Losing contact while still connected

PtaPaul

Active Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2006
Messages
37
Anyone else have this problem? Quite frequently I seem to lose contact in the sense that dashboard shows traffic flowing outbound, but nothing coming back. Firefox reports "server not found" for legitimate addresses, and pinging returns a similar message indicating that even the domain name server is unreachable. Disconnecting and reconnecting results in error 692. Trying to connect again after the 692 results in a dashboard crash. Executing dahboard again, however, connects successfully and everything returns to normal for a while until it happens again.
 

vodacom3g

Vodacom Representative
Joined
Jan 14, 2005
Messages
12,065
PtaPaul said:
Anyone else have this problem? Quite frequently I seem to lose contact in the sense that dashboard shows traffic flowing outbound, but nothing coming back. Firefox reports "server not found" for legitimate addresses, and pinging returns a similar message indicating that even the domain name server is unreachable. Disconnecting and reconnecting results in error 692. Trying to connect again after the 692 results in a dashboard crash. Executing dahboard again, however, connects successfully and everything returns to normal for a while until it happens again.

Except for all the crashing and stuff, it sounds like the dreaded 'down-link stop' problem.

When did you get your datacard?

Please pm me your 3G data number. If you don't know what it is, send yourself a SMS from the dashboard.
 

PtaPaul

Active Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2006
Messages
37
Thank heavens, Deiphos! Thought I was paranoid! Good to know that you're not the only one with a particular problem. I must also add that the problem is intermittent, there are days when nothing happens and then several days in succession when it rears its ugly head many times in the course of a few hours. Switching to GPRS does not solve the problem
 

vodacom3g

Vodacom Representative
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Jan 14, 2005
Messages
12,065
PtaPaul said:
Thank heavens, Deiphos! Thought I was paranoid! Good to know that you're not the only one with a particular problem. I must also add that the problem is intermittent, there are days when nothing happens and then several days in succession when it rears its ugly head many times in the course of a few hours. Switching to GPRS does not solve the problem

Does not solve the problem.....hmmm, that gives it a different angle.
 

Cell C Customer

Active Member
Joined
May 16, 2006
Messages
97
Same here in durbs

The 3G base station that I receive my signal from sometimes dies for like an hour once every two days. I also have the problem where it sends data but never comes back and HSDPA also disconnects a lot like every 30 - 45 mins (haven't been on longer then 50mins ever). I have phoned 155 over and over with no luck! I Have had the Network guys, The data card experts (all from VC) & Siemens guys out but no joy, So I doubt if the problem I have is on my side. They have checked the base station and VC says it fine. But if I can remember correctly about two months ago it was hit by lightning. Only VC & Cell C's 2G equipment was down for a day but 3G came back 10mins after the storm. So I think there is still something wrong up there by the Base Stations. (Cell C & VC share one physical tower) I picked up bad signal with Cell C on my phone after the storm so I got them to sort it out ASAP.

What I really want to know is anybody getting disconnected very frequently from 3G/HSDPA.
 

rabbiddog

Expert Member
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Dec 29, 2004
Messages
1,219
Cell C 3G said:
What I really want to know is anybody getting disconnected very frequently from 3G/HSDPA.

It might happen once a month for a few minutes, otherwise mine works 100%:)
 

NeBo

Expert Member
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Oct 14, 2005
Messages
1,203
I also have this problem every now and then. I just disconnect, safely stop my modem, reinsert it and reconnect. Brings it back to life every time. I'm on HSDPA.
 

Skeptik

Banned
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Nov 5, 2005
Messages
6,592
I had a similar problem. I tested the service on MTN and found the problems disappeared.:D
 

Cell C Customer

Active Member
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May 16, 2006
Messages
97
Yes haved been in other areas but no 3G there, I was in another place with 3G but was only there for about 15min so couldn't really test. 'Wyebank' base station in New Germany, Durban. That's the one i am using. other wise GPRS is fine can stay connected for hours on end. If i had EDGE coverage i would rather use that, GPRS is not fast enough so HSDPA is my best option as the moment. and not really a fan of MTN yes they have EDGE here but the base station is in school grounds so the kids keep messing up the lines to the base station. Which helps me, half the time that base station is off and Cell C well they don't have EDGE as yet here. There upgrade is due in two weeks so will switch then.
 

gboy

Expert Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2005
Messages
1,610
Ploempie said:
I also have this problem every now and then. I just disconnect, safely stop my modem, reinsert it and reconnect. Brings it back to life every time. I'm on HSDPA.

had the same problem quite frequently before i downgraded to 3G i have not realy seen how the 3G is preforming as i have not been around the office.

getting back to the quote, when this happed wih my novatel merlin HSDPA whn i tried to disconnect via the dash my whole pc stopped responding including taskmanager, I reeded to restart wih the button :p in wich case any work being done will be lost. that is on of the reasons i was forced to downgrade.

