K3805-z at fault?

[Mads]

Please forgive me if I sound irritated in this post, but to be frank, I'm down right furious.

I've had mobile broadband with vodafone for quite a while now, but relatively recently upgraded to the k3905-z dongle as I resigned into a new contract.

Since then I've been getting disconnects at least twice a night (bear in mind I use this dongle while I work nights, so I only actually want the thing to work properly for 7 or 8 nights out of 28). Alongside the disconnects I'm finding that all of a sudden the data transfer just... 

stops. No upload, no download, nothing at all. I cant navigate to web pages, or use any sort of IM because as far as its concerned, I'm not connected to the net.

Last night was the worst I've seen in a long while... disconnecting me every six minutes or so, while also not actually doing anything when it says it is connected.

Which brings me onto the software, the Vodafone Mobile Connect thing. This is an astonishingly awful piece of software. I have to tell it to actually run four or five times before it'll actually do so, then when the dongle disconnects, I go to the VMC to reconnect and lo, whats this... according to the software, I'm still connected.

Maybe it takes a while to catch up, a few seconds perhaps. I left it last night and after fifteen minutes of not being connected, told it to disconnect myself. Which it took nine minutes to do. And THEN, when I finally was able to hit connect... it sits there saying its connecting but actually is doing precisely nothiing

Before anyone says my signal is obviously duff, I'll point out that my mobile, which isn't the greatest in terms of signal acquisition, was sat beside the dongle all night and received a solid HSUPA connection all night.

So come on, whats the deal here?.

[Mads]

Incidentally, while typing the above message, the connection switched to gprs and back to hsupa/3g three times, refused to do anything the first time I submitted the message and then, after switching to gprs again, disconnected me once more.

[Retired-Wayne]

Hi Mads

Thanks for your post here. I appreciate how frustrated you must be with this situation.

My laptop disconnects once or twice a day and that’s annoying enough!

Do you still have your old modem? Would you be able to put the SIM from your new one into your old on and see if you still have the same issue?

Can you also try updating to the latest version of the Vodafone Mobile Broadband client – VMB Software

Also, just in case there is a problem with your local cell site, can you tell me your full postcode and we’ll take a look at this too.

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

Thanks

Wayne

eForum Team

[Mads]

Thanks for the reply Wayne.

I do still have the old modem somewhere in the house but I've got no idea where, so thats not an option for the time being. Also, with it being an old modem, its speeds were much slower.

With regard to the VMB, is this a replacement/update to the VMC software I already use?

I dont believe the cell site is the issue since, as I said, my mobile gets fantastic signal all the time. I'm not comfortable posting my postcode ona  public forum, so if you're willing, I'll happily PM or email it to you, though as I say, I dont believe that to be the problem at all.

One peculiar thing I have noticed is that, contrary to advice I saw in another thread regarding this dongle, if I stop using the cable and plug directly into the laptop, the connection is more stable, which seems to go against conventional thoughts.

[DaveCD]

Hi Mads.

Thank you for your post.

I appreciate that you do not wish to post details on the forum, however we can get these without it appearing publicly. Please update your personal information that you sign in with and we can retrieve it from here.

The reason it was recommended to try your old dongle is just so we can check it definitely is the device you are currently using, and until we have the updated details we cannot check the signal. I understand your handset has great signal however different devices do pick up different strengths so it is still worth us checking the sites.

VMB is the latest software for the latest devices and is definitely worth obtaining and this may resolve the issues you are currently experiencing.

The only other thing I can think of is that there is a conflict with one of your programmes running at the same time?

Please try to close down all other programmes and use the dongle, if this works open a programme you would normally use one at a time at intervals whilst continuing to use the internet, this should show if there is a conflict.

Lat me know how you get on.

Many Thanks

DaveCD

eForum Team

[Mads]

Hi Dave thanks for your response. I've updated my postcode in my profile, so its correct. I did have a brief look for the old dongle, but really cant find it so thats still an unachievable test. I've updated the vmb software but havent had chance to test it at work, thatll happen friday. With regard to other software causing conflict, I'm fairly tech savvy so thats one of the first tests I did. Even just sitting with absolute minimum software, ie windows OS essential ones, it still acted up as much. Mads