tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-92181102011-10-24T11:14:17.881+01:00Experiences with the Orange 3G data Card. From despair to satisfaction with 3G technology.Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.comBlogger591100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1139141594729675772006-02-05T12:10:00.000Z2006-02-05T12:13:14.746Z

I cancelled my Datacard subscription and it runs out very soon. However I did check out reception in the place I am now living (outskirts of Headington, Oxford). Not a sausage - not even GPRS. That also tells me that I shouldn't get an Orange mobile either

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1135694267616123282005-12-27T14:11:00.000Z2005-12-27T14:37:51.856Z

I've just finished my job up here in Manchester. I do have a new job (and a permanent one rather than a contract) to go to in January. I think I will have somewhere to live when I get there and I should be able to get Broadband within 2 weeks. After that I don't really have the need for my 3G card. I could select the lowest tariff (7 Mb per month) for £10. But even that seems too much for the

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1127777565355295562005-09-27T00:16:00.000+01:002005-09-27T00:32:46.813+01:00

On Saturday night I was reminded of one of the big problems not just with 3G coverage but the mobile phone network coverage. I was staying where I used to live until February this year and the Broadband connection wasn't working. I tried logging in to Orange using the laptop but I couldn't get a connection - not even GPRS. There are blank spots like this all over the country.I wish I could say

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1126387911736503932005-09-10T22:19:00.000+01:002005-09-10T22:31:51.740+01:00

A reminder tonight of how things used to be. I have been trying to ftp a website update having just written a review of a new band. I only need to update two pages but on the first I get an error and end up with a file that's only 511 bytes (e.g. incomplete and unviewable). This is the same problem that dogged Orange for almost a year - any upload over 2k causes problems. Since I got a landline I

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1126132536467580582005-09-07T23:13:00.000+01:002005-09-07T23:39:14.883+01:00

I read in The Register that Orange now have a new Datacard and it is no longer the Merlin hardware but they've switched over to the same Option card used by Vodaphone. It's a much improved review from the one a year ago. Aprt from the aerial that now comes with it you also get wireless! Read the at Orange 3g Datacard.Question now is can all of us current subscribers have one please?

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1125090636625124532005-08-26T22:05:00.000+01:002005-08-26T22:21:33.596+01:00

I have been singing the praises of Onspeed for a while now and I really appreciate the money it saves me. However, they did an update of the client software about a month ago that didn't work for me. Stopping the software took an age - and I needed to do that every time I started the 3G connection because Onspeed didn't pick up the fact that I was already connected through Orange. I quickly

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1119166736018918782005-06-19T08:36:00.000+01:002005-08-30T17:02:23.800+01:00

Well, I now just use the Orange 3G Card at weekends. I now have somewhere to live with broadband so I just use it on Saturday nights when I am away. I'm about to cut my bandwidth down to 60 MB a month. Time to summarise.The problems I experienced earlier seem to have been solved. My yahoo email and ftp has worked consistently for at least two months or more. I don't know if they are still

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1116449908848923132005-05-18T21:50:00.000+01:002005-08-30T17:03:01.530+01:00

The Orange 3G card is still working well (in GPRS mode because the 3G reception here is ropey). Now I have myself a flat and am based in Manchester I have finally had the chance to set up my Wireless router (not with Internet connection yet but that will follow). I'm happy to report that I am now simultaneously copying files to my Desktop PC (3Com wi-fi card and 3Com router) and writing this blog

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1116284057103385572005-05-16T23:45:00.000+01:002005-08-30T17:03:44.626+01:00

I needed to ring Orange to reduce my service plan from Unlimited to 400MB per month. So,after reading the comment about my previous support call I tried to put my 3G data card SIM in my Nokia phone just to call the (free) business support number. All I got was an Orange message "this number is barred". I had to then use my normal phone to call them and change my service plan. I am now very

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1115156087346273262005-05-03T22:29:00.000+01:002005-05-03T22:34:47.346+01:00

This is the sort of blog that I only add to when there are problems. I'm happy to report that my Yahoo login and my FTP hasn't failed since the last entry so I'm very pleased - particularly since this is my only method of Internet access currently (which means I spend at least 2 hours a day on it). There have been minor connection problems and I've had to restart occasionally, but really I'm very

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1114173870984986642005-04-22T13:42:00.000+01:002005-04-22T13:44:30.983+01:00

Well, it's been 10 days and I've had no problems. The Orange server rebooting is going well and the support guy even rang me to find out how things were going.I've been getting mostly 3G reception (Abingdon, Oxon) and on downloads this has produced some reasonable download speeds (up to 35kbps in short bursts). Now I have Laptop power in the car I have also got to use it in areas of 5 bars of 3G

