vodafone 3g

gerky

Hey all, a while back I was gonna get vodafone 3g unlimited and asked lots of questions here but it seemed everyone had different info so I decided to wait a while to see if people got better info and wait for the usb modem to come out so I'm thinking about going for it again and hoping people might have some solid info such as is the usb modem released here yet and how long is the usb cable and can you get a longer one,I know theres not supposed to be a cap (yea Right)some say its 2gb some 5gb does anyone know really what the soft cap is,at the moment I'm on dial up at between 40-46k but its very unstable I'm outside 3g so I will be using it for gprs my phone I get 3-4 bars usually but it can be unstable sometimes would it be worth getting,when I was looking in to it a while back someone working in a vodafone shop said I'd have to pay with direct debit for at least the first four months and someone in vodafone confirmed this is this still true,thanks all

watty

You can't have much length on USB. An ethernet modem would allow about 100m.

The maximum length for a GOOD quality USB 2.0 cable is 5m. But I hev never seen more than 3m for sale. 1.2m is the common size.

You can get a Linksys router that take the 3G card. This is the most flexible option for in house distance and connectivity. USB is a bit nasty, esp for Networking.

yrrag1974

To answer some of your questions:

*The USB modem is now available to buy and best still, if you buy it and you find that you don't like it, can't use it etc there is a special complete no quibbles money back guarantee on the modem and you get out of the contract you had to sign up. (This isn't advertised but trust me!)
* €49 a month "All you can Eat" download but in reality it has a 5GB "Fair Usage!" policy.
* 3G speed of 384 kps but if you are in Dublin you might be lucky to receive a HSDPA signal and get 1.8 Mps download. Outside of 3G coverage you'll get standard GPRS coverage which is as good as, if not slightly better, than standard dial -up.
* USB cable is standard - a few feet long.

Hope this helps.:)

shane_by

How close to a 3G mast does one have to be in order to get 3G speeds? As far as I can make out from the Comreg site, I am about 10 miles or so from the nearest one.

watty

I'm not an expert on these newfangled 3G Wireless Phones, but I'd imagine at that distance indoor you'd have difficulty getting a signal or having a call. Or the local handset power would warm your hand and ear

Do you get:
a) Any phone signal (e.g. GSM)?
b) Do you have a regular 3G phone and know how to tell if it is using 3G or GSM. This is a good guide.

On GSM the 3G data system will give dialup speeds, but cheaper if you have no phone line rental to pay.

31% of people have no landline.

shane_by

watty wrote:

I'm not an expert on these newfangled 3G Wireless Phones, but I'd imagine at that distance indoor you'd have difficulty getting a signal or having a call. Or the local handset power would warm your hand and ear

Do you get:
a) Any phone signal (e.g. GSM)?
b) Do you have a regular 3G phone and know how to tell if it is using 3G or GSM. This is a good guide.

On GSM the 3G data system will give dialup speeds, but cheaper if you have no phone line rental to pay.

31% of people have no landline.

a) I have a very strong GSM phone signal. I live close (i.e. c.2 miles) to a non 3g mast.
b) I don't have a 3G phone. I have a new laptop and I was considering buying one of those Vodaphone 3G modems.

gerky

Thanks for the info guys yrrag1974 are you definite that they will take back the usb modem no quibbles money back and let you out of the contract cause this would put me at ease about getting it also is there anyone using the usb modem and signal wise does it get a better signal than a mobile

Cassiel

Go to the vodafone.ie site and check the coverage map. You are going to have to be in the red zone (see map) to get definite 3g speeds. I am connected at the 1.8 Mbps speed, 3G HSDPA, and my download speeds are typically 300 - 400 kbps. I am in the red zone, so distance from the mast must be a factor. I get 2-3 bars out of 5 bars for signal strength. For GPRS, I get a full 5 bars for signal strength and download speeds typically are around the same as dial-up. 40-60 kbps.

OFDM

Anyone know how to unblock the ports on it? I'm unable to use it to connect to things like IRC...

PDD

I was just wondering if anyone knew of a much better quality map than the crap they have on their website? I rememeber a while back a website called infrastructure.ie or something that had the sites of all mobile phone masts on it along with other stuff like water, power etc. Does anyone remember this?

Also I cannot find any information on the Vodafone website about this all you can eat / 5GB Fair usage on the vodafone website, any info appreciated.

PDD

kaizersoze

angel2 wrote:

Thanks for the info guys yrrag1974 are you definite that they will take back the usb modem no quibbles money back and let you out of the contract cause this would put me at ease about getting it also is there anyone using the usb modem and signal wise does it get a better signal than a mobile

Yes. I set it up for a customer tonight. She told me they told her in the shop that if she didn't like it or had any problems, she could return it within 2 weeks for a full refund. She currently has Eircom BB but wants to ditch the phone line and needs the mobility.

This was my first experience of it and I have to say I was impressed with every aspect of it, form ease of installation to speed. To install just insert the CD, connect the modem to the USB port and the software installation starts automatically. Enter the PIN for the sim card and you're in.

This is the speed test result from www.irishisptest.ie/myspeed. Bear in mind I was in a strong 3G area.

Date Download Speed Upload Speed Qos RTT Maxpause
14/11/2006 22:17 530 kbps (65 KB/s) 366 kbps (45 KB/s) 51 % 136 ms 290 ms

gerky

Thanks kaizersoze speed wise I'm outside 3g so it would be GPRS I'd be using it for as I'm in area that doesn't have great reception all the time its nice to know I could return it if it wasn't suitable does anyone know if you still have to use direct debit for the first four months.

shane_by

Just to clarify, in order to get this 3G broadband service on your laptop you need:

a) Proximity to a 3G-enabled mast.
b) A Vodafone 3G modem and
c) A SIM card, which costs extra to the modem. Right?

Sponge Bob

Its IMPOSSIBLE to unblock ports on it or set port forwarding. It does the strangest routing between private 10. and 192.168. IP addresses I ever did see before it hits the public internet .

Dean820

I bought the 3G modem, I used the modem for awhile on my sister's laptop but turns out I could have just used my 3G phone if i installed the phones driver to my desktop computer and inserted my sim card into the phone, then connected.

I'm getting the same speeds i was on the laptop, so in the end i didn't have to waste my money buying that router.

Important Note: You must have your sim card registered for the unlimited data or else you will get crazy bills. The people in the shop can make your sim card for unlimited data if you ask them.

watty

Sponge Bob wrote:

Its IMPOSSIBLE to unblock ports on it or set port forwarding. It does the strangest routing between private 10. and 192.168. IP addresses I ever did see before it hits the public internet .

Hah! Sponge Bob, You never tried to setup routing across packet radio nodes (IP enabled) on the same subnet. You have to create ARP entries of the MAC of the nodes and manual routing entries. Otherwise it never work.