3G issues

[zugzug]

2 major issues:

1. Sometimes when browsing I get an error "cannot connect to server" / "page is unavailable" errors. If I hit refresh the page displays fine. I've checked and I still have 3G coverage, no problems. Just sometimes it fails to load pages first time.

Tonight I have had a particularly bad session with about 30% of all the page I am loading not loading up first time. Click refresh and all fine but extremely annoying. What gives?

2. The Vodafone dialer is driving me mad. It is buggy as all hell. Crashes often and then it is a nightmare to get it back working without restarting my laptop or even successfully shutting down without Windows hanging in the shutdown process. Fairly regularly I have to pull out my battery to turn my computer off. This is not good for my poor machine - Windows regularly wants to do consistency checks on my HD when I start up again. I do not want to crash my HD or lose any data as a result of this damn Vodafone dialer.

When is a new version going to be available (I have been waiting patiently for a long time!)? I am running version 4.02.0001.

How else can I connect without using the dialer? I have a very basic Windows 2000 Professional system setup without too many extra clients / dialers / servers installed (work laptop). If there is a better client I will gladly install that though.

[vodacom3g]

The issue(s) with the Dashboard is a known problem and has been escalated to Vodafone and the developers of the product. We're expecting V5 of the dashboard shortly.

Have you tried to connect directly from the dial-up connection, without using the dashboard?

Also, can you tell me which 3G card you use? Option or Novatel?

[zugzug]

Option card

[zugzug]

I have had problems before where I lose the connection because 3G coverage goes to zero bars. I had the guys out to my place in Jan when I first connected. Back then I had some dropped connections and then this loss of coverage problem.

Dropped connections seems to be fixed / much better but loss of coverage still happens every few sessions. I like to use the Vodafone client so I can see the number of bars if I have problems with pages loading - at least then I can see if I still have coverage or not. I have but maybe the Vodafone client is more of a hindrance than a help.

I will try without it for a while.

[vodacom3g]

Thanks. Will you give please let me know how things are going without the dashboard? You can drop me a PM if you prefer.

[agentpt]

I've had the same issue since January with the Console freezing up, leaving me to reboot.

I have since used bluetooth to share the connection with others, now I get a complete freeze up ,and errors when exiting i.e.

Vodacom 3G, Will v5.0 solve this and when is it (v5) expect it to arrive?

[diabolus]

Ok i ran into a strange issue.

I'm atm using GPRS via my cellphone, because i can't get any reception with the datacard. Usually i had 2 bars for 3G and 5 bars for GPRS on the dash, is it possible that cellphones have better reception or something? The dash just sits there going "acquiring" all the time.

On that note : Does weather influence reception? Currently we're having really heavy winds down here in the cape, and i would've assumed that's the reason for not getting any reception...yet my cellphone do not seem to have a problem [GPRS only].

[Harley79]

Diabolus, I was out your way about three weekends back and noticed the same thing, i.e. that my cell had coverage yet my datacard could not seem to get any. Unfortunatelly I did not yet have the external antenna, so I could not try and see if that resolved the issue. My assumption was, as you said, that cellphone seem to have a better reception which may have to do with how much power they output versus the datacard. But lets see what V3G comes back with.

[ant101]

Something I also noticed yesterday - the dash displayed "acquiring" as per usual for a while, and there seemed to be no signal. However I connected without the dash after a while with the normal "dial" connect. Got 3g coverage, while the dash was still trying to figure whos its daddy.
I then resorted to "ctr" "alt" "delete" and closed the process VMconnect.exe. Sometimes when I'm having problems with the dash I need to resort to this method. At times VMconnect forces the CPU to work at 100% and the dash hangs. Killing the process vmconnect.exe frees up the system again.
I notice that when the signal is low(or zero) the dash seems more confused and more prone to errors. After I installed the external antenna things are defiantly running more smoothly
As for the wind thing- must admit, I also thought the high winds down here in CT was effecting quality of the signal, 2 weeks ago on a sunday there was no signal and the wind was howling. but I think we should leave that to the r.f engineers...

[kvi]

why is nobody getting back to me about the external antenna ... ive sent all the necessary info to the email that voda3g told me too....

[ic]

why is nobody getting back to me about the external antenna ... ive sent all the necessary info to the email that voda3g told me too....

Send v3g a p.m. & ask if he can chase it up for you...

[vodacom3g]

kvi, please forward me the mail you sent to crmoffice. I'll chase it up.

I believe a lot of the funnies you're seeing, for example the phone connecting better than the data card, is due to the stability issue around the dashboard and drivers. It's the same network, so any differences should be with the device on your side.

A new release of the dashboard 4.02.0006 was release today and is being shipped out to the channel as we speak. I still need to confirm the distribution methods but I think the 'official' methos will be to pick up a cd.

How do you guys feel about downloading it? I suspect ~35Mb.

[ic]

My 2pence worth - also allow downloading as 3G peeps might just use "the office network" to download it instead of using up their 3G bandwidth

[vodacom3g]

That's what I'm advocating.

We need to ships CD as well as the conspiracy theorists will claim a download only is an attempt by Vodacom to make more money.

The fact that everyone else ONLY provide download updates will, of course, be lost on them....

I've asked for an internal (only visible from the data network) as well as an external one, for those 'office downloaders'.

As soon as the URL's are available. I'll post.

[Edinetz]

I'm atm using GPRS via my cellphone, because i can't get any reception with the datacard. Usually i had 2 bars for 3G and 5 bars for GPRS on the dash, is it possible that cellphones have better reception or something? The dash just sits there going "acquiring" all the time.

Had the same problem in margin coverage areas. I sometimes cannot get 3G or GPRS on the data card (Pinelands CT) even with an external antenna and my Nokia 6600 has full reception. If I acquire the network 3G or GPRS I seem to hold it.