I've been sat close to the window most of today, using a slightly shorter usb cable connected to the dongle, and I can't say I've noticed any difference in the signal strength, but I'm pretty sure from all of the responses I've had that it's down to several problems;

Being relatively close to several trees
Having an multi-directional antenna
Not having the antenna high enough

With all those in mind I'm off to buy another antenna and build a mast whilst I'm waiting for it to be delivered!!

Thanks for your inputs peepz, tis appreciated!!

Mike

if you go to sitefinder on the ofcom site and get the exact location of the 3 mast and point it as accuratly towards that direction.

I hope it improves your situation.

Adam

If what you bought on Saturday didn't work, I just got one of these and one of these (the one on the left of the page) to "connect" to my Orange 3G dongle. Without the antenna, I got 2 bars on the Orange strength meter, and with the aerial I got 5 bars.

Does the sitefinder site actually work? For GU35 9JP there is nothing shown (no blue triangles), even when opened up. But the detail shows sites and 3 claim a mast 1.75 miles away.

ok I guess that would be the 3 mast in bordon on camp road north of budds lane junction

I put your postcode in then zoomed out to find nearest town and zoomed in and then clicked on triangle to get info.

Hi you can get a antenna you plug into your dongle which will boost the signal. Go to www,.antennasonline.co.uk they will help.

www.antennasonline.co.uk

This company has antennas to boost your dongles signal which helps boost download speeds.

At the beginning of November I started to have problems with my Orange MB, always dropping to GPRS at just 5Kb/s and frequently disconnecting.
Eventually I got Orange to give me the Option 515m dongle FOC, (but extending my contact to another 12 months).
Yes, it works lot better, keeping steady connection and 3G mode most of the time, though the actual speed varies.

However, while my old Huavei works happily on 1.5m of USB two piece cable,
the Option will only work with one piece 1m cable.

if you have a dongle with an external antennae connector, use a high gain antenna (flat panel antenna for example), but keep the cable between the dongle and the antenna as short as possible.

If you need to mount the antenna some way away from your computer, use a USB extender lead that has a booster in it. These types of long USB cables have a large fat female connector that contains the booster, which boosts the USB signal from your dongle as it goes down the cable to the computer.

I've had a '3' dongle for a couple of years now, using it at various locations while away in the caravan. It's performance, i.e. connection, signal, stability have all significantly improved since I bought a 5m extension cable with a booster on it.

The general consensus on the mobile bb section of one of the caravanning forums was that getting the dongle high was not a huge issue, but that an extension lead was worthwhile. I can only say that from personal experience, the 5m lead with booster has made a significant difference, as I can now put the dongle wherever in the caravan it gets the best signal.