Which current HSDPA modem is the best?

I am very impressed with the E172 although my only requirement is that it is A WORKING ONE!

My dad signed up on MyMeg500 and got one of these modems. It was a faulty one and after enduring a month of bad customer service from the Vodacom 4U store in Stellenbosch Square he got a new, WORKING, E172 and it is fast and stable.

In poor signal areas and places where only EDGE towers are present I have had fairly acceptable performance with an E220, better than with the E172 anyway.
 
I found an E272 at the Vodashop in Vodaworld. It was not easy to find a HSUPA modem: Macro had the E220, HiFi Corp had no modems while the Vodashop in that region only had the E220 and a Huawei without HSUPA. Maybe the Christmas season which depleted stock?
 
rpm said:
I found an E272 at the Vodashop in Vodaworld. It was not easy to find a HSUPA modem: Macro had the E220, HiFi Corp had no modems while the Vodashop in that region only had the E220 and a Huawei without HSUPA. Maybe the Christmas season which depleted stock?
Click to expand...

Could be, probably the 5000 we had left (at myBB conference time) is now running low.
 
rpm said:
I found an E272 at the Vodashop in Vodaworld. It was not easy to find a HSUPA modem: Macro had the E220, HiFi Corp had no modems while the Vodashop in that region only had the E220 and a Huawei without HSUPA. Maybe the Christmas season which depleted stock?
Click to expand...
I don't know what effect the extra 5000 E272s had, but have a look at the following thread which was started on 2008-08-17:
"[post=1987841]Nashua mobile telling me they can't get E272 on Vodacom contract...[/post]"
 
Hi IC, Vodacom3G

I think the thing which Vodacom should look at is that there seems to be a shortage of HSUPA modems. That means people are mainly buying modems which does not support the higher upload speeds which may limit the company’s ability to benefit from the higher upload speeds which they offer in future.

The Novatel cards seem to be the most readily available HSUPA modems, but their significantly higher price will mean many consumers will rather buy an E220 as they don’t know better. One salesman actually told me that HSUPA is not that big a deal and that it costs more – to rather go for the slower modem. Needless to say that I disagreed :D
 
rpm said:
Hi IC, Vodacom3G

I think the thing which Vodacom should look at is that there seems to be a shortage of HSUPA modems. That means people are mainly buying modems which does not support the higher upload speeds which may limit the company’s ability to benefit from the higher upload speeds which they offer in future.

The Novatel cards seem to be the most readily available HSUPA modems, but their significantly higher price will mean many consumers will rather buy an E220 as they don’t know better. One salesman actually told me that HSUPA is not that big a deal and that it costs more – to rather go for the slower modem. Needless to say that I disagreed :D
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rpm, please name & shame - we consumers need to know which retail outlets not to go to for quality advice, and as we have seen a bunch of times in this forum, once named and shamed their service usually improves - no doubt due to being crapped on from on high if it is a VSP partner outlet :).
 
ic said:
rpm, please name & shame - we consumers need to know which retail outlets not to go to for quality advice, and as we have seen a bunch of times in this forum, once named and shamed their service usually improves - no doubt due to being crapped on from on high if it is a VSP partner outlet :).
Click to expand...
The guy at Vodashop Woodmead was actually informed and very helpful, but I think he assessed my needs incorrectly. He may have looked at making I sale as well I guess, but I don’t think the poor bloke should be nailed for that. Give them HSUPA modems which they can sell and I am sure they will do it…he just did not have any.

BTW: That shop is more secure than a bank! Controlled entrance and exit, guards and the like. They have apparently been hit twice…I hope the guy can survive with all those overheads…
 
ic said:
rpm, please name & shame - we consumers need to know which retail outlets not to go to for quality advice, and as we have seen a bunch of times in this forum, once named and shamed their service usually improves - no doubt due to being crapped on from on high if it is a VSP partner outlet :).
Click to expand...
I blame it on training. The people in charge of most outlets don't go to the trouble of teaching them much beyond what it is and always to read the label on the box. You would never believe the carp I've been told in Incredible for instance, with a straight face always:o We're not talking about an isolated shop either, but across the board. I know that Saturday is the better day to get demonstrations because they often have students in. The same applies to the Vodacom shops, with the Vodacom3g shops near the top of the list.
 
rpm said:
The guy at Vodashop Woodmead was actually informed and very helpful, but I think he assessed my needs incorrectly. He may have looked at making I sale as well I guess, but I don’t think the poor bloke should be nailed for that. Give them HSUPA modems which they can sell and I am sure they will do it…he just did not have any.

BTW: That shop is more secure than a bank! Controlled entrance and exit, guards and the like. They have apparently been hit twice…I hope the guy can survive with all those overheads…
Click to expand...
Point taken, I must say I wasn't even aware that there is a Vodashop in Woodmead - although it's not my stomping ground, but now I am intrigued enough to visit this Vodashop when I'm next in the area - I might even ask the same HSUPA modem quiz questions to see if there has been an improved salesperson perspective on the problem beyond the E272 shortage issue.

About your earlier point of the Novatel stick being waaay too expensive - I also noticed that at Game Fourways [probably the same everywhere], it should not cost as much as it does.

Having said that I also think that the E220s are being sold for far too high a price - they are old tech now and should drop by at least ZAR500 from their current retail price which seems to be about ZAR1200, so about ZAR700 would be about the correct E220 RRP IMO.
 
morkhans said:
The Novatel stick has a connector for an external antenna so I would much rather go with that if you can't find a E272.
Click to expand...
Is there anything that actually plugs into the Novatel's connector?

Poynting's adapter for the MC-950D (ADPT-025) is actually an inductive coupler and I believe it works with other "memory stick" type modems as well.
 
ginggs said:
Is there anything that actually plugs into the Novatel's connector?

Poynting's adapter for the MC-950D (ADPT-025) is actually an inductive coupler and I believe it works with other "memory stick" type modems as well.
Click to expand...

mmm. I was under the impression the back had a bracket that clicked off to reveal the connector. Possibly someone who owns one can comment?
 
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