Three data working great!

culabula

I know you might not believe your eyes and I also know that there are about four places I could post this, but I'll do it here.

Received my new replacement MacBook Air yesterday and restored all its settings and files. This time however, I did not install the usual software as supplied by Tree Oireland but instead went to the 3 UK site where there is a v2.8 of Mobile Connect for the datamodem.

As a result of installing this, with no legacy version of the earlier versions on board, all I can say is that for the past 24 hours +, the Three service has been performing superbly. Logic says that this shouldn't make a difference but real-world performance has been stable, reliable -and fast. The interface is a little less clunky than before, is easy to set up but most of all, works. After this much time it cannot be a coincidence.

So far those stuck with the datamodem, fed-up with lousy performance and on a Mac, i say trash the supplied software and install this one instead. It's flying.

Drivers available here: http://three.co.uk/personal/products_services_/mobile_broadband_/detail.omp

culabula

1huge1

interesting, could ya post back in a day or two to make sure its still performing like this. I have a habit of getting my hopes up for things...

culabula

1huge1 wrote: »

interesting, could ya post back in a day or two to make sure its still performing like this. I have a habit of getting my hopes up for things...

I sure will: it is currently working in Belfast like never before and tomorrow I will travel to Dublin and tomorrow evening from there to Limerick, using it all the way. The following day I will head to Kilkenny. So I will be in a good position to rip the árse out of it and see if there are improvements across the board.

jimmycrackcorm

I've been using that walkinghostspot software on my N95 or my laptop down round Limerick and it's hard to distinguish it from my normal NTL browsing. I was watching away at youtube videos earlier on and I'm shocked at how good the combination works of N95 -3 HSDPA - walkinghotspot.

culabula

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

I've been using that walkinghostspot software on my N95 or my laptop down round Limerick and it's hard to distinguish it from my normal NTL browsing. I was watching away at youtube videos earlier on and I'm shocked at how good the combination works of N95 -3 HSDPA - walkinghotspot.

Yes -but I hope you saw my other post. WHS FRIED my N95 -so be careful!

culabula

0700, moving train, Doire Eachaidh, just outside Belfast.

culabula

0710 Moira-Lurgan. Traditionally a very bad signal area for 3. For the first time ever am able to use Back to my Mac (BTMM), log into my iMac at home, enable screen sharing and watch TV on the remote computer!. Wow.

culabula

0743 Newry Station. Connection is positively flying and even at these speeds am able, for the first time ever, to host a 3-way video conference on iChat to father in Belfast and brother in Tokyo!

Next speedtest, Dundalk.

culabula

0800 Dundalk Station. Now on 3 IRL HSDPA. Fantastic performance.

mkennedy

This is all for a mac i take it.
Any similar solutions that you know of for a PC.

culabula

mkennedy wrote: »

This is all for a mac i take it.
Any similar solutions that you know of for a PC.

Yes. Bin it and GET A MAC.

brophis

Just to add some more positives to the thread, my contract is out this month so I decided to update the firmware and dashboard software on my E220 modem to see what happens. I'm using the modem on Windows XP.
I got the firmware here at the Vodafone Germany website. Works fine and makes the modem capable of 7.2Mbps.
Then I updated the connect software from the Huawei website here. I chose the 2nd download:
E220 Client Software WINMACB300D00SP02C03 (UTPS11[1].002.03.16.03_MAC11.201.01.00.03) for WinXP&2K&Vista & Mac (8007 KB) 20-Mar-2008
This is the new Mobile Partner dashboard, nice and tidy with a great statistics page.

From reading around I think the other two are different versions of the Mobile Connect software.
One thing I forgot to check was the date/version of the modem drivers before I installed the update, the new version is 2.0.3.8X.SP09 dated 01/07/2007 if anyone wants to compare driver versions for the E220. I'm presuming it's an updated driver as the modem was purchased before this date.

So anyway, performance has been great! The web is actually snappy and usable. FTP and SSH are more responsive now too even while download a large file to max out my connection. I was going to hold out another few days before posting to see if things change so fingers crossed. Using it in Drumcondra, Dublin now. Will check it out back in Laois at the weekend. Granted the max speeds and pings haven't changed, but it definitely seems alot more stable and responsive. Would be good to hear from others too as to whether this was as result of software updates or whether the 3 network has improved.

culabula

Currently out in the Station of the Cross and performance is even better (despite being surrounded by oodles of electronica)

culabula

And over lunch in the vomatorium...

redmaurader

hey guys this sounds excellent as i have a very unstable 3 connection, is it just a matter of extracting the file & running it or does it have to replace existing file manually
thanks

brophis

Yep just a matter of extracting the exe and the installer does the rest. It's suggested that you remove the sim card from the modem before installing.

culabula

Heuston Station 1725:

culabula

Ballybrophy 18:44
Clearly something has improved as I have never enjoyed satisfactory performance like this in all parts of the country. One connection/session remained stable today for 2 hours and 44 minutes without dropping once and speeds have been exceptional from Belfast to here without fail.

brophis

It feels like dsl doesn't it? Could it be the weather?!

redmaurader

hey brophis when i run the installer and it goes to look for modem it cant find the usb modem, amy ideas why this could be

thanks

culabula

Not a bother with it since the start of the week: Limerick, this very morning.

culabula

(For Mac users)

Just noticed something: owing to the nature of the 2.8 installation I never went near advanced settings as it wasn't required and the connection just started working -and as we've seen since Monday, really, really well.

