How Fast Is Mobile Broadband On Voda?

[WildThing!]

My O2 dongle and Samsung NC10 netbook only give me download speeds of 550 Kbps despite indicating a 3G+ connection. I have regularly tested the speed at broadband.co.uk over 3 months in a number of sites always with a line of sight to an O2 mast. There are Voda and Orange masts on the same building I can see from my house about 400 yards away. Should I ditch the O2 dongle (unfortunately on contract) and go for an alternative or does it not get any better than this? At least O2 gives me unlimited wifi which was main reason for choice. How are you guys doing with your Vodafone modems? Would some kind soul try a test at broadband.co.uk and let me know what your d/l speed is. Thanks in anticiaption.

John

[daveastra]

hi there, as im sure your aware, broadband speeds vary wildly across the country (even across small towns like mine!) and that on a fixed telephone line basis, but the same is true of mobile broadband, as it runs on mobile signal just like any other mobile device, so poor signal= poor speeds, also its worth noting that you ideally (as in you do) need 3G coverage in your area (otherwise you`ll be on 56.6k, which is slooooow) so on the Vodafone Coverage Checker you`ll be looking for your postcode (the bit in the black circle) to be red as per the legend on the left of the map

if you are still uncertain, then there is always the potential to purchase a PAYG dongle to see how your speed runs, as their is no differentiation of speed between PAYG and pay monthly services, the only 3 factors controlling the speed are
1) your mobile equipment
2) your mobile network coverage
3) the network mast

hope this helps

[Retired-Jon_V]

My O2 dongle and Samsung NC10 netbook only give me download speeds of 550 Kbps despite indicating a 3G+ connection. I have regularly tested the speed at broadband.co.uk over 3 months in a number of sites always with a line of sight to an O2 mast. There are Voda and Orange masts on the same building I can see from my house about 400 yards away. Should I ditch the O2 dongle (unfortunately on contract) and go for an alternative or does it not get any better than this? At least O2 gives me unlimited wifi which was main reason for choice. How are you guys doing with your Vodafone modems? Would some kind soul try a test at broadband.co.uk and let me know what your d/l speed is. Thanks in anticiaption.

John

Hi John,

Honestly, I would expect faster speeds than that, but there are so many different variables that can affect the speed you actually get, that we cannot garuntee what your speed would be. The only thing I can suggest is to try it and see. If you find the coverage in your area is not sufficient, we do allow returns for this reason within the first 7 days.

Jon

eForum Team

[bleepingbleep]

Hi Wild Thing - try it for 7 days but.. if it works well that doesnt mean it will later.
When I first got my vodafone dongle ( over a year ago) I had speeds upto 1MB - I have just had four weeks of 25kb max (unusable). This crash in speeds has happened to a few people on this forum and vodafone do not have any idea why. Signal strength can be full (I practically live under the local mast) but you may still get slow speeds - this may be congestion or something - not enough umph from vodafone to cope with local use I dont know - nor do vodafone.
If you regularly get 550kbs that is better than me - tonight I am getting near that for seconds but mostly my speeds are in the bps, sometimes 20 - 50kbs and occasional 100kbs+ so using the internet is punctuated by many many time outs Good luck!

[WildThing!]

Hi Wild Thing - try it for 7 days but.. if it works well that doesnt mean it will later.
When I first got my vodafone dongle ( over a year ago) I had speeds upto 1MB - I have just had four weeks of 25kb max (unusable). This crash in speeds has happened to a few people on this forum and vodafone do not have any idea why. Signal strength can be full (I practically live under the local mast) but you may still get slow speeds - this may be congestion or something - not enough umph from vodafone to cope with local use I dont know - nor do vodafone.
If you regularly get 550kbs that is better than me - tonight I am getting near that for seconds but mostly my speeds are in the bps, sometimes 20 - 50kbs and occasional 100kbs+ so using the internet is punctuated by many many time outs Good luck!

Thanks guys. When I last looked, Vodafone offered PAYG that didn't expire but now it's 30 days, so I think I will try 3 and the 1 year/20 gig deal for GBP70. They dpn't have a mast as near to me as the others but it's good in town.

[WildThing!]

Hi Wild Thing - try it for 7 days but.. if it works well that doesnt mean it will later.
When I first got my vodafone dongle ( over a year ago) I had speeds upto 1MB - I have just had four weeks of 25kb max (unusable). This crash in speeds has happened to a few people on this forum and vodafone do not have any idea why. Signal strength can be full (I practically live under the local mast) but you may still get slow speeds - this may be congestion or something - not enough umph from vodafone to cope with local use I dont know - nor do vodafone.
If you regularly get 550kbs that is better than me - tonight I am getting near that for seconds but mostly my speeds are in the bps, sometimes 20 - 50kbs and occasional 100kbs+ so using the internet is punctuated by many many time outs Good luck!

[WildThing!]

Well a bit later - 6 months in fact, I persevered with O2 and it has given consistent d/l speeds of 550 Kbps. I was made an offer on Fri in the local 3 Store of a rolling £5 pm 2Gig deal with the Huawei mifi for £49.99. Got home plugged it in and got 4 Megs d/l first test but 890 K thereafter. Then tried the Oh-poo dongle again and got 880K, but today Sunday it has been giving 2.7 Megs d/l all day and I am pleased, but I will keep the 3 Mifi cos it is well cool.

As many will know, the 3 signal is generally great outdoors for your phone but can drop pretty drastically indoors. With the Mifi you can leave it on your windowsill where it gets a good signal and sit where you like in the room. Take it to work and your mates can use it for surfing as you can connect up to 5 devices and two or three folk sharing 890 kbps is better than some of the speeds I've read about on here.

Will I desert Voda for my main contract when it expires after I have stayed with them for 4 years? Probably, cos the more I use 3 the better I like it.