Mobile Broadband

[jwk87]

I have a Pocket WIFI (Huawei E585) from vodafone. Had this for about 2 months now. THe first month was fantastic, no problems whatsoever. Now it is terrible. I have changed nothing and the signal strenght is great on 3G but the device keeps going to H. I'm in Sydney (Cronulla way) but I can not get any pages or anything. I know when I do download a webpage the device is on 3G when it is on H, I might as well turn it off as it is useless.

Any help appreciated, or should I return the device as it is faulty???

I had to use my iphone tethered to write this post even.

Thanks

Jason

[snoopydog2020]

Just for the record 3G (maximum broadband speeds up 384Kbs) evolved to 3.5G which is HSPA (depending on modem broadband speeds up to 7.2Mbs, 14.4Mbs and 21Mbps).

If you are on the slower 3G network you will see "3G" and on the faster 3G network, you will see "H".

Both could be on the same network however the 3G dynamically "breathes" to a smaller or larger footprint radius depending on how could your coverage or how many users are on the same cell/basestation.

Vodafone can you explaint to jwk87 why when the modem upgrades to HSPA they are having problems? You may want to ask for their data SIM number to do a trace and see if they are connnecting to the NSN 2100MHz or Huawei 850MHz HSPA network to identify the problem?

[Kirsty]

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jwk87 wrote:

I have a Pocket WIFI (Huawei E585) from vodafone. Had this for about 2 months now. THe first month was fantastic, no problems whatsoever. Now it is terrible. I have changed nothing and the signal strenght is great on 3G but the device keeps going to H. I'm in Sydney (Cronulla way) but I can not get any pages or anything. I know when I do download a webpage the device is on 3G when it is on H, I might as well turn it off as it is useless.

Any help appreciated, or should I return the device as it is faulty???

I had to use my iphone tethered to write this post even.

Thanks

Jason

---

Hi Jason,

I'm sorry to hear you're having issues with your service. To help me identify the cause of the issue, I have a few questions that will help me understand the issue better.

• Are you able to confirm if you've used the service away from your location in Cronulla? If the service works ok in another area, it's unlikely to be the device.
• Does the service work if you use another computer? Again, if the device works with another computer, the issue is not the device.
• Does the service work if you put the SIM into another device? If it does, it would indicate an issue with the device.

Once I understand the issue a little better, I will know how best to assist.

Thanks,

Kirsty.

[jwk87]

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Kirsty wrote:

Hi Jason,

I'm sorry to hear you're having issues with your service. To help me identify the cause of the issue, I have a few questions that will help me understand the issue better.

• Are you able to confirm if you've used the service away from your location in Cronulla? If the service works ok in another area, it's unlikely to be the device.
• Does the service work if you use another computer? Again, if the device works with another computer, the issue is not the device.
• Does the service work if you put the SIM into another device? If it does, it would indicate an issue with the device.

Once I understand the issue a little better, I will know how best to assist.

Thanks,

Kirsty.

---

Thank you for your reply Kirsty.

1. I have used the device in Parramatta with one computer attached and I didn't notice any reduction in service.

2. 2 computers, 2 mobiles and 1 wii have been attached to the device at particular times, never all at once. Only noticed that the reduction on service has happened more with the computers.

3. I placed the SIM in my Vodafone mobile and reception is good.

However, having tested these things, reception on the device is excellent. The device sits near the window and on 3G or on H it has full reception. It does not seem to be a reception issue.

The 1st month stayed on 3G and both computers did not have any problems. I did a few large downloads without issue. However, in the 2nd month (this last one), it switches to 'H' more than 3G and when it does this the internet becomes very slow and for most of the time it cannot even load a page. This happens whether both computers are attached or just one.

The instruction manual and website seem to indicate that HSPA supposed to give a better broadband service, but this is not what I am experiencing. How can I make sure that my device stays on 3G so I get the internet I pay for?

[Millie]

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jwk87 wrote:

---

Kirsty wrote:

Hi Jason,

I'm sorry to hear you're having issues with your service. To help me identify the cause of the issue, I have a few questions that will help me understand the issue better.

• Are you able to confirm if you've used the service away from your location in Cronulla? If the service works ok in another area, it's unlikely to be the device.
• Does the service work if you use another computer? Again, if the device works with another computer, the issue is not the device.
• Does the service work if you put the SIM into another device? If it does, it would indicate an issue with the device.

Once I understand the issue a little better, I will know how best to assist.

Thanks,

Kirsty.

---

Thank you for your reply Kirsty.

1. I have used the device in Parramatta with one computer attached and I didn't notice any reduction in service.

2. 2 computers, 2 mobiles and 1 wii have been attached to the device at particular times, never all at once. Only noticed that the reduction on service has happened more with the computers.

3. I placed the SIM in my Vodafone mobile and reception is good.

However, having tested these things, reception on the device is excellent. The device sits near the window and on 3G or on H it has full reception. It does not seem to be a reception issue.

