3 Mobile Broadband Seems To Be Working Quite Well

Hi, just received my 3 dongle yesterday on their 15GB/Month package for £15.99 (2 year contract).
I'm in a fairly rural area and my land lines are pretty poor & worn out. I've been wondering about mobile broadband for a while and finally made the leap firstly as a backup because there's a fault on my adsl line and secondly for mobile Internet when visiting elderly relations who don't have broadband.
On my land line I'm currently getting 2.2 meg down and 0.6 up with TalkTalk but there's a fault on the line and it used to do 3.2 meg down. it seems until the fault is total loss that TalkTalk aren't going to do anything about it. There's constant clicking noise on the line. It's a bad connection in one of the junctions which happens every year or so, last time it was a squirrel eating through the cable.

Any way, with 3 mobile I'm getting 94ms ping, 4.71 meg down and 1.35 up at 09.56 in the morning. I know these rates may change at busy periods but I'm not in a densely populated area. The speed was 5.24 meg down and 1.54 meg up with a 74ms ping last night at 22.35.
I've got the dongle plugged into powered USB hub on a short extension allowing the dongle to lie on its side pointing towards the mobile tower. The dongle in a vertical position isn't as effective even though there are still 5 full bars of signal strength.

If the dongle keeps delivering the way it currently is then I'm going to buy an Android phone on 3's One Tariff (unlimited data) and tether it to my PC. This could work out faster and more reliable than worn out land lines for very similar money.
I'm currently paying TalkTalk £26/month including line rental for their Pro package. 3 mobile Androids are available on the One Tariff starting at £25/month for unlimted data (yes of course I wouldn't want unlimited to suddenly become limited though). Something like a Samsung Galaxy S costs £32/month and I'm going to wait to see what the Galaxy S2 is going to cost before making a decision.

There are some new satellite services launching soon which probably won't be affordable for general use but it's good to have some alternatives for rural areas and there's another satellite being launched next year too, so there might be some competitive pricing.

If 3 mobile proves reliable then I'll cancel my dedicated PC land line, after all it's not worth paying line rental for useless old lines if a viable alternative become available. I'm probably going to be able to go totally wireless years before there's any land line upgrades in this area. I'll feel a lot better not paying rental for BT's obsolete infrastructure particularly when they keep raising line rental charges.

You can view this morning's speedtest here; http://www.speedtest.net/result/1206198224.png
and here's an even faster one at 11.02 am; http://www.speedtest.net/result/1206273341.png
2pm speedtest; http://www.speedtest.net/result/1206509316.png
4pm speedtest - network gets busy when schools close ? http://www.speedtest.net/result/1206696318.png

Edited by deleted (Thu 17-Mar-11 16:25:15)

In reply to a post by jsp21c:

There is constant clicking noise on the line.

If this is the case even when your ADSL is disconnected, you should not have any trouble getting it fixed.

Do not mention broadband/internet when you report it.

No, I've raised an issue with TalkTalk on their phone line forum and it's taken weeks if not several months to get them to the stage where they now say that they are monitoring the line. No more than that.

I've had line faults before and I'm aware it's not worth mentioning that adsl sync has dropped too otherwise departments keep trying to hand off the fault to each other.

If 3 mobile continues to be fast then I'm going to drop TalkTalk and the line when my contract expires in July. Mobile broadband might have become the best solution for my location & I'll be very happy to stop paying line rental for lines that providers don't want to fix.

Saturday morning speedtest update.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1209602251.png

I've found what appears to be the best location for my dongle and the speeds are staying pretty good. The dongle is now plugged into a usb port on the top of my PC case which sits just under my desk & nicely out of the way to avoid being knocked.

I'm getting twice the download and more than twice the upload speeds which my land line can achieve. I'm also considering buying a 3g router to share the connection with my laptop, create a home network and hopefully also plug in a tethered 3g phone (when I get one). I've watched some tethering clips on youtube and the Froyo Andriod 2.2 software appears to turn the phone into a modem for usb tethering, hopefully this could then be plugged into a router. I could of course just use wireless tethering too, but I like a router to run the home network.
That would enable me to manage my data allowance between two 3g devices.

If 3 keep their One Plan unlimited data option available then I may well dump the dedicated computer line and go completely 3g for data.

This is good news OP. Perhaps a warning to all the lined ISPs, your days are well and truly numbered now and will come quicker once 4G arrives. I shall support the lined companies the same way they showed interest in my exchange.

