Optus broadband signal loss Casey-Nicholls

It has failed again today November 24th.

Signal from the Optus aerial on the roundabout in Clarrie Hermes Drive between Horse Park Drive and Kelleway Avenue in Casey, ACT – has just failed again – 10.30am Thursday 27 October.

welkin31 said :

This NZ site has many examples of DIY signal wireless enhancing – I hope you enjoy Deref.
http://www.usbwifi.orconhosting.net.nz/
There is much info on the ‘net – but remember some of it is about transmitting wireless.

If you click on their numbered photos you get an enlarged version. I have sent in a photo of my setup to RiotAct for what it is worth. There is a dark foam drink can cooler under the dongle to hold it out a little. Where my office is I could fit a unit on an outside wall and almost get line of sight to the Optus antenna. If I went to the roof or ceiling space might be better. All takes a bit of effort.
Here is an Australian site –
http://www.radiospecialists.com.au/antennas%20-%20broadband%20grid-pack,%20yagi.htm
Some wifi modems have a little fitting to take an external aerial jack – but my Huawei does not.

welkin31 said :

This NZ site has many examples of DIY signal wireless enhancing – I hope you enjoy Deref.
http://www.usbwifi.orconhosting.net.nz/
There is much info on the ‘net – but remember some of it is about transmitting wireless.

If you click on their numbered photos you get an enlarged version. I have sent in a photo of my setup to RiotAct for what it is worth. There is a dark foam drink can cooler under the dongle to hold it out a little. Where my office is I could fit a unit on an outside wall and almost get line of sight to the Optus antenna. If I went to the roof or ceiling space might be better. All takes a bit of effort.
Here is an Australian site –
http://www.radiospecialists.com.au/antennas%20-%20broadband%20grid-pack,%20yagi.htm
Some wifi modems have a little fitting to take an external aerial jack – but my Huawei does not.

I have used prepaid Virgin BB with a Huawei modem/ dongel for approx 2 years. I have found it to be cheap @ $360 per year. BUT the performance is patchy at best. Often a page will time out before it loads, than at other times I can download multiple You Tube videos. If this was my only internet access I would consider other options.

This NZ site has many examples of DIY signal wireless enhancing – I hope you enjoy Deref.
http://www.usbwifi.orconhosting.net.nz/
There is much info on the ‘net – but remember some of it is about transmitting wireless. If you click on their numbered photos you get an enlarged version. I have sent in a photo of my setup to RiotAct for what it is worth. There is a dark foam drink can cooler under the dongle to hold it out a little. Where my office is I could fit a unit on an outside wall and almost get line of sight to the Optus antenna. If I went to the roof or ceiling space might be better. All takes a bit of effort.
Here is an Australian site –
http://www.radiospecialists.com.au/antennas%20-%20broadband%20grid-pack,%20yagi.htm
Some wifi modems have a little fitting to take an external aerial jack – but my Huawei does not.

Can you give us some construction details on your wok aerial? I’d like to try putting one together.

A quick update – yesterday around 4pm speeds were still around 40kbps (less than ancient 56k) – that is with the wok pointed towards Civic.
From logon at 4am this morning – I noticed speed had increased to just under 1Mb/s with wok pointed towards Civic. Adjusting the wok around to point down Clarrie Hermes Dr increased speed to 3Mb/s. Not as good as the 6 I had experienced – but hey just now I am not complaining. I heard at an Optus shop that they have an application in for aerials on Harcourt Hill. I wondered if anybody knows where this is in the “approvals process”. An aerial there would improve signal over a wide area.

Grrrr said :

M0les said :

you will always get better speed and lower latency with a wired Internet service.

Except in about 1/4 of the Gungahlin region – where everyone is on RIMs which have terribly congested backhaul, and Telstra have been very slow / can’t be bothered to upgrade it.

Well not now that the NBN is down the line.

M0les said :

you will always get better speed and lower latency with a wired Internet service.

Except in about 1/4 of the Gungahlin region – where everyone is on RIMs which have terribly congested backhaul, and Telstra have been very slow / can’t be bothered to upgrade it.

Rawhide Kid Part3 said :

Probably more traffic going through that particular transmitter. The more traffic the slower the network.

That’s kind of true, but the bottleneck (particularly on Optus’ network) is usually the backhaul (the link from the tower itself to the internet backbone). Congestion there shouldn’t cause a measurable drop in the signal itself. If I were to guess, I’d go with the OP’s suggestion that it’s probably a problem with their particular antenna/modem.

M0les said :

On the other hand, it’s not a mobile set-up and you’re likely to be where you live for 12+ months, you will always get better speed and lower latency with a wired Internet service.

You’ve clearly never lived in Gungahlin. Or in a rural area, for that matter. Your statement presupposes actual access to a relatively modern wired connection. This is not a given.