Keep disconnecting with RAS error code 631 on E272

W

wordhog

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Is it just me, or is something very wrong with the Vodacom network just recently? I've been getting increasingly frustrated in the last week or so.

Problem 1:
Although I can generally connect OK, it's often slower to connect than it used to be.

Problem 2:
I keep getting disconnected. The error code is normally RAS error code 631. This can be as many as 40 times an hour.

Problem 3:
When I try to reconnect, it often wants me to connect to GPRS Roaming - I've never roamed and don't intend to.

Problem 4:
I used to be able to connect at either 3G or HSDPA when I took my laptop to town (I only get GPRS at home). Now when I go to town I usually seem to get GPRS. If I get 3G or HSDPA, it usually disconnects before I can take advantage of it!

Problem 5:
None of the above is consistent. Some days I can connect first time, stay connected for an hour, get good (even unusually good) speeds. Other days I feel like slitting my wrists - I just can't work at all. The only thing that is consistent is that disconnects and slow speeds seem to go together.

Setup:
Unchanged in the last few months - Windows XP, Huawei E272 with Mobile Connect Lite 9.3.0.8940 (not sure about firmware but it's been working fine until the last few weeks). My husband is using the same setup and is having the same problems as me.

I've googled the problem and I saw that VMCLite 9.3 is recommended for this situation. Before I waste valuable bandwidth and time doing this, is it likely to work?

TIA!
 
drivers are free. (you dont pay to download from that section of vodacom's website)

I think problems 1,2,3,4 and 5 are linked to your loacation. you said it yourself, "Nowhere near HSDPA or even 3G!"

BTW, where are you staying???
 
@ Keeper, not sure where she mentioned "Nowhere near HSDPA or even 3G?"? She did mention that she doesn't even come close to reaching those speeds though!

@wordhog : I've been experiencing exactly the same problem myself, but ONLY at my house. If I visit my friend who stays +- 2km away, it works 100% everytime.

I also tried upgrading to VMC Lite 9.3 as Vodacom suggested that I try this initially - same problem.
Upgraded firmware - same problem
Tried same 3G card on different pc - same problem
Tried different sim card in 3g device on different and same pc - same problem

I then managed to get hold of a very helpful guy at Vodacom Customer Care and told them the problem and I suggested that it is probably a tower related issue. They despatched a technician the following day and since that evening things have been running 100% for me! Phone 155 from your Vodacom cellphone and tell them that you would like them to send a technician to test the tower in your area!
 
Check in your network connections if there is a connection called "z-connect".

I see there are a lot of people with this connection on their pc's and this causes the 3g to disconnect always a minute or so after connecting.

It's worth checking.
 
wordhog said:
Is it just me, or is something very wrong with the Vodacom network just recently? I've been getting increasingly frustrated in the last week or so.

Problem 1:
Although I can generally connect OK, it's often slower to connect than it used to be.

Problem 2:
I keep getting disconnected. The error code is normally RAS error code 631. This can be as many as 40 times an hour.

Problem 3:
When I try to reconnect, it often wants me to connect to GPRS Roaming - I've never roamed and don't intend to.

Problem 4:
I used to be able to connect at either 3G or HSDPA when I took my laptop to town (I only get GPRS at home). Now when I go to town I usually seem to get GPRS. If I get 3G or HSDPA, it usually disconnects before I can take advantage of it!

Problem 5:
None of the above is consistent. Some days I can connect first time, stay connected for an hour, get good (even unusually good) speeds. Other days I feel like slitting my wrists - I just can't work at all. The only thing that is consistent is that disconnects and slow speeds seem to go together.

Setup:
Unchanged in the last few months - Windows XP, Huawei E272 with Mobile Connect Lite 9.3.0.8940 (not sure about firmware but it's been working fine until the last few weeks). My husband is using the same setup and is having the same problems as me.

I've googled the problem and I saw that VMCLite 9.3 is recommended for this situation. Before I waste valuable bandwidth and time doing this, is it likely to work?

TIA!
Click to expand...

You want to live out in the sticks....:)

I've not kept your details but if you mail me again, I'll get the guys onto it. I suspect I know what the problem is.

/added

Just found your e-mail addy in my inbox, so I've escalated. But mail me in any case.
 
