Mobile Broadband - K3520 keeps 'searching for network'

[jcloco]

My dongle suddenly stopped working this morning when perfectly fine last night, now it won't even connect and continues to 'search for network' after a few minutes it then comes up with a message to register my sim card as it needs to be activated before it connects to a network. This is strange seeing as I've had my pay monthly mobile broadband for months now with no problems, could anyone shed any light on what has happened please?

[Retired-Andy_V]

Hi James

The red light indicates that the dongle is not picking up a network in the area that you are in. This could indicate that there is a problem with the Maltese network in your area but it could also indicate a problem with your equipment. It sounds like the advisor you were speaking to has barred and then unbarred the roaming on your account to see if that would kick start your connection.

Can you tell me if you are able to make a data connection from your mobile phone at the moment? This would at least allow us to rule out or identify any network issues you may be experiencing. It may also be worth putting your Dongle SIM into a mobile handset to see if it will pick up a network that way.

Let us know how you get on with these checks and hopefully we will be able to get you back online soon.

Cheers

Andy H
eForum Team

[obrienja]

Hi James

The red light indicates that the dongle is not picking up a network in the area that you are in. This could indicate that there is a problem with the Maltese network in your area but it could also indicate a problem with your equipment. It sounds like the advisor you were speaking to has barred and then unbarred the roaming on your account to see if that would kick start your connection.

Can you tell me if you are able to make a data connection from your mobile phone at the moment? This would at least allow us to rule out or identify any network issues you may be experiencing. It may also be worth putting your Dongle SIM into a mobile handset to see if it will pick up a network that way.

Let us know how you get on with these checks and hopefully we will be able to get you back online soon.

Cheers

Andy H
eForum Team

Hi Andy,

Thanks for your quick response. As I said above when swapping the sims means the dongle sim cannot connect to Vodafone Malta but my phone sim in the dongle flashes a blue light and finds a network. Also I can make a data connection from my mobile. I can also assure you that there is no issue with Vodafone Malta's 3G connection as a colleague's dongle works fine alongside mine - suggesting the problem lies with blocks on the UK side.

regards,
James.

[obrienja]

Hi Andy,

I swapped the sims one more time mostly out of frustration and it magically started working... I've got no clue why - just an IT Crowd style "have you tried switching it off and on" moment on the network I guess...

regards,

James.