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That was my logic as well, except...........................

 

It was connecting outside of the home, sometimes it would beep when I was running past a Wi-Fi hotspot so I turned off the Wi-Fi, maybe that turns the data on. It seems to have a mind of its own with things turning themselves off or on. At one time the notifications would chime and alert me when the phone was on standby just as I wanted but an Android tablette with the same settings would not do so until I switched on the screen and swiped off the screen lock so not really an alert at all, sometimes it would not chime but the written alert would be on the screen.

 

Now the phone that used to alert me will only do so now if I switch the screen on and swipe off the screensaver like the tablette, then it chimes and the alert comes through.  I am not following Twatter or Fessbook all I want to be alerted of is if there has been a last minute booking so that I can return home and be ready hopefully before the customers arrive, as it is I am once again housebound 24/7 except for an hour or so in the afternoon if all the changeovers are done before check in time.

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Well folks, I finally have a connection (40Gbps) WooHooo!

Had to wait this long as the Free system only gave me 3G signal and would not connect properly, so now have shiny new SFR deal on SIM (same deal) as free and a 4G signal at full strength.

Works like a dream using my phone as a hotspot, but will not work in the router. Any ideas please?

I need to get that sorted for when our house sitters arrive.

Still fumbling my way round the phone as well, doesn't seem to have much of a help section at all!

Oh well, back to my fumbling I suppose.

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Hi JB

These threads suggest some reasons why you might have difficulty using a modem but be OK tethering -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-2858426/sim-unlimited-data-compatibility-lte-routers.html

https://www.unlocked-dongle.com/mobile/Blog/can-a-mobile-phone-sim-card-be-used-in-a-modem.html

- not SFR but perhaps the same principle applies. Hope that's not the case, but it seems that phone companies don't like the idea of 4G modems...........
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No,  I use mine 99% of the time in my TP-link 4G router and have had no restrictions,  ditto the six people who have followed my recommendation and gone down the same SFR route (I've installed all six systems,   people for some reason have a touching belief in my ability to conjure up signals out of thin air!).

SFR are quite specific,   "utilisation modem" is permitted.

So I'm guessing that your super duper router has a compatibility problem with the card.   Let's see if we can sort it out.

In which case,  first things first.   Have you entered the PIN for your SFR card into the on-screen menus for the modem?    If not,  you need to log in to the admin pages of the router from your computer (which will be described in the instruction book,  on a TP link it's 192.168.1.1 in the browser),   find the security part of the router,   and put the PIN in.   On a TP link you can then ask it to save the PIN number so that in the event of a power cut you don't have to do all this again.

That's the first step,   come back Johnnyboy if it isn't that and I'll detail the settings that mine uses; (apart from the PIN procedure described above the TP link did the rest of the donkey work,  as it does when I swap cards and put the SOSH card in).

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Thanks Martin, that's music to my ears! Will try and have another go tomorrow as we have been out on an 11k walk and just need to chill this evening.

I did try looking through the terms and conditions for SFR and did not find anything about a data limit, that could just be dyslexia ruling though!!!!!

Will post more as and when.

Johnnyboy.

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Amazing, phoned the orange helpline today to keep us on their radar and they have now turned up the line and am getting 2.7 Mbps download!!

There is definitely a problem on the orange part of the line, the engineers told us so. Apparently its where the line goes under the autoroute, so no quick fix. Was also told that if we are not satisfied with the service, we can get the line disconnected for a charge. At which point I would gladly have climbed through the wire to punch his lights out!!!!!!!!!!

Was further informed that they are aware of the problem and we will just have to wait until the line is upgraded, ie - no repair forthcoming.

We can try for a refund after the line is fixed apparently, but will not hold my breath.

Now for our new system, all is going reasonably well, but have not yet reached 2Gb of download. Will see what its like after that event.

Martin, do you use facetime or skype through your system, f so, how does it affect your consumption? Was thinking of trying skype via my mobile to test it this pm.

Lordy, lordy, these tries are sent to thing us!!!

Will post as and when more info to give peeps.

Johnnyboy.

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FWIW I managed to do the ADSL resiliation via the internet - no problem.   However,  for the phone line itself I had to use 3900 (or whatever it is).   However,  it's far easier to do what I did - every time it asked me a question to which the answer should be oui or non I simply yelled "flabbadabbaflabbadabba".    The machine persisted with its questions but I wasn't going to be outwitted by a mere Gallic computer so I stuck to my guns and lo and behold I was put through to a charming lady in Agen who was kindness itself and put the resiliation process into action (and I've now had a refund from them for the part of the rental not used).

