Autumn signal strength problems?

[paulrb]

I have a Vodaphone 3G data card at home, because we cannot get broadband over phone line, and a monthly contract to fix the costs.

I got this in the spring and it has worked well all summer, showing a signal strength of "good" on 3G. I have been using a small inexpensive external antenna from GCom. But for the past few weeks, the signal strength has dropped to "fair" and I am getting very frustrated becuase it drops back to GPRS every few minutes, then decides 3G is OK for a minute, then drops back again, and so on.

After my initial success, my neighbour went for the same solution and he is now having the same or worse problem.

Does anyone know if a change in atmospherics at this time of year could be the cause of my problems?

I am now thinking of a more expensive external antenna, possibly from CellAntenna.co.uk. I am waiting for some advice from their technical people.

They offer some book-sized directional antenna that cover the 2100MHz band and can be wall or mast mounted. This is likelt to cost around £60-£70 including connectors & cables.

Has anyone else had a similar problem that they have been able to overcome, or other suggestions?

Thanks!

[DaveC]

It could be that there are problems with a local cell. Maybe worth checking that out first.

[paulrb]

Thanks for the reply Dave.

Any ideas how I would check this out? Is there a phone number or website where I could give my postcode and find out about engineering work etc.?


PS. I have discovered that Panorama-Antennas.co.uk also sell some potentially usefull products, so I've emailed them aswell.

[pav]

If you ring voda c/s they should be able to tell you if there is a problem with a cell in your area. If it was like when there was a problem with a T-Mobile cell in my area they passed the call on to the technical section, who rang me back later to confirm there was a cell problem.

[problade]

Could be building work in area or Cell site running on reduced power. You also mention your neigbour has started using a data card as well. Depending on how many 3G crds/phones are in the area this can also affect the 3G signal as they all draw abit off the 3G bandwith.

Try calling Voda cust service on 07836 191 191 and ask them to do a site check on your postcode. You could also try putting your data sim into a handset and doing a manual roam to make sure it has updated on the network.

[Wirelessman]

Its probably some changes in the local cell site but if you are operating in the fringe of a cell site you can expect season changes. You need to have a really good antenna if you are operating on a fringe. I can recommend 2 antennas from an Australian manufacturer (RFI) depending on your budget. The first one is called TD5 antenna ( around £10) and has a true gain of around 2dBi The second is a much bigger antenna, the CD2195 and would need to mounted on a bracket but gives just over 3dBi on 3G and 6.5dBi at 900Mhz for GPRS.(around £50) So at least you some data connection with a decent antenna. You will need to check you have the right connector for your datacard. You can but both of them on www.antennashop.co.uk

[paulrb]

Hi Wirelessman, thanks for replying almost a year after the last response!

In the end I purchased a patch antenna from cellantenna.co.uk.

Although the signal strength reported by the card is no better than before, I now only have problems very rarely, like extreme weather.

Paul