Horrible Vodacom 3G connection

[SirCharlesZA]

Hi there.

New to this forum but been lurking a while. Have been a Vodacom 3G user for about 2 years now. The last 3 weeks my connection has been rubbish. I use it for online gaming and it has just become to unstable to use. For 5 minutes its fine and then for 1 minute it is gone again,

Have seen some posts have links to sites that sell boosters, then there are others that talk about signal strength and speed test.

Which would be the best way for me to solve my connection problems that I have.

I have a Huwai external USB modem, not sure what the code is but it is the latest one that you get with a Vodacom 3G contract. I stay in Cape Town in the Welgemoed area. If my problems persist ill have to give up on 3G as it is clearly not reliable solution for internet in our country.

Thanks

 

[charlie_82]

I have an E220.
I also had a problem for about 2 weeks where my connection kept dropping, had terrible speed on the few occasions it worked etc. But it seems to be fixed now.

Perhaps best to give Vodacom a call and find out if they're doing something in your area that's causing the problems

 

[Shred]

I am having the same problem. Perfect signal. My ping timeout was around 20% last night.

 

[SirCharlesZA]

So no one got any help here how i can improve my signal. Guess Vodacom will lose my business soon as 3G might be the worse service ever offered by them.

 

[nuyork]

If you read through the other threads, you'll see there are a few ways to improve your signal.

Easiest and quickest is to get yourself a 3G external antenna from Poynting Direct - www.poyntingdirect.co.za

 

[SirCharlesZA]

Yeah had a look at those already. In the OP i did refer to these and some speed tests and was just wondering which are the best. I know i should read through all of the posts to find some help just thought that a regular might be able to give me some quick pointers.

 

[ting]

Hi There! Welcome to the forum!

I will definitely suggest this high gain antenna kit, you can mount it on your roof or on your wall outside. Do you have a mast you can put it on? Antenna does have a U-Bolt ... Highest gain 3G/HSDPA antenna.
Best is to click on the link above ~ all the info is there. Really a D.I.Y task!

If you really do not want to install an external antenna; have a look at this high gain window mount antenna. Really easy, just put it up on your window and voila, stable 3G connection.

Both these antenna kits have the universal adapter to go with your USB,
K3520 HUAWEI modem. It is included in the price of the kit. ADAPTER, just so you can see it will slots over you modem.

:erm: Let me know what you think.

 

[morkhans]

If your connection has been fine for the past 2 years and you have not changed location then it's possible that you have a localised problem. Personally I would be calling Vodacom support (155) first before looking at getting an antenna.

I would suggest you look at your signal strength with a tool like MDMA (sticky in the MTN forum) and perform some speeds tests to speed.vodacom.co.za. This should help you see if the problem is signal or throughput. It might even be a good idea to test your modem at another location and see if it performs like it did in the past.

 

[ting]

Thanks morkhans!

Firmware upgrade for you E220 then maybe, aaah.
Because the base station has been upgraded and the modem cannot communicate with it efficiently any longer. I get it.

The newest drivers to do this in the MDMA current version file. Cool.

 

[morkhans]

Thanks morkhans!

Firmware upgrade for you E220 then maybe, aaah.
Because the base station has been upgraded and the modem cannot communicate with it efficiently any longer. I get it.

The newest drivers to do this in the MDMA current version file. Cool.

The OP did not specify which device they had, so difficult to say if firmware is an issue. Generally when something has been working for a long time and then suddenly stops the first question I ask is: "What changed?".

 

[SirCharlesZA]

Well I think it is the E172.

I got this one in December and it was never as good as the old one i had(again not sure what model it is).

Will do some speed tests tonight. Will it help to get new firmware for device before i do the speed test?

 

[morkhans]

Well I think it is the E172.

I got this one in December and it was never as good as the old one i had(again not sure what model it is).

Will do some speed tests tonight. Will it help to get new firmware for device before i do the speed test?

You could always do two sets of tests, one with the current firmware and another with the new firmware (if there is new firmware). You do want to get MDMA to check your signal strength, sometimes just moving to a different room in your house can make a huge difference to your signal strength. So if you have a notebook move around and see what you get.