You have to remember that mobile broadband has very limited capacity. Just a handful of Mbps per sector or mast (depending on configuration). So while it can provide a reasonable service for a few hundred mobile phones using on average less then 500MB per month each there isn't anywhere near enough capacity if lots of people started switching from fixed line broadband to MBB.

4G will increase capacity but at the same time user numbers will have increased and their expectations and usage will have also increased resulting in only a small performance boost. LTE will probably deliver something like 10Mbps real throughput to an end user once contention and signal strength are taken into account. So that's only about double what we have from HSPA+ today.

So don't get too excited yet.

Edited by deleted (Sat 19-Mar-11 11:15:47)

In reply to a post by jsp21c:

Saturday morning speedtest update.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1209602251.png

I've found what appears to be the best location for my dongle and the speeds are staying pretty good. The dongle is now plugged into a usb port on the top of my PC case which sits just under my desk & nicely out of the way to avoid being knocked.

I'm getting twice the download and more than twice the upload speeds which my land line can achieve. I'm also considering buying a 3g router to share the connection with my laptop, create a home network and hopefully also plug in a tethered 3g phone (when I get one). I've watched some tethering clips on youtube and the Froyo Andriod 2.2 software appears to turn the phone into a modem for usb tethering, hopefully this could then be plugged into a router. I could of course just use wireless tethering too, but I like a router to run the home network.
That would enable me to manage my data allowance between two 3g devices.

If 3 keep their One Plan unlimited data option available then I may well dump the dedicated computer line and go completely 3g for data.

Very interesting post!

I've been using a '3' dongle for a couple of years now, when I'm away in the caravan, and other than a poor situation over a couple of months on the outskirts of the "oil capital of Europe", Aberdeen, the dongle has worked great. It regularly gets a signal in areas where at best, coverage is supposed to be borderline. I also now use it with a 5m extension cable which has improved things noticeably.

This might be of interest to you, it's almost half price: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item...

In reply to a post by 5km:

So don't get too excited yet

What users of broadband you sound like a smarty pant ISP provider, " non profitable exchange you are only Mrkt 1" (with lots of distain in tone). I'm alot more excited than any lined provider can give me, that is for sure.

Edited by NilSatisOptimum (Sat 19-Mar-11 14:01:00)

We upgraded from ADSL to 3G and doubled the speeds achievable.

The line here is apparently only 3.6km long but the quality of it is so poor - it's so knackered and decrepit - that it can't even do 2 meg.

That was about 3 years ago now. These days line rental and a reasonable ISP like Zen might set you back forty or fifty quid a month for a meg or two of bandwidth on a market 1 exchange (inc. the line rental, which doesn't apply on 3G), it's insanity.

As you say, the network is obsolete from a broadband perspective unless you happen to be lucky with both the length and quality of the line, if not, the house is simply a not spot and may remain that way in perpetuity unless Virgin Media get round to cabling it or a FTTC service is 1. viable (lines again) and 2. actually happens.

The performance here is only 3 meg as the cell is 3.6 meg and we're 2.8km from it. The signal strength (2 or 3 bar) doesn't seem to hugely affect speeds, I think 1.4meg is about the worst I've seen (ADSL speeds!); it used to slow down circa 3:15pm (schools) and circa 5pm ("can you pick me up from the train station" calls?) but it doesn't do that noticeably now.

What would improve it noticeably is when the cell is upgraded to 7.2meg which is meant to be this year, so I should be looking at about 7meg which isn't too bad for a rural area, when I see the speed improve I plan to fit a directional antenna to the chimney and use GPS to align it to the cell.

Take a look at Sipgate.co.uk - works fine on a decent 3G connection - this will get you a landline number if you want one and it's less than six quid for 1000 minutes of calls.

Thanks for the comments Anon.
For people in certain locations 3g has to now be a serious alternative to decrepit BT infrastructure and ever increasing line charges.
The next generation of Samsung phones on 3 which I'm considering such as the Galaxy mini or S2 are rated up to 21 meg downstream and about 5.7 upstream. While 3 has only recently upgraded its towers to 7.5 meg the next step should be pretty good when it comes.

I am considering going down the same route myself. I currently have a landline based BB which at best is around 1.8 / 0.4..
Any feedback greatly appreciated

For my location 3g is definitely the best option using 3 Mobile. My sister has visited this weekend with her new Blackberry which is on Vodafone but it's not getting a 3g signal here, but that doesn't matter to me because only 3 Mobile have the tariffs which make 3g attractive at the moment.

