Vodafone 3G Broadband

stepbar

https://www.vodafone.ie/generic/3gbroadband.jsp?bannerdesc=home_image_P_3g_broadband_100107

Any thoughts on the above? Is it worth switching from Clearsh1te to Vodafone? Is there any difference? HAs anybody signed up yet? What do you think? So many questions

High latency, so gaming is out.

Their 3G data cards have given us endless problems in work.

Choppy bandwidth..

My advice is avoid it.

wirelessdude

ronoc wrote:

High latency, so gaming is out.

Their 3G data cards have given us endless problems in work.

Choppy bandwidth..

My advice is avoid it.

i work for vodafone in this area....what problems have you been experiencing?...have you tested the USB modem to see if that better suits the company needs?....also have you reported the issues to Data Support and/or Account Manager?.....PM me if you want

wirelessdude

wirelessdude wrote:

i work for vodafone in this area....what problems have you been experiencing?...have you tested the USB modem to see if that better suits the company needs?....also have you reported the issues to Data Support and/or Account Manager?.....PM me if you want

Yes we have contacted our account manager. I have personally talked to Data support many times.

No we have about 8 cards which are used in laptops so PC cards are what we need.

Driver issues, the cards frequently need to be reinstalled as they arn't recognised anymore.

Sometimes the mobile connect installer won't install over a botched previous version, need to dig through the registry and manually delete files for that.

Loads of problems with them roaming, although that hasn't happened in a while *crosses fingers*, maybe they have given up trying to roam with them!

I have zero faith in them.

b0bbie

we also use them in work and they are crap - again avoid at all costs.
you get told you must be in a bad area, when you are not, you get connected and then dropped nightmare product...

trap4

Wirelessdude, I was using the 3G/GPRS datacard very happily for 5 months prior to Christmas getting 3G connection about 90% of the time. Then I lost it (3G that is, GPRS still works but it's a different mast) and when I rang was told that the mast had been flooded (data flooded). Frustratingly they couldn't give me an estimate of when it would be fixed. 4 weeks later it still hasn't been fixed and each time I've phoned they tell me they still can't give an estimate (which is just crazy).

Now I've got to repeat that I was a *very* happy customer previously and they've credited my with one month free so I'm not bitching (too much) but perhaps you can help me get some kind of a resolution here? The mast I'm talking about is the one just outside Rathkeale in Co. Limerick, on the Newcastlewest side.

If you can do something to help I would be most grateful. Or if you could just explain why they can't even estimate when it will be fixed. The mystery surrounding that just leaves me scratching my head wondering if they're not telling me something.

niallb

This sounds like "Cell breathing". Your cell has just got asthma.
It might just be what they're not telling you.
Not all cells are 3G enabled, and if you're handed off to a neighbouring cell, you'll lose your speed. (Try setting it to 3G only - it helps).

The effective coverage area of a cell shrinks as more data flows through it. Ironically, if you've recommended the service to people
in your area, you could be shooting yourself in the foot.
I only found out about this a few days ago :-(

I've a Voda 3G card myself, and I'm miles from the mast.
It's a very rural area though, and I think a lot of the time I'm
one of the only users. Most of the time I get a 3G signal, and
it's usually great - sometimes very slow dns lookups.
When it knocks back to GPRS, it's a lot slower than single channel ISDN.
It's also very weather dependent.
I'm now getting much better coverage after taking the SIM out of
the vodafone card, and putting it into a Nokia 6680.

I'm cautious that as more people see these cards as "the answer to broadband" they'll find that they stop working reliably.

The same mast that will serve several miles in a quiet area will
only manage a cell a few hundred metres across in a city.

Get a bigger antenna!

NiallB

davidf1412

stepbar wrote:

https://www.vodafone.ie/generic/3gbroadband.jsp?bannerdesc=home_image_P_3g_broadband_100107

Any thoughts on the above? Is it worth switching from Clearsh1te to Vodafone? Is there any difference? HAs anybody signed up yet? What do you think? So many questions

For me it's up and down but mostly down - even with 5 bars 3G signal last night I was mainly getting rates in bps and never above 5kbps. And then 0 for long periods.

qwertplaywert

what speed would you be getting with a gprs connection?

mcaul

I've championed the three 3g BB service here for the past cople of weeks but here's where I am coming from -

Up to last September I could only get 16.8kbs on the dial-up - no chance of eircom upgrading this exchange - walterstown 4 miles south of kildare town, covering Kildoon, Nurney & district less than 400 houses on the exchange.

