3g Broadband Problem

[discostu362]

Hi. I am having dramas with my 3g broadband. It stopped working out of the blue this week. I have a dell 5500 built in modem, which when set to connect to GPRS only will work. However when i select 3G it says it has a good connection to 3G+ but it does not work any faster than a few bps let alone kbps.

I work in NR7 9AT and it has been fine for months.

the vodafone helpdesk said about putting my sim into my phone and reregestring the network i tried that and no change has been made. they are going to send me a new sim but i am not sure if it will help.

I tried a system restore to a date that i knew all was well and it hasent helped. All the computer diagnostics seem to tell me that all is rosy with the computer. I have put the latest vmc software on and the latest modem driver was already installed.

Please help, i am getting extreemly frustrated that i pay for 5gb and at the speed i am getting i will not be able to use that in half a year let alone a month.

Cheers
discostu362

[Retired-George]

Hi discostu362,

Firstly, a very warm welcome to the eForum Family, it's always great to see new faces on here .

I can imagine this must be rather frustrating for you, I know how inconvenient it can be to have a slower than expected internet connection so I'm eager to help you . Having looked at your postcode on our UK Coverage Checker and our internal system I can see that you should be receiving very good 3G signal.

I've checked the local masts and cannot see any issues with them either, although I did notice that the nearest site to you was down for a couple of days earlier in the week. If this was causing your issue then it may be that your SIM card simply needs to update on the network in order for normal service to be resumed. The easiest way to do this is simply to place the SIM into a Vodafone handset and make a quick internet connection. If you're unable to do this then try the following:

-Click on View
-Select Network Connections
-This will load a list of available networks
-Try connecting to a network other than Vodafone
-Repeat but selecting Vodafone this time

Let me know how you get on .

George
eForum Team

[discostu362]

Thanks for your help. Sadly this has not worked. I am going to take the laptop into the vodafone shop tomorrow to confirm weather the fault lies with the sim or the modem. I will be annoyed if it is the modem beacuse i have only had it for a month or so. I have also contacted dell, who are going to run a diagnostic of the computer to check if there is any faults on the system.

[discostu362]

Is there any way of checking the modem? I have got a new sim that was posted to me monday and it has not cured the fault. I have just spent 10 hours of my life (and company time) formatting and reinstalling windows to makesure that it is not some stupid setting adjustment. No luck their either. Starting to think that the issue is with the hardware. Now i have the "pleasure" of having to deal with the nice people of dell who couldnt give a toss if my month old machine works or not.

[Retired-Wayne]

Hi discostu362

I can totally understand how frustrating this must be for you.

The only way of checking that its not the modem at fault would be to try a different modem.

You can do this by popping into a Vodafone Store where they will be able to try a different modem for you. Alternatively if you have any friends or work colleagues with a modem then you could try theirs.

Please let me know how you get on and if you have any more questions we'll be more than happy to help

Thanks

Wayne

eForum Team

[discostu362]

Development; Dell contracted tech turns up today to change the possibly faulty wwan card in question. Dell however sent him a mother board to change. Good old dell. They are "ACE" at solving things quickly and efficiently. Their interdepartmental communication is second to sod all.
On the plus side the guy did say that he is convinced it is the modem/wwan/paperweight that is at fault and will come back by the end of the week to sort it for me.

I have learned many things throught this experience.
1. If you buy from dell and dont shell out for the business warranty they dont want to know you.
2. Dell are the most inefficient company ever when it comes to dealing with anything.
3. If you get a dell, get it from a shop where you can take it back if it goes wrong. I have spent a fortune on their helpline.
4. If you get a dell you are a mug. I will not buy and will not recommend ever.
5. Thankyou VODAFONE. Your helpline and in shop customer service has been fantastic. I am so impressed with the service i have had while trying to sort this problem that i renewed my phone contract for another 24 months.

Summery. VODAFONE yay!!
Dell can ROT!!