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1113150832590770812005-04-10T17:32:00.000+01:002005-04-10T17:33:52.590+01:00

It's not been a bad week really. I have been unable to use Yahoo mail and ftp on Friday morning and this Sunday afternoon though. At least I now understand what Orange are doing and will try again later and hope the server has been rebooted. The saving grace is that I have had access to a telephone point all week so that quick checking of emails has been possible and I also saved my website

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1112810497334442702005-04-06T18:59:00.000+01:002005-04-06T19:01:37.336+01:00

Had a very nice call from Orange internal 3rd line support saying that they are aware of the problem and are progressing towards fixing the problems. Currently they are rebooting servers once a day in the very quiet hours to help. Certainly since Saturday connection has been pretty good. Interestingly when I mentioned that I had experienced the problems on Monday he said 'did it work after midday

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1112656499168713182005-04-05T00:12:00.000+01:002005-04-05T00:14:59.170+01:00

After the early failure, I have to say that I've had full access to all my email/ftp since midday. So I can work on the websites and apply for jobs.

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1112602799871280502005-04-04T09:17:00.000+01:002005-08-30T17:05:05.530+01:00

Orange 3G Data Card worked fine all last night, good connection speed this morning, ready to pick up my emails...can't pick up emails.Time to read the contract I signed and see how I can get out of it.

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1112525040400777862005-04-03T11:42:00.000+01:002005-04-03T11:44:00.400+01:00

I wasn't around on Saturday but this Sunday morning I can once again login to email and FTP files

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1112524943487571552005-04-03T11:41:00.000+01:002005-04-03T11:42:23.490+01:00

Failed again. 8:40 pm I tried to FTP a website update - no chance and no mail login.I rang the Dedicated Business Support line - 40 minutes to get my problems recorded. I dread my mobile phone bill for this month. Apparently Orange's internal 3rd Line support will take 7 days to reply to the problem. The worst prospect is that they will not understand the problem and just some up with some lame

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1112354064810999492005-04-01T12:12:00.000+01:002005-08-30T17:06:17.833+01:00

I bought a years subscription to Onspeed as an attempt to reduce my bandwidth usage and so the cost of my 3G Data Card. It works fine mostly but you have to remember to connect manually each time. There is a problem with a very slow connection where it gives you an error message that it can't connect to the remote Onspeed service - and this Orange service is quite often so slow that you get the

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1112182502102056452005-03-30T12:32:00.000+01:002005-03-30T12:35:02.103+01:00

Yesterday I finally manged to get a connection that allowed me to use Yahoo mail and FTP. Orange must have got back from the Easter break and flicked a switch. So, 5 days of useless service.

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1112011326853287832005-03-28T13:00:00.000+01:002005-03-28T13:02:06.856+01:00

Day 5 of the useless service. I went out and bought a modem cable and logged in through a standard telephone line - everything works and I've read all my emails and am just uploading part of a website update with no problems. I got the 3G card so that I could have internet access while in hotels and at other peoples houses without tying up their telephone lines. But no email and no FTP and all

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1111937387996885912005-03-27T16:28:00.000+01:002005-03-27T16:29:47.996+01:00

It looks to me that there's a 512 byte limit linked to the Orange problem. This also suggests that clicking on a submit button on an HTML form, where there is a lot of data, will also fail - which explains why I can't edit the previous post on Blogger or modify entries in a guestbook.

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1111919615731450682005-03-27T11:32:00.000+01:002005-03-27T11:33:35.733+01:00

On Friday I couldn't couldn't connect at all. The reception was varying from 3 bars to 2 bars but even so I would have expected to get something. I drove down to Abingdon in Oxfordshire and managed to get a 4 bars GPRS and a 3 bar 3G occasionally. Connection speed was pretty good but I couldn't get into my Yahoo email. Given the better reception I was surprised by this. The implication may be

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1111431486389682322005-03-21T18:53:00.000Z2005-03-22T16:17:13.796Z

Back in Macclesfield and I can no longer get a decent connection in the dining room where I set up my computer. I manged to get the jobs pages up in about 4 minutes but no Yahoo mail access. I've had to resort to going upstairs to send and receive emails because the reception is better there (3-4 bars) - but that office is used when my brother in law works from home so it's not even a short-term

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1111067569293555592005-03-17T13:51:00.000Z2005-03-17T13:52:49.296Z

