software are truly compatible with our Mac operating system.  Of course, no one at the Verizon store has a clue about Macs.  In fact, we had to go through 5 techs on the phone before we found someone at the "support center" that had a clue of the mac operating system.  I guess the most confusing part for me is "what" the actual problem is......is it the card.....the software.....or the signal itself.  

I will say when it does work.....I love it....the speed is fabulous!  So, anybody out there in blogland that has any suggestions.....I'm listening!!