Gadget Luv

Verizon MiFi4510L (LTE Hotspot) November 15, 2011

I’ve been using the Verizon MiFi4510L for the past 45 days and it’s been great… for the ten seconds it works before dropping the connection.  Most of my usage entailed using my laptop not moving and once in a car (note: I wasn’t driving).  I tried moving the MiFi next to a window, shaking it when it timed out (it worked once in a while), turning it on and off.  I even wedged the MiFi between the car’s sunroof shade and closed sunroof.  Nothing worked.

I was about to call Verizon Wireless to complain about the crappy hotspot connection when I stumbled upon a firmware update on their website.  The update took about 15 minutes to install.  I changed the default settings on the MiFi (ah-ha, instruction manuals are there for a reason!)  Also, I made the hotspot backwards compatible to older Droids and to include the 802.12n for my computer.  No Droids using the hotspot but I figured the setting would not hurt since I am experiencing connection issues.

I am typing this post using the MiFi and — knock on wood — it is working.  The firmware update and/or change in WAN settings made a difference.

Only time will tell if this solved the MiFi’s dropping connection issue.