Poor Vodafone USB modem signal

[Tommygunn]

Last weekend I had to resort to getting a Vodafone USB Sim card modem for my desktop because Italia Telecom are too damn lazy to install a landline to my house.

Anyway, I am getting very poor reception and download/upload speeds and was wondering if there was a way of improving matters.

I have put the Sim card in my cell phone to find the best spot and that is by the window in an upstairs bedroom, which is totally impractical. At the moment I have had to wheel the computer to the opposite side of the living room to get at least some reception.

Is there some sort of box or antenna I can mount outside on the roof or some sort of Heath Robinson contraption I can build to improve preformance?

One other problem is that the USB cable that came with it is only about 50cm but when I plug it into my 1.75m cable it does not work even though the cable is fine. So not very flexible.

Thanks.

http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv226/tomspublicphotos/Miscellaneous/VodafoneSignal.jpg
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv226/tomspublicphotos/Miscellaneous/InternetSpeed.jpg

[BradleyKZN]

Ok, firstly are you sure your sim is using 3g, if not, edge should be second option. i dont know how things work in italy so im just trying here.

[Tommygunn]

I have the key set to UMTS only, which I presume is 3G.
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv226/tomspublicphotos/Miscellaneous/UMTSOnly.jpg

[BradleyKZN]

Its close enough, try using edge and see what happens, i know with edge and my phone set up on the pc, i get 460kbps. I know its not ideal but at least its better than what you got

[KieranD]

thats the mobile broadband you top up isnt it, its like pay as you go broadband

sort of dial up with better speeds and no dial


i dont know what else to say other than contact vodaphone or get the telephone company to install a landline, it seems as if your getting interference you cant use a range extender or anythign like that because the usb would need to be near the singal and its usb so the pc would hveto be with it too

[Tommygunn]

I am trying to use GPRS/EDGE right now and it is absolutely terrible. Takes like 5 mins to load the Speedtest page and even then it doesn't load it properly.

Oh great, the line has just dropped.

Gone back to UMTS.

Kieran,
Similar, we contractually pay €30 per month for junk.
It's fine for loading you average webpage and forum pics but when it comes to music and film downloads then its a waste of time.
I would love to have a landline and believe me we have tried to get one, but Telecom Italia + new build house = 9 or 10 months of nothing and non existence on the map.