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3G experiment

Gigabit

ULTIMATE Member
Hi everyone,

We've got an excellent router that supports connecting a 3G/4G dongle to it to provide internet access.

Therefore, what I'd like to do is to try connecting a 3G/4G dongle to it, to see the sort of speeds we can expect.

From testing a tethered DC-HSDPA phone to a laptop, I obtained speeds of ~20Mbps, which are a lot faster than our landline speeds of ~7Mbps.

We've got a Three 3G/4G SIM card all ready to go, so what I'd like to buy is a relatively cheap USB dongle that I could connect to the router. Can somebody recommend one for me?

We can look at getting a dedicated router later on, but for now I'd just like to "put my foot in the door", as it were.

Thanks!
 
If you just want to try it out, given we only live 300m apart - you're welcome to pop round and borrow our E3276 Three DC-HSPA dongle.

We went over to EE 4G which is appreciably faster than Three 3G DC-HSPA - EE was actually down on Friday night so the above dongle got used for the first time in months but we don't normally need it.

Obviously it comes down to signal strength where you are, I think the Orange/T-Mobile/EE cell is up at the other end of the field in the direction of Holyborne and so it's nearer us than you, plus we're on "higher ground". But if experimenting with mobile broadband which isn't going to have a hard time beating ADSL speeds in both directions round here, try 4G if you can.

Worth checking the compatibility list for your router as the biggest issue with trying to plug dongles into mobile broadband routers is that the router needs to know the "dial out protocol" for it to work and none of the manufacturers ever really keep up with the changing specs. For example we also have an old E367 Three dongle - more likely compatible - but that isn't DC and doesn't perform as well - you'd be hard-pressed to see more than 12 Meg down with it.

The E3276 is locked to Three as far as I know so it's only going to be of use if that's the network you're trying. If you want to borrow it reply back/drop me a PM and I'll tell you which house it is, if you don't know already :)
 
Hi Mark,

I understand that you have a roof antenna for your dongle. Would you mind sharing the model number/name?
 
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Fairly sure it was/is this one

http://www.solwise.co.uk/3g-antenna-lpda-0092.html

That worked with the E367 dongle. You can't plug it into the E3256 one as it doesn't have an antenna flap/socket. It's also pointing at the Three cell next to the phone exchange on the far embankment of the dual carriageway - you can actually see that from the roof of this house - so it isn't used now.

When it was used, this significantly improved signal strength and the greatest differences were the upstream and most especially the latency.

I would have it turned around to point at the EE one except for the fact that 4G needs two antennae not one to work optimally, and the dongle returns decent enough speeds all by itself though I'd be intrigued to see what is possible, seeing something like 50 Meg downstream (well, one can hope/imagine/dream), twice what it is capable of now, would be incredible for round here.

I have it shared round the house using Windows ICS and a reconfigured router at the moment. I did and do plan to buy a 4G router and get the two external antennae but it hasn't been enough of a priority thus far.
 
Thank you.

Looking at the specs, the E367 uses a CRC9 port for the antenna and this antenna uses SMA. Would I need to get some sort of adaptor in that case?
 
Yes, you need something called a pigtail connector SMA > CRC9

I have one of those, have tried to take some photos but the resolution isn't great...

dongle.jpg

connector.jpg
 
This is what I'm looking forward to - and according to EE, should be here soon..

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/showthread.php/33526-EE-4G-Home

A bit more affordable and comes with the necessary router.

We often spend Friday nights getting drunk and reminiscing about old music watching it on YouTube (!) for hours. Two phones, an iPad and a PC all connected too. Streams HD beautifully.

And goes through data like running water at that resolution. Have gone through 10GB in three days before when hammering it. 10GB = £30.

Mind you EE is performing abysmally today. Hoping that is related to Friday's outage and will get fixed ASAP. The outage is the second in about 9 months (don't know how long it lasted, as I plugged in the Three dongle) and this is the first time the speeds have dropped like this.

Three on the other hand was delivering 12 Meg down this morning before I plugged EE back in, which was at the lower bound of the range of its performance when I used it.
 
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Thanks for the info.

Luckily, I've found a way to get unlimited data on Three - but shhh because I don't think it's technically allowed ;)

I don't think I'm ready to attach an antenna to the roof just yet, so can you recommend an antenna that I can stick to the wall or the window or something similar?
 
Even a simple cheap antenna might well squeeze that extra bit of performance from it.

You could get a panel one if you think you can attach it somewhere just by leaning out of the window, or an upright pointy one (very technical!) that you put on the window sill facing/nearest to the cell.

http://www.solwise.co.uk/3g-antenna-indoor.htm

Check the connectors - Solwise also sell the adapters too.
 
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That's about normal for Three round here. Or it was just before the network fell to bits about a year ago - seems sorted now.

I'd say you'd get a marginal improvement with an antenna, but not such that it's worth spending a huge amount of cash.

The fastest I ever saw with it was 21Mbps down. Contention and about 2800m of distance knock away the other potential 21Mbps.
 
Not today it isn't ;)

The latency and speed are horrendous at the moment. Something Is Broken Somewhere since Friday night at about 19:30.

OK, it's still much quicker than ADSL, but you get used to the speeds :) and you get used to that upstream very quickly.

Having a 1GB file to upload changes from a near insurmountable endless task to being a breeze.
 
Damn I wish I could get EE 4G, but the caps are just too low :(

Hopefully Three 4G arrives soon - Alton is on the list for Three 4G by the end of the year, as is Bentley!!!
 
Well, we did get the DC-HSPA (Dual Channel) upgrade so I fully expect we'll see Three 4G here. I'll be interested to see how that performs versus EE.

As we don't have a landline we can put the £16 a month or whatever it is towards the 4G. Video calling on Skype works nicely.

Neither Three nor EE will work for everyone in the village, but having these two networks capable of supplying pretty decent broadband speeds puts us in a very good position versus many other rural areas who only have access to ADSL/2G if anything at all.

BT might even get around to installing their trailing edge "fibre-optic" (giggle) solution next year too, so that's three options.
 
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Mark,

I am assuming you've dealt with Solwise? Are they a good company to buy from?

I'll have the Distance Selling Regs on my side anyway but just interested really.
 
They are a very helpful company if you get the right person - really knowledgeable and that's quite rare in the mobile broadband arena. If you have questions and post them on their site you should get a good answer.

Their range of modems and routers has always been a bit dated though it may have improved recently. But then the UK seems really backward for mobile broadband compared with the kit you can get in other countries.
 
When setting up my little 3g network on 3 mobile using GSM signal & opensignal android apps really helped detect the best location.
The system works well for me during the day, 8-16Mbps down and 2-4Mbps up. On an evening when the networks are busy it can be useless. During the day it can have short periods when it disappears.
To get the antenna in the best place I attached it to a 10m wooden pole, and went round the property. Simply attached the pole to the house with bungies to give it a run in each spot. At ground level here you may or may not get a signal.
I have dealt with Solwise and they are a very good company. The equipment I used was from gsm-antennas.co.uk who were also very helpful & knowledgeable
 
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