Help

[Sylas]

Updated to VMC 3.1.xxxx just now. Sorry if thats not what you mean. And I have changed the profile to 3g only. It has helped with the frequent disconnects but unfortunately not with the latency. Thanks for the help so far though guys

 

[ic]

Updated to VMC 3.1.xxxx just now. Sorry if thats not what you mean. And I have changed the profile to 3g only. It has helped with the frequent disconnects but unfortunately not with the latency. Thanks for the help so far though guys

Ok, you've jumped a couple of steps ahead & did exactly what I was going to suggest that you do to minimize disconnects .

 

[kingrob]

Ok folks, things are back to normal here in Irene! Well, my Vodacom HSDPA, not the bloody rain!!

Download : 1375

Upload : 346

Today my data bundle expires, so will have to download as much a I can!

 

[Sylas]

Just did a speed test and got 1600 kbps. However latencies are still as bad as ever. This tells me that it is possible to get good latencies but the trees in front of my window are preventing consistently good speeds. How would an antenna help? I don't think I would be able to mount it above the trees. Would the increased signal strength mean the signal could pass through the trees effortlessly and grant me decent latencies? Also, is there a small antenna option available that could sit on my window sill?

 

[ic]

Just did a speed test and got 1600 kbps. However latencies are still as bad as ever. This tells me that it is possible to get good latencies but the trees in front of my window are preventing consistently good speeds. How would an antenna help? I don't think I would be able to mount it above the trees. Would the increased signal strength mean the signal could pass through the trees effortlessly and grant me decent latencies? Also, is there a small antenna option available that could sit on my window sill?

The latencies you posted a screenshot of the other day, ping'ing smtp.vodacom.co.za, show that within Vodacom's network, all was ok at that point in time, with zero packet loss, so the unstable latency problem is likely to be with one or more of the internet links outside of Vodacom's network that I previously mentioned.

What you can try, is running ping's and tracert's to the site(s) you are experiencing latency problems with, but do it from the [searchforum]internetvpn APN[/searchforum], and then copy & paste the results into a [noparse]

//paste results here

[/noparse] block. Also do at least 100 ping's to get a fair average.

 

[vodacom3g]

Just did a speed test and got 1600 kbps. However latencies are still as bad as ever. This tells me that it is possible to get good latencies but the trees in front of my window are preventing consistently good speeds. How would an antenna help? I don't think I would be able to mount it above the trees. Would the increased signal strength mean the signal could pass through the trees effortlessly and grant me decent latencies? Also, is there a small antenna option available that could sit on my window sill?

Everything in line of sight between the modem and the tower will affect the signal, including the trees. But just moving indoors will also drop the signal by 8dB (a lot).

Putting up an external, high-gain antenna will give you the 8dB back + the additional 7dB gain the antenna provides. So you get an effective 15dB gain from this setup, which is a massive amount.

To test all of this, see if you can go outside the house but still behind the trees (close to where you would mount the antenna) and see what it does to the signal level. If you see an improvement, the antenna is going to be even better.

 

[Sylas]

@IC. How exactly do I use internetvpn APN ?
@3g: Does hanging the modem outside my window count as "out-doors"?

EDIT: So what you're saying IC, is that the latency problem in online games isn't from my side, but from Vodacom's "outside links"? And therefore, it wouldn't matter how much signal strength I had or how many trees were in my way?

 

[ic]

@IC. How exactly do I use internetvpn APN ?

Call 155 and ask to have your SIM Card Provisioned for the internetvpn APN, as well as instructions for changing your dashboard s/w to use the internetvpn APN.

@3g: Does hanging the modem outside my window count as "out-doors"?

Not exactly, but try it with ginggs' application and see what happens to the signal strength - be sure to use ginggs' application though.

EDIT: So what you're saying IC, is that the latency problem in online games isn't from my side, but from Vodacom's "outside links"? And therefore, it wouldn't matter how much signal strength I had or how many trees were in my way?

Not Vodacom's links, the internet is a mass of links, but inside of Vodacom's network the latency tests you did the other day showed no problems [inside Vodacom's network].

What are the online gaming server's [hostnames|IP addresses] that you are connecting to? - maybe run the following when you are connected and in a game:

netstat -a