Vodaphone 3G Quad card issiues

[monkspain]

Hi all, I got my first sony pc the tx notebook and transferred my 3 g data card. It would not work. Called the business users vodafone line and was informed it will not work on a vaio, BUT IT IS NOW. Disable blurtooth activation onboard wifi and do normal install. Ignore the dashboard in all respects. Click directly on the new connection set up in your connection list and it works fine...just no dashboard which is ok as long as u are on unlimited contract.[:">]

[kee-lo_]

What sorts of speeds can you expect from 3G in a good reception area?

[gale]

It says 384.0 kbps at the moment - I think it always says that though - even when I'm on one bar at home. I'm on four bars at the moment and I'd say it's about as fast as my broadband at busy times. When I'm at home and on one bar, it seems a bit slower - about as slow as a decent dial up service!

The best way to tell is to go to a Vodafone shop. When I rang Vodafone to ask about 3G they said that if I went to a vodafone shop, they could give a demo sort of thing 🙂

Gale XX

[kee-lo_]

Gale,

If you go to ADSLGuide.org.uk and do a speed test then you'll get an idea of what speeds you can get.

I bet the top speed will be like 520k ADSL

[gale]

Hi Kee-lo....well....it managed a pitiful 337 😞 - I'll test my broadband at home though and see what that comes out to!!

Luv
Gale XX

[mboxwell]

Funnily enough, I got a Vodafone card last week - an Option GT 3G Quad. It worked straight away without any problems.

Maybe they've finally got round to fixing this problem. My advice would be to go onto the Option site and see if there are any firmware upgrades...

[kee-lo_]

It's better than GPRS, I used to only get 57kbps

[gale]

God - don't like the sound of GPRS and my 3G card switches to that if I go out of 3G range!! So far I haven't gone out of range but when I eventually do, I'll report back how it compares 🙂 XX

[kee-lo_]

GPRS is something like £1/MB

[Sonny_Jim]

HI there!  Just thought I'd update you...I got my 3G card today - pretty quick of vodafone so pleased with that.  Out of curiosity I thought I'd try just following the instructions out of the box and if it went belly up, uninstall the vodafone software and start again.  Well, here I am, messagin you from my new 3G connection through the vodafone software too!  I dunno if there's been some update to the Vodafone software that sorts the bluetooth issue - or perhaps one of the Sony Vaio updates sorted it???  But certainly, so far so good!!!  Just off to Vodafone now to set up my account online 🙂

Luv
Gale XXX

Hiya, Gale,

Excellent news - well done!

...sorry not to have replied sooner, but really (pleasantly!) surprised the Vodafone software installed & worked for you, straight off - I don't think there's been any patch from Sony to account for it (I've double checked Sony Update)... my only guess is that your Bluetooth Manager hadn't happened to have already assigned the COM ports that got allocated to your Vodafone datacard, during its installation (I'd already set up quite a few different Bluetooth mobile phone modem connections, so maybe that exacerbated the problem), but I'd keep an eye out for the same potential problem when installing other COM port devices.

...OK, but I now see you have subsequently run into trouble with your 'Dashboard' software and card - could it possibly have been because you'd since added some new Bluetooth device?... uninstalling the Bluetooth Manager may have fixed the problem, but presumably that means you're now unable to pair new Bluetooth devices. Moreover, does Bluetooth itself still work with the Bt Mgr uninstalled?

Glad you're setting up your Vodafone online account - I've just done the same thing (it's a bit strange, though, that if you activate online billing you automatically lose your physical, paper bills - you can't choose to unsubscribe independently)... perhaps you could confirm whether you've have been given a £20 credit, Gale - I've yet to take this up with CustSvcs.

As far as connection speeds are concerned, I've only used my datacard with its Vodafone 3G SIM once (intending to save its higher speeds for when I really needed it, since I have access to very economical GPRS on Orange). For that one occasion my connection log shows a peak download rate of 391kbps (the theoretical maximum is 384!), but I've no idea what sort of real average speeds I got (the logged average is pretty meaningless in terms of network performance or one's own 'finger tapping' factor, as it's based on the whole connection period, including any periods of inactivity). I'm guessing the '384' figure you're referring to is the speed indicated in the little pop up balloon over the system tray Internet connection icon - I've found this to be just the theoretical maximum attainable, rather than a literal 'connected at' speed; hence it shows 9.6kbps for an ordinary mobile, dial up data call (CSD) and 28.8kbps for high speed dial up (HSCSD). Windows must be getting a bit confused by the Option card management software, though, because I even get '384kbps' popping up whenever connecting over GPRS with my Option card & software, rather than the correct 53.6kbps maximum displayed when connecting via Bluetooth to a GPRS handset! Anyway, I think GPRS speeds (on Orange) are generally pretty good as I have quite a few logged connections showing average rates up to 45kbps (and some of the lower figures may be just due to idle time).

FYI, Vodafone charge data on this PAYU 3G tariff at £2.35/MB incl.VAT (I don't think the price drops when the service drops down to GPRS). At this rate, I think it makes 3G mobile data, at 'near broadband' speeds, an expensive luxury for anything more than very occasional use (especially as it enables you to gobble up that overpriced data frighteningly quickly!) and for GPRS it's pretty extortionate. If you're going to be using it at all regularly, I think the Three network's 56MB for £15/month or O2's Data75 (£21.74 for 75MB) are much more attractive as lower use/cost tariffs. Personally, I'm going to carry on using Orange for my cheap GPRS-only access and maybe Vodafone PAYU 3G for occasional 'showing off'! ...and if it turns out Vodafone do 'welch' on the £20 free credit offer, then I'll probably snap their 3G SIM in half and take my free datacard elsewhere, permanently!

Regards, Lewis

[kee-lo_]

£2.35/MB?????
Rip off!