Options
3G option/Satellite option Help !
![[Deleted User]](https://wb.vanillicon.com/v2/b694d294a5d93c0c1ed3147cac7003dc.svg)
[Deleted User]
Posts: 1,316 Forum Member
✭✭✭
Hi,
I live in rural England, my broadband speed was 2mbps, tried to get Fibre but too far away from cabinet, so I have cancelled it after 4 long, difficult years.
I now don't know what to do, my mobile signal isn't great, GPRS signal.
I've read reviews for satellite broadband & they're not great, folks are shelling out a lot of money for a terrible service.
I was initially thinking of a 3/4G wifi router a Cradlepoint wifi 600 router or a Deltenna Wibe 3G router . . .
Can anyone help or advise as to what's the best thing that I can do for a decent braodband speed, please.
Thanks . . . . .
(Oh, & no move home joke, please ?)
I live in rural England, my broadband speed was 2mbps, tried to get Fibre but too far away from cabinet, so I have cancelled it after 4 long, difficult years.
I now don't know what to do, my mobile signal isn't great, GPRS signal.
I've read reviews for satellite broadband & they're not great, folks are shelling out a lot of money for a terrible service.
I was initially thinking of a 3/4G wifi router a Cradlepoint wifi 600 router or a Deltenna Wibe 3G router . . .
Can anyone help or advise as to what's the best thing that I can do for a decent braodband speed, please.
Thanks . . . . .
(Oh, & no move home joke, please ?)
0
Comments
It might be worth looking at the mobile broadband plans offered by EE and 3, as they are more likely to have a 3G signal where you are. Perhaps either get a cheap SIM from poundland to check the coverage or use someone else's phone. Try outside the house too.
Satellite should be an absolutely last resort option for the reasons you've already said. Mobile broadband, if you can get a 3G signal, is so much better and cheaper
Thanks for the reply . . .
I'm on vodafone at the mo', I was looking at the mobile phone base station database, I guess it needs to be a GSM mast ?
I think that's a good idea to check out other sims, I'll do that today & see if I can get a better service of sorts
Ah, then I am not surprised that you only get GPRS with Vodafone - their 3G coverage is much worse than EE or 3, especially in rural areas. O2 won't be much better than Vodafone typically.
The OFCOM base station database is not that useful because it was only ever voluntary for the mobile networks to contribute data to it, and I think they've all stopped doing that now. So it might be horribly out of date. But you want to be looking for UMTS masts, as UMTS is 3G. GSM is 2G and uses GPRS to provide a data connection which you know is slow.
I'd look at trying EE or 3 first and if you can get good coverage then look into a mobile broadband plan with one of them. You may find that you will need to put up an antenna on the side of the house if the coverage isn't great, but worth persevering with if the alternative is satellite
What do I look for in regards to the antenna & setting it up etc . . .
I've tried googling it, but nothing is really showing up . . .
Is there an antenna specifically that I look for ?
Thanks . . . .
This is a bit outside of my comfort zone so I am probably not the best person to listen to. I'd check and see whether you can get a good signal before doing that, but also try to get a mobile broadband device with an antenna connection just in case you need it (they don't all have this)
For example http://store.three.co.uk/view/product/ql_catalog/threecatdevice/20302 which is 4G and has an antenna connection according to Google
I've been searching around so I'll hopefully end up getting it sorted soon . . . .
Thanks for your advice . . . .
But you haven't even established whether you have 3G service at your location. You certainly don't on Vodafone, it doesn't matter how big the antenna is!
2G is slower than dial up (if it works at all) so is totally unsuitable for internet access.
Get a 3 SIM and check whether they cover your area.