3UK, ZTE and Huawei dongles

Greetings

Ive recently upgraded my old ZTE dongle (7.2mbps) to the new huawei e353 21mbps. What I found is that my internet speed has decreased.

Let me explain, the new dongle does add some extra speed, like when the download has 80% completion then the speed picks up goes upto 500kb/s. Now the main problem is this huawei dongle when in standby (and by stand by I mean there is no active download) swithes to some slow speed mode (the light changes to blue) (several programs Ive tried says it 3G/UMTS, in contrast when downloading it says HSPA+, HSUPA etc).
The problem is that it takes several seconds to swith from slow speed to fast speed mode, now this basicly affects web browsing, it takes several seconds(5 to 15) to load a average webpage mainly because it takes long time to load the pictures.
Now this problem did not occur with ZTE dongle, it was always in HSPA mode and the pages were loading instantly, when downloading big files the speed would pick up intantly aswell (it was ussualy 400kb/s).

Now tell me, maybe I am doing something wrong, maybe there is an option somewhere or a patch/fix to keep this dongle in constant HSPA mode, because I just dont feel like having a 21mbps dongle and browsing at 25kb/s. Otherwise I'll sell it on ebay.

some more info:
tried same pages, same downloads (files) with both ZTE and Huawei, ZTE is faster
I ve tried both dongles from the same location (my house, Huaweis reception is actually better: -83 dBm vs ZTE -91 dBm)

Thanks
Eddy

Just checked blog.three.co.uk and there are loads of people with the same or similar problem, new faster dongle is performing worse than the old one.

Ahh... what a waste of money

Why sell it on ebay and someone else gets a but ridden piece of rubbish.

Use the blog as ammo and do a google search and see if other people moan, use that as a reson for a refund.

Maybe go to a 3 shop for refund if it came from 3.

Or the supplier, not fit for purpose. most be a way of getting full refund.

Would annoy me to.

but riiden, sounds rude, I was trying for bug ridden!.

Mine does that.. Goes from H to 3G when not in use but it picks up again.. It does depend on the area. I used to get 18/19 on a good day and 12 on a bad day. moved area and the cell is pants and I get about 6. I don't use mine now unless it's a mobile backup

Hmm. Was thinking of getting one of the new range of the new Three dongles but now I am not so sure.

Does anyone know if the problems are specific to the E353 dongle or do they affect the "premium" dongle E367 and the new mifi device too?

Currently using an unlocked t-mobile dongle on three and get a reliable connection and OK speed (3.9Mb download) but would like a bit more speed if possible. I am close to a mast and signal strenth is generally over 95%. Any idea what sorts of speeds I am likely to get with one of the new devices?

There are different models of the Huawei E353 dongle. They are E353u-2, E353s-2 and E353Wu-1. The last one is what '3' supplies and it only works on the UMTS 2100MHz band whereas the other two models work with all the mobile frequencies. Before buying one of these '3' dongles check the 3G coverage in your area. It'll work fine if you're within a 3G 2100MHz area but won't work if 3G is at any other frequency eg the new 900MHz (3G900) which is currently being rolled out.
Hope this helps