Vodafone 3G Dongle help

Leltel

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Please can someone help me before I throw my 3G dongle out of the window :eek:! I brought it before our trip to France so that I could use the internet, of course! Made sure I brought loads of top up vouchers too..........it wouldn't work. Been away twice again................tried in vain to use the internet. Phoned vodafone, they told me to uninstall and reinstall it, oh and that it was showing as having lots of unused credit on it as it has never registered itself, I've done that, got it working at home......sort of....on gprs, but so slow it won't open a page even though this is supposed to be a good area...............before I try the local vodafone shop for help, does anyone know what I could be doing so wrong? (yes I am plugging it into the netbook :D) Or :Dam I better off with a different dongle provider that piggy backs off of different suppliers?? Thank you in advance
 
Whilst not a solution as such, i have an sfr dongle for use in fance, once bought it is payg, interestingly it is the same dongle as the vodafone one i have (a HWEI USB one) but the vodafone one has never worked for me whilst in France
 
I would go to the Vodafone shop. I haad massive problems with my dongle when I first got it, but once I mastered it have had no problems. Did you know they get better reception if you extend it with a USB lead as this acts as an aerial.

Have to say though, I've got three dongles and the only one really worth having in this country (Wales) is 3 and that still has massive spots where you can't get anything.
 
dongles

hi all we park up at McDonald's free wi fi not all of them but a lot in u.k and Europe taking a u.k dongle eats up the credit happy camping
 
It's best if the USB extension is not too long perhaps 2 to 3 metres as you'll get signal strength drop.
I use 3 dongle when not on my landline ISP, signal strength varies constantly and is only really usable whilst on HSDPA.
I notice in the small print that the operator has the right to reduce signal strength, and restrict access at any time and I'm sure they do.
Also it pays to use at non peak usage times of the day.
There's a thread running on another forum that mentions use of Vodafone Irish sim for using overseas @99 Eurocents a day a lot of bods have signed up for it.
You could try unlocking the dongle then trying out all operators sims and pick the best for your area.
 
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Wi-Fi

Is it not the case that a lot of eating and drinking places have Wi-Fi as a attraction for its customers. In the middle of nowhere a cafe or pub has it, as for dongles my contract '3' was useless, finally cancelled it a month ago!
 
I think I will try going down to the shop, before I give in completley with it! Our daughter has a 3 dongle, but won't let us borrow it for a weekend to try it, might havw to go round hers and borrow it without her knowing!
 
Please can someone help me before I throw my 3G dongle out of the window :eek:! I brought it before our trip to France so that I could use the internet, of course! Made sure I brought loads of top up vouchers too..........it wouldn't work. Been away twice again................tried in vain to use the internet. Phoned vodafone, they told me to uninstall and reinstall it, oh and that it was showing as having lots of unused credit on it as it has never registered itself, I've done that, got it working at home......sort of....on gprs, but so slow it won't open a page even though this is supposed to be a good area...............before I try the local vodafone shop for help, does anyone know what I could be doing so wrong? (yes I am plugging it into the netbook :D) Or :Dam I better off with a different dongle provider that piggy backs off of different suppliers?? Thank you in advance

I use a contract Vodafone dongle and had no problems at all getting into SFR (roaming) while in Normandy and Brittany. SFR are partners with Vodafone but Vodafone customers do not get free access the the SFR hotspots but BT customers do. Funny old world insn't it. However Orange is the major provider in France.

My roaming charges were 9.99 euro for 50mb per 24 hours. I have purchased and am awaiting delivery of the 99 cents a day Irish Vodafone sim which also has 50 mb a day limit or 2 cents a kb if you exceed that limit.

This site is good for finding out where your Vodafone will work. Network in your area: Coverage - Vodafone

I find that the speed varies considerably and I use My Broadband Speed - Broadband Speed Tester if I want to know the actual speed.

Date Download Speed Upload Speed
Today 16:25 38 kbps (4.75kB/s) 19 kbps (2.38kB/s) on GPRS
Oct 1, 14:18 1387 kbps (173kB/s) 1432 kbps (179kB/s) on 3G

I have also ordered an external antenna and amplified USB extension which will be waiting for us when we return from our current wilding trip up the Northumberland coast.

John
 
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There appears to be a lot of problems being posted on the use of the Irish sim.
The AMPLIFED usb seems a good option to get over any signal drop loss.
 
Without sounding too dumb, where might I be able to get an amplified usb cable and also an external ariel? They both sound like something to try. Thanks
 
Is it not the case that a lot of eating and drinking places have Wi-Fi as a attraction for its customers. In the middle of nowhere a cafe or pub has it, as for dongles my contract '3' was useless, finally cancelled it a month ago!

Just goes to show you need to check coverage for where you intend to use it BEFORE you buy. 3 is about the only that will work for us! It's not about one being better than the other, it's about each network having it's own peculiar blank spots.

As regards amplifier etc.... go to PC World - they were very helpful to me. Sold me a gadget (don't know what it's called but is about the size of a normal mobile phone) for £19.99. Popped my 3 Dongle sim card into it and hey presto MASSIVE improvement in performance. Maybe it's a USB amplifier they sold me! Certainly works a treat.
 
Thanks, will take a trip out to PC world this weekend.

Check these out

WiFi
Long range USB antenna NET-WL-USB-CPE2512bg
Faculty-X Homeplug WiFi & Wireless Antenna Systems

Mobile Phone
Mobile Broadband Outdoor Panel Antenna - Universal

Irish Vodafone Chip 50mb data for 99 cents a day

eBay.ie: Vodafone Ireland SIM card with cheap data roaming in EU (item 180534630277 end time 17-Aug-10 05:04:21 BST)

There have been discussions on this and other forums which I have followed. I was very sceptical at first. I have followed the discussions and many have now got this up and running. The secret is using the Mobile Partner software driver and not the Vodafone Connect supplied with their dongle.

I will post up my finding on here.

John
 
Some posts on other forums are today saying that Vodafone have wised up to the Irish sim loophole.The contact character has gone AWOL. So if all this is true, some latecomers will have lost out. Drat I thought this might have been the answer to overseas internet. Once more I'll make do with WiFi and its limitations.
 
Please can someone help me before I throw my 3G dongle out of the window :eek:!
Do just that :p...........attached to a USB extention cable.Mine really does not like working inside what so ever.
 
This is what I was sold. Originally about £50, but knocked down to £19.99 by the manager as I already had a 3 mobile broadband contract. Works pretty well, though usually still wired through USB then wireless.

Mobile WiFi from PC World
 

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