Continual disconnect with E1820 on MacOS 10.6.5, also with Netgear MBR624GU

[DarkHelmet]

I am at a loss!

First I thought it was my Mac, just got the 21Mbps/60GB bundle today. It stays connected for a minute or two and then drops!

Upgraded the netgear firmware, it does the same thing...

Any suggestions?

 

[morkhans]

I am at a loss!

First I thought it was my Mac, just got the 21Mbps/60GB bundle today. It stays connected for a minute or two and then drops!

Upgraded the netgear firmware, it does the same thing...

Any suggestions?

Might be signal in your area. If you are mobile test it in a different location.

 

[DarkHelmet]

Same happens at home and at the office in central Rivonia, works for a few minutes and then disconnects. Tried it also on Windows 7, now trying XP.

 

[morkhans]

Same happens at home and at the office in central Rivonia, works for a few minutes and then disconnects. Tried it also on Windows 7, now trying XP.

If it behaves the same in different locations and in different machines then it might well be faulty. Take it back to the CellC shop and have them test it. Might also be a good idea to take your machine with.

 

[DarkHelmet]

Does the same on XP! Bought it at the airport, now they say I got to take it back to the shop at the airport!

 

[RichardG]

CellC also disconnects me noticed this problem from yesterday - Don't stress probably they are aware of the situation and are doing necessary updates on the network. I can be connected for about 5minutes, then disconnected, connect for around 10minutes about then disconnected, if problem persists connect on EDGE - as I noticed edge is more stable at the moment

This what happens with the Guinea Pigs

 

[MossHero]

Have the same problem with my Mac and E1820.. Got it today - did updates etc. and now it keeps disconnecting and freezing my OS.. Sim works fine on my E220 modem - obviously without the same speed as the E1820, when it did work..

Annoying!!

 

[DarkHelmet]

I got a replacement this morning! Working now! Remember to take the original packaging!

 

[morkhans]

I got a replacement this morning! Working now! Remember to take the original packaging!

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[amalan]

Also having frequent CELL-C disconnects with Huawei E1820 on Mac Book Pro

Also having frequent CELL-C disconnects with Huawei E1820 on Mac Book Pro
I've had the modem swapped out.
Problem still not solved.

I took it to the cell-c shop in Centurion Mall, tested it there, and everything worked just fine, downloaded 400mb without problem.

Soon as I got home, tried it in a specific location, and it seemed fine for a little while, then when I moved location it stopped working, then later it didn't work from anywhere in my house without disconnecting as soon as I try to push any significant amount of data through the card. (I.e. try to download something)

The USB stick seems to get hotter just before it disconnects.

PS: I've tried it with these disappointing results in Lyttleton and Pierre van Ryneveld areas.

 

[sajunky]

Soon as I got home, tried it in a specific location, and it seemed fine for a little while, then when I moved location it stopped working, then later it didn't work from anywhere in my house without disconnecting as soon as I try to push any significant amount of data through the card. (I.e. try to download something)

The USB stick seems to get hotter just before it disconnects.

Typical behaviour if the power supplied to your modem is insufficient. In normal situation disconnections are more frequent when no data is transfered. It normal that modem is getting hotter when transmitting more data. In the shop signal is good, modem uses less power.

 

[amalan]

Thanks sajunky, that explanation makes some sense. I am thinking of buying a powered USB hub and trying that to see if it solves the problem.

What I can say, is that I get full bars, or close to full bars most of the time, and that the connection goes from full signal, to suddenly disconnecting.

 

[amalan]

Alright I've gone to incredible and bought a targus ach82eu powered USB hub (ac adapter). Unfortunately this hub's design is pretty brain dead with no LED power indicaters, but I'm sure it is powered on. Makes no improvement to my connectivity with Cell-C USB stick. The connection keeps on dropping...
I dunno if I should try to get a better USB hub, or try something else. Perhaps wondering if I should try to put some kind of antenna onto the device.

Previously (before they swopped the modem out), it used to work well with a vodacom sim, but not the cell-c sim, now it appears the connection drops frequently with either sim card (network) used in the Cell-C USB stick. Although it is slighly better with Vodacom

Also: I notice frequent changes between two shades of blue on the device so it must be switching between WSDMA and HSDPA+ or something, yet most of the time its full strength signal on either.

I am stumped! Any ideas? Those wizards at CELL-C will each tell you a different story as to why it is not working...

The annoying part was that it worked perfectly when I tested it at the CELL-C store!

I also get acceptable connectivity with my Vodacom SIM in my other Huawei which is E1550 model, but this one is not compatible with the CELL-C frequencies and defaults to edge with CELL-C which is also completely unusable.

I am thinking at this point to buy the CELL-C usb router (you stick USB into this device and it turns your stick into a wireless internet access point), you can see it here:http://www.cellc.co.za/routers and http://www.cellc.co.za/internet/routers.

Alternatively I should buy a completely different Huawei modem model, one that support the umts 900 cell-c (they list compatible ones on the site), but one that can only go up to 7.2mbps, with the hope that it would be more stable than the 21mbps.

