3g Data Connectivity Very Slow In Central London

[daneel3001]

Went back to work after a week off and I noticed that since Monday I am getting extremely slow download/upload speed with the Vodafone 3G service. I am not using the USB modem but instead a builtin 3G modem in a Sony VAIO Z laptop.
I commute to Central London from Weybridge in Surrey and browsing experience is now dreadful, I cannot connect to Windows Live Messenger anymore and my Twitter client fails over with timeouts every minute or so.
I know of at least another person who is having severe issues with his connectivity too.
Daniel

[daneel3001]

Hey guys,

Just to let everyone know that we've had word from our Faults team that a problem area has been confirmed and is now under investigation - we'll update you tomorrow!


Daz

eForum Team

I've just connected my computer to the network and somehow speed is good now.
I am right now on the train commuting from KT13, Weybridge to London Waterloo and 3G speed is as good as it used to be 2 weeks ago, I managed to get 1.8Mbit/s downstream and 384Kb/s up.
Current software version is 9.3.6 and device is GTM378 using drivers provided by VMC itself.
Could you confirm if you've changed anything on your end to fix those intermittent issues ?

Daniel

[Retired-Wayne]

Hi Daniel

Thanks for your post.

I can't confirm that we have changed anything because I'm not entirely sure we have. We're constantly improving our network so there is everychance that this could have resulted in an improvement in service for you.

Let me know if you have any more questions and we'll be happy to help

Thanks

Wayne

eForum Team

[brianr]

Well, I'm sitting in SE1 right now, and the connectivity is abysmal. Although VMCLite is reporting 3G+ with three bars signal strength, its frequently failing to resolve host names, downloads are slow and sporadic, and sometimes the connection just dies.

It used to be really very good here, but in the last few weeks it's really deteriorated.


Regards
Brian

[Retired-Reidar]

Hi Brian

Welcome to the thread, I’d recommend using a the latest version of VMC 9.3 which should help you establish a more stable connection.

Regards

Reidar

eForum Team

[brianr]

Thanks, Reidar. I'll give that a try. Has something changed in the network that makes that necessary? I've not had any problems before.


Regards
Brian

[Retired-Daz_V]

Hi Brianr,

Shame to hear you're suffering this

Reidar has suggested this newer version as it includes compatibility features that might help resolve your speed issue. I'd additionally check firewalls, anti-virus checker and of course try a network search to select onto another network (then back to Vodafone) as this will update your connection details to the local site and clear any blockages that might be on network-level.

Can I ask additionally how the data speed performs with the SIM in a phone, perhaps? If the phone's data connection is up to speed, I'd be inclined to side with a client-side problem with your computer, sadly.

Do let us know how you get on with this!



Daz

eForum Team

[daneel3001]

Hi Daniel

Thanks for your post.

I can't confirm that we have changed anything because I'm not entirely sure we have. We're constantly improving our network so there is everychance that this could have resulted in an improvement in service for you.

Let me know if you have any more questions and we'll be happy to help

Thanks

Wayne

eForum Team

Sadly my speed issues are back again.
I had to revert to 9.3.0 rather than 9.3.6 because the latest version of VMC would often (like nearly all the times) see the device as turned off (builtin modem Sony Vaio Z).
I am connected at 3G+ speed and got very good reception being in London City (4 bars out of 5) and speed and I haven't been able to view a single web page fully as yet.
Tried to load up the BBC News frontpage for 5 minutes and still waiting..

Daniel

[daneel3001]

Sadly my speed issues are back again.
I had to revert to 9.3.0 rather than 9.3.6 because the latest version of VMC would often (like nearly all the times) see the device as turned off (builtin modem Sony Vaio Z).
I am connected at 3G+ speed and got very good reception being in London City (4 bars out of 5) and speed and I haven't been able to view a single web page fully as yet.
Tried to load up the BBC News frontpage for 5 minutes and still waiting..

Daniel

[daneel3001]

Hi Brianr,

Shame to hear you're suffering this

Reidar has suggested this newer version as it includes compatibility features that might help resolve your speed issue. I'd additionally check firewalls, anti-virus checker and of course try a network search to select onto another network (then back to Vodafone) as this will update your connection details to the local site and clear any blockages that might be on network-level.

Can I ask additionally how the data speed performs with the SIM in a phone, perhaps? If the phone's data connection is up to speed, I'd be inclined to side with a client-side problem with your computer, sadly.

Do let us know how you get on with this!



Daz

eForum Team

From experience, latest revision of VMC (9.3.6) is proving to have a lot of compatibility issues with my builtin modem based on GTM378 chip. It detects it but says "Device Switched Off" all the time..

[KD]

Hi daniel fernandes

I'm sorry you're still experiencing difficulties.

Are you able to make the connection consistently with the other version of the software?
If you connect on GPRS only will the pages load (To do this in VMC go to Settings > Network Preference > 2G only)
Is it possible for you to try your SIM in a phone and see if you are able to get a stable connection to the internet?

I'm sure we can get to the bottom of this.



Kirsty
eForum Team

P.S for anyone experiencing simillar issues - don't forget to check out the Mobile Broadband Troubleshooting section.