3 Mobile internet - is MiFI better than a dongle?

[Guest]

Fair enough. I might just stick with what I've got then, and wait until I find someone nearby with a MiFi to compare and contrast.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone

 

Three do have a speedy dongle here...

 

http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Devices/Huawei/E3256_Premium_dongle/Black

[OldGoat]

I think the speed is limited by:

1 Signal strength available.

2 Data capacity of the local mast against number of users.

3 Quality of the dongle.

 

Unless your dongle is old or defective a newer model will probably not improve things as 1 and 2 will be the limiting factors.

 

I think your current setup of dongle and router is probably optimum for serious use.

It has the advantage that you can put the dongle outside on a pole if the signal strength is marginal, whilst keeping the router indoors.

You cant really do this with a mifi.

If you believe the new dongle is better (tested by direct connection to PC) then:

If the router will not accept the latest dongle then is there a firmware upgrade available now?

If not will there be a firmware update in the near future?

If not can you get a different router from a company that does keep up to date with the latest dongles?

 

.............Dave

 

I'm coming back as I've just spent a couple of days trying to find out why some SIMs work somwhere and work in some dongles and not others.

Before I begin boring everybody, all my kit is unlocked - not a lot of point as it happens as I've found 3 gives me the best reception wherever I go.

 

I've got a collection of ex 3 dongles:-

E122 HSPA a bit better than the older E16* types - but I have some Vodafone SIMs and they won't run in better kit (that's due to I only get 2G here...)

E353 Excellent kit but won't run Voda here (as above) but runs Three 3G well

E5332 MiFi dongles - I thought these were an extravegence until I stopped and looked at all those wires...

Apart from the convenience I can see no difference in connection speed betwen the MiFi unit and the dongle. For inside the boat I prefer an external aerial which can and does improve reception "somewhat" - certainly if you're in not very good signal strength areas.

For me the problem is that there are plenty of 3G antennae for CRC9 connections and not so many for TS-9

 

The rub is that you can buy an E353 and unlock it (say, a tenner) for a lot less than an E5332 (about £35+). SO if you are constrained by budget get the E353.

I'd rather have an aerial up top than a dongle in a window.

 

BTW neither of the last two devices will run 2G - which Voda seems to be whenever I want a cheap connection. Bdetter to have a snail rather than zilch.

Also for inveterate fiddlers, if you load a Huawei Mobile Partner dashboard, you can see what's happening, whose suppliers are available to you, and you get a graphical display of what's going on.

Better than tiddling in the dark.

 

Knowledge is power!

Edited March 8, 2013 by OldGoat

[smileypete]

For me the problem is that there are plenty of 3G antennae for CRC9 connections and not so many for TS-9

Why not just get an adapter:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_sop=15&_sacat=0&_from=R40&_nkw=TS-9+sma&LH_PrefLoc=2

 

cheers, Pete

~smpt~

[Guest]

Why not just get an adapter:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_sop=15&_sacat=0&_from=R40&_nkw=TS-9+sma&LH_PrefLoc=2

 

cheers, Pete

~smpt~

 

Edited March 8, 2013 by The Dog House

[dmr]

I'm coming back as I've just spent a couple of days trying to find out why some SIMs work somwhere and work in some dongles and not others.

Before I begin boring everybody, all my kit is unlocked - not a lot of point as it happens as I've found 3 gives me the best reception wherever I go.

 

I've got a collection of ex 3 dongles:-

E122 HSPA a bit better than the older E16* types - but I have some Vodafone SIMs and they won't run in better kit (that's due to I only get 2G here...)

E353 Excellent kit but won't run Voda here (as above) but runs Three 3G well

E5332 MiFi dongles - I thought these were an extravegence until I stopped and looked at all those wires...

Apart from the convenience I can see no difference in connection speed betwen the MiFi unit and the dongle. For inside the boat I prefer an external aerial which can and does improve reception "somewhat" - certainly if you're in not very good signal strength areas.

For me the problem is that there are plenty of 3G antennae for CRC9 connections and not so many for TS-9

 

The rub is that you can buy an E353 and unlock it (say, a tenner) for a lot less than an E5332 (about £35+). SO if you are constrained by budget get the E353.

I'd rather have an aerial up top than a dongle in a window.

 

BTW neither of the last two devices will run 2G - which Voda seems to be whenever I want a cheap connection. Bdetter to have a snail rather than zilch.

Also for inveterate fiddlers, if you load a Huawei Mobile Partner dashboard, you can see what's happening, whose suppliers are available to you, and you get a graphical display of what's going on.

Better than tiddling in the dark.