Further tip - if you tell them you're packing up and going back to England it counts as a French person going to live abroad,   so they don't charge you to close the line.    At least that's what happened to me,   the lady wished me the best of luck and said she hoped I'd be back in France one day......

Anyway,   no I'm afraid I most certainly do not use Facebook,  which I consider to be one of the most dangerous threats facing society currently (yes I really do!) but I doubt it would use very much.   I guess that it's videos that use the most,   for example an hour of HD TV (BBC iplayer for example in Britain) uses about 1 Go (or GB).    A ten minute video of medium quality is usually about 100 ko (or kB).    I guess that Skype might therefore be quite greedy with the video on but don't know for certain.

Ordinary browsing though is quite economical.   Generally we're using about 0.8 - 1 GB per day,   papers,  forums,  some editing of a website,  looking things up etc.   What does use up data is map or GoogleEarth research,   a bit of snooping around looking for specific things in maps etc can take the date use up to 1.5 GB in a day for only a couple of hours.....

What speed have you now got on the modem johnnyboy?

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Hi Martin, thanks for your input, I had a look at the SOSH website y'day and was wondering about that as a stopgap. The router does not even try to connect through the SFR sim, so have left that in my phone to use by tethering. Wondered if the SOSH might fill that gap?

The download on the phone is anything up to 50Mbps, superb, but after y'day, the orange livebox is giving up to 2.7Mbps after they tweeked it! Will keep a close eye on that though, as this is what they did before, then gradually turned it down again.

Will post again as and when and thanks for your tips too.

Johnnyboy.

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I don't think so - if your phone works at 50 Mbps with the SFR card then the router should work just as well or even better, and if it doesn't there must be some sort of compatibility problem such as PIN management. But without being able to see what it's doing I can't really suggest what to do. But I doubt a SOSH card is going to work in the router if an SFR one doesn't. Happy to try and talk you through if necessary, what happens when you log in to the router from your computer browser....?

In other news, there is a Huawei 4G router that apparently allows you to plug in a conventional phone via an RJ11 port, and lo and behold you can make and receive phone calls via the SIM card in the router that is also doing the business as an internet provider.

I must say I'm tempted to try one as that would be the real ultimate solution, particularly as one little mobile in a quite large house doesn't always get answered at the moment.
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I am still having problems getting any useable internet access on my smartphone, thank dog I got a new sim card to play around with.

 

It connects fine to my home Wi-Fi and gets up to 7mb/s dependant on how many customers are also using it, it says that it is connected to Free but I dont know if its 3g or 4G, its a tiny triangle symbol less than 5mm2 seems to be 3/4 filled out or completely filled out, sometimes it has an H beside it, sometimes and H+. Trouble is connecting to the net with the Wi-Fi switched off only gives me 40kb/sec, the other day I got 200kb/s but no more.

 

So today when out in the car I tried it in various locations in 2 major towns, icon showed a good signal, traingle filled out with H+ but it either would not connect at all or got 28kb/s maximum, I even drove to where I know the 2 Free antennes are and it was no different, I know that I have to be not directly underneath.

 

Returned home and got 41kb/s better than anywhere in the town but still pants, have tried changing the settings preference of 4g/3g/2g etc and no change.

 

Customers have shown me they are getting downloads of 40Mb/s on their mobiles but I guess they were not with Free.

 

Any suggestions? I would really like to know what signal I am getting, 3G or 4G, I have line of sight to the transmitter, its about 1km away at the top of a château d'eau with nothing between us.

 

Phone is a Wiko Freddy

 

Editted, it was an hour of driving within and between 2 towns of 10K + habitants each plus adjoining communes. Surely I should have got some connection somewhere? Free have 2, maybe 3 antennes in my town including the one line of site and another 600m away on top of an HLM.  I am told that they only install 4g transmitters, both of these went on line in the last year, my 2G dumbphone with a Free simcard only ever connects to Orange.

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I'm afraid any expertise I might have is the theme of this thread,   ie internet by dedicated modem rather than by smartphone.

All I can think of chancer is that it's a setting on your phone,  it's stating the obvious but have you got the data function (ie what you can turn off if you don't want to risk using any data) switched on?

