Mobile Broadband Rocks!

Great post here from Farmers Weekly – not on my normal feed list but could be one to add…  A farmer in the UK has been struggling to get decent mobile broadband speeds from his three dongle so he’s stuck it on a tube and hoisted it 6 meters into the air! Read the article [...]

As you may know, the Dell 5530 WWAN / HSDPA module inside the Dell Mini 9 also supports GPS.  A few users have tinkered around and got this feature up and running – here’s the details on the AT commands you’ll need. If you’re a Windows user, start up Hyperterminal, connect to the modem’s serial [...]

Given the popularity of mobile broadband, many people are now asking if they can access mobile broadband via a mobile phone.  If your handset supports mobile broadband, then you can probably use it with your laptop to access the internet.  First, you’ll need to find out if there’s a broadband modem in the mobile phone. [...]

For most users, the connection manager supplied with the USB modem is sufficient for getting connected and managing your modem. However, some users (especially those not using Windows computers) prefer to manage their modem directly, using AT commands. Here’s some useful commands for USB modems. Selecting an APN +CGDCONT=1,”IP”,”apn name” e.g. for Vodafone UK – [...]

As mobile broadband grows in popularity, more people are asking what they can do to improve the speed of their connections.  In this post we explore some of the factors that impact your throughput, and what you can do to improve it. Network capability The top speed of your connection will be limited by the [...]

Mobile phone networks operate on a number of different bands (frequencies) – in a similar way that radio stations all operate on different frequencies, and different mobile broadband devices support difference frequency bands.  If you’re planning on using your modem abroad it’s important to know about the supported bands before you take the plunge If [...]

I’ve struggled for months to get Apple’s iChat AV working with my data card. I can connect ok, but whenever I try to initiate or join a video conference it just refuses to play. I finally found a fix last night – open up ichat, go to preferences, accounts, server settings – change the port [...]

In order to hit the higher speeds using HSDPA, you need to ensure that Windows is configured optimally. Specifically, you need to ensure that your TCP settings are up to scratch. Here’s a quick run down of the right settings to get you up to those higher data rates – these settings will be good [...]

There seem to have been several reports of problems with the new Vodafone USB modem (Huawei E220) where the VMC Lite software (built into the modem) doesn’t recognize the modem or gives connection errors. These range from the connect button being greyed out so you can’t connect, or when trying to connect you receive errors [...]