Vodafone Mobile Connect (VMC) - E172 Modem & Mac Os 10.6 (snow Leopard) Continuing

[chrismarsden]

Hello:

Been trying to post on the original Vodafone Mobile Connect (VMC) - E172 Modem & Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard) topic, but it now says it has been locked. Maybe because it makes the v/fone people just look a bit dim and dumb.

Well, if this gets posted, then the good news is that according to the old post there is a work around for people who have upgraded to Snow Leopard and find that their VMC isn't working. It doesn't work with the new v/fone VMC software. So what you have to do is that:

"Then I found this page downloaded the older VMC 3.04.01.00 release and got it working. Here's what I did:

- In System Preferences > Network pane, delete the old entry in the device list on the left.
- Install VMC 3.04.01.00 (forces a restart after installation)
- Launch VMC and switch to the Devices tab
- Plug in the E172
- The E172 appeared as a device in VMC.
- VMC then asks (I think) whether you want to use the E172 as the default device, say OK.
- Bingo.

What's different from how I used to use it on Leopard, is that it doesn't seem compatible with the built-in Apple modem menu icon, so I've just disabled that and use the VMC icon to connect and disconnect."

The page he is talking about where you can get VMC 3.04.01.00 is here You will need to scroll down a bit to where he is talking about the Austrian A1 website and there is a direct link in the sentence after it to download the 3.0.4.01.00 VMC

I am using a MacAirBook and and E172 dongle. I also have another laptop (older white one) and use an iMac. On both of those I installed Snow Leopard too and my E172 still worked, I guess because it still had the old VMC software on it. However, with the MAB I had done a clean install and all my software needed to be reinstalled. I think I just downloaded VMC from v/fone and of course it gave me an updated version which evidently doesn't work with Snow Leopard. So, I'm grateful for the threads that I found on this site that directed me to reinstall the old VMC 3.04.01.00 software, and hey presto it works as described above. One thing I did notice that during the installation I got a warning message about something not having been installed, but it doesn't seem to have made a difference.

Now to V/fone and their incompetence. Really ! Reading the original locked thread I shared the frustration of others that V/fone hadn't worked through this ages before the release of Snow Leopard, even if SL was released a few days early. And, even more surprisingly, why didn't V/fone in the absence of a fix realise what others have come to work out for themselves that you can get VMC 3.04.01.00 to work with SL ? I mean, if we can do it (well not me, but some clever other person who found out that he had problems with SL and V/fone) then why couldn't V/fone. I pay them a lot of money for things to work and expect them to work. I don't expect lame excuses such as - "oh we weren't able to begin work on it until we had a copy of SL, and anyhow, they released it early (3 days !) and that caught us off guard" ! Come on V/fone, start taking us and our money seriously - otherwise we might think of going somewhere else. Well, infact, I will just as soon as my contract with you ends !

[Retired-Jon_V]

Hi chrismarsden,

I'm glad the workaround has resolved your issue.

With regards to your other comments, I understand the frustration, but we do not develop the Vodafone Mobile Connect software ourselves. We have been putting considerable pressure on the company responsible to get a resolution, but at the end of the day we are at the mercy of their own testing and timescales. There are already versions with us that now fix this issue, but they unfortunately need to undergo our own set of testing to make sure they work effectively to our own standards before we can then make them public.

This is all in hand, and we can only apologise for the apparent lack of support in a timely fashion.

Jon

eForum Team

[Slobbo]

It is now the 5 of October and still nothing new. How about an update, ETA or even better a working piece of software? Last update on the official thread was the 9th September. I expected this to be quick.

[Retired-Jon_V]

Hi RobertC,

The latest information we have expects a release to take place within the next two weeks, but this is dependant on whether the software passes or fails testing, which it is undergoing at the moment. We will of course update with information of the release when it happens

Jon

eForum Team

[grahamix]

I'm trying to use VMB 3.04.11.00 with an E172 and a MacBook Pro running 10.6.2

In an environment where there are no competing towers - i.e. I'm stuck on a reasonably solid but slow 2G connection in rural backwoods East Sussex - it stays connected fine (half an hour connected and counting)

However, if I'm in any kind of environment where there are competing towers and the dongle tries to switch between different 3G and 2G connections, not only does the damned thing disconnect every few minutes, but the entire bloated application bombs out, restarts and bounces around the screen as it reconnects. So that would be London or any place other than rural backwoods East Sussex.

It was particularly embarassing to be presenting a new online service to the Finance Chief of a large London hospital and have to continually apologise for the internet connection bombing out during the demo.

I've tried looking in my Console to see if there are any messages that would be useful for debugging, but the Vodafone logs in Console make no record of the application crash. Not terribly useful.

My colleague's 3 MiFi works very smoothly with Macs as it appears simply as a wifi network. In their wisdom Voda have decided to launch their MiFi product in Romania but not the UK. Snort.

Its very frustrating that the VMB software completely takes over the modem in network settings - I'd like to give it a go running the device without the Vodafone software getting in the way. Surely all I need is the driver (check) and the dial-up settings (check) - but now the device appears as inactive unless the VMB software is running.

[Retired-Wayne]

Hi Graham and welcome to the eForum

Thanks for your post here. I can totally appreciate how frustrating this must be for you.

I can only imagine that you are getting these problems because you are in network areas with both sets of signal and there but the 3G isn't quite strong enough to hold down the connection. One thing you can try is to change the network selection to 2G only or 3G only. This will then allow the modem to hold the connection.

To get more options on the VMC for connectivity then you can switch to a slightly older version of VMC. We don't offer it for online download anymore but have managed to find it on Vodacom's website in South Africa. Uninstall the old version first then download the new one, make sure you select the UK when prompted - Vodafone Mobile Connect

Please let me know how you get on and if you have any further questions just give us a shout

Thanks

Wayne

eForum Team