3G & 4G Wireless - Losing connection

[parabellum]

I gave up on ADSL due to the age and capacity of the copper phone lines, engineers suggested I go wireless instead. Have a 3G and 4G both very good most of the time but come 15.30 I still have an excellent connection but cannot access the internet, I put it down to the kids coming out of school and opening up on their iPads, iPhones etc. as it goes on until around 19.00, does this sound likely? As I already get an excellent signal a booster may not be the answer, can anyone offer suggestions on what the problem most likely is and how to fix it please?

[Milo Minderbinder]

I don't know the infrastructure in Oz, but I think you've answered your own question there
Theres no way a mobile phone mast is going to have the available bandwidth to deal with the contention caused by a horde of kids all logging on at the same time. You've been suckered by a marketing ploy.

Solutions?
Go back to ADSL
Shoot the kids
Get a satellite connection (probably expensive.....unless you shared it with others)

Where do you live - in town or country?

[Ancient Observer]

I don't know about dunnunder, but signal strength for 3G in the UK is enormously variable, especially in high density population areas. When I go to North London, (Holloway Road area) I seldom get good internet access, but I drove up to Nottingham on Tuesday, and signal strength was good most of the way.
No wonder they say you can have "unlimited" access...........it is unlimited when and where you can get it.

[mixture]

but signal strength for 3G in the UK is enormously variable, especially in high density population areas

It also varies enormously by which network you're on.

For example, someone at work is an arms length away from me. She is on 3, I am on Vodafone. Can she get more than a couple of bars worth of signal, let alone 3g ? Fat chance. Whilst I get full signal and 3G, no problem.

T-Mobile are another network that have a particularly bad reputation in London.

[mike-wsm]

I struggled with 3G dongle and mifi for many years, then finally gave up and went for ADSL landline with a major uk provider. The improvement is phenomenal, really good bandwidth nearly all the time. I access the router from a tablet via wifi, so there is no umbilical and I can access from any room.

I can also use wifi in cafes, plus my provider has a router sharing arrangement, I log into anyone else's router hotspot.

[parabellum]

Thanks everyone. Went into the ISP office yesterday and they said it was school kids! I'm in a rural area of Victoria about 100kms east of Melbourne.
Planning on going back to ADSL which was at least continuous and a slow but still reasonable speed.

[ExSp33db1rd]

I'm used to seeing almost every women I see holding a mobile 'phone, but one got into the lift yesterday working TWO mobile phones, one in each hand.

World's Gone Mad.

[Milo Minderbinder]

when I'm working I have to carry THREE......

one for specific use in relation to the National Health Service contract I'm on

one for use just for incoming calls in relation to my own private business....(just a simple cheap phone but a four da charge)

one for personal / regular stuff that only friends / family and established contacts get (i.e. people who I know wont ring at stupid times without good reason) This ones an Android on which I can get e-mail etc, but only has a 24-hour charge at best

If you can point me in the direction of an Android phone that takes two SIM cards AND has a minimum three day battery life, I'd be interested

[cattletruck]

it was school kids!

My understanding of these new networks is that with respect to network capacity, voice calls trump data calls. So if your happily surfing the net at 3:29, come 3:30 when the school bell rings and all the kids are calling mummy or daddy to come pick them up from school, then there goes the smile off your internet surfing dial.

Has the NBN come your way yet? That would be a better choice than ADSL.

[mike-wsm]

Milo

Does this help? It is possible to redirect landline calls to mobile, my plumber does it, but then he's got pots of money including a whole lot that used to be mine.

[Milo Minderbinder]

Mike
I've already got a land line redirected to one of the mobiles........that costs enough
to redirect a second mobile would be really expensive

[mike-wsm]

Okay, thought you'd know about that. :ok:

So if all else fails:
Plumbing Courses - Find Plumbing Training Courses in the UK (http://www.plumbingcourses.co.uk/)

[Milo Minderbinder]

probably more money in plumbing than there is in fixing home computers at present!

[mixture]

definitely more money in plumbing than there is in fixing home computers at present!

Fixed that for you....

Fixing home computers is a mugs game, a never ending, tedious, repetitive can of worms.

[parabellum]

cattletruck - no NBN here yet, it is going where the ALP voters are first, we are rural farming countryside so we will have to wait a while!

The loss of service starts around 3.00 to 3.15 and goes on until around 7.0pm, sometimes beyond that too!

[FullOppositeRudder]

I presume your 'service' is with the big T.

It might be worth asking if Optus have a local wireless service, They probably won't have the speed of the big provider at its best, but probably don't have the customer load either. Amaysim and Internode wireless both use Optus as the provider. I have a couple of Amaysim powered devices. Not blindingly fast and nowhere near as quick as my hard wired ADSL 2, but acceptable for portable work. And then there's Vodaphone, but in my observation they generally shun the country.

Your can't be only one thus affected by this - complaining formally might help but I imagine the answer will be soothing, but essentially "that's how it is ...".

And like you, I imagine that the NBN promise will disappear into the black of debt well before we are favoured with its presence and availability.

fOr