Hi there,

I made this post to the Vodafone forum, but having had a good look around, it would seem that this may be a more ideal place to the find expertise and knowledge we need.

Would very much appreciate any feedback on the following... and just to throw a few incentives around, we will hook up anyone who can help us with this issue with a free box of beer, or bottle of wine. 

We currently have an issue with our data connection through Vodafone's network, and I was hoping someone may be able to help. I have tried to find a solution through the Vodafone 0800 number, but I am struggling to find someone with the relevant expertise. 

We operate a ticketing agency, and use handheld scanners to access our server and redeem tickets (scan of 2-d barcode) as people turn up to the event. As such, our connectivity is mission critical to the operation of our business; if we lose our connection, then we aren't able to continue processing tickets until it is recovered. 

We are in the middle of developing a full solution that does not depend on stable connectivity, but this wont be completed for some time. So I have a couple of questions/thoughts, and would really appreciate anyone's input. 


Our devices are Psion Texklogix Workabout Pro 3's, and we connect to Vodafone through a pre-pay SIM Card. The redemption is done through a webpage running on Opera Mobile 5 browser - the scanner populates a simple text field, querying our DB to void the ticket. Typically the turn around time is a couple of seconds between scan and the valid/invalid response. This is not ideal, but not a huge problem.. The real problem is that the devices quite frequently drop connection and time out, this can be anywhere from a few seconds to five or more minutes. This is obviously a big problem, as we are unable to operate during this time.  


- It was suggested to me that the devices may need to be configured for the Vodafone network. Would this be a possible solution - and if so, how could we find the correct settings?


- The scanners also connect through wifi, which is much more stable. Would a product like the mobile hotspot be able to provide a stable wifi connection, anywhere in the country? Or would we be facing the same problem - that the connection is ultimately going through GPRS, and therefore liable to the same timeout problem (this would infact be worse.. because if one scanner on its own simcard drops connection, we can replace it with another. If all scanners are on the same connection and drop, we don't have this option). 


- If this hotspot is not going to provide a stable wifi connection, is there any way or any hardware that will allow us to do this? We deploy scanners all over the country, so it needs to be flexible in setup and ideally not require any hardwired phoneline.  


- Can Vodafone provide any kind of preferred service, or guaranteed connection with some kind of SLA? I imagine there are a number of other mission critical operations using Vodafone, so thought this might be a possibility. 



I would really appreciate any feedback on the above, or any other ideas that may help us with this problem. I can also be contacted on 04 382 9820, or 0212929406, or ashfogelberg @ g mail if it would be easier to contact me directly. 


Thanks in advance, 

Ash