Straight talk zte z288l hotspot experience

Skylark,

The Z288L has the red map indicating the Verizon network.
It also has "LTE-V" in the bottom left corner.

The Z289L has the blue map indicating the AT&T network.
These also have "GSM" in the bottom left corner.
(**AVOID THIS ONE **)

I am glad to hear a positive review of the Z288L (Verizon). I have yet to hear from anyone that was successfully using a Z289L (AT&T).

Cypres, is the 288l on Verizon?

Returned 289L that would not activate and bought 288L. Life is good - it works! Getting LTE service right now. Happy camper. Only problem - if you could call it a problem - is after a period of inactivity it goes to sleep and you must touch power button to wake it up. Probably designed to save battery. Other than that I am happy with it and find it much better than old mifi.

I had a 289 and tried to use it in various locations from Deming to Yuma. It was very frustrating and I called ST in Yuma and they grudgingly sent me an RMA to send it to them. I was beyond the 2 week return window to go to Walmart. They have had the unit for 3 weeks now and have stopped answering my emails when I ask for the status update. This may take some serious intervention by Walmart to straighten out Straight Talk and get results. I am very p'ssed at ST and will never use or recommend them to anyone!

My experience with the 289l was the same, I returned also. I believe it was AT&T as we have poor coverage here. I took it right at the tower and still no high speed.

Anyone have any experience with the zte288l. I believe this is Verizon's version.
Thanks for the reports, came in handy.

1985air345 wrote:
... TWO THUMBS DOWN on the Straight Talk ZTE 289L. Back to the drawing board for a hotspot.

I agree.

I posted earlier in the thread about buying 2 of them but failed to come back with my results. They didn't work most of the time even though the box indicated LTE signal. A widget on a website I own showed "Your ISP is Syniverse Technologies, LLC". I did a bunch or traceroutes and no matter what server I was trying to reach everything was going through a proxy in Tampa Florida. I am in Rhode Island!!! The proxy is owned by Syniverse Technologies. I could get to Google and even do a search on Google with the page loading rapidly. Most of the Google links I clicked on would not even load the page. :M

The whole problem is the Syniverse Technologies proxy. It is very selective as to what it lets through. Interesting thing is, on one of the many resets the box stayed in 3G mode and worked quite well .... until it switched back to LTE. The Straight Talk 289L it not yet ready for the consumer market.

Both of mine were returned to Wally World for a refund.

Well I did get two of the Straight Talk ZTE 289 (AT&T) hotspots. I did have one that was not scanned properly and had to go back to the store.

Last week I activated both of them with the intent to test them on my trip to Delaware and back. No such luck. Both of them were activated but the service was VERY poor and inconsistent. It would load 2-3 pages before seemingly locking up. I actually did a speed test and pulled down 8.8mbps one time. The rest of the time was frustrating lock ups. I tried it with security and without security. I called Straight Talk TWICE and neither time was successful in establishing acceptable service. These are going back to Wal-Mart this weekend!

I did search on the Internet and one site had a LONG list of other people with the same experience.

I am VERY disappointed because I also have a Straight Talk (AT&T) phone and it works really well. Previously I had a Verizon Jetpack and it had amazing coverage. Sure, I had to pay first class rates for that service! I was hoping for good service from the pre-paid plan since I am not out in the RV all year long!

TWO THUMBS DOWN on the Straight Talk ZTE 289L. Back to the drawing board for a hotspot.

Re-scanning does not work, unless you like a lot of frustration on everyone's part. Just tell them the problem(I ended up with several managers involved) and exchange it. Much less time and frustration.

Thanks for info about being a WM problem. Will try to get our 289L re-scanned instead of just returning for another. Shame on Straight Talk for not explaining that.

Had to take mine to be rescanned the same way. What model & carrier did you all get?
Mine is a gms z289l which I think is AT&T, but we did not have AT&T unless it was put in lately.
The local walmart has had the 288l since the last of October. But does not have the 289l on display.