My dongle is a ZTE MF112 which is getting a full 5 bar signal but 3 are shortly releasing a Huawei E367 dongle which is HSPA+ and that means it can download at up to 21 meg when 3 update their network. The forthcoming Samsung Galaxy S2 is also HSPA+. Future upgrades of HSPA+ could double, triple and quadruple 21meg speeds.
I'm going to buy the new dongle on the 7th April when it goes on sale even though my ZTE is only a couple of weeks old, then get a Galaxy S2 in May when they become available with the unlimited plan. The Galaxy will tether to my PC to provide Internet access, I'm also planning to get a cheapish 3g router for the dongle to provide a wireless network at home. (the Galaxy might tether to the the router too but that remains to be seen, I can still share the connection through Windows if not).

I think the next actual network update is a software thing, 3 have only recently updated from 3.5 meg to 7.5 meg downloads. If I get something like 21meg downloads this year on mobile broadband it would be pretty amazing because it's certainly not going to happen on my land line for many years to come.

On Youtube you can see a few speedtests from countries which already have hspa+ networks, such as some Gulf States and parts of the US which make interesting viewing. Wireless broadband could really take off in the suburbs and rural parts of the UK very soon. I won't regret losing my obsolete BT line at all and while 3g may be a little more expensive by a couple of pounds, it's faster and I won't be getting any more £127.99 engineer call out charges when there's a fault on the line but they can't find it.

My TalKTalk contract expires in July & I can't wait to cancel it and give them the news that I'm going all 3g.

Edited by deleted (Sun 03-Apr-11 18:18:46)

There is a Zoom HSPA+ dongle currently available for around £75 & its unlocked, was thinking of ordering one of them myself. Have been looking for 3G VOIP Wireless Routers & Drakytek seems to come out with good reviews, just waiting on feedback from one of the online shops as to which routers are compatible with the Zoom Dongle. I also have been looking at external 3G antenna to see if that is an option that would enhance things further. I live in Cumbernauld, near Glasgow, so its not that rural but it is a BB not-spot.

I tried my HTC Desire tethered but it wasn't that great But the MF627 dongle was certainly better than my landline - that was just plugging into a front usb port on the pc with the little extension cable.

In reply to a post by AlistairS:

There is a Zoom HSPA+ dongle currently available for around £75 & its unlocked, was thinking of ordering one of them myself. Have been looking for 3G VOIP Wireless Routers & Drakytek seems to come out with good reviews, just waiting on feedback from one of the online shops as to which routers are compatible with the Zoom Dongle. I also have been looking at external 3G antenna to see if that is an option that would enhance things further. I live in Cumbernauld, near Glasgow, so its not that rural but it is a BB not-spot.

I had to re-flash my Drayteks to 3.3.5.1 (i think - it was the latest & greatest off the draytek.com site a month or 2 ago) to make it work with the ZTE MF112 dongle - after that it seemed to work just fine. I'd check the Draytek website (the draytek.com one for compatability myself)

One of the cheapest dongle I've found recently is the Three PAYG deal - £21 for the ZTE dongle, SIM and 1GB of data - I'm told it's eas to unlock the dongle to work on other networks though, but I've not tried it myself.

VoIP works OK with Three (for now) I've had a few clients use 3G as a fill-in until they got fixed-line ADSL enagled.

G

I have a ZTE MF627 atm but its limited to 3.6 irc.Hence why i was looking at the zoom device. I have had a look on ebay & there are plenty HSPA+ Speed Dongle there Brands Like Sierra Wireless for example - don't know if they're any good or not. They are certainly cheaper than the than the new 3 one coming out on Thursday.

I did a bit of research to find out where my nearest 3 cell was & its just under half a mile away as the crow flies, so i guess thats pretty good. Its actually beside Broadwood Stadium which I can see from my bedroom window. So am wondering if I were to get an external directional antenna & mount at the side of the house by the TV Aerial if this would make a dramatic increase in speed & reliability? I currently get the full 5 bars with dongle plugged into the front of the PC in the lounge

Similar to here - what this might depend on is the capability of the cell you're latching to. If it's 3.6Mbps, the investment might not be worthwhile [the modem might be more capable, but it matters not if you're already getting near 100% of the available speed], unless fitting a decent antenna means you can reliably connect to a more distant cell which has 7.2Mbps on offer.

I'm waiting on the upgrade, allegedly all cells are due to be upgraded to the faster speeds this year and separately pursuing a local campaign to get the area broadband enabled with a fixed line fibre or wireless setup.

Post deleted by billford