Problems with internet access via Opera Mini - anyone else?

[col37400]

For the past year or two I've been using opera mini to access the internet on 3. Firstly using a nokia N73, more recently an N95.

There's always been a tendency for pages to hang while loading now and again, or to get "connection error" messages. These are normally sorted out by reloading the page or restarting opera mini.

But recently this seems to be getting more and more of a problem, to the extent that in the past couple of weeks I can hardly ever get online without several repeat attempts, if at all.

I can connect fine using the native (data-hungry) nokia browser, and I can also connect fine to a wireless network using opera mini. It seems to be the combination of using opera mini over the 3 connection that is causing the problems. A couple of days ago I updated opera mini to the most recent version but that hasn't helped.

Is anyone else having similar problems? It's tempting to suggest that 3 are deliberately blocking access to the opera proxy server thingie to force people to use more data-hungry browsers which they can charge more for... or is there a more straightforward reason for this?

[gonzokev]

I think it's purely down to Opera's proxy. A hell of a lot of people use Opera Mini these days and it wouldn't surprise me if the server got overloaded at times.

That said, I've not had any such problems myself within the last couple of weeks.
Because of this, I would be fairly confident in saying that it's not 3 blocking the ports. Also, it would make no sense for 3 to block the port that Opera's proxy server uses. With it being less data intensive than other phone browsers, it means less bandwidth is being used and in theory keeping their service more stable.

As far as I'm aware, the only ports 3 block are the ones that the x-series gold applications use, where the customer is signed up to a cheaper package.

Hope that helps.

:)

[col37400]

I think it's purely down to Opera's proxy. A hell of a lot of people use Opera Mini these days and it wouldn't surprise me if the server got overloaded at times.

That said, I've not had any such problems myself within the last couple of weeks.
Because of this, I would be fairly confident in saying that it's not 3 blocking the ports. Also, it would make no sense for 3 to block the port that Opera's proxy server uses. With it being less data intensive than other phone browsers, it means less bandwidth is being used and in theory keeping their service more stable.

As far as I'm aware, the only ports 3 block are the ones that the x-series gold applications use, where the customer is signed up to a cheaper package.

Hope that helps.

:)

thanks for reply.

Yes, I had also wondered whether it was just the volume of people using it. But it seems to happen at all times of the day, (perhaps I'll try in the middle of the night tonight though to see what happens), and the fact that you haven't had any problems would suggest otherwise too.

Are you on 3?

[gonzokev]

Yep, I'm on 3.

I could see the logic for 3 blocking the ports on a pay per MB system, but as they operate a fair use policy system for most of their internet packages, it would make more sense to openly encourage use of Opera Mini.

Just to illustrate that I'm currently having no problems, I'm actually posting this on my phone with Opera Mini.

Have you tried rebooting your phone at all? I've often found that helps when I'm having trouble accessing the internet on my phone, particularly when I was using the Nokia N73.

[themaddoctor]

I have also experienced connection problems with Opera Mini in the past (failing to connect or taking forever to connect) but I have had no problems for a few weeks now and I use it a lot. Coincidently I also upgraded to the final version of Opera Mini 4 a couple of weeks ago as well so If you are using a older version of Opera Mini it may be time to upgrade

[col37400]

Yep, I'm on 3.

I could see the logic for 3 blocking the ports on a pay per MB system, but as they operate a fair use policy system for most of their internet packages, it would make more sense to openly encourage use of Opera Mini.

Hmmm... the thing is that a couple of months ago 3 screwed up my account and took off my free internet allowance. They said they'd put it back on, but I've just had a look at my account and it seems they still haven't. So effectively I may be on a pay per MB system at the moment (which I am going to have to claim back from them...that will be fun...)

Just to illustrate that I'm currently having no problems, I'm actually posting this on my phone with Opera Mini.

Have you tried rebooting your phone at all? I've often found that helps when I'm having trouble accessing the internet on my phone, particularly when I was using the Nokia N73.

Yeah, tried all that, and yes I also found it helped on the N73.

It doesn't seem to be a problem with the internet connection per se as it connects fine via the regular nokia browser.

Today I haven't been able to connect via opera at all.

[col37400]

I have also experienced connection problems with Opera Mini in the past (failing to connect or taking forever to connect) but I have had no problems for a few weeks now and I use it a lot. Coincidently I also upgraded to the final version of Opera Mini 4 a couple of weeks ago as well so If you are using a older version of Opera Mini it may be time to upgrade

I upgraded to version 4 a few days ago but it's no better. Worse, if anything...

[mrtivo]

It's worse. I had v4 Beta and v3 both installed on the phone, for a while. I tried v4 for a while, but didn't like it. I then went back to using v3.

Stupidly I upgraded to v4, which zapped my earlier version. Oh dear, what a mistake. Slow connection city. I immediately switched it into mobile mode, but there are some formating issues, which weren't there with v3 (www.theregister.co.uk) and I also found that some links didn't work, i.e. just went round on themselves, on the BBC news site.

So I'm back using the full screen mode, and it takes ages to load. I would say that I end up canceling and reconnecting about 50% of the time. Now I'll put this into some context, I surf on the train, HST, and it was never perfect on v3, but I had to stop and retry about 10% of the time.

Signal strength isn't an issue, as my E61i shows good / excellent signal on most of the journey, and I know where the black spots are. Aside from the connection, the whole full screen mode is a bit too much of a faff, compared to the mobile mode. At the risk of being shot down, Safari on the iPhone does (fullscreen) browsing much better.

To be fair, I get fewer timeouts or the need to reconfigure the network connection as I did in v2 and v3, but I find myself using the Nokia browser more now, (shudder) as it has no benefit in navigation terms over Opera v4, and all of the downsides (lots more data to download). Bu it does connect faster.

Perhaps the new browser is weighing heavy on Opera's servers....?

[col37400]

Right... I think i may have solved the problem somewhat. I went into settings and changed "network protocol" from socket to http. No idea what that means but i seem to be able to connect now. Will see how it goes over the next few days.
Mrtivo, i did the same as you, tried the beta, didn't like it, then stupidly installed version 4 and wished i could go back to 3. The mobile view doesn't seem to compress things as efficiently as it did before. And i liked the way 3 folded up menus with a little + that you could click to unravel them. Reduced the amount of scrolling down you have to do on certain pages. This feature seems to have disappeared. Why? Occasionally it does it but then i can't click on any of the menu items.
And i just don't see the point of the full page view, its just really annoying to have to scroll around all the time, like trying to find a lightswitch in the dark...

[gonzokev]

I think the content folding feature was removed as it would have made formatting the pages very difficult due to the way Opera Mini works now. I personally found it irritating and turned it off as soon as I figured out how to!

Just my opinion, but I think Opera Mini is far better now. I find it quicker as well. I also had to change the option from Socket to HTTP, but this was because I couldn't log into certain sites with the Socket option active.

[mrtivo]

Anyone noticed that Opera has got a lot better over the past few days? Response times between clicking and content being delivered has vastly improved, even on the train. Don't know what they've done, but I a happy bunny again, I'm even getting used to Opera 4.

mrtivo.