 

Knowledge is power!

 

Cant really answer your question about why some SIMS work and some don't. There does appear to be a small element of randomness in all this 3G stuff, and Vodafone was quite bad for this.

After extensive cruising last summer we concluded that it was worth putting all the eggs in the one basket, well actually the 3 basket. There was only one place where we found a Vodafone signal (2G) but no 3 3g, and the Vodafone did not really work.

So now have two contracts with 3 to get a total of 30GByte/month, and we use the E353's.

You can get little cables to convert the funny E353 connector to anything that is more convenient, though every connector will loose a bit of signal.

The external aeriel on the roof works pretty well, but if the signal is marginal I find putting the dongle outside on a stick does help a bit.

We run the E353's through a TP Link modem to get wifi in the boat.

 

..............Dave

[BargeeSpud]

Confirmed it did not work on our 3 dongle even though they had a you tube video showing how to connect and use the 3 dongle.

 

They weren't very helpful either, and gave us some rigmarole way of connecting which never worked. We sill have the go baby, We've kept it as a back up if there's a problem with 3 or want to use another network, It might well end up on e-bay.

 

I had a Go Baby, not happy with it at all. Got aTP Link router which works well.

Can I quote you guys when I approach my bank to get my money back?

[dmr]

I had a Go Baby, not happy with it at all. Got aTP Link router which works well.

 

Can I go a little off topic please?

 

Which TP Link router do you use and how good is it?

 

We are using the MR3420 which I am mostly pleased with, especially as it was quite cheap, but it does crash from time to time and ends up in an infinite wait saying "connecting". This mostly happens when the 3g signal is very weak and a new computer joins the wifi network.

How does yours do?????

 

...........Dave

[smileypete]

Can I go a little off topic please?

 

Which TP Link router do you use and how good is it?

 

We are using the MR3420 which I am mostly pleased with, especially as it was quite cheap, but it does crash from time to time and ends up in an infinite wait saying "connecting". This mostly happens when the 3g signal is very weak and a new computer joins the wifi network.

How does yours do?????

This thread might help abit:

 

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/370386

 

The gist of it looks to be latest firmware, factory reset and some additional fan cooling.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

[dmr]

This thread might help abit:

 

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/370386

 

The gist of it looks to be latest firmware, factory reset and some additional fan cooling.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

 

Hello Pete,

I have seen this thread before and I am not 100% convinced, the router does not run hot and I have not noticed any correlation between ambient temperature and crashing. I have just replaced our old Stratford range with a modern Charnwood stove and the boats gone from warmish to HOT and the router is much the same.

The "mod record" on the firmware does not mention any fixes for the crashes but then maybe its a Chinese cultural thing never to mention the word "bug".

I Will try a firmware upgrade.

Except for the crashing its a really nice router and very good value, and still much more reliable than when I was using a Vodafone dongle plugged directly into the PC.

 

.........Dave

[Psycloud]

Something you 'might' want to consider is to do what I am in the process of doing following a thread I started the other day.

 

I have just got one of these -

 

 

Which effectively will turn your existing USB dongle into a wi-fi hotspot.

 

They are normally £60 but I got mine from here for a lot less.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281068027686?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

 

The advantage is they can be battery operated so will work away from any power source and they accept USB modems/dongles capable of accepting an 3G external aerial, I got such a dongle for a tenner again from eBay. The current 'base' 3 mi-fi model will not accept an external aerial connection, though you can get them that will, at a price.

 

Using a similar setup but with a 2m USB extension cable and the dongle hanging in a window. Took several tries to get the best position but now get around 5mb/s on average which is enough to stream iPlayer in HD

[Chris Pink]

Fair enough. I might just stick with what I've got then, and wait until I find someone nearby with a MiFi to compare and contrast.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone

 

What network are you on? I've always found Vodafone better than Three near your mooring and it's always been a bit sensitive to location for obvious reasons.

 

I've got an antenna you can borrow to see if that makes a difference if your dongle takes an antenna - which might not be obvious at first sight. What model?

 

I would also compare speed with and without the the router (and the router's Ethernet if available ) to see if there's a problem there. Packet errors can be as damaging as a bad connection.

[john6767]

Hello Pete,

I have seen this thread before and I am not 100% convinced, the router does not run hot and I have not noticed any correlation between ambient temperature and crashing. I have just replaced our old Stratford range with a modern Charnwood stove and the boats gone from warmish to HOT and the router is much the same.

The "mod record" on the firmware does not mention any fixes for the crashes but then maybe its a Chinese cultural thing never to mention the word "bug".

I Will try a firmware upgrade.