Other than that,   you need to try your SIM card in someone else's phone,  and try someone else's SIM in your phone.   Don't see how else you're going to progress this.....

Wish I could help more.....

But at least this will tell you what H+ means:

http://techwelkin.com/meaning-mobile-symbols-g-e-2g-3g-h-4g-mobile-internet-signal-bar

Have you actually checked (sorry,  I can't go right back through this thread) on cartoradio that your towers are 4G equipped for free?   They have by far the lowest number of transmitters of any of the networks equipped for 4G.....

And in your later addition I can tell you that you've been told wrong,  it's 2G transmitters that free don't install (as far as I can tell from cartoradio),  there are lots of free 3G sites in Limousin but relatively few 4G.

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Mobile data is/was on.

 

Had another play and found what networks were available, Free 3G plus another Free 3G (the 2 local transmitters), a couple of other operators 4G ones that were listed as interdit or something, then I found Orange 4G and registered the phone to that, then Free 4G came up but every attempt to register the phone to it fails.

 

Phone showing H or H+ but still only get a maximum of 150 kbps but whether they are bits or bytes I know not, all I know is it is fecking slow and a lot less than your link tells me I should expect from a 3G network.

 

Will have to find a teenager.

 

Re Free not installing 2G transmitters, I was correctly informed but remembered and repeated it wrong!

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Chancer this isn't really my subject so please excuse me if I am out of turn. On my mobile devices I to struggled but then I seemed to get it sussed. I have to switch off WiFi when I want decent mobile data connection and there isn't a WiFi signal otherwise one interferes with the other. Just remember to switch WiFi back on when you need it. Worth a try?
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I rather agree with you Theire.   I think I explained this up thread as well,   that tethering only works well in really good reception areas,  because as you say the phone is actually jamming itself.

Chancer - you can't switch the phone to Orange if you put a Free card in it,  of course it'll bar you.   You can only "choose your favoured network" when roaming abroad,  and not always even then.

This thread was started really to discuss getting the internet via a 4G modem;  from my experiences to date a) tethering isn't going to be your answer Chancer and b) even if it was you need to subscribe to a technically decent network,  and Free really isn't in that category.

Someone here tries to tether with Free,   makes all sorts of excuses about zone blanches,  the Mayor should do something about it,  etc etc.   As I keep telling him,  if he went out and bought a router and an SFR or Sosh card he'd have no further trouble.

I'm afraid I rather think the same applies in your situation Chancer.   Sorry.

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Wi-Fi switched off when I try it, found that one out the hard way.

 

I am keen to stay with Free as they have done me well for years, I pay nothing for my main contract and only €1 per month for the second one which is only for me to work out the bugs in the smartphone, I dont need 2.

 

I can select Orange because free have a deal with them, my 2G dumbphone defaults to that automatically, the smartphone wont all the time there is a Free signal albeit a very slow one, also i dont know how fast the Orange one would be but as its a 4G one I reckon a lot faster.

 

Fibre optique is only a few meters away now and I should have it within a couple of months, that might resolve all my issues of the ADSL being overloaded with too many clients at my place with multiple devices, I currently have a legal challenge because the Com de Communes have given a Monopoly to one service provider who has at least partially funded the cabling, I want to stay with Free and we are supposed to have open competition in the télécoms market.

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Hi Chancer,

I was with free as well, but when I upgraded to their €19.99 plan to get 4G that didn't work anyway. Seems as Martin says, they don't have many 4G masts in Limousin!

Ours is just by the autoroute and has SFR 4G and Orange I think. The Reglo sim picked up 4G, but I had only bought a 1G card, so burnt through that in no time.

I am still having trouble with my router though, does not like the SFR sim at all. The reglo seemed to work just fine, but ran out before I could really test it properly.

That is why I was wondering if the SOSH card would be the answer for me. I hear what you say about free, I felt the same, but will have to go back to their €2.00 deal and leave the SFR to work its magic! Will have a look at the sosh website again, as the reglo deals are not very good, even though it seems to work.

Johnnyboy.

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@ chancer - I do see your problem now re wanting to stay with Free.   Certainly amongst people here they have a poor reputation and even poorer coverage,  but I  concede that you have your reasons for staying.

@ johnnyboy -  what happens when you log in to the router with the SIM card in?   What does the status page show?

