23 October 2011

Optus broadband signal loss Casey-Nicholls

| welkin31
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I wondered if Rioters had noticed any diminution of their Optus mobile broadband signal (applies also to Virgin, Amaysim, Dodo, Exetel, various other resellers of the Optus network).

I have been with Virgin mobile BB for several weeks and after experimenting with a wok aerial and the direction it points have been getting speeds of around 6Mb/s for a month or so now – enough for my humble needs. I turned off at midday Wednesday 19 Oct and after being away from Canberra a couple of days I turned on again around 8am Friday and the signal would have been less than 10% of normal. I am experimenting now with the direction the wok points – got a small improvement – but still too slow to load the netspeed.net page. I contacted Virgin Friday and learnt nothing all day – no reply Saturday. Just wondered if anybody else has a similar experience – ~90% loss of useful service after many weeks of working OK ? I am only a km line of sight from the aerial on the roundabout in Clarrie Hermes Drive between Horse Park Drive and Kelleway Avenue in Casey.

I think it is likely that particular aerial has malfunctioned – wondered what others think.

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renaefenwick4:34 pm 24 Nov 11

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.

Rawhide Kid Part311:06 am 24 Oct 11

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.

What happens if you try another (perhaps several) base-stations (It’s MOBILE, broadband, right – go for a drive!)

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. Also when things do turn to custard, it’s MUCH easier for the ISP to diagnose.

(Viva la red nacional de banda ancha!)

Golden-Alpine6:41 pm 23 Oct 11

Looks like we don’t have 3g in Ngunnawal.

Rawhide Kid Part36:25 pm 23 Oct 11

Probably more traffic going through that particular transmitter. The more traffic the slower the network. And don’t forget both data and voice are going through these towers. Also if your using a ‘Wok Antenna” for your reception you may be sacrificing good reception by pointing it at one tower only. You would be better of using a omnidirectional antenna tuned to the mobile phone network similar to those large mobile phone antennas you see on cars in the country areas.

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