Except for the crashing its a really nice router and very good value, and still much more reliable than when I was using a Vodafone dongle plugged directly into the PC.

 

.........Dave

 

What you are describing is exactly the issue with the USB power supply that I described on the earlier thread the other day. Using a common cigarette lighter socket supply that supplies 1A is marginal, using one that provides 2.1 A makes it stable.

 

Of course I also have the latest firmware, but I always do that with Amy device as a matter of course really.

 

So the issue for me was a 1A supply was marginal to supply both the router and the dongle.

[OldGoat]

Why not just get an adapter:

 

http://www.ebay.co.u...ma&LH_PrefLoc=2

 

cheers, Pete

~smpt~

 

 

DUH!

 

I swear I couldn't find that range when I searched - could only find TS-9 to male SMA's and ditto CRC9's.

It shows you - a search is only as good as the parameters you put in....

 

Much obliged, vert grateful. Mor business going China's way.

[OldGoat]

Cant really answer your question about why some SIMS work and some don't. There does appear to be a small element of randomness in all this 3G stuff, and Vodafone was quite bad for this.

After extensive cruising last summer we concluded that it was worth putting all the eggs in the one basket, well actually the 3 basket. There was only one place where we found a Vodafone signal (2G) but no 3 3g, and the Vodafone did not really work.

So now have two contracts with 3 to get a total of 30GByte/month, and we use the E353's.

You can get little cables to convert the funny E353 connector to anything that is more convenient, though every connector will loose a bit of signal.

The external aeriel on the roof works pretty well, but if the signal is marginal I find putting the dongle outside on a stick does help a bit.

We run the E353's through a TP Link modem to get wifi in the boat.

 

..............Dave

 

More info on the SIM front.

On the basis of nil carborundum , last evening I ferretted around on t'web for my Voda problem and discovered that they use a different authentication process - PAP to everyone else. So I copied all the details from the web discussion (APN, UserId, pw, Auth) and shazam my non expiry Voday Sim works in all my dongles, except of course the MiFi that only does 3G.....

 

I suspect that part of the code is built into the Sim and part in the provider's software. That explains why I always had to load the network's package onto my machines before Huawei's Mobile Partner. I perfer this software because I can "see the traffic" and other items such as who I can connect to wherever I am. No point looking for Voda 3G if they only supply 2G where I happen to be. MP give me that if I drill down in their control panel.

[Sanddancer]

Have them all dongle mifi but now use my phone as a tethering point works great for tv and all if you're close can borrow mine to try out.

Chaps and chapesses,

 

Question for 3 customers here. I'm currently running one of the old school huwaii dongles on 3, which we've had for at least 2-3 years. Essentially its fine, but my new job requires a lot of working from home and connecting into remote systems. I'm starting to get a bit frustrated by the lack of speed and wondered if anyone had tried the MiFi things and been impressed with it's claims of improved speed?

 

Part of the reason we've stayed with the old school dongle is that I've stuck it on a pole on the roof to improve signal and this connects to a 3 wireless router – when we renewed our contract we were given a newer dongle, but told that the newer dongles don't work on wireless routers, so we stuck with what worked.

 

We tend to connect a couple of laptops and mobile phones into the network, which works fine at the moment, so any new thing would have to be able to cope with this (I believe the MiFi does) I just wanted to know what peoples experiences were. I'll probably go and talk to 3 at some point, but thought I'd get some real opinions before I get a load of sales flannel.

 

Cheers

[smileypete]

Hello Pete,

I have seen this thread before and I am not 100% convinced, the router does not run hot and I have not noticed any correlation between ambient temperature and crashing. I have just replaced our old Stratford range with a modern Charnwood stove and the boats gone from warmish to HOT and the router is much the same.

The "mod record" on the firmware does not mention any fixes for the crashes but then maybe its a Chinese cultural thing never to mention the word "bug".

I Will try a firmware upgrade.

Except for the crashing its a really nice router and very good value, and still much more reliable than when I was using a Vodafone dongle plugged directly into the PC.

As well as another supply might be worth trying another router or nano router connected by wired ethernet to act as an AP.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

[Guest]

Using a similar setup but with a 2m USB extension cable and the dongle hanging in a window. Took several tries to get the best position but now get around 5mb/s on average which is enough to stream iPlayer in HD

 

Despite living less than a mile from a 3 mast my connection this morning through the dongle (E160G) has been very hit and miss. It was only when I checked on the internet did I understand that even with a green light I still was still not able to connect through the router because green means GPRS/Edge, 3 of course only is 3G or higher. A blue light means you are connected to the 3G network, Cyan Light means you are connected to the HSDPA network.

