Getting rock solid 160KB/sec on Vodafone HSDPA today

niallb · 25-01-2007 11:31AM

croo wrote:

Just to be clear on this (because I misunderstood)...

The "3G Broadband" package for €39.99 (Incl VAT), with a 5Gb limit and 12c per Mb after... does allow VoIP. But, the "Unlimited Data" package for €49.99 still does NOT allow the use of VoIP.

?????
Could you post a link to the terms and conditions that make that clear?
Thanks,
NiallB

Urban Weigl · 25-01-2007 12:10PM

niallb wrote:

?????
Could you post a link to the terms and conditions that make that clear?
Thanks,
NiallB

http://www.vodafone.ie/terms/paymonthly/index.jsp#3gdata

You'll also find the terms and conditions for the original Unlimited Data tariff on that page, which is no longer available to new customers.

Patrickof · 25-01-2007 01:00PM

Slightly off topic, but am still arguing with vodafone for a free card upgrade. We signed up on July 2nd last year and got a Qualcomm card that does not support HSDPA.

FOr a long time they said they wouldn't swap the card nor even quote us a price to pay for it ourselves. They claim that at the launch of the service back last July the clause stating that all cards were future proofed for higher speeds was not made and that the Qualcomm card was the fastest they had. I disagree with them re: the claim in the ad but I can't prove it.

Still, at least they now say we can upgrade the card to an E620 for €99. Better than nothing I suppose.

I'd love to be able to prove that they did advertise that the cards were future proofed from the service launch.

Urban Weigl · 25-01-2007 02:26PM

In my case I had a verbal agreement with Vodafone that I would receive the higher speed once it was rolled out on their network, so I can't comment on the advertising.

By the way, I would not get the E620, for two reasons: it cannot be upgraded to 3.6 Mbps, and it won't work on new laptops. Whereas the 3G USB modem does support 3.6 Mbps (once the network supports it), and is also far more flexible in that it will work with new laptops, since basically all new laptops use either the new ExpressCard standard, or may not have a slot at all.

croo · 25-01-2007 04:05PM

niallb wrote:

?????
Could you post a link to the terms and conditions that make that clear?
Thanks,
NiallB

And http://www.vodafone.ie/terms/paymonthly/index.jsp#unlimiteddata
where it does say it's not allowed for the "data unlimited" package.

bminish · 25-01-2007 04:24PM

Urban Weigl wrote:

By the way, I would not get the E620, for two reasons: it cannot be upgraded to 3.6 Mbps, and it won't work on new laptops. Whereas the 3G USB modem does support 3.6 Mbps (once the network supports it), and is also far more flexible in that it will work with new laptops, since basically all new laptops use either the new ExpressCard standard, or may not have a slot at all.

however the E620 (& 618) work perfectly with Linux I was unable to get the 3G USB modem to work under linux so if Linux support is a requirement the E620 is currently the best choice.

.brendan

Patrickof · 25-01-2007 04:44PM

And I have the Linksys router which looks after my wi-fi and routing also, which would be a bit messy (but do-able) with the USB modem.

Urban Weigl · 25-01-2007 05:11PM

In that case, it's the E620 you want, which I can confirm works perfectly with the 3G router box.

JohnC. · 25-01-2007 05:31PM

Can the €49.99 "Unlimited" package be used with that mouse-like dongle they are advertising now? Looking at the site, everything is about the €39.99 5GB package with no mention or even any options to choose anything else during the ordering process.

My aunt is in an area where she is unlikely to get DSL in the near future at least and there's no wireless. So she is interested in this now. I'm just wondering if she will be able to specify the €49.99 package by ordering in a shop seeing as the website doesn't seem to allow it.

Urban Weigl · 25-01-2007 05:45PM

Kahless, as far as I know the unlimited package is no longer available to new customers. Unless you're going to take over an existing contract from somebody who doesn't want it anymore.

That being said, 5GB is reasonable for most users.

uncle_sam_ie · 25-01-2007 07:08PM

Urban Weigl wrote:

Kahless, as far as I know the unlimited package is no longer available to new customers. Unless you're going to take over an existing contract from somebody who doesn't want it anymore.

That being said, 5GB is reasonable for most users.

I'm getting DSL next week. If it works out I might want to get rid of my unlimited package. It finishes in September.

bugler · 25-01-2007 09:15PM

I just got my USB modem today. Not going great to be honest. Despite having 2 bars of 3g coverage (and the light is flicking from light blue to Blue, so 3g broadband to 3g as I understand it) my speeds are very dial-up like. Mind you it's so long since I had dial-up..I'm not even sure it was this slow.

I know my ISDN of a couple of years ago was quicker than this. I called data support who moved me back to office.vodafone.ie but it was the same. I'll give it a couple of days and try it out around the city centre but if my home coverage is this weak I'm not sure if I'll keep it.

I'm in Ashtown (Cabra) by the way. I'd be grateful for any ideas people might have.

By the way my signal goes to 4 bars 3G on my window, but I don't know if it actually speeds up when in this position.

Urban Weigl · 25-01-2007 10:51PM

bugler, with the signal you're reporting, you shouldn't be having any issues. Instead of speculating what the problem would be, I'd suggest you try running the speed test here: http://speedtest.ie/

BigMoose · 25-01-2007 10:53PM

bugler wrote:

I called data support who moved me back to office.vodafone.ie but it was the same.

