3G and 3G+ speed problems

[ninjazxrr]

Hi, I am experiencing strange behaviours with my USB modem stick mobile broadband... I purchased this device in october 09 and has worked quite well at first... I am on a unlimited download 12 months contract. I have a signal of 3 bars usually and occasionally 4. I live in the N1 area in London, and I usually get a 3G or 3G+ signal. I only use the device in the evening after 9pm. I must say that browsing is very fast, but I mainly use it for streaming videos and watch movies online. However, it is quite fast at times - meaning that I can view a movie without any sort of loading interruption - and very slow other times - meaning that I am not able to watch movies since it is continuously loading... and this can go on for days even weeks. It appears that when the light on the device is solid blue it performs better... and when the light is a light blue is slow... Is there anything I can do to get a consistent speed?? It is getting quite annoying the situation, and I was thinking to ask for the interruption of the contract, as I am not able to use the service as it was promised from the shop dealer. Thanks alot for your help

[cjm1979]

Hi, I am experiencing strange behaviours with my USB modem stick mobile broadband... I purchased this device in october 09 and has worked quite well at first... I am on a unlimited download 12 months contract. I have a signal of 3 bars usually and occasionally 4. I live in the N1 area in London, and I usually get a 3G or 3G+ signal. I only use the device in the evening after 9pm. I must say that browsing is very fast, but I mainly use it for streaming videos and watch movies online. However, it is quite fast at times - meaning that I can view a movie without any sort of loading interruption - and very slow other times - meaning that I am not able to watch movies since it is continuously loading... and this can go on for days even weeks. It appears that when the light on the device is solid blue it performs better... and when the light is a light blue is slow... Is there anything I can do to get a consistent speed?? It is getting quite annoying the situation, and I was thinking to ask for the interruption of the contract, as I am not able to use the service as it was promised from the shop dealer. Thanks alot for your help

The dark blue (3G) should be slower than the light blue (3.5G or 3G+). Ive been having intermittent problems for around 4 weeks now.

[Retired-Wayne]

Hi ninjazxrr

Thanks for you post here. I'm sorry to hear that you are having problems with this. I can totally appreciate how frustrating this must be for you.

So that I can check the local area for you can you provide me with the full postcode of the area you are in. I can then check the sites in your local area.

I've got a feeling that this issue is going to be down to congestion. With this in mind can you do me a favour and do a speed test when you are on the dark blue signal and a speed test when you are on the light blue signal. This will prove if one is slower than the other.

Please let me know and we'll be more than happy to help you further

Thanks

Wayne

eForum Team

[SurfSilver]

Hi, I am experiencing strange behaviours with my USB modem stick mobile broadband... I purchased this device in october 09 and has worked quite well at first... I am on a unlimited download 12 months contract. I have a signal of 3 bars usually and occasionally 4. I live in the N1 area in London, and I usually get a 3G or 3G+ signal. I only use the device in the evening after 9pm. I must say that browsing is very fast, but I mainly use it for streaming videos and watch movies online. However, it is quite fast at times - meaning that I can view a movie without any sort of loading interruption - and very slow other times - meaning that I am not able to watch movies since it is continuously loading... and this can go on for days even weeks. It appears that when the light on the device is solid blue it performs better... and when the light is a light blue is slow... Is there anything I can do to get a consistent speed?? It is getting quite annoying the situation, and I was thinking to ask for the interruption of the contract, as I am not able to use the service as it was promised from the shop dealer. Thanks alot for your help

To me, what you describe doesn't seem like strange behaviour at all. If you've got it in writing that the shop dealer promised you a better service than what you are experiencing, then you've got a case. If not, time for a reality check. It's a mobile broadband service. You can't expect guaranteed consistent speeds. You can't even expect guaranteed consistent speeds on landline broadband, since they can often have contention ratios of about 20:1. I would say that you should enjoy it when it's running fast, and when it's not, just remember that dedicated private (i.e. non-shared) bandwidth costs £££ (likely hundreds, in some cases thousands) per month - I should know - I see the billing that my company receives from the likes of BT, Cable & Wireless, Global Crossing and others for its private bandwidth provisions.

P.S. What's an unlimited download contract? Must research the options ahead of when my 5GB-a-month two-year contract expires in early August!

[Retired-Holly]

Hi SurfSilver,

Thanks for the information, you make a lot of valid and valuable points.

We try to guarantee the best signal for as much time as possible however due to the nature of the internet it can be tricky to get constant excellent signal, especially if you live in remote areas.

We don't have any unlimited mobile broadband packages at the moment, we have a lot of data hungry customers though so fingers crossed!

If you need anything at all just let me know.

Thanks

Holly
eForum Team