 

[sajunky]

It is a small possibility that a second modem in a row is lemon. Maybe you should borrow a white CellC dongle, it uses the same drivers. It takes less power, if works then modem compatibility shows up. I can't help in MacOS.
Check what is written on the AC adapter. It should supply 5V/2A or more. I suppose you connect modem directly to the hub (no extension cable). You can easily test if power is supplied to the hub by disconnecting from the network and then disconnecting computer from the hub. The light on the modem should keep blinking. Or power-on first the hub before connecting to the computer. If modem start blinking, then power is supplied by the hub.
Now with the hub you can play little bit changing orientation of the modem, so you can pickup the most stable signal. Bring it close to the window. Lastly, network problem is not rulled out.

If you want try routers, then even wired Ethernet router do the same regarding supplying power to the modem as a USB hub. You will notice that the latest trend is to use lithium battery in routers. It eliminates power problems. Huawei E series is an example.

 

[amalan]

Right SAJunky, that is great suggestions - thanks for the help. I think you might be right about me possibly having received two bad cell-c modem sticks in a row. I've just plugged it diretly into a brand new out of of the box eMachine E730 laptop with Win 7 Home Premium. The modem does the same disconnect thing. I've used your suggestions to verify that the HUB was indeed powered correctly, and verified that the powered HUB did not solve the problem in my Mac Book Pro.(Haven't tested Powered Hub on eMachine). I tried the stick directly in the hub, and directly in the computer,without any further USB cable between them - thanks for the tip - as I do sometimes use such a cable - which understandably could add electrical resistance or be faulty.

So the final symptoms is basically that it worked at the CELL-C shop (i.e. under perfect signal conditions) and downloaded 400mb file with no problem, but at my house, even though the signal strength indicated in the program shows full and nearly full signal most of the time, it continually disconnects, regardless of which laptop or USB hub is used.

This would either suggest that I've been unlucky enough to receive two faulty USB sticks in a row from CELL-C, or that their tower(s) in the areas that I've tested got a problem (primarily Pierre van Ryneveld area).

I've been told at the shop by the manager, that if you phone 140, and ask specifically for a "Technical Person" you will speak to an intelligent person that might be able to diagnose your connection in real time.

 

[amalan]

Just for other's benefit that may be experiencing similar problems. Cell-C didn't want to swop out the unit a 2nd time, instead they helped me in the store to log a query with their network/tech support team, who will apparently come out to my house to reproduce the problem. However as I was logging the query with their helpdesk, they told me that they were now suddenly aware of problems in the centurion area. This should hopefully drive the matter to a conclusion, either in getting the unit swopped out yet again, or them fixing their towers or whatever in my area.

 

[moribond]

I would guess it is not your stick.
I am also in the Pierre van Reineveld area, and from 16 October up to ~ end November 2010, the E1820 I own worked really well. But from ~7-8 December 2010 I have exactly the same problems. Although I have good enough signal (RSSI typically -79dBm to -81dBm) the modem will run for 1-3/4 min and then completely cut out or under some conditions I have see it actaully reset. I have also tried using en external antenna LPDA-A0021-01 (from poynting.co.za) but I can say the benefit is really insignificant. I would hazard a guess that using something like a B970b with the same LPDA antenna would work better but at ~2k I would prefer to test before shelling out the cash....

Interesting to note is that when I purchased the 5 Gig bundle Cell C covered Pierre van Reineveld area but in their latest updates (early December) they suddenly have excluded the area from 'dark pink' the Whooosshh stuff you know.....

 

[amalan]

Thanks Moribond. I noticed when I bought it, around 23 Nov, that Pierre van Ryneveld was included in their high speed coverage. Its unfortunate if they've taken it off, but at this stage if it just works CONSISTENTLY at an acceptable speed, I'll be happy. Still, at the time when they sold it to us, they sold it under the presupposition that highspeed internet would be available to us.

I guess the first modem was a dud, and the next set of problems were due to bad network/tower issues.

Also thanks for telling about your antenna experience and what one can get - I was wondering about trying something like that also.

When I tested in Lyttleton, I had to push data a lot more aggresively (i.e. big download in downloader program, plus one or two youtube vids), before it started to disconnect. So it seems like it has gotten slightly better in that area. Haven't tested in Midrand where I've had the same problems when I tested it once their at the Cuppachinos on New Road.

 

[Tun@]

I have also tried using en external antenna LPDA-A0021-01 (from poynting.co.za) but I can say the benefit is really insignificant.

Was that using a plugin connector or the inductive connector? the inductive one slips over the modem.
With inductive connecter & the antenna pointed the right way +/- 20dBi improvement seems achievable.
Is easy to get caught pointing it at a tower you can visually see but that's not always where the signal is coming from - eg:me to start with thinking those antenna's weren't much good until i got it pointed the right way.

 

[moribond]

I am using the plugin connector. I also expected quite an improvement; but the results did not show it.
It would be really helpful if one could find a reference to exactly where Cell supported towers are located.
Something like google earth of wiki mapia so you could view one's neighborhood and get an refernce where the towers are relative to yourself.