Finally vodafone introduce their €49 a month service - heaven! Was getting speeds of 150 - 160kbs so finally I could do some work from home. Then last week I got the three 3g service with their hsdpa data card and a promise from them that full high speed service would be operational from end of feb.

Speedtest.ie gave speed reports of 320 - 370kbs - so already twice the speed of vodafone and TODAY!!! - amazing - they were obviously testing their high speed transmitter and for about an hour I was effing speeding along at over 3mb and a speedtest reading of 3.484mb at one point.

UNBELIEVABLE - (rememeber I could only get 16.8kbs this time last year!!!!)

Couple of neighbours came in to check it out and it like we've finally arrived in civilisation!!!




On a more serious note, each transmitter can only take x amount of usage, so with vodafone you are sharing with their thousands of customers whereas with three, they only have about 60,000 customers in the country at present with full network, so no speed problems!

skeegan

Hi: does anybody know if the Vodafone 3G Broadband modem will work with linux?

RobbieTheRobber

ronoc wrote:

Yes we have contacted our account manager. I have personally talked to Data support many times.

No we have about 8 cards which are used in laptops so PC cards are what we need.

Driver issues, the cards frequently need to be reinstalled as they arn't recognised anymore.

Sometimes the mobile connect installer won't install over a botched previous version, need to dig through the registry and manually delete files for that.

Loads of problems with them roaming, although that hasn't happened in a while *crosses fingers*, maybe they have given up trying to roam with them!

I have zero faith in them.

indeed we have many of the same problems with them here my advice stay away from the bastard things unless there is no other option

emaherx

skeegan wrote:

Hi: does anybody know if the Vodafone 3G Broadband modem will work with linux?

I use the Vodafone pcmcia card with fedora core 6.
Takes quite a bit of setting up, but it is possible.
Don't know if the USB modem works though.

mcaul

I got a USB Cardbus Adapter from www.roalan.com in the UK. Cost is £95 and it allows me complete portability and use with any PC or Laptop I wish.

Oter option is to install a PCMCIA slot into your PC - €39 from Peats in parnell st.

No problem yet on connection with three (jaysus - they should change their branding!) - connection time is currently 118 hours 42 minutes without reconnection being required.

6digitnumber

I wouldnt touch Vodafone 3G if i were you. I get a connection that holds for a minute or 2 then stops sending or recieving any data, at this point i have to disconnect and reconnect whereupon I get a connection for another minute or 2 and so on....

When it does decide to work you get speeds that are little better than dialup (and very often worse) for 90% of the time. The only time you see 'broadband' speeds are late at night.

Frustrating as hell, avoid at all costs. Vodafone will have as many happy customers as Irish Broadband if they don't sort themselves out fast.

P.S I had to disconnect/reconnect about 10 times to actually get this message to post...sigh

davidf1412

I agree totally avoid it's really bad.

6digitnumber wrote:

I wouldnt touch Vodafone 3G if i were you. I get a connection that holds for a minute or 2 then stops sending or recieving any data, at this point i have to disconnect and reconnect whereupon I get a connection for another minute or 2 and so on....

When it does decide to work you get speeds that are little better than dialup (and very often worse) for 90% of the time. The only time you see 'broadband' speeds are late at night.

Frustrating as hell, avoid at all costs. Vodafone will have as many happy customers as Irish Broadband if they don't sort themselves out fast.

P.S I had to disconnect/reconnect about 10 times to actually get this message to post...sigh

zugvogel

Hi mcaul,
I live in Kildoon (close to martins pub) and have had a Vodafone 3G modem from work on test for the last few weeks. Have to say I have found it to be absolutely terrible. Usually I get GPRS with 4 to 5 bar signal strength but the up and down speeds are totally inconsistent, sometimes I see 40 to 50 kbps up but a lot of the time it can be less than 30 and if you have good down then the up is maybe less than 5kbps. I tried using a secure citrix connection to work over it (which works well on 40kbps dialup) and found it be to be terrible.
Basically i think the problem is one of contention. Might try moving my laptop around a bit to see if there's any improvement.

