[aufo8mycow]

Hi Guys.

First and foremost would just like to say Hi.. new to the forum and came across you via google.. you all seem Jolly nice :)

My name is Chris and I am trying to set up a community broadband project for our village in Northlew, won't bore you all with the details but we are looking for someone who can actually do the work.. I have emailed one of the users on here as it seemed to be down his path.. but if you install wimax.. microwave... 2 yogurt cartons on string that can transmit data above 2mbs.. email me!!

Anyway.. while I am here.. I do actually have a problem that someone might be able to solve....

As part of my quest from a reliable service here, I gave 3's Mobile broadband a go, even though it was on 2G.. was still faster than our 'fast dialup' worked without fault for two weeks and 1 day (1 day over the 14 day return period) I called to change the tariff from lite - 1GB a month to 5GB.. as she was changing tariff on the phone for me... the dongle light went from Blue (GPRS) to red (No service) even though I get 5/6 bars of signal.

Many (and I mean many) calls to the tech department just shortened my life through stress.. they didn't even understand the light sequence, insisting Green was no service.. blue was 3G and red was GPRS.. totally the oposite of what it is...had quite of other problems since then with them but again won't bore you...

Does anyone know off hand if 3.. still have their roaming agreement with Orange, as that is who I was connected to for 2 weeks (3 insist they are with O2) but research found they left o2 in favour of orange in late 2006 - mid 2007 and now also roam with T-mobile... ?

Moreover, anyone know why it might of changed to red even with signal (No connect) as i'm looking at it now while waiting for collection tomorrow and its the 3rd day its been on constant red.. have tried new profiles.. manual roam.. you name it...

Anyway.. lots of information there, won't go into how much I dislike 3 right now but if anyone has any ideas (or can help with community broadband) let us know.

Once again... hi to all :)

Chris

[Ben]

Hmm interesting! Welcome to Talk3G.

Now, I could be making this up, but perhaps during the change of tariff something has gone wrong that has prevented you accessing data via the Orange network. Or perhaps it's coincidence that after a few weeks of using Three's network via Orange they detected your usage as 'uneconomical' and cut the chord. After all, if you're never connecting to the Three 3G network I wouldn't imagine you're an ideal consumer for them.

Unfortunately I'm not sure what you can do about it. It'd be a nice idea to try the SIM in another device to see if the problem persists, and then request replacement bits as appropriate.

On my Huawei green is GSM, blue is 3G and both together (turquoise colourish) is HSDPA.

[aufo8mycow]

Hi Ben

Thanks for the responce, yup I was looking at phones to see if I could get an old 3 one to test the sim in, although if I am right, i'm not 100% sure the cell sites use the same frequency for the mobile broadband and mobile handsets.. still not 100% sure.. still going to try it!

They came to pick up the dongle today for repair.. only for me to get a phone call from india.. just before dinner by some guy ringing to tell me.. again I am not in a 3G area and I can't pick up any signal and thus the dongle could not possibly be faulty..

I advised him he had no idea of the geography of the area or the fact that my LOS is actualy round about 40 miles and I do pick up 2 different cell sites in the area.. he then told me that 3 no longer do 2G and my dongle would only work in a 3G area.. fine I though but odd how it had been working for 2 weeks and 1 day... and the fact that the dongle picks up both the 2G frequency and the 3G..

Did get me a bit spooked though.. but seems 3 upgraded their roaming agreements with Orange instead of O2 in 2006/2007 .. seems odd that in 2008 they would drop 2G altogether and opt for no roaming which this chap was insistance had happened.

Further more he said he had worked there for 6 months and didn't know anyone who had ever got onto the 2G network during those 6 months.. I was the first....

Fact is, the network will either allow you.. or disallow you onto the network.. it won't just allow you on and think.. o crap.. we don't do 2G anymore.. drop the signal!!!.. so I thought.. but this chap seemed to think it would..

Al in all I am no wiser to it all since getting involved with 3 technical support (Laugh) and I am sure when it comes back.. it won't work then, so no idea really other than dump it and go with orange.

Know what you mean about the variations in dongle lights.. still you would of thought as they knew which dongle I had.. they would know what the colour sequence was.. clearly all are not the same... just think my granny seems to know more about 3 mobile broadband than they do.. which is a shame as when things breakdown.. non of us want to spend hours on the phone trying to sort it out... bring back the yogurt cartons and bits of string.. they never broke down!!

[Hands0n]

The 3 experience is, some would say at least, very consistent. They've had six years to master the art of snatching defeat from the hands of success. And this they do, with great repetitiveness.

Sorry, don't know what to advise re 3 other than to move on off to another network when the opportunity arises. It would be worth checking out what the coverage is in your area by researching the OFCOM Sitefinder website here --> http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/ The site information is supplied voluntarily by the mobile network operators. They do not always do this, T-Mobile (IIRC) got all petulant at an OFCOM ruling or suggestion and stopped contributing. The thing is, those that don't contribute are likely to be showing poorer coverage than those that do, particularly for those like you in marginal areas.

Check to see which network has transmitters local to you - what the technology is (2G or 3G) - the site is far more meaningful than the highly optimistic coverage maps produced by the mobile network operators.