The 1st month stayed on 3G and both computers did not have any problems. I did a few large downloads without issue. However, in the 2nd month (this last one), it switches to 'H' more than 3G and when it does this the internet becomes very slow and for most of the time it cannot even load a page. This happens whether both computers are attached or just one.

The instruction manual and website seem to indicate that HSPA supposed to give a better broadband service, but this is not what I am experiencing. How can I make sure that my device stays on 3G so I get the internet I pay for?

---

Thanks for performing those tests, Jason. Whilst connected to the Pocket WiFi, can you please do the following;

Windows Machine:

1. Open the Command Prompt

• On an XP machine you open the Command Prompt via Start, then Run and then typing "cmd.exe" (without "")
•     On a Vista/7 machine you access it via typing "CMD" into the seach bar

 2. Type "Ipconfig /flushdns" (without the "") into the command prompt

 3. Once you have done this re-boot the machine and test the internet again.

Mac Machine:

1. Open the Command Prompt

•    Applications > Utilities > Terminal

 2. Type "dscacheutil –flushcache" (again without the """) 

 3. Once you have done this re-boot the machine and test the internet again.

Let me know once you have done this and if it doesn't resolve the issue we will further the investigation.

Thanks

Millie

[Alexei]

Hey Jason,

I am having almost the same problem now in Melbourne CBD, the pocketwifi worked very well until last two weeks or so, now it is unusable which is quite annoying.

Today I also mentioned that when device switches between 3G and H modes the connection gets lost for considerable amount of time. After a while the connection is restored, but then it is lost again, all that time pocketwifi was constantly switching back and forth between 3G and H.

My wild guess is that something happens when device switches the network protocol (not sure what is the proper tech term for 3G and HDSPA).

Now while I appreciate the suggestions from Millie let me point out that nothing is changed on the client side and it is still steadily connected to the Wifi, therefore there should be no need for client-side DNS flushes, network interfaces restart, etc. It seems that the real problem is either in the device itself or the Vodafone network (which is quite overloaded and slow let's face it).

One specific technical question to people in Vodafone - is it possible to set the pocketwifi device to use only 3G mode (or even EDGE)? If this is possible we can test if the connection is more stable when the device just sits there on 3G/EDGE without trying to switch to high-speed protocol.

[jwk87]

Hi Alexei

I agree, there is nothing with the client side, that's why I never even did the flush dns. Problem with these boards, is that everyone is treated like a level 1 help case.

I agree that it seems that the real problem is either in the device itself or the Vodafone network (which is quite overloaded and slow let's face it)., but yeah the first month was not slow, which was the surprising factor.

I agree with the technical question to people in Vodafone - is it possible to set the pocketwifi device to use only 3G mode (or even EDGE)? If this is possible we can test if the connection is more stable when the device just sits there on 3G/EDGE without trying to switch to high-speed protocol. Its just a pain in the proverbial that we pay for something and it just not work.

This has also been reported to Vodafone, through their email support and after a few weeks still no reply. When the decision was made to have a pocket wireless device, a lot of thought and decision making went into the process on what telco to use. Perhaps I read the good feedback and presumed that it would all be good.

Vodafone please fix this, as it is annoying. If it was a motor car and it just stopped working you would be returning it to be repaired and not try to balme the user.

Thanks

Jason

[jwk87]

just on the flush dns, as I own a number of websites and domain names and move the name servers around, I flush the dns all the time. The vodafone pocket wifi , doesnt even load simple pages like google, ebay and even the vodafone site.

[Alexei]

might be useful - see traceroute and ping output below, during times when the connection is lost

really seems like something with the network to me

today it literally shows up online for 30-40 seconds, then goes back offline for 2-3 minutes, then everything repeats again...

$ traceroute 8.8.8.8

traceroute to 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets

 1  192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1)  4.438 ms  2.287 ms  3.159 ms

 2  * 10.103.49.71 (10.103.49.71)  4170.435 ms *

 3  * * *

 4  * * *

 5  *^C

$ ping 8.8.8.8

PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8): 56 data bytes

Request timeout for icmp_seq 0

Request timeout for icmp_seq 1

Request timeout for icmp_seq 2

Request timeout for icmp_seq 3

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=4 ttl=50 time=346.089 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=5 ttl=50 time=475.278 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=6 ttl=50 time=498.513 ms

Request timeout for icmp_seq 7

Request timeout for icmp_seq 8

Request timeout for icmp_seq 9

Request timeout for icmp_seq 10

Request timeout for icmp_seq 11

Request timeout for icmp_seq 12

Request timeout for icmp_seq 13

Request timeout for icmp_seq 14

Request timeout for icmp_seq 15

Request timeout for icmp_seq 16

Request timeout for icmp_seq 17

^C

--- 8.8.8.8 ping statistics ---

19 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 84.2% packet loss

round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 346.089/439.960/498.513/67.051 ms

[Alexei]

also just verified that tethering using the iPhone 3GS with Vodafone SIM works much better and connection is not dropped

I would really appreciate a proper technical answer here (not sure if this forum is a right place for such requests though)