Debugging wireless broadband (split thread)

[1 wee_dancer @wee_dancer Member]

that doesnt make any sense :S.unless are you kin a city that has one of those blanket wirelss things that covers the whole city?because if your not your connection needs to come from a telephone line or something.a connection cant just be born from the pc as thats the component your trying to connect, so the connection comes from an external source

[6 General Lighting @general-lighting Moderator Staff]

hmm – if there is no router or cable modem around you may be using some sort of 3G broadband..

Does your USB dongle contain a SIM card like a mobile phone?

[1 tinkinoz @tinkinoz Member]

well i am in Australia they are a bit backwards out here, lol. i know im not coming across too clever here but its definately only a wireless devise plugged into my pc via USB, the “broadband” pack i brought over the counter came with this USB devise thing, a disk & a manual. ah hang on a min i think the vital bit of info i havent told u is that its through a mobile phone company, does that help?

[1 tinkinoz @tinkinoz Member]

u got it! sorry probably should have said that earlier :hopeless:

[1 wee_dancer @wee_dancer Member]

tinkinoz;231802 wrote:

well i am in Australia they are a bit backwards out here, lol. i know im not coming across too clever here but its definately only a wireless devise plugged into my pc via USB, the “broadband” pack i brought over the counter came with this USB devise thing, a disk & a manual. ah hang on a min i think the vital bit of info i havent told u is that its through a mobile phone company, does that help?

that helps.it must be as general says through 3g then.i dont really know much about those type of connections but i dont think their the most reliable from what other people have said since its still fairly new technology.general might be able to help you out more on that kind of connection if he knows anything

[6 General Lighting @general-lighting Moderator Staff]

I’ve moved all these posts to its own thread in the computers section.. (incidentally I think I know what this kit might be..)

[1 tinkinoz @tinkinoz Member]

ok thanks guys for helping, much appreciated, sorry people like me must do your head in

[6 General Lighting @general-lighting Moderator Staff]

nah no problem as more people are getting these (especially people living away from normal homes or students who don’t want to sign a contract) and they will end up with the same initial problems. in fact a friend of mine lives in a van and uses this same setup, and in some places he gets comms problems.

what you have got there is like a mobile phone, except you send data to it rather than talk into it.

but when you talk on a telephone it only needs 13kb/s data rate rather than broadband data which can be several megabits per second – and I expect you are familiar with times when you have gone to another area and your phone signal has broken up or garbled, or even in your house the radio signal can be blocked.

it also needs more wireless signal strength to get a good connection for this kind of data transfer.

try getting a USB extension cable – and put the device as high up as it will go, maybe near a window if possible, like you would for your portable radio or TV set..

[1 tinkinoz @tinkinoz Member]

Yeah its like u said a device with a sim card, will try USB extension cable, the cable its attached to at the moment is only like 1ft long!.
Im in “The bush” here surrounded by trees but will give it a go, Thanks v much for the help n info.

sorry this reply took so long, it dropped out again!!

[6 General Lighting @general-lighting Moderator Staff]

actually you lot in Oz are way ahead of Britain when it comes to these mobile broadband devices!

just done a bit more research and I think what you have is one of two USB modem models from Huawei (a Chinese company) provided by Singapore Telecom (who appear to have recently bought a very large stake in one of the Australian mobile firms). (is it a yellow and white device?)

if you are lucky there will be some software which shows you your signal strength (not the connection speed, this is a different thing). I expect it will have a graphic rather like an old fashioned wireless antenna, and a bar graph.

you can use this to work out where the best place for the Huawei modem is. USB extension cables go up to a maximum of 5 metres. 3 metres ones are fairly easy to get.

Or if your mobile phone is from the same company you could use that instead. Most of the new ones also have a symbol showing where 3G signal may be active.

Unfortunately I don’t know where to get this stuff in rural Australia (be careful of retail computer shops as they can be overpriced). But if you can’t find it easily a chap I work on an open source project with lives in a similar area of your country and builds all sort of clever stuff so I might be able to ask him!

[1 tinkinoz @tinkinoz Member]

@General Lighting 232037 wrote:

actually you lot in Oz are way ahead of Britain when it comes to these mobile broadband devices!

just done a bit more research and I think what you have is one of two USB modem models from Huawei (a Chinese company) provided by Singapore Telecom (who appear to have recently bought a very large stake in one of the Australian mobile firms). (is it a yellow and white device?)

if you are lucky there will be some software which shows you your signal strength (not the connection speed, this is a different thing). I expect it will have a graphic rather like an old fashioned wireless antenna, and a bar graph.

you can use this to work out where the best place for the Huawei modem is. USB extension cables go up to a maximum of 5 metres. 3 metres ones are fairly easy to get.

Or if your mobile phone is from the same company you could use that instead. Most of the new ones also have a symbol showing where 3G signal may be active.

Unfortunately I don’t know where to get this stuff in rural Australia (be careful of retail computer shops as they can be overpriced). But if you can’t find it easily a chap I work on an open source project with lives in a similar area of your country and builds all sort of clever stuff so I might be able to ask him!

Yep the yellow n white one!! u really are a amazing source of info!!
and yes there is a statistics chart, i have it open most of the time, just to check how well its working.

Im very poor until next week but as soon as i get some cash i will go out n find out how much i can get an extension cable for n let u know how i do.

again thanks v much

[6 General Lighting @general-lighting Moderator Staff]

I’m always happy to help – but TBH finding this was in part coincidence, I was curious about some business developments in SE Asia (my extended family are from there) and stumbled across the wireless broadband project..

also I was looking at these devices and networks anyway as at work we need a backup plan for one of our offices in case another bunch of fools put a mechanical digger straight through the main telephone cables for the village (this happened earlier this year)

I make my living out of helping people communicate using technology, and have done well career wise recently so want am always willing to put something back into the community

[1 tinkinoz @tinkinoz Member]

Either way u obviously know your stuff. Im impressed n no longer stressing out :weee:

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