Vodafone USB modem VS 2degrees USB modem (same sim used)

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edwardsb

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#90540 23-Sep-2011 19:44

Hi All,

Newbie here. Just thought id post some findings from a test i did tonight which i was quite surprised/annoyed with.

Just moved into the city and theres a waiting list for broadband in this area, so a friend lent me his vodafone vodem to use. I used the 2degrees sim in my mobile phone to test for a week and its been pretty good.

Well, i went and bought a 2degrees usb stick today with sim and 3gb of data. Installed it and ran a speed test and got the results below:

1) 2Degrees USB modem with 2 degrees Sim
2degrees USB modem with 2degrees SIM

I thought this was slower than the vodafone stick as i rememeber doing a speed test last week and getting closer to 3mb down speed. So, i plugged the same 2degrees sim into the vodafone usb modem and got this result

2) Vodafone usb modem with 2degrees sim.

I did numerous tests, all results were similar to the above. 2degree's modem gave me 100+ pings and only 1 - 1.5mb down speed. Vodafone modem gave me 50-60 pings and 2.5 - 3mb a sec

I live very close to the vodafone building in the viaduct, so maybe that has something to do with it. Though i wouldnt have thought they transmit signal from there.

oh well, guess ill be buying a vodafone usb modem to use with my 2degrees sim now. Would be interesting to know what speeds i would get on the XT 21mb sticks. Anyone tested/can test? :)

cheers.
Ben

n4

959 posts

Ultimate Geek

#525220 24-Sep-2011 07:19

The Vodafone stick probably supports HSUPA. The 2degrees sticks don't. That certainly explains the difference in uplink and ping, and probably downlink as well.

Samsung Note20 Ultra, on 2degrees

sbiddle

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#525221 24-Sep-2011 07:36

The 2degrees network doesn't support USUPA across the board (there are some sites live), hence the limit to rel.99 speeds for the upstream.

There are several other recent threads on here with some recent speed tests, with the upgrades both Vodafone and Telecom have done recently I'm seeing 4Mbps + speeds on Vodafone and XT in Wellington now, and with Vodafone upgrading many sites to 5.76 HSUPA it's possible to get around 3Mbps upstream also. With a HSPA+ device (remembering HSPA and HSPA+ use different radio resources) speeds of ~10Mbps are common on both networks.

jonherries

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#525233 24-Sep-2011 08:34

This is the other variable to Freitasms blog post the other day.

The variables seem to be for mobile Internet:

Network
Modem
Connection to device (Cradlepoint/mifi, Direct connection to laptop via USB)

The first variable is the discussion we tend have most often, but when I read this article and Freistasms one, I wonder how much effort is required to get the best possible speeds.

I would be very interested to see different standard branded modem performance with different networks and same connection method (as I mentioned on Freitasms post). Ie. Is the vodafone stick the fastest on all networks (assuming they are all cross compatible)?

Jon

freitasm

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#525246 24-Sep-2011 10:02

As for my blog post, I'm inclined to believe the better performance of using a 3G WiFi modem instead of USB could be consequence of multiple factors, as commented in the blog:

- better queueing mechanism in NIC driver than USB/Serial drivers
- WiPipe algorithm implementation on CradlePoint WiFi router (which would means USB modem + cradlepoint could be better than just a 3G/WiFi modem)

Obviously each operator will also have different technologies available, so at the end speed will be dependent on a number of variables (harware in use, position, network capabilities in specific location, operating system, etc).

edwardsb

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Wannabe Geek

#525260 24-Sep-2011 10:57

Yeah, understand that. The modems were plugged directly into the same USB port without dock/extension cable. laptop position was not moved. Running 64bit Win 7 without reboot between tests.

One strange thing I noticed when using the speed test for thie first time with the 2degrees sim and modem is that speedtest.net thou I was in Wellington. Couple of reconnections and it started showing as Auckland. Got me thinking something crazy was going on in tht I was being bounced/proxies down to Wellington.

freitasm

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#525262 24-Sep-2011 11:02

Speedtest relies on IP address to determine your location, so it is not accurate at all. You always should select the server location yourself.

Also note that if Vodafone has routing in Wellington and you speedtest against a Wellington server you will get one result, while if another operator has routing in Auckland and you speedtest against a Wellington server then your test will actually be the traffic from your laptop in Wellington, all the way to Auckland and back to Wellington.

That's why speedtests are not conclusive.

iamspark

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#525712 26-Sep-2011 10:29

@ sbiddle/freitasm the OP states that the SIM is 2degrees in both cases and only the USB device differs so network is the same in both cases...