Cheers,
Zugvogel

Myxomatosis

I bought the modem through the online shop, which I regret now. Should have just got off my ass and bought it in a normal shop.

Got my "contract application" in the post on Friday, which is very confusing. Some parts of the wording conflict with what it says on the vodafone website. So I rang the helpline to clarify some things.

One thing it said on the contract was that if I recieve a GPRS signal, i'm charged on the volume of data sent and recieved. So I asked did this apply to the Modem (the contract was not specific to the modem, it kept referring to my purchase as a phone, handset etc.) and the girl told me it did. i.e. If I can only receive a GPRS signal, I'll be paying 40 euro a month, and then on top of that, Xcent per kb I download. Surly that has to be wrong?

Another thing. If I use the modem, take it out of the packet etc, can I still bring it back under the 14 day returns period. In the contract it was saying its a 7 day period and you CANNOT use the PHONE. But on the website, it says you can bring it back FOR WHATEVER REASON after 14 days.

The helpline girl did say it was a 14 day period but in my haste I forgot to push her on the actually using it and the bringing it back aspect of things.

I think Vodafone should draw up a contract which is specific to the 3g modem. What I got was basically a contract for a pay monthly phone. Bit lazy I must say.

watty

The latency on 3G etc is about 5 times dialup, so mousing on a remote/virtual desktop can be interesting...

watty

Myxomatosis wrote:

I
One thing it said on the contract was that if I recieve a GPRS signal, i'm charged on the volume of data sent and recieved. So I asked did this apply to the Modem (the contract was not specific to the modem, it kept referring to my purchase as a phone, handset etc.) and the girl told me it did. i.e. If I can only receive a GPRS signal, I'll be paying 40 euro a month, and then on top of that, Xcent per kb I download. Surly that has to be wrong?

Indeedy, I hope that is a mistake about the GPRS. That sounds VERY scary money. GPRS instead of 3G will be common enough.

dub45

Myxomatosis wrote:

I bought the modem through the online shop, which I regret now. Should have just got off my ass and bought it in a normal shop.

....................... Bit lazy I must say.

That is being extremely charitable - the behaviour of isps in relation to terms and conditions is in many cases a disgrace and they get away with it mainly because people don't read them and for those who do read them it is virtually impossible to get any answers to the various anomalies that are often in them.

mcaul

zugvogel wrote:

Hi mcaul,
I live in Kildoon (close to martins pub) and have had a Vodafone 3G modem from work on test for the last few weeks. Have to say I have found it to be absolutely terrible. Usually I get GPRS with 4 to 5 bar signal strength but the up and down speeds are totally inconsistent, sometimes I see 40 to 50 kbps up but a lot of the time it can be less than 30 and if you have good down then the up is maybe less than 5kbps. I tried using a secure citrix connection to work over it (which works well on 40kbps dialup) and found it be to be terrible.
Basically i think the problem is one of contention. Might try moving my laptop around a bit to see if there's any improvement.

Cheers,
Zugvogel

Vodafone is crap down there - even for voice calls. Their mast is on the monaterevin side of Kildare town. Their 3g servcie just about gets to the forest on The Commons. The 3 service works a treat in Kildoon - tested it in Martin's carpark and got full service with over 1.2mb. - Told Paddy (in the bar) about it too! - Also works in Nurney - If you like I can show you the speed of service some evening

watty

skeegan wrote:

Hi: does anybody know if the Vodafone 3G Broadband modem will work with linux?

Not the USB one.

Netgear & Linksys obviously have Linux drivers for the PCMCIA/PCcard version for their routers.

I'd say for anything no ton the box, you want a desktop Netgear or Linksys router that takes the Vodaphone PCMCIA/PCcard. Generally though these are similar to the DSL or Cable or Ethernet WAN versions, they cost more due to lower volume and the SW is customised for each operator. You probably need to get it from Vodaphone.

niallb

watty wrote:

The latency on 3G etc is about 5 times dialup, so mousing on a remote/virtual desktop can be interesting...

Actually, it varies wildly.
I've had some very usable remote desktop sessions using NX.
That said, I'm not a big mouse user.
Don't let the virtual desktop software (vnc/NX/rdesktop whatever)
imagine you've a broadband link.
Tell it to act as if it's a 128k ISDN link,
and your mileage may improve a lot.

