Vodafone K3520 - I'm Not Getting Any Traffic On A 3G Connection

[Memphis]

Hi everyone,

I've been a user of Vodafone Mobile Broadband for a little over a year now and have had absolutely no issues up until a few months ago. I noticed that my connection became very flakey. I would be browsing away, then all of a sudden pages would stop loading. After leaving it for a while, or unplugging the dongle and reconnecting, I would usually be able to get back on. This has then gotten progressively worse over the last couple of months to where I would be without service more than it worked.

Yesterday, for reasons I can't begin to explain, I took the SIM card out of the dongle. I noticed a fingerprint over the contacts, so carefully cleaned them up. Since doing so, my connection is infinitely more stable, but I now have a very consistant problem when the dongle is connected to the 3G service.

When the dongle shows a green light for GPRS or a light blue light for 3G+, the dongle works perfectly. The connection is solid and browsing works without problem. When the dongle shows a dark blue light for 3G, I get absolutely no traffic at all. The browser will sit saying "Waiting for response from...". More often than not, the dongle will then flick back to 3G+ and the website will load no problem.

I have tried multiple versions of the VMC software from the one that the dongle installs to the latest download direct from Vodafone. The problem is the same no matter what software is used.

I suspect that the dongle itself is the problem, but I'm not really sure what to do about it. I'm only just half way through a 2 year contract, so I hope I can get this resolved as currently the dongle is extremely frustrating to use!

Cheers,

Memphis

[Retired-BenJ]

Hi Memphis

Interesting problem.

From the sounds of it, maybe the 3g module inside the modem has become damaged some how, this would explain the issue, also it may be the local 3G site itself causing this issue.

Could you provide the postcode in which your having this problem, and I can check to rule this out for you.

Thanks
BenJ
eForum Team
Vodafone UK

[Memphis]

Thanks Ben .

My post code is IV2 3UJ.

[Retired-BenJ]

Hi Memphis.

Thanks for that speedy response. looking at this postcode location, we have 3 new 3G sites that are currently being built so in a few months the signal should be much much better. I've just checked the local serving Cell in the area, all looks to be okay. I can rule out the network causing this issue. My best suggestion now would be to repair the device. Let me know how this gets on once it's back from repair, and if there's anything more we can do please post.

Thanks

BenJ
eForum Team

[Memphis]

Thanks again Ben. Certainly good news on the extra 3G sites!

Not having any luck with your link though I'm afraid, unless I'm missing something! It just seems to drop me back to the eForum intro page?

[Memphis]

Hi again Ben,

Apologies for chasing but I'm quite anxious to get this resolved as quickly as I can. Could you possibly take a look at the link you've provided as it doesn't appear to take me anywhere relevant?

Thanks again for your help,

Memphis

[Retired-Reidar]

Hi Memphis

Apologies for that, it appears the link is broken.

I've linked to two additional sources of information, the first being on the Vodafone website, under '

Can I use Vodafone's phone and device repair service?
And the second being an FAQ on the forumwith similarly handy information.

Regards

Reidar

eForum Team

[Memphis]

Thanks very much Reidar .