Various VM questions

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Conspirator

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Hi

Got my self a VM sim yesterday for w850. After the schlep of getting it activated, it now works fairly well. Solid 9KB/s with flashes of 15-ish every now an then. Not bad for 50c. My questions:

Why is it that speedtest done immediately after a reconnect are significantly faster (~5KB/s) than if I have been surfing for some time. Does the tower lose interest in me? Can I fix this with a ping every X seconds?

If CellC tanks then Virgin goes down too right?

Is VM charging below 50c/meg or are they just not counting u/l? by my calculations I'm being charge 47c-ish.

Does anybody know how to get rid of the pwd when connecting with the SE networking wizard. Tried changing it a couple of times. Even says "Writing to device" but then next time it still tries to use the pwd. After it bails/I cancel I
have to remove the pwd manually each time.

Are there any apps that can give info about the tower I'm connecting to. Tried float's mobile agent, but that does not give tower info. I gather Netmonitor is not an option for SE phones.

Hang in there Gerald&Co. So far so good for me&VM.

Thanks
 
First off Welcome to the forum.VM speed is a up and down road ,so speed will vary from time to time and there are down times too. So far so good. CellC and VM are two different service providers.If you checking your usage while online, you will only get an estimated amount used,only once you disconnect will you get the true amount of usage. As far as SE goes I have no clue, I am a Nokia user. Regards
 
According to a CellC engineer, all faults were affecting "a range of IPs" and these were all fixed last week and the service is now in a tip-top condition. I suggest we all do regular checks.

Same engineer reckons he gets 148kbits/s for HTTP and 159kbits/s for FTP. He's using a Nokia 6630 and netmonitor.

As for the W850 and the SE NW Wizard. Try getting the settings for your phone. Then set up a new connection and get it to READ the connection settings "from the device". (There will be a selection button to click) That way it's all filled in correctly.
 
First off Welcome to the forum.
Click to expand...
Thanks.

Another Q: Does a boost in signal (say 10dBm) help with speed or does it only affect stability?

VM speed is a up and down road ,so speed will vary from time to time and there are down times too. So far so good.
Click to expand...
*Crosses fingers for future*

Try getting the settings for your phone.
Click to expand...
I think it reads them from the phone every time anyways. Cause when I click on the settings button, it says "reading from device".Are there any other apps out there that do the same job as the network wiz?

CellC and VM are two different service providers.
Click to expand...
But VM is buying the data from CellC isn't it?

According to a CellC engineer, all faults were affecting "a range of IPs" and these were all fixed last week and the service is now in a tip-top condition. I suggest we all do regular checks.
Click to expand...
I was referring more to the financial crisis. Bought a CellC sim too, but did
not unpack it after I realized that VM is 50c not CellC.

all faults were affecting "a range of IPs"
Click to expand...
Sounds like CellC is good at the euphemism game.

usage while online, you will only get an estimated amount used
Click to expand...
Will keep that in mind

engineer reckons he gets 148kbits/s for HTTP and 159kbits/s for FTP
Click to expand...
Sounds like he has a nice tower. Maybe if I water the local one every day it will grow...

Coded myself a prog that pings google every 15sec with 1 byte. Heard some of the IBurst guys are doing that so I'm guessing that it will also help for GPRS/EDGE. Will see.

Thanks for replies
 
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Well, after playing around with a few devices for a while I got to the conclusion that the type of hardware you use makes a difference in the speed and stability you're getting.

MTN Data Card (VM sim Roaming on Vodacom) Max 800kb/s - Avg. 250kb/s
MTN Data Card (VM sim on CellC/VM) Max 220kb/s - Avg. 80kb/s
i-Mate Jasjar (VM sim Roaming on Vodacom) Max 180kb/s - Avg. 70kb/s
i-Mate Jasjar (VM sim on CellC/VM) Max 68kb/s - Avg. 40kb/s
Nokia N80 (VM sim Roaming on Vodacom) Max 380kb/s - Avg. 180kb/s
Nokia N80 (VM sim on CellC/VM) Max 230kb/s - Avg. 200kb/s

Data Card has got HSDPA, 3G, EDGE, GPRS
Jasjar has got 3G, GPRS
N80 has got 3G, EDGE, GPRS

So it's better to roam on Vodacom if your device support 3G and HSDPA. If your device only support EDGE or GPRS then its better to use VM/CellC network.

If anyone would like to differ from me please give your input.;)
 
Another Q: Does a boost in signal (say 10dBm) help with speed or does it only affect stability?