If it's any help I'm in 24 but the Limousin end...   PM me if you want to try your sim card in our routers here....

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To me my mobile phone abonnement is just that, a phone contract, it has given me stirling service both here and wherever I am for probably a decade now, that to me is a superb reputation.

 

Now the smartphone has been forced on me by other companies and the need to run my business and be informed of last minute bookings and arrivals while I am out, when it was done by text message it was faultless but then they stopped sending them and have been lying ever since saying the problem is with mobile phone coverage, network provider etc when in fact they have got 99% of users to use their app on a smartphone, and stopped sending the texts 2 years ago.  also the only way to take credit card payments was with a smartphone.

 

It does all of this here at Chez Chancer using the Wi-Fi when I am out and about I miss most of the notifications as there is not an internet connection, I cant criticise Free for not providing internet coverage everywhere, they are to me a mobile phone provider.

 

Also it took me several weeks to even be able to make a call on this stupid thing that calls itself a smartphone and not a computer, I still cannot actually answer an incoming call but luckily no-one actually knows the number.

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I have not been following to know what exactly your problem is Chancer, but stay with Free. They are fantastic.

I am with Free and don't have any problems with coverage. I have been with all the companies over the years and Free is the best. We have Free everything know.

Do not, DO not go anywhere near SFR. They are in big trouble. They are losing so many customers (and staff) daily. I think the SFR boss has just been given the chop....and rightly so.

Are you sure your problems are not 'phone related' ? I.e the phone itself.
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I dont have problems with phone coverage, never have done and I have been with free as long as you or longer, one of their first customers.

 

My problem is with internet access on the phone when I am out and about which is a larf in itself as I will probably be the last person in the world to want to use the internet while I am out, its for getting notifications of réservations via the app which needs internet access to do so.

 

So my question to you is do your kids get internet access on their phones outside of the metropolis in troudeculdemondeville or do they wait till they arrive at someones house for the Wi-Fi?

 

That seems to be the case with most of my customers, when I am showing them around and giving them the absolute minimum of essentail information many of them are so impatient and rude as to demand the Wi-Fi code straight away and anything said after that is lost on them.

 

I have recieved 4 bookings this afternoon, phone is right by the Wi-Fi transmitter and myself beside it, only 3 of them gave a notification beep, the other did so when I switched the phone back on from sleep mode, it gave the time as one hour earlier.

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The kids and I will use the phone for internet access when out and about. If we go and stay with family and they have a WIFI connection we might ask for the password....maybe ?? If we stay in a hotel/Chez Chancers we would not waste our time using your/their wifi connection.

Internet through WIFI and internet on a mobile network is the same thing.

How are you notified with new bookings ? Through your email I guess ?

What email are you using ? Gmail ? Hotmail (god forbid) or another ?

Or is it a dedicated app ? If so, what app is this ? Your app may be set only to inform you of new bookings when you are on WIFI only and not when you are on a mobile network. If that makes sense.

My phone on wifi (or network) tends to pick up emails quicker than my super dooper mac desktop that is constantly connected to wifi. What I am saying is, I could be on the computer with the phone next to me and the phone will receive the email first !!!
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The computer is almost certainly set to check for new emails every X minutes.   You can adjust the time interval.    The phone is probably checking more frequently. 

I think we're all aware that SFR are lacking in the reputation department at the moment,   but as the contracts I have been discussing are "sans engagement" there would appear to be little to lose in taking advantage of them,   given that 20 Euros per month for 100 Go is outstanding value for money,   certainly in comparison to the British mobile data market.

In reality,  name me one ISP or phone company that has an unblemished reputation amongst the public.   It certainly isn't Free....

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I have never heard any complaints with Free to be honest.

But you know, it is different in a town and city because no matter who you are with the connection remains stable so there is no reason to complain. I won't go into the story behind our confrontation with SFR.

BTW, you might want to check to see if your tariff has increased. Apparently, SFR have upped their fees or changed their contracts this last week or so. BIG scandal. Because in order to opt out of the new contract and higher price you have to phone them !!! Good luck with that. A collogue of my OH spent the day (like everyone else) trying to get through. Despicable company. Why should the customer have to opt out ? Why not ask the customer if they want to opt in ?

We were with SFR before they became SFR. They were fine then. Can't remember what they were called.

On my computer, if I check the local WIFI networks available to me (i.e other peoples houses/flats) 80 % are Free.
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