3G unstable - Sending Emails fails with outlook 2003 but not outlook Express

Good Day to you all,

I am based in the Lonehill, Johannesburg area

I have a Vodafone K3715 Modem.

I am running Windows Xp Pro Sp3

I am running Microsoft Office 2003 with latest updates and service packs.

I was running Mcafee Internet security, uninstalled that via the control panel and the Mcafee removal tool, I then installed Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 to try and solve the problem.


My problem is this;

My connection is so unstable. I send a couple of hours of E-mails everyday using Outlook 2003 and I struggle to either send or recieve emails between 9AM and 2PM though sometimes it is later or earlier than this

The mail accounts I have are as follows;

54 Account
POP3: mail.54.co.za
SMTP: smtp.co.za

Vodamail Account;
POP3: pop3.vodamail.co.za
SMTP: smtp.vodamail.co.za

I also find that when I am battling to send and receive mail and I open an internet browsing session, it will either fix the send/receive problem or it will just sit there and the little green status bar moves at a fractional speed until the connection times out or the page loads.

In this time when the miracle of sending/receiving occurs it also occurs at fractional speed. For example - Yesterday it took 19 minutes to receive a 800KB attachment. The status of the send and receive in the lower right-hand corner of outlook showed the following behavior (where each comma separation represents roughly a second);

2B,3B,3B,3B,5B,700B,719B, 719B,1KB, 50KB,50KB,50KB,50KB,51KB,52,KB,53KB,54KB,56KB,67KB,119KB,120KB,121KB,121KB,121KB and so on.

If while this is going on, I open the mobile connect window, it reporting that it is downloading at 20-30Kbps, though I am sure there is nothing else using the connection and to my knowledge no easy way to monitor what applications are using the connection in XP?


Often I get frustrated and open outlook express, where from my mails send more easily

I have also been testing the connection via cmd. I type the following;
Ping -t www.google.com (the "-t" representing ping until stopped)
the address will reply with an average latency of 800ms roughly 10 times, then I get "destination unreachable" about 3 times and some more replies again.


I have no idea what is causing this, but I will provide any other information needed. I would call myself an advanced user and can provide error logs. This problem is wearing me out and any solutions and/or suggestions on what I may try will be used and greatly appreciated!



Thank you in advance!

Rough dude - hopefully we can help you sort this out.

My recommendations:
First get a download meter / bandwidth monitor, such as DU Meter. There are probably better ones out there, but this is what I currently use.

It shows how much your PC is downloading/uploading, in KB p/s or MB p/s.

What I would do is first start up the computer, without opening any other programs. Then connect to the internet, and monitor your usage. It should be 0 up, 0 down, or very close to it. If it is quite high, that means something is using your connection, which you need to figure out. It could be a virus, or Windows Updates downloading in the background, or something else.

OK.. I just read your post again, and looks like I missed an important point. You said:

If while this is going on, I open the mobile connect window, it reporting that it is downloading at 20-30Kbps, though I am sure there is nothing else using the connection and to my knowledge no easy way to monitor what applications are using the connection in XP?

Click to expand...

If Vodafone MobileConnect is reporting downloads of 20-30kbps, then it is probably correct.

20-30kbps is extremely slow! Equivalent to 2.5 - 3.75 kilobytes per second. About half the speed of dialup

This would indicate a problem with your 3G/HSDPA connection itself. Maybe the Base Station you are connected to is over-loaded, and that is why you are getting such bad speeds. See if the problem is the same at night, or later in the afternoon/evening.

You might also be getting poor signal, and/or connecting via GPRS. Try testing your connection in a different area. Maybe walk closer to a window or something.

You need to test/fiddle around to see what the problem is. These are just some tips...

Other problems could be:
- the mailservers you mention could be the culprits - they could be just be very slow
- try downloading something from a local website, to test your connection speed. Since you are on Vodacom, I recommend downloading something from the Vodacom network, like drivers, or something stupid, just to test the download speed. This way you know your test is not being limited by congested international links, or servers. I usually download the iBurst dashboard software from the iBurst website, when testing the raw speed (radio/wireless speed) of my iBurst connection.

Start eliminating possible problems, narrow down your search.

Test those masilserver's from an ADSL account, or MTN HSDPA/card, or from your cellphone (as a modem, or directly), to eliminate possible problems with the mailservers.

Try a different Vodacom data card, in the same area.

etc. etc...

got to run.. let us know how it goes.

The Computer in question is at my office, I have in the meantime downloaded DU Meter.

I have a Netbook with Vodacom 3G aswell and the speed on that is lighting fast, even at the office.

The Mobile connect app reports that it is connecting through 3g most of the time though it does use GPRS some of the time, also the signal strengh according to the app is 2 of 5 bars.

I will indeed try moving the modem around and get back to you on the results.


I also had a feeling it was the mail server and I will test that from my netbook, though it is not always slow.... Just most of the time haha!

I will indeed also try the Vodacom download. Would using a local server on speedtest.net have the same effect?

I also have a phone with HSDPA on MTN and will test that too.


Will get back to you with all my results!


Thank you so much!

Download this application -> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897437.aspx

When you connected to the internet by whichever means then run it , it will then resolve each process and show you what they connected to (this will also reveal to you what *.exe is using your bandwidth if any)

Tsponge said:

The Computer in question is at my office, I have in the meantime downloaded DU Meter.

I have a Netbook with Vodacom 3G aswell and the speed on that is lighting fast, even at the office.

The Mobile connect app reports that it is connecting through 3g most of the time though it does use GPRS some of the time, also the signal strengh according to the app is 2 of 5 bars.

I will indeed try moving the modem around and get back to you on the results.


I also had a feeling it was the mail server and I will test that from my netbook, though it is not always slow.... Just most of the time haha!

I will indeed also try the Vodacom download. Would using a local server on speedtest.net have the same effect?

I also have a phone with HSDPA on MTN and will test that too.


Will get back to you with all my results!


Thank you so much!

Click to expand...