Virgin Mobile has patched its 3G network in the hope of fixing connection issues experienced by customers of its wireless broadband service.
Virgin Broadband's support manager Amanda O'Donnell said the provider tweaked its network configuration to resolve the issues.
"We had identified a couple of technical issues that were intermittently affecting the broadband connection ... yesterday at 2pm we put in a patch," O'Donnell told ZDNet Australia.
According to O'Donnell, Virgin also hopes the update will help customers who have experienced "searching issues", where the wireless modem goes into idle mode and cannot be woken up.
In addition, O'Donnell gave users some tips for improving their broadband connection:
- Keep the modem close to a window instead of a brick wall.
- Elevation is important -- put the modem up as high as possible.
- Avoid interference by not placing the modem next to a microwave or fridge.
- The antenna in the modem is directional, so swivelling it around may improve reception.
When asked if an external antenna might help customers, O'Donnell said that affordable models are unlikely to have a significant effect on reception.
"We have been doing some testing [prior to the release of Virgin Mobile Broadband] and any antenna that gives less than a 10db increase isn't worth getting ... We don't want to recommend people go out and spend [between AU$100 and AU$150] when it may not make much of a difference," added O'Donnell.
Virgin launched its wireless broadband service late last month.
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jerome2000
04/09/2007 08:34 PM
Hmm Nice article.. however from what I have experienced the searching issue is related to users that have low signal. I spent $150 at Jaycar on 2.4GHZ Parabolic antenna 24db gain which I mounted on my roof and kept adjusting till the signal was improved. Although it is not exactly the right frequency (2.1Ghz) it has made a huge improvment. I was only getting -99db to -89 signal quality. The antenna has improved the signal from -61db to -71db. No more searching problems and quicker net access!
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Tom
29/09/2007 04:35 PM
Yes and outside antenna is the go. I fitted a small directional antenna outside my study. Now get Good (-85db) instead of Poor (-115db) I was getting before.
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Benetski
08/11/2007 03:26 PM
It would be helpful to recommend. (a) A suitable antenna for low signal strength areas (b) Where they may be available
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nifty
23/03/2008 09:02 PM
Is there a sort of powered "hub" that plugs into RJ12 socket on the modem and boosts the wireless audio and 'ring' signal so that downstream phones and faxes (with high RENs) can work as well as they did on the Telstra landline?
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allo
30/03/2008 08:17 AM
i have recently hooked up with virgin w'less and can only get dial up speed 54 kbps.which is worse than the ethernet signal??can anyone help me work this thing out ?
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jsmorris
23/04/2008 05:35 PM
hi, could anyone advice me on which wireless broadband to go with for my PC, as l cannot get ADSL broadband due to pair game. Have been looking at Virgin-Broadband at Home?
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paulinej
04/07/2008 04:32 AM
dont even think about joining up with virgins $60 plan, unless you want continual broadband dropout and the modem going idle and being cut off 5-6 times in each and every phone call, their customer service is also rubbish,you are not meant to suffer drop out with broadband tonite i dropped out 10 times in the space of aan hour and this happens daily
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mmarchant
09/07/2008 12:10 AM
Oversupply of the product is now causing loss of broadband during peak times. So the service is useless during 5 - 11pm. Especially where there's hardly any 3G signal of any kind.
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jimy
25/07/2008 12:36 AM
rubbish service . i have to swith off modem after every five minutes. customer service very poor if u call customer service number put u on hold for three hours
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goowak
13/08/2008 10:32 AM
If you want good, reliable broadband and phone service this is definately not what you are after. Its RUBBISH to be exact and uttlerly useless. Another unhappy customer.
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hai
15/08/2008 10:11 PM
this is really a bad service.keep getting drop out.yes I lived in an area virginbroadband said I'd have no problem with reception(and my house is a highset one).This is like fraud ! Another very unhappy customer.
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Remsta
24/08/2008 04:11 PM
Virgin Broadband is RUBBISH, Keep away from it. Very slow speeds most of the time, constant internet and phone dropouts, hours waiting on hold to talk to them. Worst thing I ever did was go to VIRGIN.
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brad
25/08/2008 01:38 PM
May as well use the old 28.8 modem as use Virgin
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MarkyMarkGC
27/08/2008 09:51 PM
Virgin Broadband is the biggest peice of Sh.. in the world today. There marketing a plan of cheer genius if infact the system worked. A carrier pigeon would in my opinion send the information you require a lot faster and more reliable!! Stay Clear of it and use your money to buy bird seed instead
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