Vodafone Mobile Broadband - Using A 3G Dongle In Spain

[gobiker56]

I live most of the time in Spain and have got a 3g dongle on a monthly account. I have looked for a forum in Spain in English without success. So I have joined this forum. Anyway my problem is that the download speeds here are half what they are in the UK despite being in a strong signal area, I can see the mast from my house. The download speeds can be very low indeed but on the average they are half what is advertised, despite the strong signal. Is there anything I can do to speed up the download? or is the download speed kept low for any reason (I am on unlimited download) the thing is, it seems pot luck wether I have fast or slow download, there is no time when it is better or worse, it is completely random. Any advice gratefully recieved.

[Retired-Reidar]

Hello Gphwar and thanks for posting, also a warm welcome to the eForum.

Without being able to look into your account (on Spanish dongle number0 we can't really identify whether there are any problems, however speed is also dependant on what that specific Cell site is pushing out.

You could contact Vodafone Spain and get a reading on what the site is capable of. i would also advise alternating browser, my two favourites are Google Chrome and Opera 9which is especially quick), give these a try to see if there is a marked improvement.

Finally removing the sim from the dongle and inserting it into a mobile phone may help refresh its connection to the network.

Thanks

Reidar

eForum Team

[gobiker56]

Thanks for the quick reply Reidar. I will try what you have advised. It's very difficult using the Spanish service line as those that do speak English are just front line not the technical staff. My Spanish is not good enough for these technical areas. I have spoken to all the other dongle users in the village (there are quite a few of us) and they all get low speeds, again about 50% of the speeds advertised measured over a month. The local vodafone dealer says that is the case throughout the area so I suspect I shall have to put up with it, which is a real shame because it is very expensive here in Spain for broadband (49.00 Euros a month for just internet connection).

[gobiker56]

I have tried all that has been suggested with no increase in speed. What I have noticed however is the download speed is all over the place from 0 to (rarely) 1.2MPS but it usually just jumps between 43 to 640 KBPS so it is capable of fast speeds. I am just not getting them consistantly. Is that something I am doing wrong? or is this normal? It strangley seems too that when I switch to the advanced view from say the UTUBE video the speed increases as I look, when I navigate away from the advanced viewer the speed drops and can actually stop until I go back to the advanced viewer and it will start up again, go to a high speed, then slowly drop again.

[Retired-George]

Hi gphwar,

Thank you for your replies. It sounds like you may be in an area of patchy signal, however without access to the Spanish coverage maps, I've no way of checking this for you.

I'd definitely recommend getting in touch with Vodafone Spain as they'll be able to assist you with this query more than we can in the UK.

George
eForum Team