Mobile internet

[adrianh]

I work in Semington and just down from you in Sells Green. My provider got me to reset my phone (HTC) to 2G only as 3G coverage in this part of Wiltshire is very poor. The phone spent all its time chopping service which 'ate' the battery life.

I don't no if you can reset your dongle , just bought an unlocked one to use with Giff Gaff (O2) service - this is the best operator in this area. If you can reset you have to reboot afterwards - I will have a look at the set up page on the dongle when I have a chance.

Have a look at his post in this section -

Complete Mobile Broadband setup for under £100

- from about 2 weeks ago. It gives details of the aerial that goes with your dongle I think.

[Lady Muck]

4G is only available in a few cities, a waste of time on the cut, in my opinion.

 

Signal strength is no guarantee of a good speed, that depends on how many people are connected and also on the provider.

 

A 'Mi-Fi' connected to an external aerial (mag[netic] mount), lead through a mushroom works for me most of the time.

Depends where you are. Got 4g mifi now, its Alcatel and sits in its own cradle in the window, it's from EE, works as 4g most of the way up Lee and Stort. Super duper fast, better than home broadband barely ever loses connection. Maybe because they've not got many people using it but Im sold. Course Im not daft and this new dongle has already been unlocked so i can use my other sims in it.

Speed test just now is 19.56mbs download and 39.87mbs upload

 

I do think the hardware is improving all the time so I always go for the new thing, I have an old 3 mifi (1st generation) and its dreadful compared, even the old 3 sim in my new device is better, it doesnt keep dropping out.

Edited October 21, 2013 by Lady Muck

[Dave Payne]

Vodafone claim they can achieve 40mb download on 4G!

[john6767]

Vodafone claim they can achieve 40mb download on 4G!

Perhaps you can, but what would you want to do with that sort of bandwidth, I don't think I would need to exploit it? To me latency improvements, and coverage, would be more important than bandwidth one you get to something like 10meg, or to be honest even on the 3meg or so I currently get from Three.

[Dave Payne]

All depends on what you use your broadband for i guess, surfing the web and emails would be fine on a lower speed, as you say 3mb.

 

However if you stream media, download media or even decide to game online (Xbox live) then these speeds would be good, or even have kids onboard who want to do all this whilst you are doing the standard stuff!

 

Problem is we live in a nation where everyone wants faster and faster speeds without actually needing them....

[Lady Muck]

Perhaps you can, but what would you want to do with that sort of bandwidth,

No use to many, but for us it means you can back up a website database before it changes, can't always do that on 3g, often get halfway through the backup before we are scuppered.

[chris roscoe]

I use 3 network and it is very good and fast...

[john6767]

All depends on what you use your broadband for i guess, surfing the web and emails would be fine on a lower speed, as you say 3mb.

 

However if you stream media, download media or even decide to game online (Xbox live) then these speeds would be good, or even have kids onboard who want to do all this whilst you are doing the standard stuff!

 

Problem is we live in a nation where everyone wants faster and faster speeds without actually needing them....

For gaming it is latency that matters more than bandwidth, a poor ping time will literally kill you in the likes of COD. I can not see what type of media that is available today that needs 40meg, and even with multiple users it still seems more than 99% need today. As you say it is more a case of people just thinking faster is better without really thinking about what they are going to do with the bandwidth.

[George94]

Although Three is usually the best, it does depend where you are. It has been dire in parts of West London for most of this year.

 

If you are moving around, take out a contract on Three, but keep a couple of PAYG cards from other providers as a back-up.

 

That said, I now use my mobile phone. I have an unlimited broadband agreement, and although the phone is not as fast as Three when Three is performing properly, it's fast enough. The SIM provider is EE.

[nb Innisfree]

I'm on 3's 321 PAYG with my phone at the mo, data is 1p per mb and everlasting, nice and quick, great when out and about and away from the mifi/router. Alternate sim is Giffgaff carried in the phone's case.

[twelveeyedfish]

If you're dongle based rather than tethering based, check out Panorama antennas. Their website is hopeless but just call them and they have all the answers.

External aerials aren't that cheap but they will provide significant gain to the signal, especially if you go for a directional one.