I have just purchased a new computer and after doing some research tethering appeared to be the best option available for me. Location, lack of a land line and not wanting a contract were big factors in my decision. Everyone I spoke to initially that has tethered before said that USB tethering with a 4G connection would be quick enough to surf the web and play games. When I researched it on the internet lots of articles said it would be as fast as my mobile phones connection ( or there aboutd) and that it was becoming an increasingly popular option for people with 4G LTE.
Unfortunately I haven't had any success with it. I can't get the internet to load anything other than Google.com and I can't even download Mcafee anti-virus software. Unfortunately this hasn't been limited to just USB tethering I have experienced a similar outcome with all three tethering methods at my disposal. Bluetooth, wifi and USB tethering all seem to quickly established a connection with a good signal strength to my PC, coupled with upload/download speed that was lower than the slowest of dial up connections that was available in 1995. I managed to load Google and that was pretty much it. When I use Ookla speed test on my mobile it registers as having an average ping of 50, a download speed of 40mbps and an upload speed of 10 -15mbps so the phone itself has a reasonably strong 4G connection. I would do a speedtest from the computer end for comparison but its that slow I literally couldn't load it.
I am USB tethering using a high speed cable and a USB 3.0 port. I have a galaxy S4 with unlimited data on the 3 network(which I am starting to think is my problem) and I have windows 10 installed as my operating system (bing sucks lol). I have been using PdaNet+ as my tethering application because it seems to work better than the phones built in tethering and was the only app on Google play that specifically said it worked on Windows 10. After a decent scan of the internet and the many articles floating around it appears that the phone network I am using may have a hidden catch to its supposed 'All you can eat' data plan and that catch is I am not allowed to tether with it. You would actually be surprised at how patchy and conflicting the information was regarding the phone service I am with. I found articles online that said you could tether with 3, one article that said that you wouldn't be able too soon, another article that said you have a 2 Gig limit on contract plans and another article that said you can not tether at all. The 3 official website didn't say anything specifically about the PAYG deal I am using/abusing but I am pretty sure they don't want the connection shared to other devices. I was originally thinking windows 10 or my mobile device were the problem but now I am starting to think that my carrier may be the source of my tethering woes. Now I was under the impression that when a service provider doesn't want you to tether they would block your connection completely or you would have a webpage display like a firewall saying you are not allowed to use your service in such a way. I however haven't experienced anything like this, I have just experienced slowness. Or alternatively I could have been spotted tethering and 3 are now throttling my connection. I don't know enough about throttling to say whether or not that is definitely what is happening. It just seems bizzare that they could squeeze my speed so much it is unbareable but possible to use the internet. I figured throttling was a matter of dropping your phone speed from a 4G service down to 2G which theoretically would be quite slow but not struggle to load Google slow. Even if that was the case though shouldn't PDAnet+ be hiding that I am tethering? It says it does and I have experimented with lots of the settings with no change in connected speed.
Sorry for such a long post and apologies for any incorrect terminology or lacking information. I just wanted to share as much as possible in the hopes that someone who is more switched on could help. I was told that the Overclockers community were really helpful and I know a lot of you will have more of an understanding than me. Ive already had people say to me that the best idea would be to pay for broadband buy but my circumstances won't allow anything other than tethering. I really want this to work and other people seem to have success with it so any advice at all would be greatly appreciated.
Kind Regards
Liam Hughes
Unfortunately I haven't had any success with it. I can't get the internet to load anything other than Google.com and I can't even download Mcafee anti-virus software. Unfortunately this hasn't been limited to just USB tethering I have experienced a similar outcome with all three tethering methods at my disposal. Bluetooth, wifi and USB tethering all seem to quickly established a connection with a good signal strength to my PC, coupled with upload/download speed that was lower than the slowest of dial up connections that was available in 1995. I managed to load Google and that was pretty much it. When I use Ookla speed test on my mobile it registers as having an average ping of 50, a download speed of 40mbps and an upload speed of 10 -15mbps so the phone itself has a reasonably strong 4G connection. I would do a speedtest from the computer end for comparison but its that slow I literally couldn't load it.
I am USB tethering using a high speed cable and a USB 3.0 port. I have a galaxy S4 with unlimited data on the 3 network(which I am starting to think is my problem) and I have windows 10 installed as my operating system (bing sucks lol). I have been using PdaNet+ as my tethering application because it seems to work better than the phones built in tethering and was the only app on Google play that specifically said it worked on Windows 10. After a decent scan of the internet and the many articles floating around it appears that the phone network I am using may have a hidden catch to its supposed 'All you can eat' data plan and that catch is I am not allowed to tether with it. You would actually be surprised at how patchy and conflicting the information was regarding the phone service I am with. I found articles online that said you could tether with 3, one article that said that you wouldn't be able too soon, another article that said you have a 2 Gig limit on contract plans and another article that said you can not tether at all. The 3 official website didn't say anything specifically about the PAYG deal I am using/abusing but I am pretty sure they don't want the connection shared to other devices. I was originally thinking windows 10 or my mobile device were the problem but now I am starting to think that my carrier may be the source of my tethering woes. Now I was under the impression that when a service provider doesn't want you to tether they would block your connection completely or you would have a webpage display like a firewall saying you are not allowed to use your service in such a way. I however haven't experienced anything like this, I have just experienced slowness. Or alternatively I could have been spotted tethering and 3 are now throttling my connection. I don't know enough about throttling to say whether or not that is definitely what is happening. It just seems bizzare that they could squeeze my speed so much it is unbareable but possible to use the internet. I figured throttling was a matter of dropping your phone speed from a 4G service down to 2G which theoretically would be quite slow but not struggle to load Google slow. Even if that was the case though shouldn't PDAnet+ be hiding that I am tethering? It says it does and I have experimented with lots of the settings with no change in connected speed.
Sorry for such a long post and apologies for any incorrect terminology or lacking information. I just wanted to share as much as possible in the hopes that someone who is more switched on could help. I was told that the Overclockers community were really helpful and I know a lot of you will have more of an understanding than me. Ive already had people say to me that the best idea would be to pay for broadband buy but my circumstances won't allow anything other than tethering. I really want this to work and other people seem to have success with it so any advice at all would be greatly appreciated.
Kind Regards
Liam Hughes