I'm investigating the BT Openzone wi-fi service. There are certain things I do that consume a lot of bandwidth such as uploading new pages on my websites or downloading mp3s. It's too expensive to do that on the Orange tariffs and I'm not happy about the 3G coverage. The theory of wi-fi is fine but when I look at the list of hotspots I wonder how I could use it. Since my Laptop has a very poor

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1110573708937913272005-03-11T20:40:00.000Z2005-03-11T20:41:48.940Z

3 bars of GPRS signal strength but I just couldn't connect. I started at 9:15 and it took 22 minutes before it connected to the net and attempted to load a page - but after 3 minutes I realised that it was just a false dawn. Next time it was 1 hour 10 minutes before it at least connected but failed again before a single page could be brought up. I received a phone call at 10:45 asking if I could

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1110573608515391992005-03-11T20:34:00.000Z2005-03-11T20:40:08.516Z

I note with interest that this blog is currently #2 on Yahoo.com for the search '3G Datacard' (it was #1 a few days ago). I wonder how Orange are going to feel when they realise and actually read my comments. Not that I have said anything that's untrue or libelous. Perhaps they might even tell their support people to ring back when they say they will (about 2 weeks since I was told that). The

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1110495202463849422005-03-10T22:50:00.000Z2005-03-10T23:03:31.840Z

A frustrating day. I've been able to at least get a slow connection this week despite being in a poor reception area (Macclesfield). But, during the day I've been going into my sister's workplace and helping them out with their network - in return for use of their broadband connection (what a luxury!). This has meant I've just been connecting using the datacard during the evenings - and of course

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1110051553930048802005-03-05T19:37:00.000Z2005-03-05T19:39:13.933Z

That's how long ot took to connect and pick up an important mail last night!

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1109879878191994432005-03-03T19:54:00.000Z2005-03-03T19:57:58.193Z

I have been connecting quite successfully over the past few weeks - still failing on MSN login (Microsfot passport) and also egg.com but at least getting into my Yahoo mail except for one day. Slow but adequate connections. However I have just received my latest bill and I exceeded my bandwidth limit by more than 200 Megabytes (I've been using it every day rather than just the 4 days a week I

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1108572957896358282005-02-16T16:48:00.000Z2005-02-16T16:55:57.896Z

There's been a major upgrade to the Orange Conenction software that I didn't know about. You would have thought they could send a quick Text to all their Datacard customers telling them.You can find the upgrade here http://www.orange.co.uk/business/corporate/office/mocsoftware.htmlIt allows the Signal Strength to be shown all the time instead of just when you first connect and text messages to be

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1108572165225204482005-02-14T16:38:00.000Z2005-02-16T16:42:45.226Z

I have failed to get into my yahoo Inbox (or ftp some files) for 2 days now during the day, evenings have been ok. After finding that the ftp was failing and transferring just 511 (or 502) bytes of the file I was trying to upload, I increased the upload buffer on the FTP client - and sure enough more bytes were transferred. This implied to me that maybe there was an upload when I was trying to

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1108282840442870982005-02-13T08:13:00.000Z2005-02-13T08:20:40.443Z

For the past 24 hours I have been able to get GPRS connection and occasionally 3G (short lived). The problem is that I haven't been able to connect through the Orange 3G Datacard to actually pick up email or FTP.Last Wednesday I had this problem and I was able to get to a desktop with a modem and email my CV that way (it resulted in an interview last Friday). But here I am, on the road, living in

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1108143439181323202005-02-09T17:36:00.000Z2005-02-11T17:37:19.183Z

I noted some problems in the last entry with signing into Microsoft Passport. I finally got to a desktop and there was no problem signing in. It looks like it is something to do with the 3G connection.I have been having intermittent problems with my Yahoo mail account as well. I can sign in and get to my mail front page but when I click on my Inbox I get Page Not Found after about 4 minutes of

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1107462524302637772005-02-03T20:25:00.000Z2005-02-03T20:28:44.303Z

Connection has been okay for 2 days except for one thing - I can't connect to My MSN or Hotmail because every time I try to log in to the Passport system I end up at a blank page when I submit my username and password. Could this be anything to do with the Orange connection? I can't be sure yet but I shall try to get to a different connection method soon.

