Mobile Broadband Experiences
- Thread starter radderfire
- Start date
T Mobile USB stick user here and it is, in my opinion, completely pointless. 
I'm actually wondering if there's something wrong with the USB stick or the way I have it installed and set up on my laptop, it's that slow.
Google takes about 1 minute to load up and it's hardly a "content rich" web page.
This is on GPRS as there are only a few places local to me that I can get a 3G signal. On GPRS it downloads, according to the download manager software thingy, at about 3-4 kbps ( if I'm lucky!! ). I've never had an HSDPA signal so I've no idea what it's like on that.
I find this bizarre because if I hook my Vario II mobile phone up to my laptop and use it as a USB modem in the same area, it happily loads pages up and downloads at well over dialup speed which is perfectly useable for web browsing.
Not impressed with the T Mobile USB stick so far to be honest. It's the latest version I have as well, the Huawei USB stick (dubbed web’n'walk Stick III).
And the other annoying thing is the low quality image rendering, but I think a lot of mobile internet access doohickeys have this issue.
I'm actually wondering if there's something wrong with the USB stick or the way I have it installed and set up on my laptop, it's that slow.
Google takes about 1 minute to load up and it's hardly a "content rich" web page.
This is on GPRS as there are only a few places local to me that I can get a 3G signal. On GPRS it downloads, according to the download manager software thingy, at about 3-4 kbps ( if I'm lucky!! ). I've never had an HSDPA signal so I've no idea what it's like on that.
I find this bizarre because if I hook my Vario II mobile phone up to my laptop and use it as a USB modem in the same area, it happily loads pages up and downloads at well over dialup speed which is perfectly useable for web browsing.
Not impressed with the T Mobile USB stick so far to be honest. It's the latest version I have as well, the Huawei USB stick (dubbed web’n'walk Stick III).
And the other annoying thing is the low quality image rendering, but I think a lot of mobile internet access doohickeys have this issue.
- Joined
- 24 Sep 2007
- Posts
- 5,629
Yes, under GPRS then a USB modem is extremely slow (much slower than dial-up as you have said). However, in a 3G area, the T-Mobile USB modem is capable of performing well, as is the one from Vodafone.
I am guessing that the reason your phone is faster for web browsing is because the phone is allowed to make use of a different protocol, i.e. not GPRS, which is faster than GPRS. I suppose the network can tell what type of device is connecting and assign the protocol accordingly.
Rgds
I am guessing that the reason your phone is faster for web browsing is because the phone is allowed to make use of a different protocol, i.e. not GPRS, which is faster than GPRS. I suppose the network can tell what type of device is connecting and assign the protocol accordingly.
Rgds
I have been using 3 for the last 12 months and it was average at best. I have just got a new updated dongle and now it is way way better than before. Its expensed by my company so I have renewed the contract but downgraded to basic package as not using it much TBH.
With 3: I've used both the older E220 dongle, the E160, E169 and Nokia N95 8GB / Nokia E71 to access the internet and I have to say, the older E220 wasn't that good - however using the newer modems and also the Nokia handsets, I find I get around 200k/sec and this is at peak times.
I have to admit, before they upgraded our local mast - it was rather poor. Sometimes the speeds fell to rather terrible rates.
I think it all really depends on 1) the number of E1s at each site [backhaul] 2) the distance to the mast, 3) the materials between you and the mast, 4) the number of users on the site.
Just a reminder though, when using 3 - you can only use their network for mobile broadband. For handsets, you can roam onto Orange but this has been disabled for dongle use.
I have to admit, before they upgraded our local mast - it was rather poor. Sometimes the speeds fell to rather terrible rates.
I think it all really depends on 1) the number of E1s at each site [backhaul] 2) the distance to the mast, 3) the materials between you and the mast, 4) the number of users on the site.
Just a reminder though, when using 3 - you can only use their network for mobile broadband. For handsets, you can roam onto Orange but this has been disabled for dongle use.