NiallB

emaherx

watty wrote:

Indeedy, I hope that is a mistake about the GPRS. That sounds VERY scary money. GPRS instead of 3G will be common enough.

It is a mistake I use the Vodafone connect card and have never been charged extra for using GPRS.

niallb

ditto.
There's no charge for going to gprs.
I wouldn't have gone near it if there was.

paulm1

Hi Mcaul & Vogel ........... today Mar 2nd actually had HSDPA signal from Vodafone in Kildoon was getting 1.8Mbs consistently for about 2 hours. Actually managed to download 1.3 gigs of stuff. Now that was from about 4:30 to 6:30 until you guys or someone esle came online!!! I didn't realise there were so many people in our area looking for BB. Is 3 as good as it sounds ? I have had vodafone tech support on to me every day for the last week asking how the service has been going. To be honest I thought is was a lot better till tonight but it sounds like they are trying ot something !!....... As one of the guys earlier it was working perfect till about November then bang!.

legs11

had a usb modem, appaling. slower than dial up speeds in the sticks of kerry.
returned it and got billed a 17e line rental fee?
coc* su*****.

got a 3 data card, connecting a hsdpa speeds now.

voda can fcunk off with themselves, all thier advertising, CL etc. and utterly crap treatment of custmers.

TJJP

ronoc wrote:

Driver issues, the cards frequently need to be reinstalled as they arn't recognised anymore.

Sometimes the mobile connect installer won't install over a botched previous version, need to dig through the registry and manually delete files for that.

Loads of problems with them roaming, although that hasn't happened in a while *crosses fingers*, maybe they have given up trying to roam with them!

Ditto that I'm afraid.

Nothing but problems with the wireless connect PC cards in laptops. Worst I've had was dragging a brick of a laptop to Brussels only to find the vodafone card looking for reinstall at every startup. Blocked USB ports too so no memory key and no PowerPoint... Would be wary of trusting the system. Usually bring my mac now and find a wireless cafe.

Reckon a wait-and-see could be the best approach to this 'till the technology gets sorted or customer 'service' improves.

<lol- but of course legs11 above said it better....>

godskitchen

legs11 wrote:

had a usb modem, appaling. slower than dial up speeds in the sticks of kerry.
returned it and got billed a 17e line rental fee?
coc* su*****.

got a 3 data card, connecting a hsdpa speeds now.

voda can fcunk off with themselves, all thier advertising, CL etc. and utterly crap treatment of custmers.

Just wait until something with the Three card goes wrong ( i hope for your sake it doesnt) i have both vodas and Threes data cards and im telling you Vodafones customer service is 100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000x better than that of Three.

niallb

I dropped back a 3 card after two weeks cooling off period because it didn't work here.
I got billed for €17 or so too - 2 weeks line rental.
Seemed a bit of a swizz as there was only 1.6M transferred in the two weeks
when I checked in Dublin to see if the card actually worked.
Makes perfect sense though, and is fair enough considering you're being released from the contract. Interesting to hear Voda and 3 are taking the same approach.

NiallB

mcaul

paulm1 wrote:

Hi Mcaul & Vogel ........... today Mar 2nd actually had HSDPA signal from Vodafone in Kildoon was getting 1.8Mbs consistently for about 2 hours. Actually managed to download 1.3 gigs of stuff. Now that was from about 4:30 to 6:30 until you guys or someone esle came online!!! I didn't realise there were so many people in our area looking for BB. Is 3 as good as it sounds ? I have had vodafone tech support on to me every day for the last week asking how the service has been going. To be honest I thought is was a lot better till tonight but it sounds like they are trying ot something !!....... As one of the guys earlier it was working perfect till about November then bang!.

Once VF switch on their high speed system and you get a signal, then it is 50/50 as to who you get the service from. I used 3 in Martins Carpark on Thursday morning to check out speeds for someopne else down there and whilst I only had one bar on the screen, it still gave a speedtest rating of just over 1mb. - Check your speed on www.speedtest.ie as the speed stated by VF or 3 is rarely achieved.

As to 3 customer service - yep its bad but starting to improve. (not datacard friendly) They have a dedicated datacard line in the UK and I posted the phone number a while ago - I'll dig is back up and post again.

