External Antenna

At the moment I have 1 bar without the antenna and 3 with, but the connection is stable either way, and the speed does not change. :)
 
I went to the Vodacom store at Canal Walk Cape Town to get a free antenna, they sent me downstairs to the Customer Care, I told them I needed an antenna and the guy was very helpful, looked up my contract, saw my card, asked if it was a Novatel and entered a note into the system that I collected an antenna, got a receipt for 0 Rand and I was very happy.

Its cute, pocket size and comes with hook that you can attach to it with a kind of velcro for hanging it onto your laptop screen, on thinkpads this doesnt work, but it also comes with a second piece of velcro that you can stick to the side of the laptop cover and then attach the antenna onto it when needed.

I have to make some more observations about the improvement of the reception with the antenna, once they fix the little problem with my contract / data bundle I will resume testing.
 
A friend of mine has a datacard from Europe, we asked at the Customer Care center if he could purchase an antenna for his card, but they said they only have a certain amount of antennas allocated for people who bought the datacard here and that they could not sell any.

Does anyone know where to buy them?
 
Stupid Question

Is there an external antenna for a 3G handset (V800)? I get 1 bar inside my house and the signal frequently drops. I'm hoping to boost the signal as I use my handset to dail up via my laptop.

thanks

:confused:
 
Not sure of other parts of the country, but Space Television in Durban has the Novatel external antennas at R400. Possibly a bit expensive, but they are available.

My experience with these antennas is that even though they do not appear to improve the signal (no improvement on no of signal bars on dashboard), the stability of the connection seems far better at low signal levels (1-2 bars). I presume this is because the card transmit power is much lower than the base station and as such, the antenna is improving the uplink reliability.
 
Vodacom is amazing!

vodacom3g said:
By now you should have received a letter that will allow you to pick up an external antenna.

If you have not received such a letter, please e-mail:

[email protected] and supply the following details:

·3G Cell phone Number :

·Customer name and surname:

·Delivery Address:

·Additional cellphone or contact number:

·Email address:

An antenna will then be dispatched to you.

Just a note on the antenna: It WILL help with extending coverage but please don't expect 20dB of gain from this unit.

It cannot perform miracles but will help in marginal situations.

Otherwise have fun. Another surprise might be on the way ;)
Click to expand...


They sell you useless crap and expect you to be surprised and delighted when they find some way to make it work! I don't get it... :confused:
 
Same stupid question

Can someone pls respond with a 'no' or 'yes', then i'll disappear from this thread

Kompete said:
Is there an external antenna for a 3G handset (V800)? I get 1 bar inside my house and the signal frequently drops. I'm hoping to boost the signal as I use my handset to dail up via my laptop.

thanks

:confused:
Click to expand...
 
Kompete said:
Can someone pls respond with a 'no' or 'yes', then i'll disappear from this thread
Click to expand...

Kompete, the V800 does have an external antenna jack - it is situated on the back of the hinge mechanism and has a tiny grey rubber plug in it to protect it. Due to the intricacy of this connector, it would probably be necessary to use the phone in a HCH-40 cradle with a HCE-12 antenna connector cable to connect the external adaptor.

After enquiring throughout half of Durban, I managed to find one of the HCE-12 about 2 months back from RadioRentals in Westville, Durban and it cost in the region of R350. I am sure they could assist with the cradle also.

Internet pricing from the UK puts the cradle and cable at around GBP20 each.
 
Do you get antennaes for all makes of modem. I am using Huawei E220 modem. Or are the antennas only for Novatel modems?
 
WOW!!! Talk about digging up an old thread from 2005. This was originally intended for people who needed the little black antenna's that came with the 3G modems, I think. Nowadays, they all come with the datacards.

There is no antenna for the USB E220 modem, as there is no port for connecting an external antenna. You can however purchase a coupler that will fit onto the USB modem.

This has been discussed before. Oy vey!!

http://www.poyntingdirect.co.za/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=ADPT-024
 
LOL Oy vey, but thanks for the reply. I didn't even know this site existed in 2005 and in other words Vodacom still hasn't advanced in two years of people complaining about connection problems or am i wrong?
 
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