V3g any i dea on the situation on my tower as we need to schedual the video confrancing soon, and we have to do some large uploads to a remote back up server.:confused:
 

PtaPaul

Active Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2006
Messages
37
Again

It happened again this morning. After a session of about 30 minutes I lost the downlink. Dashboard shows occasional slow traffic going out, but nothing coming in. A ping of www.vodacom.co.za returns the message "Ping request could not find host www.vodacom.co.za. Please check the name and try again." Clicked the disconnect button and had to wait about 2-3 minutes before it finally disconnected. Clicked connect and after a while got error 692. Quit dashboard & fired it up again. Got 3 bar 3G signal, clicked connect and this time, unlike other times when it crashes, it actually connected. Been on for 8 minutes now & everything seems OK. Hope it lasts.
 

Darth Garth

Executive Member
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Oct 29, 2004
Messages
6,207
PtaPaul said:
Been on for 8 minutes now & everything seems OK. Hope it lasts.

A whole 8 minutes .... wow that 3G is a really awesome broadband solution :).
 

PtaPaul

Active Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2006
Messages
37
Oh no!!!

That session lasted all of 10 minutes. Took quite a while to get back up - eventually had to power down the card & re-insert it. Hope this session lasts longer. Quite frustrating. :mad:
 

Darth Garth

Executive Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2004
Messages
6,207
PtaPaul said:
That session lasted all of 10 minutes. Took quite a while to get back up - eventually had to power down the card & re-insert it. Hope this session lasts longer. Quite frustrating. :mad:

Imagine if I had to use 3G and encountered these issues while one of our remote sites was down.

Good old copper for me.

My colleagues in the US raves about their EVDO (their 3G technology) and still grumble about the 10GB cap on their "unlimited" data plan but how they can work in Starbucks unlike me but I tell them that we don't have Verizon here but some outfit called Vodacom :).
 

VMS

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Feb 22, 2005
Messages
456
I am getting sick and tired of this 3G/GPRS setup. I get excellent signal (3 bars 3G and 4 to 5 bars GPRS). Comms is slow. Same send-data-but-receive-nothing problem. Then 3G disconnects and I have to reconnect. Once this starts happening 3G goes completely down and I scale down to GPRS. GPRS then operates nice for a while but eventually goes down to 2kbytes/s max. Then it starts disconnecting too. After a few disconnects I get many different errors from the DASH including the 619 error. Then I just stop trying because nothing I do will make a connection at all. A few hours later (without doing anything -no reboot or fiddling) everything is working again and 3G is up and running at full speed.

Usually I get enough 3G time to at least download my email, but this morning it seems that I am unlucky. My usage sits at 192MB for the month. It is actually a miracle that I got this much traffic through, but what I do is to preload my DAP with URLs and as soon as I get comms I let it rip.

Lucky for me I have like 6 months left on my contract. I am tired of posting about this, chatting to Vodacom techies, giving feedback etc... to just have to suffer again with this crap a month later. Vodacom actually called me a few months ago and offered to terminate my contract. Maybe I should call the nice lady back to find out where to drop off the orange paper weight.

My only internet life line is Denel's connection (the one I am using now to post this). ...oh and MTN on my 6680 at R2/mb. Costly (without a bundle) but never lets me down. Friggen TelCrap has been 'installing' my new telephone line since August last year, so no chance of ADS_hell as well.

Everybody is asking me if I am going to upgrade to HSDPA. What is the friggen chance of that?....

VMS
 

VMS

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2005
Messages
456
I haven't tried 3G yet this morning but my GPRS came back on again. I am currently downloading a program of about 5mb. The weird thing is that the data coming in averages either 1.4kbytes/s or 2.8 (sometimes it goes 4kbytes/s), but mostly 1.4kbytes/s. In the same location I used to get up to 9kbytes/s on GPRS at a lower signal strength.

I know if I switch over to 3G I will get 40kbytes/s+ but have stopped trying because the connection will be killed in just a few minutes. With GPRS it kind of trickles on at the 1.4kbytes/s. Boring like hell, but at least I can get my email.

The fact is that the 3G/GPRS sparkle is gone. It now either flies and crashes in a blaze of glory or trickles through at the speed of a snail.

VMS
 
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