3G Antenna for Vodafone

DaBreno

Howyiz. Ive just bought a Linksys WRT54G3G 3g router for my Vodafone connection. Vodafone inform me there will no Hsdpa in my neck of the woods this year. So Im working with what I have left. I can get 4 bars(out of 6?) on my connection so Id like to bump that up. Ive found small ones like this on Ebay from G-Com http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=001&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=110114897649&rd=1&rd=1

Im about 6 miles away from my mast. Good reception on a good day, small bit of Geography but it works well upstairs. What kind of setup do ye other Vodafone users have? How well does it work?

Cheers!

godskitchen

Whaen you say 4 bars of signal (its most prob out of 5) are you talking about 3G or GPRS?

Either way that signal is fine for both GPRS and 3G, and as long as you are getting even 1 bar on 3G its the same as 4/5 bars in my experience, in terms of speed at least. And the same goes for GPRS. so i dont see the need for you to get a Antenna..........

As for my set up, i have the Linksys router, the E620 data card, and an external antenna http://www.thiecom.de/shop/umts-antennen/artikel/slp17-umts-richtantenne/?sid=688e9134f61cbd66b8fae4f5cd0aec6f

I was getting no 3G without this antenna, and with it i get 3 bars from 7 miles away.

Hope this helps

DaBreno

The 4 bars are on a 3G signal. Its still pretty miserbale. Speedtest.ie tells me I have a 110k connection(average) but in reality I rarely see downloads above 30k. So I want that other bar.
In your link (Im afraid my German is a bit rusty ) ,does that plug into the back of the datacard? Is it for outside or inside the house?
Cheers dude.

godskitchen

For best results it should be outside, honestly though, you are lucky to be getting signal at that distance in the first place, the number of bars on 3G will not make a diference to the speed, thats not the way 3G works, at least that my understanding of it.

If you have a laptop take it to where the mast is and you will see that the speeds wont be much if any different to your home.

How long have you had the data card? I find some weeks i can get 45K downloads solid, all day every day, then other times im lucky to hit 30K, and the connection is not as solid, by whick i mean, it can go from 16K up to 45k at the drop of a hat.

i am putting the current spate of porr conection down to vodafone upgrading all there remaining 3G only masts to HsDPA by the end of April, although i dont really know how this works, it may be causing the speed differences and it may not.

Where do you live out of interest?

jhegarty

I don't notice any speed difference between 2 bars and full signal... it appears to be a working/not working sort of thing...

godskitchen

jhegarty wrote:

I don't notice any speed difference between 2 bars and full signal... it appears to be a working/not working sort of thing...

Yes thats been the way i have understood it, its a bit like a Digital TV signal, its either all coming or nothing is.

DaBreno

godskitchen wrote:

Yes thats been the way i have understood it, its a bit like a Digital TV signal, its either all coming or nothing is.

Ah, ok. I'll try that idea about going up to the mast itself and seeing if Speedtest notices any difference before I shell out.
Isnt there a map that shows all 3G masts in Ireland ? I remember someone on this board posted a link and I found my local but I didnt bookmark it. :rolleyes:

Im on the N63, just off the N17 outside Claregalway. I took the liberty of phoning Vodafone last month who told me they will not be upgrading my area to Hsdpa. She-ite.

niallb

DaBreno wrote:

The 4 bars are on a 3G signal. Its still pretty miserbale. Speedtest.ie tells me I have a 110k connection(average) but in reality I rarely see downloads above 30k. So I want that other bar.

You're comparing apples and oranges here.
It's a 110kb connection but a 30kB download speed you're seeing.
Is the 30k figure from a browser download window?
If it is, that's well upwards of a 240k connection as reported by speedtest.ie

I used to get just one bar (at 10 miles!), but still got downloads up to 380k or so.
Another bar won't make any difference on that front.

Check what APN you're using.
If you're not on HSDPA anyway, you might get better performance
if you change from hs.vodafone.ie to office.vodafone.ie or isp.vodafone.ie
I've tried all three, and all have worked OK on the card.
Support suggested moving to one if there were too many
people trying to use hs.vodafone.ie in my area.
That wasn't the case, but it might help.