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1107297363935325662005-02-01T22:21:00.000Z2005-02-01T22:36:03.936Z

Well, I'm in a hotel in the Midlands. I've had 3 days of reasonably good GPRS reception (5 bars). There's no hope of 3G reception but the standard Orange signal has been ok. I was lucky enough to start my Internet experience on a 56k modem so I can't make a direct comparison with speed of less capable modems - but GPRS is sluggish compared to 56k. Then, today when I had to do some important

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1106695840289343012005-01-25T23:24:00.000Z2005-01-25T23:30:40.293Z

First connect to the internet. After 15 minutes close the Orange app and try again. If that doesn't work reboot the PC. Then you get a decent connection for the evening. The morning can be more of a problem - trying to get time to reboot while getting ready is difficult. Obviously the morning is also the time that you really need to get something uploaded. At the end of this week I shall be

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1106092628270926562005-01-18T23:45:00.000Z2005-01-19T00:02:07.996Z

I thought the 3G Card was faulty this morning - I had to remove it from the slot and replace it to get any response. Tonight I got back late and after one reboot I got a connection that is actually ok - I used the setting GPRS only (that hasn't worked before). I've been quite happily surfing and even dared to download an mp3. If only it was always like this...

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1106002798057012832005-01-17T22:55:00.001Z2005-01-17T22:59:58.056Z

20 minutes for a page (quoted download rates of 10 kbps). Give me an answer please. But you had better send it by Royal Mail because any email may not get through. This post has been atempted 3 times but the connection can't take the 'huge' number of bytes required!

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1106002539493852152005-01-17T22:55:00.000Z2005-01-17T22:55:39.493Z

20 minutes for a page (quoted download rates of 10 kbps). Give me an answer please. But you had better send it by Royal Mail because any email may not get through. It just keeps on happening. Unusable connections. Surely people in your organisation use this card as well and know it's rubbish. Please sort it

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1105611384117217952005-01-13T10:13:00.000Z2005-01-13T10:16:24.116Z

I tried to post this last night from the hotel but couldn't for some reason (connection wasn't that bad but something was going wrong). The speed figures for download statistics on the Orange Connection window seem very exagerrated - 40 kbps when the real download speed is 5 to 6 kbps. I hope it isn't using these figures to calculate how many MB of data I am using

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1105521644085257532005-01-12T09:20:00.000Z2005-01-12T09:22:19.880Z

I found a review of the various 3G cards available here: The great 3G data card road test - ZDNet UK Insight. A truly awful review for the Orange card - similar to the sort of problems I have been having. I wish I had read that before I entered into the 12 month contract. Last night was not too bad and even had about half an hour of 3G reception (not high speed but better than dial-up)

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1105440022440607762005-01-11T10:35:00.000Z2005-01-11T10:40:22.440Z

I'm in the hotel where previously I've only had GPRS reception. Last night was ok - a couple of reboots required only. However towards the end of last night I began to see an occasional blue light indicating 3G reception. This morning it was very blue - and of course this meant I couldn't connect to the internet for half an hour. When I did it all gave out after about 4 pages - half way through a

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1105051529186334212005-01-06T21:46:00.000Z2005-01-06T22:51:14.930Z

Suddenly, shortly after a reboot was required, at about 8pm all the images returned to being compressed. I regard this as bad - just give me the choice! Apart from that the GPRS service has been reasonable. The only strange thing has been some of the download speeds quoted by the Orange connection app - it will go as high as 45 kbps but while it is slowly downloading a couple of web pages.

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1105572491639965052005-01-04T21:46:00.001Z2005-01-12T23:28:11.640Z

I keep getting spped figures of 40 kbps from the Orange connection application - but I'm really only getting 5 kbps download speed - what's going on? The total figures for number of bytes downloaded seems to be correct.

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1104875436333396222005-01-04T21:46:00.000Z2005-01-04T21:50:36.333Z

Another year gone. My Orange data card no longer compresses jpg images which is an improvement. I took all of Christmas off and I'm quite pleased with how the 3G Card is working (GPRS only but 3+ kbps). Feels like a normal dial-up connection at the moment which is a big improvement.

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1103808275058922402004-12-24T01:24:00.000Z2004-12-23T13:26:09.790Z

Quite good service this week although mostly GPRS. The only time I really needed to get on the internet was last night when I had a number of OPML files to upload - this was when I couldn't get any reception - or rather I had the blue light to indicate 3G but just couldn't actually call up a website of any sort. Reboots, restarts of the program failed to help. When I finally got in this morning -

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1103191779247448232004-12-16T10:09:00.000Z2004-12-16T10:09:39.246Z

Interesting that this blog is in Yahoo with a text snippet wheareas the Google entry only shows the url. I thought all Google's changes over the last year where meant to aid freshness of results. Lucky I didn't start this blog on a new domain or the Google sandbox would have crippled me. I no longer recommend Google to people (but then they already know about it) but often mention they might

