Vodafone internet connection speeds?

[Hugh]

I have just bought a 3G Vodafone modem for using to connect to the internet as I have such a terrible land line connection with farmer's electric fences clicking on the line, and I can't currently get a wireless broadband connection where I live.

I have connected successfully but i'm disappointed with the speeds. Where I live I get GPRS but not 3G, and using the speed test here, it connects initially at around 40/44 kbps but at the last minute the test signal drop right down to around 15kbps. Maybe this is a glitch in the way the speed test works on a mobile network, as I understand it works in a different way from a normal wireless broadband networks. Downloading a 30mg file as a test took around 2 hours.

Has anyone else had experience using a mobile phone as a modem which would work the same way? If so, I would be interested to hear how about it.

[ei2jp]

I have owned a Vodafone 3G datacard for exactly a year now, and have used it extensively as both a standalone mobile internet connection and as a shared wireless internet access solution. I've observed the following:

1) The built-in aerial is crap. Unless you are right next to the base station don't expect to get a stable 3G connection and don't expect to get the full 384K download speed.

2) The supplied external aerial makes a difference; If you have one, use it. While it appears to have no gain (relative to the card's internal aerial) it does get your aerial more out in the open and you will get better range/speed than with the internal aerial. Again, you have to be fairly close to the base station to get full 3G speeds.

3) I purchased a Sirio log-periodic aerial from Long Communications (Donegal) to see if I could improve my own situation. I chopped the old Vodafone supplied aerial off the pigtail that plugs into the datacard, installed a BNC connector on it, and, through a series of adaptors, connected it to the log-periodic aerial. I immediately noticed a difference in signal strength. I also noticed that the connection was reverting to GPRS a LOT less. This was a very worthwhile improvement, but I still wasn't seeing the full 384K speeds.

4) I then aimed the new aerial out a first-story window where I could see the Vodafone mast (about 6 or 7km away), and, for the first time ever, I got four (4) bars on the 3G signal strength meter. Remember, this is 2 gigahertz (microwave frequencies) and signals travel best at line-of-sight. I now realised the full 384K download speed and the full 64K upload speed. This was in Killarney, not exactly the best place for microwave line-of-sight.

5) I have repeated this test at another location in Rosslare, again aiming the aerial out a window directly at the base station in Rosslare Harbour. Again, I get four (4) bars and the full whack both down and up.

6) I found that where there is at least three (3) bars on the signal strength meter, one can get reliable connections (no drops, or fallback to GPRS). The key here is signal strength.

7) I only use the Vodafone application to "set up" the card, and then I close it down. I make ALL my connections with the "Connect to.." dialog because the Vodafone Mobile Connect application seems to want to consume all resources from time to time and the laptop grinds to a halt. I'm using an IBM Thinkpad 900Mhz 512MB RAM with Windows XP. The Mobile Connect application is only required to set up the card; It serves no useful purpose once this task is done. Once the card is initialised it looks just like any other modem in Windows XP.

8) Once I got the signal strength issue solved, this setup works for DAYS without any disconnects, and only the occasional revert to GPRS. I do not know why Vodafone apparently turn off the 3G signal from time to time but I have noticed this happening, usually for just a few minutes.

9) This is a packet-based infrastructure, so don't expect the blistering response times that you'll get with wired DSL. Sometimes the latency is almost un-noticeable, other times it can be 4-5 seconds. Its WAY better than satellite internet but not nearly as good as ISDN dial-up (overall) or DSL. So, if you can live with a bit of latency its OK.

10) I have experienced what I call "network stupidity" with Vodafone. It appears that they don't have redundant routes in place, so, when one circuit goes down, it takes them several minutes to re-route a circuit. The end user experiences this as a "stalled" internet connection. Connected fine, ping the gateway fine, but can't ping a known host somewhere out there on the internet. I suspect the Vodafone data network will get more resilient as the user base increases.

Am I a happy customer? For the most part, yes, especially after the unlimited data plan for €49 came in. Is it a perfect wireless internet solution? No. Is it better than some of the other wireless solutions? Possibly.

My next step is to get my hands on one of these Linksys 3G routers and see how it holds up as a full-time internet connection.

Ron

[Hugh]

Hi Ron, very interesting feedback on the data card, thanks for taking the trouble to post it. I was testing out the new 3G usb modem and ended up returning it under their 14 day no quibble guarantee. Lookking at your info re the aerial, it seems I would be much better off with the data card, especially as I have just ordered a new Macbook Pro.