Shane O' Malley

Anyone know if the Vodafone Modem will work with Vista.

I think the install routine will not, but if anyone has a workaround.

IE Is it the install routine or do the drivers not work with Vista.

Cheers

Shane

emaherx

Shane O' Malley wrote:

Anyone know if the Vodafone Modem will work with Vista.

I think the install routine will not, but if anyone has a workaround.

IE Is it the install routine or do the drivers not work with Vista.

Cheers

Shane

There is a workaround if you google it

also there is new vodafone connect software released (but I haven't tried it)

Myxomatosis

Bloody Vodafone so ****ing slow in sending this modem out to me. I signed and sent the contract back this day last week. Like, i'd expected that today would be the latest day it would arrive but no.

As for it's a 50/50 choice if vodafone reach 3's speeds...surely the fact that both are 40 euro a month, but one offer 3gigs cap, and the other a 5gig cap would make that percentage at least 40/60?

watty

The enforced nanny things in Vista don't really make it safer and are a pain.

Shane O' Malley

Bit of a broad statement there.

No doubt that a vista limited (Novice)user is much safer than with xp. Especially when it was so hard to run many applications in limited user mode in xp that most people operated with administrator accounts.

In addition, the quality of the drivers working with Vista is much higher so crashes are far fewer.

watty

I've set up entire offices in User Mode in XP.

The nags will force users to turn off the nanny bot and they will click on OK anyway after the popups.

Driver Signing actually has little to do with quality. There will be no shortage of drivers, expecially kernel mode Graphics that Crash Vista. It will be obvious to all in a few months that it perhaps outdoes Millemium Edition for idiocy.

Myxomatosis

Well it finally came in the post, I plug it in, it installs, and then nothing. No network. So I ring Vodafone, and it turns out they sent the wrong sim card out...

So then 15 mins after the phone call I can finally connect up, only on GPRS, says its connected at 236.8kbps apposed to 31.5kbps on dial up. So I think to myself, oh, thats decent enough. Divide 236.8 by 8 and i should get 29.6 kilobytes per sec. But no, despite it being connected at 236.8kbps my average download speed is about 5KB. 1.5KB faster than my dial up download speed...whoop...well worth 40 euro a month.

So anyway. Unless 3g speeds appear here by next Friday, its going back to the shop, but until then, I'm going to try and rape it for all it can offer. Albeit very little.

Myxomatosis

Oh and I did a network search with the modem and it shows that Voda, O2, and Meteor are all on GPRS here, but I can get 3g signals from "IRE 05". Which I'm asuming is Three.

But the fact that I'd have to buy a card reader for they're HSDPA modem, and the whole 3gigs limit thing, way to little, is putting me off . I'll wait and see what 02 have to offer in terms of HSDPA, if they ever get around to actually upgrading and offering it.

godskitchen

Myxomatosis wrote:

Oh and I did a network search with the modem and it shows that Voda, O2, and Meteor are all on GPRS here, but I can get 3g signals from "IRE 05". Which I'm asuming is Three.

But the fact that I'd have to buy a card reader for they're HSDPA modem, and the whole 3gigs limit thing, way to little, is putting me off . I'll wait and see what 02 have to offer in terms of HSDPA, if they ever get around to actually upgrading and offering it.

I dont know what the IRE 05 would be, i have never come across it, with my vodafone it just says network unknown for Three.................

Have you moved about the place, its worth going out and about, how far away is your nearest Voda 3G mast? if you dont know then go to their web site and find out. I know of people getting signal 12Kms away.

oh and i have just realised you are must be using a desktop PC.

And i am at a complete loss to your last point.........i just cant understand how anyone would stay on dial up if they have 3G coverage.......or do you download more than 3000Mb a month on your dial up account? if so then stick with it, and good luck to ya! if not then why not use a service that while is limited to 3000Mb/Month, it loads web pages instantly and if you do need to download large files you can do it quickly..............

This is like explaining the benefits of broadband to someone who says "ah sure arnt we fine as we are" to me there is only one choice here.

culabula

IRL 05 is 3 Irl. Sometimes you get 272-05 (I think) too. Just depends on the antiquity of the handset (same as the way my beloved 6210s still say 'Eircell').