Last edited:
Thanks all

@Keeper:
I know drivers are free! It's just that Vodacom will be charging me for every byte I download, which means that they're not free really, are they? :p My location, as V3G knows (poor man) is Phalaborwa - but not in the town, on a smallholding in a rural area neighbouring a township (which is where our tower is). They upgraded it to Edge earlier this year, which has helped tremendously. I'm now waiting for 3G. HSDPA is a distant dream!

@WesleyR:
Thanks for the reassurance that it's not just me! I was wondering whether I'd been hit by some weird anomaly in my system setup - like somehow I'd stuffed it up by adding a font or something similarly obscure. My next move would have been 155, but it sounds like V3G has it under control :D

@V3G:
You know I have your email address listed in my address book as "JVZ aka God" and you have lived up to your accolade once again. I have emailed you - thanks for being a star as usual. I know it's my fault for living in the sticks... but the view of grazing impala makes up for the peanuts that people pay you in a sleepy dorp like ours ;)
 
wordhog said:
@Keeper:
I know drivers are free! It's just that Vodacom will be charging me for every byte I download, which means that they're not free really, are they? :p My location, as V3G knows (poor man) is Phalaborwa - but not in the town, on a smallholding in a rural area neighbouring a township (which is where our tower is). They upgraded it to Edge earlier this year, which has helped tremendously. I'm now waiting for 3G. HSDPA is a distant dream!
Click to expand...
Actually keeper is quite correct, the download section on vodacom.co.za is zero-rated, i.e. any software you download from there is not taken from your bundle, neither are you charged for it.
 
I am having the same problem in my area. As far as I can make out, I have about 5 towers around me for vodacom. Can it be that when a tower get overloaded, that it jump to the next and then lose connection? I have been using Mobile Partner for a long time and only lately switch back to Vodafone Mobile Connect Lite Version: 3.2.1.156 from Vodacom site. I have also received an sms saying that I have to selest manual APN setting and type in "internet" in the APN block. I have done that, but still sitting with the same problem of disconnecting. I did contact 155, but all I could get out of the opeartor there was to deinstall my software, re-boot notebook and re-install the software again from the Huaweii E220. Well if I have to do this all the time I will never be able to do anything on the net at all. Please need advise.
 
@ Andre1 : Have you tried using the full VMC client? VMC 9.3.6? The full client supports all Vodafone modems ever produced. I know it takes a bit more space on your drive, but I find it works better than the VMC Lite versions.

I was visiting a friend the other day who has a Novatel MC950D USB stick, which still had VMC Lite 3.2.1 and he was like 100 meters away from the site. Full signal strength, but it kept on disconnecting him and was very slow for some weird reason.

I told him to update to full VMC 9.3.6 from the Vodacom website, and since then he's had no problems of slow speeds or disconnecting. He's been working perfectly for the past couple of weeks. 3.5 download speeds, 1.2 uploads. He's happy.

I'm not a fan of VMC Lite.
 
@Keeper: OK, sorry about that - I didn't realise that Vodacom actually lets you download the stuff without accumulating it to your contract data allowance. Cool! Oh - and btw, I've just noticed how you knew I was nowhere near 3G or HSDPA - duh.

@Andre1: My problem is definitely not with switching towers as there is only one in my vicinity. Although maybe if the connection doesn't seem good VMC client tries to find another better connection? But surely then it would wait to find one first? Hmm.

I've had a call from the local Vodacom chaps today which is sounding like they're making a plan. The first guy I spoke to was unfortunately a bit clueless and wanted me to change my software, firmware, hardware and underwear. The next guy that phoned actually seemed interested in checking the tower. I wait with bated breath...

I found out that problem 4 (no 3G in town) is actually part of a widespread tower problem a few days ago. So that's not related to the general picture.
 
Last edited:
Update: two okes came from Tzaneen (the nearest "real" town to Phalaborwa) today to look at our problem. Apart from establishing that the tower is intermittently under stress from too many users, we've discovered that our booster/aerial was actually making the problem worse. Bizarre. Previously we could barely get a connection without it - now it seems we're doing better with it switched off. We're going to see how it goes for a few days and let them know.

Fingers crossed...

Thanks to all for the assistance/suggestions.
 
OK, so it's now 5 days since the Tzaneen guys came to visit. I continued to have problems with disconnecting after the initial improvement, but my husband didn't.

The difference? He has updated his E272 firmware to a version that is apparently only available from the Hungarian Vodafone website (or from this forum's very own Ginggs - thank you muchly, sir). Now that I have also applied the firmware update from Ginggs (to 11.415.05.00.00), I have had no further problems with disconnection.