As it stands currently you cannot get HSDPA speeds out of the office APN, however should be able to get 3G speeds (max 384kbs download). So if you're trying to get HSDPA speeds change your APN back and get data support to check you quality of service settings.

cgarvey · 25-01-2007 11:12PM

Patrickof wrote:

Slightly off topic, but am still arguing with vodafone for a free card upgrade. We signed up on July 2nd last year and got a Qualcomm card that does not support HSDPA.

Thought this post went through (but can never be sure with Boards gone to the dogs these days).

Anyway, I'm in the same boat (only I got the E618). This is despite Data Support saying there'd be no problem twice, and the 3rd time saying that it was an issue with the local shop. I was also told (verbally) of the upcoming broadband speeds in the shop.

bugler · 26-01-2007 09:48AM

I'll try speedtest.ie tomorrow and report back. I had planned to bring the laptop into the city centre today and try it out there but I forgot I'm going to a gig after work, and I don't want to carry it around all evening.

Using the Vodafone software I can see that the rates were fluctuating fairly wildly. It says it hit a top rate of 1 MB but didn't hold this for any more than a second or two. It did regularly get into the 200/300 kBs but again it had no consistency, it would drop down into bps rates at times, and single figure kBs rates. I hit "Submit Reply" on my previous post last night and it took maybe 25 seconds to actually submit it.

I did some ping tests as well and there was plenty of packet loss. Even some 100% loss when it was completely borked.

It's disappointing, as I was really only looking to browse and do light downloading off it, and I don't even particularly need it to be mobile! I have net access during the day at work, but my girlfriend doesn't and it was more for her benefit.

Patrickof · 26-01-2007 02:44PM

Cgarvey, yep same here. Data Support have told me twice that it is a local shop issue and they can't really see why it shouldn't be swapped. But the shop doesn't see it that way.

My 12 month contract is up end of June, so we might wait and see whats available then from 3, Voda etc.

surfer2007 · 26-01-2007 10:17PM

The vodafone 3G broadband service.
http://www.vodafone.ie/generic/3gbroadband.jsp?bannerdesc=home_image_P_3g_broadband_100107

bugler · 27-01-2007 09:28AM

Ok. It's going very well this morning for me. I noticed it right away just opening google and boards.ie.

Here are my speedtest.ie results as of 9.30 am:

Upload speed: 322kbps

Download Speed: 1.12 Mbps.

If this were the typical service I'd be very happy with it. I'm expecting an evening/afternoon slump though-call me a pessimist.

I'll post up more speedtest results this afternoon/evening to see how things develop.

Edit: Results as of 10.55 am:

Download Speed 449 kbps

Upload 264 kbps

Quality of Service: 44%

Round Trip Time 125ms

Max Pause 1009 ms

bugler · 28-01-2007 02:21PM

Ok, the problem with this is the gross inconsistency. The signal being reported right now is still 2 bars of 3G coverage, pretty much the same as when I got the results of yesterday. But the results today:

Your download speed is 50.5 kbps

Upload speed is 2.56 kbps

Quality of Service 39%

Round trip time: 216 ms

Max Pause: 1693 ms

:-/

Thing is, if I was to run the test again I'd probably get different results again.

Urban Weigl · 28-01-2007 04:49PM

That looks like a congestion issue. What have data support told you, if anything?

bugler · 28-01-2007 07:43PM

I haven't called them since the first night, when I was experiencing the same thing. When you say congestion, do you mean other users using 3G?

Data Support only really said "there may be other users in the area" - tough sh*t in essence.

Just now it has connected for the first time at 236.8 kbps for the first time rather than the limit of 3.6 Mbps which it has connected at every other time since I got it.

Blaster99 · 28-01-2007 08:37PM

I've noticed that speeds and pings are up and down like a yoyo with Vodafone's 3G data service. This is why I tend to caution people when they compare this with proper broadband.

davidf1412 · 29-01-2007 01:41AM

I was using my Vodafone 3G broadband modem (Huawei) in Northstrand this evening and despite 5 bars 3G signal my speeds fluctuated between 0 (mostly) and 700 bps occasionally going into the Kb range but seldom over 5. Then grinding to a halt totally.

Back home in Blanchardstown now it worked for a few minutes before grinding to a complete halt again. I'm now borrowing my neighbours cable. I phoned support on Friday who gave me a few settings changes but it hasn't helped. They promised to check it out and phone back but haven't.

qwertplaywert · 29-01-2007 08:30PM

i checked the website, and im only in a gprs zone.if i got this product,what speeds would i be expecting?

BigMoose · 29-01-2007 08:44PM

qwertplaywert wrote:

i checked the website, and im only in a gprs zone.if i got this product,what speeds would i be expecting?

It's like good dialup. You'll get around 56kbs all being well.

qwertplaywert · 29-01-2007 08:50PM

so it would be worth 40 a month, jsut for the unlimited time?

OfflerCrocGod · 29-01-2007 08:55PM

qwertplaywert wrote:

so it would be worth 40 a month, jsut for the unlimited time?

If ALL you do is browse then yes but that depends on how stable to connection is ofc......

qwertplaywert · 29-01-2007 09:00PM

but sure if it aint great i hear theres a 14 day give it back warantly?
if i did that,would i get installiation fee back as well?

Urban Weigl · 01-02-2007 06:30PM

qwertplaywert wrote:

but sure if it aint great i hear theres a 14 day give it back warantly?
if i did that,would i get installiation fee back as well?

As far as I know yes, but be sure to ask just in case.

Getting rock solid 160KB/sec on Vodafone HSDPA today

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