Myxomatosis

godskitchen wrote:

And i am at a complete loss to your last point.........i just cant understand how anyone would stay on dial up if they have 3G coverage.......or do you download more than 3000Mb a month on your dial up account? if so then stick with it, and good luck to ya! if not then why not use a service that while is limited to 3000Mb/Month, it loads web pages instantly and if you do need to download large files you can do it quickly..............

This is like explaining the benefits of broadband to someone who says "ah sure arnt we fine as we are" to me there is only one choice here.

The problem is that with a 3gig limit, thats roughly 100mbs per day, once you go over it, your ****ed because its nearly 50cent a meg out of bundle. With 5 people in my family, 3gig's would be very hard to adhere to.

If you ever actually monitor your bandwidth, that is download + upload, you'll see that it gets used up very quickly.

And the job of monitoring what members of my family are doing and how much bandwidth they're using will fall to me and I just couldn't be bothered constantly telling them to "stop using up the ****ing bandwidth downloading those **** songs"

And one last thing, there's a little matter of paying 40 euro a month and being tied to a 12 month contract. At the moment we pay 20 euro for 60 hours of off peak dialup. Whats the point in paying an extra 20, plus the hardware, plus the commitment of 12 months, for a service that, despite the huge speed difference, is not really any better. Whats the point in having broadband if all you can do is look at webpages? Downloading one 700mb movie would totally **** up your monthly usage and you'd be constantly looking at the bandwidth usage. And that just one bloody movie.

I'd much rather struggle along with dialup and wait and hope for some better offer to come along.

Dirk_Swords

I can't connect with the Vodafone USB Modem to the Windows Live Messenger!
Internet browsing works well!

Anybody could help me with this?

Dirk

wirelessdude

Dirk_Swords wrote:

I can't connect with the Vodafone USB Modem to the Windows Live Messenger!
Internet browsing works well!

Anybody could help me with this?

Dirk

have you tried calling 1850 287 000 to see if they can help...don't think they will be tho seeing as you can access websites

godskitchen

Dirk_Swords wrote:

I can't connect with the Vodafone USB Modem to the Windows Live Messenger!
Internet browsing works well!

Anybody could help me with this?

Dirk

I had this problem too, never did get it sorted, went back to MSN 7.5 and it works ok...............still disconnects at busy times, i think its to do with packet loss..................its fine on GPRS.

Supercell

I just got one of these modems and am pleasantly surprised have to say.

I live in an area that likely never ever to have any kind of broadband over phone line and the only wireless broadband provider is blocked by trees here.

However have great Vodafone and O2 signal strength (no 3 unfortunately on the local mast here) so Vodafone was the only option for always on connectivity.

The install was painless on the XP computer and connected fine at 53.3K (only gprs signal here....would be nice if a mobile 3g provider put something on the mast..).

Connection is slower than dialup sometimes and others far better. Its not a signal issue and I really really doubt its a cell load in my area.

Overall, for always on connectivity its a winner here, I can keep my website updated without worrying about time online etc like with dialup.

Have 14 days trial, but so far so good, if continues to be reliable will be telling eircom to disconnect the land line as have no need for it any more as they obviously have zero intention of introducing broadband here and I refuse to pay ever increasing land line rental cost for shoddy service (the local exchange is about 2km away from me and likely never ever to be broadband enabled) .

dlofnep

Longfield wrote:

I live in an area that likely never ever to have any kind of broadband over phone line and the only wireless broadband provider is blocked by trees here.

JNive

nice graphic.

also may i ask what sites are in your area, pm your approximate area and local O2 site IDs, which you can get from www.siteviewer.ie and i will see if your masts are or will be EDGE/3G/HSDPA

Supercell

JNive wrote:

nice graphic.

also may i ask what sites are in your area, pm your approximate area and local O2 site IDs, which you can get from www.siteviewer.ie and i will see if your masts are or will be EDGE/3G/HSDPA

Thanks JNive,

I'm in Annamoe, Wicklow. The mast is not far from here at all, is in the fields just above me.

Looking at the link above, its details are :-

ID: 7578
XCoord: 315610.0
YCoord: 199342.0
Operator: O2

dlofnep - I'd like to take one of those to the trees, but don't think the estate manager here would appreciate that at all

Nuttzz

has anyone tried this with vista? the voda site says it doesnt but could this just be voda covering their ass?