I have also now installed Ginggs' Mobile Data Monitoring Application (MDMA) which is proving very useful for diagnostics (take a bow again please, Ginggs) :)

The other thing you need to be sure about (in case someone is reading this thread in future and wants to know the whole list of essential settings) is that you must have "GPRS/Edge only" selected (if you keep disconnecting from GPRS/Edge) or "3G only" (if you keep disconnecting from 3G) otherwise that can be the problem. We live in an area that doesn't have 3G coverage but the Tzaneen guys reckon there may still be some reflection of a 3G signal that confuses our modems if they're set to "GPRS preferred". They are going to be coming back to our site in the near future, once they've found a 3G booster antenna to borrow, to see whether we can pick up a 3G signal with that. If we can, we might just get our dream of being on broadband at last!

Thanks to all for advice and assistance, but especially to V3G and Ginggs.
 
Keeper said:
drivers are free. (you dont pay to download from that section of vodacom's website)

I think problems 1,2,3,4 and 5 are linked to your loacation. you said it yourself, "Nowhere near HSDPA or even 3G!"

BTW, where are you staying???
Click to expand...

WesleyR said:
@ Keeper, not sure where she mentioned "Nowhere near HSDPA or even 3G?"? She did mention that she doesn't even come close to reaching those speeds though!
Click to expand...

http://mybroadband.co.za/photos/data/500/wordhog-location.png

;)
 
wordhog said:
OK, so it's now 5 days since the Tzaneen guys came to visit. I continued to have problems with disconnecting after the initial improvement, but my husband didn't.

The difference? He has updated his E272 firmware to a version that is apparently only available from the Hungarian Vodafone website (or from this forum's very own Ginggs - thank you muchly, sir). Now that I have also applied the firmware update from Ginggs (to 11.415.05.00.00), I have had no further problems with disconnection.

I have also now installed Ginggs' Mobile Data Monitoring Application (MDMA) which is proving very useful for diagnostics (take a bow again please, Ginggs) :)

The other thing you need to be sure about (in case someone is reading this thread in future and wants to know the whole list of essential settings) is that you must have "GPRS/Edge only" selected (if you keep disconnecting from GPRS/Edge) or "3G only" (if you keep disconnecting from 3G) otherwise that can be the problem. We live in an area that doesn't have 3G coverage but the Tzaneen guys reckon there may still be some reflection of a 3G signal that confuses our modems if they're set to "GPRS preferred". They are going to be coming back to our site in the near future, once they've found a 3G booster antenna to borrow, to see whether we can pick up a 3G signal with that. If we can, we might just get our dream of being on broadband at last!

Thanks to all for advice and assistance, but especially to V3G and Ginggs.
Click to expand...

Yup, it seems what's changed in your area is that 3G is beginning to filter down to you. While previously you had no 3G, your modem would always stay on 2G, it might now get a sniff of 3G every now and then and then switch to 3G. But the quality will be bad, so you might get disconnected or the modem might switch back to 2G and still drop the connection in the process.

But this (near) arrival of 3G is maybe a good thing. I suggested to the local guys to see if they can't get a high-gain 3G antenna up in your property. So instead of trying to avoid 3G, we see if we can't switch you over to 3G.

If this works, I'd suggest you dump the various modems and contracts and get a 3G router. This will allow you to connect the 3G antenna to the router and then everyone can share one connection, either via the LAN or WiFi.

There should be a cost saving in this as you don't need to buy multiple different bundles. Everyone in the office and home will now have one, permanent internet connection.
 
So it's true that we're nearly on 3G? :cool:

I am :o to admit that I had not found the setting in Vodafone Mobile Connect to fix the modem on GPRS only - it's hidden a bit more than in previous clients I've used (I used to set it correctly, honest). I knew that it was supposed to be set like that but couldn't find the setting and just thought, what the hell, it's never going to find 3G anyway so it hardly matters.... famous last words! :rolleyes:

I'm happy to say it's a lot easier to see in MDMA, so I can now double check the setting while I watch the signal strength (I switch to 3G Only when I go into town with my laptop so I run the risk of accidentally having it set wrongly).

I can't tell you how excited I am that we might finally have a chance of getting 3G out here in the bundus. Woo hoo! I'm going to have to change my Location on the forum! :D
 
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