I think it reads them from the phone every time anyways. Cause when I click on the settings button, it says "reading from device".Are there any other apps out there that do the same job as the network wiz?
Haven't seen any. It does work, but can be finicky.
Get the settings from Sony E or Virgin menu. Then get the device to read them when setting up a "New Connection"


But VM is buying the data from CellC isn't it?
Yes, all VM towers are CellC

Sounds like he has a nice tower. Maybe if I water the local one every day it will grow...

It's mine - ALL MINE :p LOL
If you hear of a tower being demolished that one's also mine.
 
Those nifty AT commands (cell ID etc). Can those damage the phone permanently? I'm curious about those, but kinda scared of breaking my shiny new phone. :)

>>Nokia N80 (VM sim on CellC/VM) Max 230kb/s - Avg. 200kb/s
So not fair.

>>So it's better to roam on Vodacom if your device support 3G and HSDPA. If your device only support EDGE or GPRS then its >>better to use VM/CellC network.
Tried that, but was slower. Will try again.

Thanks
 
Conspirator said:
Those nifty AT commands (cell ID etc). Can those damage the phone permanently? I'm curious about those, but kinda scared of breaking my shiny new phone. :)

>>Nokia N80 (VM sim on CellC/VM) Max 230kb/s - Avg. 200kb/s
So not fair.

>>So it's better to roam on Vodacom if your device support 3G and HSDPA. If your device only support EDGE or GPRS then its >>better to use VM/CellC network.
Tried that, but was slower. Will try again.

Thanks
Click to expand...

It also depends on where you use your connection. In Brackenfell, where I live, it works perfectly. But I must say it's only been a couple of weeks. Previously I only got GPRS speeds when I was roaming on Vodacom.
 
I use an SE phone and if I try and roam on VC it kicks me out.
On MTN it's fine, with only variations in speed.
On Vodacom, speed varies a lot, reliability varies a lot.
On VM/CellC it's slow most of the time and unreliable most of the time.

[Using the same device, so I'm not sure your theory holds water]
 
VM's GPRS is not to bad today. I am online now for a long time with only one disconnection and the webpages also not too slow.:)

:cool: :cool:
 
How does this "Ping every X seconds" work? I dont know anything about this type of thing, pls tell me how to, and if it'll make things faster. Another thing that tickles me today, is if I go to my modem properties, there's the Maximum port speed setting, which I selected the highest, then the other one are, Enable hardware flow control, Enable modem error control, and Enable modem compression. None of this last 3 are selected, must I select anyone of them? And what exactly does each one mean?
 
Well, Well, We're back today to the real VM. About 2 dozen disconnections for the day and webpages that took ages to open. Every now and then i use the VM sim to check the performance, but it's still very unstable.

:confused: :confused:
 
VM, going up? or going down?

Conspirator, Welcome to the MyADSL Forums!
Does the tower lose interest in me?
Click to expand...
Well said, Well said!
My tower has 'lost' interest in me, my $R$’s and my GPRS Data connection today quite a few times already...

CellBel said:
Well, Well, We're back today to the real VM. About 2 dozen disconnections for the day and webpages that took ages to open. Every now and then i use the VM sim to check the performance, but it's still very unstable. :confused: :confused:
Click to expand...

Well, Well, We're back tonight to the OLD VM... :P
Reliability... 5% (Random low figure)
Speed... Varied, as always. Average low.
VM-ness... 100%
Really unstable and its bugging me. Only this morning I had nice speeds on my GPRS, now ... bah :confused: :confused:

Piesang, you’re going to make me buy a MTN Datacard really soon on one of these nice VM days!
Good luck people
 
Conspirator, Welcome to the MyADSL Forums!
Click to expand...
Thanks

On Vodacom, speed varies a lot, reliability varies a lot.
Click to expand...
Tried VC roam again. <6KB/s. Worse than VM. lol

Well, Well, We're back tonight to the OLD VM... :P
Click to expand...
Seems to depend heavily on location. Here in east PTA it's still OK-ish.
1 Disconnect, but still 9-14KB/s.

How does this "Ping every X seconds" work?
Click to expand...
I can tell you "how" it works. Whether it actually results in an improvement , thats a question the experience guys here have to answer. I cannot judge that after 3 days.

2 dozen disconnections
Click to expand...
Ouch. My nerves/patience would be shot after 5.
 
Can honestly say after switching to Mtn i became a spoilt brat!
Because out of dozens of successful connections to the net when one attempt failed i got irritated,as opposed to Virgin when i bit a chunk out of my coffee mug!
 
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