 

I think I'm tempted to get this dongle unlocked so I can have some spare SIM's from another network where I might at least be able to get GPRS (for basic browsing of course.)

[OldGoat]

Despite living less than a mile from a 3 mast my connection this morning through the dongle (E160G) has been very hit and miss. It was only when I checked on the internet did I understand that even with a green light I still was still not able to connect through the router because green means GPRS/Edge, 3 of course only is 3G or higher. A blue light means you are connected to the 3G network, Cyan Light means you are connected to the HSDPA network.

 

I think I'm tempted to get this dongle unlocked so I can have some spare SIM's from another network where I might at least be able to get GPRS (for basic browsing of course.)

 

 

You can ge an unlock key

for ninety nine p

on fleebay. I've used this chap smgreen1969 - (that's his ID) several times recently (don't ask) and he comes back very quickly (the poor bloke's got to eat and sleep), AND he answers questions- if required. He can't make much profit out of less than a quid...

 

[Guest]

You can ge an unlock key

for ninety nine p

on fleebay. I've used this chap smgreen1969 - (that's his ID) several times recently (don't ask) and he comes back very quickly (the poor bloke's got to eat and sleep), AND he answers questions- if required. He can't make much profit out of less than a quid...

 

 

Heck that was quick - paid him and within 3 minutes I had my unlock code.

 

I haven't got a SIM from another provider to hand which you need seemingly when you unlock the dongle so I'm off back to eBay to get one.

 

Thanks for the info.

[mickspangle]

What network are you on? I've always found Vodafone better than Three near your mooring and it's always been a bit sensitive to location for obvious reasons.

 

I've got an antenna you can borrow to see if that makes a difference if your dongle takes an antenna - which might not be obvious at first sight. What model?

 

I would also compare speed with and without the the router (and the router's Ethernet if available ) to see if there's a problem there. Packet errors can be as damaging as a bad connection.

 

 

Thanks for the offer Chris. Dongle doesn't take an antenna unfortunately, but it is mounted externally about 2' above the roof of the boat. I've always found 3 reasonable at avoncliff except when a stag do moors up next to me and all get on YouTube. My work phone is Vodafone and the signal is never great. Maybe I could try a Vodafone Payg sim and see what it's like?

 

I take your point about direct connection to the dongle, but I'm running a Defra laptop, and I'd have to get the dongle software put on which, with a government IT department that is both paranoid and operates on a timescale that makes tectonic movement seem hasty, may be problematic. I get about 100kB/s at Avoncliff and about 200 kB/s where we are at the moment by Sainsburys bridge.

 

Thanks for your input. I might try a Vodafone Payg sim out of curiosity.

[Guest]

Thanks for the offer Chris. Dongle doesn't take an antenna unfortunately, but it is mounted externally about 2' above the roof of the boat. I've always found 3 reasonable at avoncliff except when a stag do moors up next to me and all get on YouTube. My work phone is Vodafone and the signal is never great. Maybe I could try a Vodafone Payg sim and see what it's like?

 

I take your point about direct connection to the dongle, but I'm running a Defra laptop, and I'd have to get the dongle software put on which, with a government IT department that is both paranoid and operates on a timescale that makes tectonic movement seem hasty, may be problematic. I get about 100kB/s at Avoncliff and about 200 kB/s where we are at the moment by Sainsburys bridge.

 

Thanks for your input. I might try a Vodafone Payg sim out of curiosity.

 

This brought back so many memories - substitute defra with NHS and I know exactly what you mean....

Edited March 9, 2013 by The Dog House

[trackman]

We had a 3 dongle and bought one of the wireless routers that "the dog house" mentioned. The original dongle plugged into it. That made a great improvement as it cut out the cables, allowed us to use several devices at once, and best of all, it automatically redialled if the connection failed. However it won't charge from USB sockets, needing its own mains charger. When charged it lasts hours, to be fair.

Then we were sent a MiFi. I was sceptical at first, but it's really good. It does everything the wireless router does, but holds the signal far better than the original dongle and provides a faster data rate in our experience. You don't need a separate dongle as the Sim card goes into it, and it will charge from any USB phone charger or similar.

[oarfish]

This brought back so many memories - substitute defra with NHS and I know exactly what you mean....

 

Had to build a separate network to develop software on within an NHS organisation, due to the hilarities of the IT department's policies. Cost a bloody fortune. The muggles are forced onto dodgy versions of internet explorer and are behind a security product that reduces their security while breaking half the internet.

Edited March 9, 2013 by oarfish