But, while rooting around today I noticed that the vendor is set to the default -Apple- and the modem to Apple Modem v 32. Was this then the solution? Is it just that the Huawei driver itself sucks?

brophis

redmaurader wrote: »

hey brophis when i run the installer and it goes to look for modem it cant find the usb modem, amy ideas why this could be

Have you got the Huawei E220 modem redmaurader or the new ZTEl one? To be honest I'm not sure why it's not detecting it other than that. You have the modem plugged in ye? And closed all the dashboard connect software? Does the modem work fine normally?

On a side note, I wonder how the new ZTE modems perform compared to the Huawei one.

redmaurader

i have the Huawei E220 modem, is the dashboard the screen that appears to connect if so i had that open, do you think that was the problem, modem works fine just a very unstable connection but its the only one available to me in my area

redmaurader

have been doing a bit of looking and it seems the modem can be locked by 3 and you have to request that they unlock it, do you think this might be the cause. also seen that the main diff between the zte & e220 is that the zte cant be flashed and ungraded they way you have done with the Huawei E220 modem

brophis

is the dashboard the screen that appears to connec

Yep.
Having the dashboard open would stop the update installer from working. Be sure to disconnect from the internet and close any open session of the dashboard. Make sure it's not running in the system tray (beside the clock) either. My E220 is locked too, still locked after firmware update, it has no influence on the update. Have you Windows XP or Vista btw?

redmaurader

i tried it on both xp pc & vista laptop both with the same result, i'll give it a bash later with the dashboard closed when i get home and see

mkennedy

redmaurader wrote: »

i tried it on both xp pc & vista laptop both with the same result, i'll give it a bash later with the dashboard closed when i get home and see

redmaurader i was having the same problem as you with XP.
What i did was unplug the modem before launching the installation.
Then halfway thru the installation (can't remember when exactly but i got a dialog box about a usb connection IIRC) i plug in the modem.

It then asks you if you,want to go ahead with it.

BTW brophis, is that German firmware totally ok to put on an E220 modem bought in Ireland.
And is it reversible at all?

I put the new driver (connect software) on and initially thought speeds improved a bit but i'm still a bit skeptical tbh.

brophis

The firmware is working flawlessly for me anyway. The main difference is that it now connects at 7.2Mbps to the PC instead of 3.6Mbps. The jury is still out on performance as it will need to be tested more over the long term. Common sense would tell you that there shouldn't be an improvement with updating the connect software as it's just a fancy interface for dial-up. But the driver update and firmware would be more likely to increase performance but again common sense would tell you that it wouldn't be by much if any. Time will tell. Maybe the network has improved or the weather is being nice to us. Not the most stable technology in the world.

At the moment I'm trying to get my hands on an E630 PCMCIA card to do some testing with an external antenna.

redmaurader

got mine working ok by sutting down dashboard before loading, haven't been surfing much since i uploaded but so far have probably seen a slight improvement in speed, not sure if my connection is anymore stable but only time will tell

FrankFluffy

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but is this new driver only MAC compatible? I have a Dell1525 running Vista and am having serious problems getting my 3g modem to work. It runs perfectly on my XP machine but Vista is a disaster, after taking forever to get the software to install and connecting to the net once now all I get is 'modem invalid' error. Am I the only one with this problem? I have tried turning off services through msconfig etc...Thanks in advance if anyone has any help.

culabula

FrankFluffy wrote: »

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but is this new driver only MAC compatible? I have a Dell1525 running Vista and am having serious problems getting my 3g modem to work. It runs perfectly on my XP machine but Vista is a disaster, after taking forever to get the software to install and connecting to the net once now all I get is 'modem invalid' error. Am I the only one with this problem? I have tried turning off services through msconfig etc...Thanks in advance if anyone has any help.

This thread was started by me with reference to the Mobile Connect 2.8 version now available for Mac from the 3UK and Huawei websites and not for PCs. I believe, reading through it, that others have posted information with regard to updated drivers for said PCs.

FrankFluffy

Thanks Culabula I resolved the issue with Vista have to plug the modem into the same USB that I installed the drivers with how ridiculous is that!! Wish I bought a MAC now was so close to doing so at the time I purchased the Dell.:o

culabula

FrankFluffy wrote: »

Thanks Culabula I resolved the issue with Vista have to plug the modem into the same USB that I installed the drivers with how ridiculous is that!! Wish I bought a MAC now was so close to doing so at the time I purchased the Dell.:o

Marry dell in haste, repent at your leisure :-)