I have a Sony Ericsson k800i which also works as a 3G bluetooth or usb modem but Vodafone don't currently do the unlimited data package for a phone, only the data card and usb modem.

Hugh

[paul.whelan@gmail.com]

You sure there is a PCMIA slot on a mac book pro?

Originally Posted by Hugh

Hi Ron, very interesting feedback on the data card, thanks for taking the trouble to post it. I was testing out the new 3G usb modem and ended up returning it under their 14 day no quibble guarantee. Lookking at your info re the aerial, it seems I would be much better off with the data card, especially as I have just ordered a new Macbook Pro.

I have a Sony Ericsson k800i which also works as a 3G bluetooth or usb modem but Vodafone don't currently do the unlimited data package for a phone, only the data card and usb modem.

Hugh

[Hugh]

Hi Paul,

The new Intel Core 2 Dual macbook Pros that came out a couple of weeks ago, have what is described as an"ExpressCard/34" slot. I haven't checked out exactly what the specs of this are, but I understand it is basically a pcmcia slot with up to date compatibility for new devices. The basic Macbook doesn't have this and maybe the previous version of the Pro, i'm not sure. If anyone is interested, I will give an update when it arrives from China later in the week.

Hugh

[Hugh]

Update: Now I have looked, I have discovered what the Apple salesman didn't tell me:

from www.evdoinfo.com/Tips

"Since the MacBook Pro does not have a PCMCIA slot (PC Slot), the current crop of PC Cards (KPC650, PC5220, Novatel V620, PC5740, Merlin S620, AirCard 580) WILL NOT work in the MacBook Pro.

So, the GOOD news is that Apple is not the first and only vendor to standardize on this. Also, PCMCIA officials expect that 70% of all laptops shipped next year will contain an ExpressCard slot. The MacBook Pro uses a newer slot called the ExpressCard/34.

This newer slot is smaller and is not compatible with existing PCMCIA cards (and there is no PCMCIA-to-ExpressCard adapter at this time), so we have to wait for Kyocera, Novatel or Sierra Wireless to have an EVDO ExpressCard."

[ei2jp]

Hugh,

1) As an owner for a number of months of a 15" MacBook Pro I can state with authority that they do not accept your conventional PC (a.k.a. PCMCIA) expansion cards. As has been stated here the ExpressCard is a new standard.

2) There is both PC and Macintosh software supplied on the Vodafone 3G CD. The Macintosh software appears to be old, and is not a Universal Binary AFAIK. When I ran it on my G3 Powerbook I got inconsistent results. Sometimes it would work fine, sometimes it would just spin the watch and do nothing. I had developed a whole procedure of firing up the laptop, removing the voda card, re-inserting the voda card, and launching the 3G application.

As far as I can tell, all the Voda application does is initialise the card, collect your PIN, and register you on the network. Once this is done you use Internet Connect to actually connect to the network. Most of the time this worked really well and was MORE stable than the PC solution, IMHO. ;-)

3) I gave up on this approach, when, for some unforseen reason, the software failed to recognise the datacard. Removal, reinstallation, even reinstall of the software failed to fix the problem. When I phoned Vodafone (not a free call) I was told that "we don't support the Macintosh software". In fact, the agent I talked to didn't even know that Mac software was available!!!

If you want to use the 3G datacard with your Macbook Pro you will either have to:

a) Buy one of the Vodafone 3G routers (€199+FAT), or,
b) Share the internet connection from a PC laptop, or,
c) Share the internet connection from a PowerPC-based Mac laptop.

If anyone else has other solutions I'd be glad to hear them.

Ron

[Bill]

Hi Ron / Hugh,
Couple of points, of course line of sight is best for all wireless connections. For broadband 3G you will get on average 300 to 350 Kbps downlink. To get more you will need a HSDPA enabled card. Your Broadband USB connected modem (Huawei E220) needs to be attached to the correct APN and be in a HSDPA activated cell, not all are yet. There is only the Vf / Huawei dashboard available currently to do this. New mobile connect s/w available early in new year. With a good signal strength on HSDPA I get reliable speeds of 1,3 to 1.4 Mbps (in theory it is up to 3.5 Mbps).
The Linksys wireless 3G router is on hold, not relesasd by Linksys for HSDPA yet.
You did not hear it from me.