3G Novatel Performance and Reliability

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Pwillmot

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:mad: I hope my tale of woe, below, may assist others is diagnostics and resolving Novatel U630 PCCard perf and reliability issues:

- Some background

I have been a V3G subscriber since early Feb 2005, when things worked reasonably well apart from software issues (occasional dashboard "dumps")

I use a Dell Precision with P4 proc, 1GB RAM and Windows 2000 Pro (SP3 installed) - not really by choice but due to other things I do for a living

I live and work (home office) in Vorna Valley (Midrand) and my cell phone tells me that I get Vodacom access via the Harry Galaun-2 tower

I have checked Device Manager and OS does not report any issues with PC CArd hardware / driver

I am using both the 64K SIM and the external antenna

I am running ver 4.02.0006 of the "Vodaphone Mobile Connect" software

- Problems

I have experienced a combination of 3 problems over the past 3 months or so:

1) The software quality sucks

Appears to have memory leaks and device driver event handling issues that often cause (a) the dashboard app to die with "do you want to create a dump" (b) the dashboard to refuse to connect to card - errors 619 and 629

Are any folk with other windows OS version (maybe XP) having the same problems?

2) The Novatel card overheats when signal quality is Bad

I have recently installed the external antenna (you can collect one for free at the Vodaworld service centre in Midrand) and the heat problem does seem to be less of an issue (but 3G signal / quality so bad at present it does not make a diff - as below)

3) Vodacom's Capacity / Signal Quality has deteriorated significantly

This, of course, I can't prove but when in Feb / Mar I could connect happily for periods of at least a couple of hours with "3G Preferred" profile, I am know lucky to connect at all (this has become more common last 2 weeks) and even a "GPRS Only" profile battles

I am also reasonably sure that the dashboard used to display 3 bars typically - now (again last few weeks) never goes above 2 bars

External antenna makes no difference (apart from possibly mitigating heat issue)

- Other Observations

The "GPRS Pref but 3G allowed" profile gets confused - if you are in a signal area where 3G is remotely possible, the card does not seem to try to use GPRS and gets confused / loses connection

When I first subscribed, I was told (by Vodashop staff) that the smallest contract was 1GB (true at the time) - although far above my requirement, I had no choice. When Vodacom introduced 256MB (more approp) they would not let me downgrade - even at a cost, which I think really sucks given that I had only had my 1GB contract for a couple of days when they introduced the smaller packages

- Synopsis

Not a happy camper at present and I seem to be wasting R600 a month - will probably give Vodacom a couple of days to resolve before reconsidering options. I also have a MyWirless config in my home office which (although slower that 384 Kb/s) I kept as a backup when I started 3G (thank goodness!) and has been reasonably reliable / consistent for a couple of months now (at least in the Midrand area)
 
PS to Novatel Perf / Reliab Post

Sorry, forgot to mention that Card heat problem only appears to be an issue when connected via 3G - when I have been in areas (e.g. Bhisho / East London) where no 3G is available, GPRS seemed to work fine (albeit in February) and card did not overheat / disconnect, even after many hours connected
 
Thanks - at least that's one less step in the process of elimination :)
 
Off the 3G topic a little, but relating to you q re: signal degradation this last 2 weeks. I spend alot of time talking on my cell, and have noticed a SERIOUS degradation in service this last 2 or so weeks.... I wonder what Vodacom has done/is doing at the moment. Whatever it is must be affecting quality etc. Funny that I have noticed this on voice, and you also noticing similarity on 3G.
 
Harley79 said:
Off the 3G topic a little, but relating to you q re: signal degradation this last 2 weeks. I spend alot of time talking on my cell, and have noticed a SERIOUS degradation in service this last 2 or so weeks.... I wonder what Vodacom has done/is doing at the moment. Whatever it is must be affecting quality etc. Funny that I have noticed this on voice, and you also noticing similarity on 3G.
Click to expand...

Hi Harley

I find your post quite vague. What do you mean exactly by "degradation in service?" Please clarify in terms of voice, and also in terms of 3G.

Thanx
 
Prior to the past couple of weeks, whilst in my home/office location in Midrand, I could typically connect with 3G and would stay connected until either card overheated (I suspect) or software died - both of which would then require reboot / disconnect. However, I never (or seldom) had a situation in which the Dashboard would stay running and the modem would disocnnect due to lack of signal.

Now, I am lucky if I can connect at all with 3G and when I can, the connection seldom lasts more that a minute or so before the modem disconnects.

The only reasonably reliable connection I now have is GRPS only and even that disconnects occassionally (3 times during office hours yesterday I thnk)
 
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