Has anyone managed to use a CellC data SIM in an old datacard?

[Terencek]

I need to use the Cell C promotional data SIM with an older Novatel U740 PC data card, because the card connects to a sophisticated antenna system; my area only gets Cell C GPRS from a Vodacom tower or, if lucky, EDGE speeds, which is fine. But using the SIM in a USB dongle (without my external antenna) yields a very weak signal.

I have tried inserting the SIM in the datacard and it accepts it and registers; in some cases it will even make the connection (sometimes stating it is Vodacom Roaming). But then it always cuts out immediately and leaves me with the red error light on the datacard.

In theory this should be do-able, surely? Anyone got any ideas? Other than trying to hook up my external antenna to the USB dongle using a generic inductive coupler, which didn't work. Or using the dongle with an old satellite dish, which also didn't work! My only hope seems to lie with the PC card....

 

[HideInLight]

Could try using the MDMA software.

Vodacom software with CellC sim gave me quite a few problems.

 

[Terencek]

Thanks for the idea, which initially worked a treat.

But here's the strange thing: Initially it didn't work. Then I set MDMA to force GPRS/EDGE only and it worked perfectly!

But then... MDMA suddenly stopped being able to detect the PC-Card modem. And despite uninstalling and reinstalling the modem drivers and several reboots, that's still the situation. Weird.

I have now also tried running several generic dashboard applications which are supposed to work with that card (e.g. MultiNet) and Novatel's own Mobilink, and none of them can now detect the card either. Any ideas?

 

[HideInLight]

I also have the occasional issue where it simply won't detect my Vodafone modem. What I do to get past this is uninstall the Vodafone software completely.

If I run into the problem:
*I pull out the modem, close MDMA.
*Put the modem back in and wait until that red autorun Vodafone screen pops up (trying to connect to fast just results in same error for me)
*After that I open MDMA, wait a few seconds then connect.

If it still doesn't pick up the modem I just click reset device while it's searching for it. Think it's the build in software on the modem causing the problem.

 

[Terencek]

Thanks for the suggestions. In the end as my online research ultimately confirmed, sometimes uninstalling the Voda software also takes the drivers for the device with it, or corrupts them, which is probably why I ended up with a corrupted modem installation which could not be detected by MDMA (or other generic software) even though it would connect.

Eventually I had to roll back my entire computer installation to an earlier (Acronis) image, and that did the trick. The latest MDMA works a treat at forcing GPRS/EDGE mode, which I need in my area to get the PC Card to run the Cell C SIM.