Need help with mobile broadband

[stevefisher571]

First off I live in a shared house and internet is included in the rent, the service is very poor though plus it's shared which makes it even worse at times, not much I can do about it as the landlord won't let me have my own line installed so I've been looking for a decent data only deal, yesterday I signed up for a 50gb contract for one month just to see if it's suitable for me before commiting to a longer deal.

I got the contract from Carphone Warehouse, I'd explained to them what I was after, my phone is a OnePlus 3, it's dual sim and I currently have a Three PAYG sim in it, I can set up a personal hotspot on it but it's not allowed on PAYG so it stops working as soon as they detect it so I wanted a data only sim that I could use as a personal hotspot and was told this should work no problem so signed up.

Now after getting the sim I've got two problems, firstly I can only get a 3g connection, the OnePlus 3 supports FDD-LTE: Bands 1/3/5/7/8/20 (think Vodafone 4g uses 7 & 20?) and there shouldn't be any issue with coverage as I live in the centre of Doncaster, it's not a big one for me as the 3g download speed is over 4 times faster than the ADSL in my house and upload was over 3mbps compared to 500kbps on ADSL but I would prefer 4g seeing as I'm paying for it.

Secondly, when I set a personal hotspot up I can connect to it but don't get an internet connection, I've tested with my PC, PS4, another smartphone, my housemate's phone and an assistant's phone when I went back to Carphone Warehouse today, all the same, I can switch the data to use my Three sim and get 4g plus tethering works OK so pulling my hair out here

I've tried the Vodafone sim in both slots on the phone plus on it's own in case the Three sim was causing problems which makes no difference, I've been into a Vodaphone store where I had to deal with a woman who didn't have a clue because the phone isn't a Samsung or iPhone and I've phoned Vodafone support and been passed from pillar to post with nobody having a clue how to sort it, I've also tried live chat a couple of times with the aim of cancelling the contract but this always seems to freeze when it gets to the nitty gritty bit (how convinient)

The only thing I can think of is the APN settings but did a lot of searching last night and have tried quite a few different ones without any working so is there anybody who's had similar problems and can help me or am I best off just cancelling the contract?

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi,

Vodafone uses 

When looking at Apn Settings I turn to Geeqsquad. 

The options for Android are >

From the home screen:

Tap the Menu button
Tap Settings
Tap Wireless and networks or More... (depending on your version of Android)
Tap Mobile Networks
Tap Access point names
Tap the Menu button
Tap New APN
Enter the following data into the onscreen form, without changing any other settings;
Name - Vodafone Internet
APN - internet (PAYG - pp.vodafone.co.uk)
Username - web (PAYG - wap)
Password - web (PAYG - wap)
MMSC - http://mms.vodafone.co.uk/servlets/mms
MMS Proxy - 212.183.137.12
MMS Port - 8799
Authentication type - PAP
APN type - If given a choice, select internet+mms, if the keyboard appears enter *
(As a check, the image below shows blue text in the fields you should have completed)
Tap the Menu button
Tap Save
Enable the newly-added APN by ensuring the line is ticked, or the radio button is lit by tapping on it
Check the notification bar for 4G, H, 3G, E or G with up and down arrows beside it, which will indicate your connection is working.

The Vodafone Network Checker will show what you could expect in an area when looking at signsl and speeds but is an indication not a guarantee. 

Vodafone Network Checker.

The good point about Vodafone is that Tethering is available on Pay Monthly and Payg.

Sometimes issues can arise due to the model of phone.

i.e. It's hard sometimes to get it working on an iPhone than it is on an Android such as a Samsung Galaxy model on Payg. 

My experience with some dual sim phones is that the 2nd slot can only sometimes give 3G. Not sure about your phone. 

[stevefisher571]

Thanks for the quick reply.

Those APN settings are the one's I'm currently using but have tried a few others, always the same result.

I'd already checked the coverage yesterday (which is solid purple for my area on 4g) as well as the frequencies my phone can recieve as I knew earlier OnePlus models only worked with a few UK bands, it all looks like it should work.

I'm guessing it is down to my phone, I've tried the sim on it's own and it's still the same so doubt it's anything to do with being dual sim, it doesn't seem to matter which order I put them in as my Three sim will always give me 4g if I switch the data to use that sim while Vodafone only gives 3g in either slot.

Thanks anyway, think I'm going to cancel the contract tomorrow if live chat manages not to freeze.

[stevefisher571]

Would this work? http://www.argos.co.uk/product/4445032

On the Vodafone store it's £50 with 6gb of data, I'm guessing you can swap the sim once the bundled data has been used? there are contracts available but I'd rather not have the hassle of canceling the one I've got already just to get another.

[BandOfBrothers]

That unit takes a standard SIM card size so you'd need to  use a plastic SIM card adapter to seat your nano sim in.

They are available from the network shops and some £1 shops. 

I personally wouldn't action a sim swap from nano to standard SIM card in this situation. 

The other advice id give is that these things are not meant for heavy internet usage as data can be used quite fast.

[stevefisher571]

OK

It's not really for heavy use but just to use at busy times, my housemate is currently gaming so the connection here is crawling right now and I'm struggling to browse the web on my pc never mind do anything else so am using my phone instead now which isn't ideal, I took a 30 day rolling contract just to see how much I'd use being sensible but I know I can easily use the full 50gb if there's anything left at the end of the month, I just want a backup for when I need it which is usually 2 or 3 hours in a evening

[BandOfBrothers]

Hey,

I just thought I'd mention it because the data allowances that come with a mobile contract is for phones which access less rich pages than a Computer. 

So tethering can / will use that allowance faster than a phone would. 

It maybe beneficial to speak with the Internet Service Provider (ISP) to see if they can improve speeds at their end, check the line for noise and or provide a better package.

A person at home can use wired connection instead of wireless. 

Change wireless channel as the as the one being used maybe suffering from congestion. 

Split the frequencies within the router to 2.4ghz and 5ghz if it allows this. I find hooking up to 2.4ghz on my BT HH 5 gives me a better experience. 

Replace the Router could be an option. The ISP may do this for a fee or even free of charge.

Lots of tips are available by a Google Search.