apron

I have an Airave device which just cannot communicate with the Pre; The Airave tech support has exhausted all their recommendations. All lights light up blue (stable GPS and system light). Our current location seems to be in some kind of a fringe zone with the device frequently jumping from Ev and 4 bars to none! (resulting in frequent dropped calls) One Airave rep told me that the nearest Sprint owned tower was almost 6 miles away but it looks like Sprint uses an affiliate tower nearby.

When I dial *99 I get a recorded message: "This feature code is not valid; Message 1 Switch 396".

Has any one else received this error when setting up the Airave? I am waiting for the CTMS ticket to be worked on. If it does not work I am contemplating on closing my Sprint accpount and returning back to my previous CDMA provider with reliable coverage (as part of the 30d satisfaction guarantee).

maqk

Have you checked you router for a firewall or any restriction to send data through the internet?

apron

The Airave is connected to a Belkin F58233 N router; I called Belkin and they were not too familiar with the Airave; they did claim that their device has "vpn passthrough"; We tried putting the router's IP on a DMZ and also converting the router to an access point. No luck with either manuever. The Airave sits glum with all lights blue and sucking electricity and the cell phones do their "bar dance" flipping from 4 to 1 bar and dropping calls like crazy; Am holding out for the CTMS magic.

I am amazed that my previous provider (a small regional CDMA company with national roaming agreements) had provided flawless coverage for the last 2years that I have never called their tech support once! And Sprint has been the exact opposite; While I appreciate the effort different reps are taking to solve my problem, shouldnt they try and prevent it in the first place?

JohnNadeau

can you get your hands on another sprint phone from a friend to test ?

also, if you have a roam only patch or toggle installed, try changing it manually to sprint only, then back to automatic. Try shutting off the phone & turn back on.

apron

Since this was a "pre" forum, I did not detail about the other phones; I switched the Pre radio to Sprint only, had Data turned off; I also tried the BB Curve which also receives the same recorded message. My suspicion is that the problem is somewhere between the local tower/AIRAVE communication.

DrSuSE

Not to ask about the obvious, but the Airave can be restricted... did you double-check to make sure the restricted use is either disabled on your Airave or that you're part of the allowed access list?

apron

This was a legit AIRAVE from Retentions; The MAC address has been activated; We had the device restricted to our numbers and tested it both with and without restrictions. No luck.

NxTech3

maybe a bad airave, have them send you another one.

apron

Unlikely. They sent another unit with the same problem!

halcyoncmdr

The Airave can't be used in most affiliate markets due to spectrum licensing. It could be that it is picking up the affiliate tower instead of the Sprint official tower and is not letting it function due to this restriction.

To double check. I would go to AIRAVE and click the link that says "Where is Airave service available?" That will let us know whether it should be working in that area at least.

But my semi-educated guess would be that is the issue.

__________________
Kevin
Retail Communications Consultant
Sprint Corporate Retail Store (Advanced Exchange)
HTC Mogul - Palm Treo 800w - RIM Blackberry Curve 8350i - HTC Touch Pro - Palm Pre - HTC Hero

Any mis-spellings or grammatical errors in the above statement are intentional; they are placed there for the enjoyment of those who like to point them out. Above post is based on my personal opinion and knowledge, it is not an official position on behalf of Sprint Nextel. Enjoy. :-)

apron

Kevin: You may have the final word; After the umpteenth call, the tech support person sheepishly admitted that FCC rules limit the use of Airave in my location. It is unbelievable they would not check this before sending me; Time to send them back; Looks like the Pre is on its way back too!!

apron

New twist; For the heck of it, I moved the Airave closer to a south facing window and set my Pre to Sprint only; reset it and Voila! *99 got the Airave coverage message. Even one of the 2 blackberry devices got to hitch a ride; Alas, it would not last; After about 15 mins its back to "this feature is not valid" message again!
This debunks the theory that it is not available in my "affiliate" market.

apron

Is anyone aware of recent additions to the AIRAVE availability especially in the affiliate markets? Even though my AIRAVE does not work, the retentions rep told me to keep it "just in case" of future availability.
I switched on the debug mode on my Pre and walked around my house to check the signal strength and ID of the PNs (?towers). The areas with the strongest signal (-70s) have a different set of PN when compare to the rest of the house (signal strength in -90 to -100). Should it make any difference if the AIRAVE is located in one of these spots?

ivhs72

What part of the country are you in?

Did you go to the Sprint website, set up your My Sprint section, and then check your Airave settings? You can program the Airave from that page, which is where I control mine. The big thing you can do here is set to allow all Sprint phones to use it, or only certain numbers. I have mine programmed to allow only my Sprint numbers to use it. I'm also going through a Linksys router on mine. I know that I get about 300 feet of range within my apartment complex. Just a thought, what have you got to loose to program it with just your phone numbers.

__________________
Phones: Sprint Blackberry 9630 Tour, Sprint Blackberry 8330 Curve, Nextel Blackberry 8350i Curve (Everything Plus Family Data 1600)

If you receive an email from the Health Department telling you not to eat canned pork because of swine flu, ignore it. It's just Spam!


ILLEGITIMI NON CARBORUNDUM......

apron

I live in central VA; Nopes, My Airave does not work (despite all the checking and tweaking in the My Sprint page)