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1103116048153704762004-12-15T13:07:00.000Z2004-12-15T13:07:28.153Z

Got back to my hotel last night and there was a leaflet saying that wireless internet was now available. I checked out the prices and it is expensive in the short term - £5 for 2 hours. Over the longer term it improves - £86 for 30 days and £633 for a year. All of this is unlimited usage so if you downloaded a lot AND stayed in the same hotel for a year then this could be a very good deal. Given

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1102676831711250382004-12-10T11:01:00.000Z2004-12-10T11:07:11.710Z

I've managed to connect all week with only one or two failures a night. Despite being within 100m of a 3G mast I've only seen GPRS connections. Browsing is still slow but I can live with it. I'm pretty sure Trojans and spyware were slowing me down in the early days - I now have Anti-virus/adaware/firewall all downloaded and set up. I still can't protect my PC with Windows Update because the

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1101995131479325382004-12-03T01:31:00.000Z2004-12-02T13:45:31.480Z

I managed to do loads of surfing last night and a lot of downloading of anti-spyware software. I seem to be riddled with CoolWebSearch and a others. Adaware and Spybot fail to remove it. I wonder whether some of my problems (since 11/11) have been to do with this spyware destroying my connection rather then the Orange card. I may have to eat my words yet

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1101808280590071152004-11-30T09:43:00.000Z2004-11-30T09:51:20.596Z

Back within 3G range this week. I managed to get about one hour of 3G but from then on it was GPRS and cut out after a few web pages. Tried for at least 3 hours to download an Adaware updated data file. The big problem is that there are 3 things I need to do on my PC - update my anti-virus, update adaware, and install XP Service Pack 2. None of these can be done using the 3G card because of

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1101461204688113922004-11-26T09:23:00.000Z2004-11-26T09:28:22.470Z

I've just had to delete some of my Blogger posts that I made during connection problems and had suddenly appeared this morning. Strangely enough the text was mixed up with text from what looked like news items. Also my Description of this blog has disappeared but it was here yesterday

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1101460768480401742004-11-26T09:19:00.000Z2004-11-26T09:19:28.480Z

Ok, only GPRS (average 2.1 kb per second for a big download) but at least I was connected. Plenty of time to regret that I didn't virus and Adware protect my laptop after I put Windows XP on it.

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1101281041449195252004-11-24T19:23:00.000Z2004-11-24T07:24:01.450Z

Things were going so well. Despite only GPRS access, I mostly got decent download speed (better than 56k modem). A few restarts but I was optimistic. All ok until I tried to write this blog entry. The connection just goes down every time I try to save it. The only solution is to write it in notepad and use cut and paste until finally it works. Having got 2 webcams so I can make calls home, I

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1100860798907039132004-11-19T18:44:00.000Z2004-11-19T10:44:13.886Z

I found a site that shows me where all the base stations are for the mobile networks: 'Sitefinder' Mobile Phone Base Station Database. Looks like my hotel is about 100 metres away from the nearest Orange UTMS mast. Can't be a high power mast though

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1100822800174291152004-11-19T07:56:00.000Z2004-11-19T00:06:40.173Z

Tried again at 7pm back at the hotel. I'd been on the Orange website during the day and seen there was some updated driver if you were having trouble after upgrading to XP professional - not that I put my problems down to that. The problem is how to download it. I managed two pages (Orange home page and the small business page) before the conection crashed. Restarted the connection, turned off

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1100822699787302292004-11-18T07:42:00.000Z2004-11-19T00:04:59.786Z

Been trying all night just to get a connection that will allow me to get more than 2 pages before a restart. Failed miserably. In half an hour I can download about 46k of page data (upload is >200K ???)

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1100822547568545742004-11-17T14:09:00.000Z2004-11-23T13:10:14.693Z

After a reboot, I became very encouraged as I managed to sign up for blogger. Calling up the page to make my first post took about 6 minutes. I decided to change my setting so they were the right timezone and it all fell apart again.

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9218110.post-1100822406308046202004-11-16T07:58:00.000Z2004-11-19T00:00:06.310Z

After 10 days of reinstalling Windows 2000 I finally gave up. Ok it was the Server Edition so maybe it wasn't meant to install - but I've never seen .inf files installed anywhere but the inf directory and not the drivers directory. Anyway I set my Sony laptop back to Windows XP Home (a sad day). And then, at last I managed to get the card working and best of all it showed a blue light for 3G

Orangemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02143351373648931335noreply@blogger.com1