Vodafone 3G Card - Confusing speeds

yop

Lads,
I borrowed my brothers 3G Datacard there the other nite, it is the USB modem one, set it up, hit the connect button, had 4 bars, used 3G preferred option.

Little icon appeared on the taskbar 257kb so I thought excellent, mental speeds.
Launched my browser and it was dog slow!!

I then decided to run the test page for speeds, http://www.irishisptest.com/ and I tried it about 5 times to be sure, it keep returning in or around 45k download, 10k upload!!!!

So is the vodafone speed indicator blagging me??

godskitchen

You were connected via GPRS not 3G. Windows says you connect at the 257Kb or whatever you had,when you connect to 3G, depending on the hardware, it will say you connected at 1.8Mb (HUAWEI E620 data card, as this is the Max that card can connects at, that does not mean you are conected at that speed) and the HUAWEI E630 connects at 3.6Mbps..........again it does not mean you are connected at that speed................just like if you connect to a ADSL or cable modem, or even a 3G/HSDPA/UMTS router via RJ45, you are not connected to the inter net at 10/100/1000.

You need to put the settings to 3G only, if you have 3G in your area you will be fine.

yop

Ah right, so change it from 3G Preferred to 3G only and try it then, "according" to the map we are in a 3G area so I will try that again tonite and see how it kicks off. Should be interesting.
Thanks

godskitchen

where in mayo are you yop?

yop

Islandeady

DaBreno

yop wrote:

"according" to the map we are in a 3G area

Yop, just out of interest, what Map are you using to determine a 3G area?
Cheers.

yop

DaBreno wrote:

Yop, just out of interest, what Map are you using to determine a 3G area?
Cheers.

I took it off here lad, I would have thought it was up to day.
https://www.vodafone.ie/coverage/index.jsp

We are on the railway line, so according to this we are just inside, JUST been the word!!!

It is orange in the areas so indicates 3G/GSM

godskitchen

yop wrote:

Islandeady

Im pretty sure that the mast just off the N5, near Joyces garage is Vodafone 3G, you should not have too much of a problem picking it up, thats not saying that you will be able to though.

I can get 2/3 bars form a mast 12Km away but only with an external antenna i got from Germany. if you are using the USB modem there is nothing you can do to boost the signal. but give it a whirl and see what happends.

godskitchen

Just looking at the map, it seems the mast i was talking about is not 3G......in which case you will be lucky to pick up a good 3G signal with the USB modem, 3G is funny, without an external antenna and in a low signal area, milimeters in the position of the reciever can make all the difference. It may well drive you to distraction! It did with me until i got the external antenna.....

If you want it for broadband you can do it but it would mean getting a data card and antenna...........

yop

External antenna, so put one of the roof is it and run a cable into the house??? I am unclear on the setup.

That mast is about 1 miles as the crow flies.

We are having issues with Westnet, we are in a bit of a hole, so the lads in Westnet have to confirm 100% that we cannot get the line of sight even though we have a line of sight Eircom connection.

godskitchen

yop wrote:

External antenna, so put one of the roof is it and run a cable into the house??? I am unclear on the setup.

That mast is about 1 miles as the crow flies.

We are having issues with Westnet, we are in a bit of a hole, so the lads in Westnet have to confirm 100% that we cannot get the line of sight even though we have a line of sight Eircom connection.

Is the eircom LOS to farnaugth? I dont think i have that spelling correct. Or do eircom now have a FWA antenna in Islandedy?

If you can get FWA go with it over 3G.

yop

godskitchen wrote:

Is the eircom LOS to farnaugth? I dont think i have that spelling correct. Or do eircom now have a FWA antenna in Islandedy?

If you can get FWA go with it over 3G.

The eircom antenna is facing Cbar, so I presume it is pulling it from there.

yop

I tried it again last nite on 3G only and even going upstairs and walking around with it I don't get one bit of signal on 3G so waste of time this now too!!