Well our week away with the 3 dongle has been interesting.... bear in mind it's my first ever experience of mobile broadband.
The performance has been so variable. Always located in the same place with a 3/5 or 4/5 signal showing.
Sometimes it connects quickly and works close to the speed of home broadband but 60% of the time it's as bad as dial-up... worse actually. At random it doesn't want to connect for minute after minute, certain pages don't load or won't refresh having loaded once, it drops out of signal and disconnects without being moved, at times when it won't load a page it reports DNS errors when I use the Windows diagnose internet connection facility.
Is this what mobile broadband is like?
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It wasn't for me on Vodafone - yes the signal strength varied, but that tended to result in just different download speeds rather than anything drastic. It would switch automatically between 3G and GPRS. I could use it on the train travelling at 120mph between Reading and Bath without anything worse than the odd break in service.
Perhaps the Vodafone software is more mature?
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>> Perhaps the Vodafone software is more mature?
3 Coverage is crap.
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With 3 - yes.
You need good strong 3G coverage, I bet most of the time you were not 3G
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Bear in mind on the postcode checkers Orange and 3 are the only two networks that claim a reasonable signal at this location we visit several times a year so choices are limited.
So do you think it would need 5/5 on the 3 signal strength (as shown by the dongle software) before acceptable performence is realised?
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no you need 3G coverage, not just signal.
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how long a usb extension lead did you use?
location of the dongle is key, and RF is funny stuff.
Q?
do you get a blue led when it is working 3g??
Last edited by: AnotherJohnH on Fri 25 Feb 11 at 15:14
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TBH I'd not known there were two layers of service (3G & non-3G).
Funny thing about the blue light. On the quick start guide in with the dongle it said plug into the USB and see first a red light and then a blue light when it found signal... finally a regular flashing light when connected and surfing.
Ours only ever went from red to steady green then regular flashing green.
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Oh and re USB extension lead.... we just plugged together the two short extension leads we had to make about 400mm in total. As I mentioned in another thread signal was best with the dongle upright 300mm plus off the table strapped to a sherry decanter which was all we had to hand. Table in a big walk-in bay window with glass to 3 directions. Not sure of mast location relative to house but we were in a hilly strict conservation area so mast would not be obvious.
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>> TBH I'd not known there were two layers of service (3G & non-3G).
mentioned it in my reply to the original post..
"Consider a USB extension lead ( 1 metre minimum) and a few clothes pegs to have the dongle in the middle of the window off the curtains, otherwise the data-rate maybe GPRS instead of 3G, or not even working at all."
But it didn't spell out that GPRS is equivalent to dial-up..
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Ahh... OK understood now... I really didn't notice that dial-up comment in the first thread... that would explain why stuff like google maps were a nightmare to load. I'll get a 1-2m extension for the next time we go (March) and we'll give it another go. Thankfully the data on our PAYG 3 dongle lasts for 3mths so we'll have a couple more chances to try it before that expires and I give up on 3.
Might have to try Orange next if its no better with the longer cable.
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A longer cable may not be your salvation, but at least you have more chance of finding a sweet spot for reception, if there's one to be had.
As an aside, I'd wonder about using a decanter as support, as it's likely to be lead-glass with a lead content maybe 20% - 40%
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...hat would explain why stuff like google maps were a nightmare to load...
Tsk, tsk, Fenlander, I also mentioned the two levels of service, and even said Google Maps would be hard work on the slower speed.
Most dongles, irrespective of network, show a pale blue light when they are on the fastest speed.
I think you were on the slower speed, which in itself can vary from almost OK to painful.
From my and my brother's experience, Vodafone is best, followed by Orange.
Both seem able to switch seamlessly between one speed and the other.
The more I hear about 3G, the more I think it's a non-starter.
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>> TBH I'd not known there were two layers of service (3G & non-3G).
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3G service itself is multi-tiered, in terms of peak data rates; real world average data rate is likely to be roughly a fifth of peak rate, and highly dependant on the number of active users in a cell at a given time.
So basically it's still a long way from being a realistic alternative to wired broadband for many people.
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Coverage for data services over mobile networks can vary greatly. As many have said Vodafone is one of the best - possibly the best. But even then you can often find yourself dropped back onto the 2G GPRS service without moving at all! My home is meant to have good 3G coverage but it can vary with it dropping back to GPRS... although the phone uses WiFi at home for data. Things will change for Vodafone and O2 customers when 3G is allowed on the GSM frequencies.
And the terms 2G and 3G cover various speeds. Even 2G can be dead slow (GPRS) and okay (EDGE or E-GPRS). And 3G in the UK refers to UMTS and the speed can vary depending on whether you're connecting using - terms covering this include HSPA+, HSDPA (referred to as 3.5G). Anyone with a modern phone might work out the network they are on from the symbol used for data connection, e.g. G = GSM/GPRS, E = EDGE, 3G and H = HSDPA.
One of the problems we will all encounter is network capacity. There are only so many devices that can use a single base station's bandwidth simultaneously. So with more and more smart phones out there the problem is only getting worse.
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Weird... now in posession of a Tesco's finest usb extension thought I'd try it at home. According to the postcode checker we should be in a marginal area but with a 3/5-4/5 signal shown I've just had 52min of dongle internet with the same level of performance as the home broadband and not a single glitch.
So it can't just be signal strength... the mast that fed us on holiday must have had issues of far too many users??
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Was the mast that fed you on holiday a 3G mast.
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Not sure if the mast was 3G... can you look that up on the net?
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There was a site that provided a a map of the locations of all masts, the operator, and the services.
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Dongle connection/DNS issues. - Focusless
