Vodafone Mobile Broadband problem

Live at Three

I've been having this problem since I got the usb modem last september. In the last few weeks it's got worse.
Vodafone tech support can't help me.

The problem is this, when I connect I can get to a webpage, and browse away, but pretty soon I start getting "The connnection has timed out" messages, even though the software says that it's still connected. I have to disconnect and reconnect to get it working again.

I was on the phone to tech support and we went into properties, changed the option "obtain DNS server automatically" to "Use the following DNS server address" and he gave me the numbers to put in.

We found that every time I reconnected and went back into the settings, the option to "Obtain DNS server address automatically" would be selected again and the address we just entered would be gone.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't think I have a virus or spyware cause I check and clean regularly. It's not the AV software interfering cause I uninstalled that and no change. A differerent vodafone modem behaves the same way.

The wifi and ethernet connection in college works fine. I just have problems with the Vodafone modem.

This is incredibly frustrating, I have to reconnect every time I click a link.

Any help would be great...

jor el

How are you setting the DNS?

Live at Three

I am setting it to "Use the folllowing DNS server address"I was given an address to type in.

Do you want to know the actual address?

jor el

No, where exactly are you entering this information? In the Windows networking properties, or in the Vodafone software control panel?

Live at Three

Windows vista

Control Panel
Network and Sharing center
Manage Network Connections
Vodafone Mobile Connect
Properties
Tab-Networking
Internet Protocol version 4
Properties
....Voila

Live at Three

Windows vista

Control Panel
Network and Sharing center
Manage Network Connections
Vodafone Mobile Connect
Properties
Tab-Networking
Internet Protocol version 4
Properties
....Voila

jor el

That gets over written by the Vodafone software every time you connect. You need to change the setting in their software.

To do this will depend on the software being used. Mine is called Vodafone Mobile Connect Lite, go to the Manage Connections tab, and select View. Create a new connection, give it a name, on the APN tab enter hs.vodafone.ie for APN, and vodafone for both user name and password. On the IP/DNS tab, you can enter a DNS server. I use OpenDNS, which is 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.

Click OK and move this new connection to the top of the list. It will use that by default from now on.

Live at Three

Ok sounds good but will I use the DNS address that the Vodafone tech support guy gave me instead?

jor el

You can use any DNS server you like, as long as it's available and reliable. OpenDNS can be used with any ISP, and is very reliable. The one you were given is probably just Vodafone's own one. They probably just told you to set it manually in case the automatic settings were giving problems.

You could set up two new connections in the control software, so if one ever stops, you just connect using the other profile.

Live at Three

Thanks

Ok I tried this and I thought it was the answer to all of my problems cause it was working for a while, today it's not working again. Tried both DNS addresses but no help.

Sorry for the double posting, this is what happens when you have to reconnect and refresh every 2 minutes.