3G USB Datacard Question

Hey guys I bought a 3G USB Datacard so I wouldn't have to share my internet with 6 people at my new apartment. When I went to the store to ask questions about speed and reception and all that stuff the guy working there told me the best thing to do is see if a 3g phone gets good reception in my apartment and if it does, the datacard should get good reception. So we used my girlfriend's phone which is a 3g phone and she gets a solid full signal the entire time in my apartment. After seeing that, I bought this 2 meg usb datacard for my apartment here in Costa Rica.

So I just installed it a few hours ago, and the speed is definitely better than sharing my other connection with 6 people, but I noticed that I get an average of 3 bars out of 5 as far as the signal strength is concerned. The connection is good, but the speed is limited because of the strength of the connection. My question is this. Is there any kind of extra thing I can buy to improve the signal strength of a usb datacard? I don't really understand how my girl's phone is getting a full signal but my card is only getting 3. Any ideas or suggestions for me? Thanks a lot guys.

 

Apartments is typically not ideal for 3G wireless connection since you are basically in a confined concrete environment.
I've been using 3G wireless in Canada for some years now and from my experience, your best bet is to find an antenna for your 3G module / modem. It should have an input for an external antenna.
Buy a long antenna and get the antenna to your balcony and you should see strength of your signal boosted significantly.

 

Well im not in a big apartment building or anything. There are only 6 tenants here and I live on the second floor. The problem I think is that I live in the center of a coffee field haha.

But you mentioned that I could get an antena for the huwaei data card? If so how much do they normally cost and where could I buy one? Amazon.com perhaps?

 

I don't know specifics of your model, so I can't know. You will have to do google up and find something that will suit you. And I don't know prices for any antenna in Costa Rica, either.
But my common sense tells me that you should be able to buy an antenna from where you bought your 3G card or at least they should be able to direct you where to buy one from.

 

I use a 3G broadband modem as my source of internet. I live out in the country. I did a lot research regarding antennas. Before you invest in an antenna, you need to make sure an antenna will help you. In order to do that, I suggest you check out this tutorial:

Will an Antenna Help Me? : 3Gstore.com

That tutorial, will tell you whether you need an antenna or not, whether you need an outdoor or indoor antenna, and etc.

Also, it's not good to judge your signal by how many bars you have, it's not entirely accurate. You need to look at your -dB level. Lower is better. Mine usually floats around -79dB to -83dB, which isn't the best, but I am able to play games with not much of a problem. Though, I would love to see my signal drop to the -60's dB range.

BTW, different devices have different signals. I actually have 2 Verizon 3G modems, one displays -85dB to -95dB, while the other one is -79dB to -83dB. Make sure your 3G modem has an antenna port before investing in an antenna (that's if an antenna will help you).

 

I found the RSSI number and it's usually between 80-90 from what I've noticed so far. Is that ok?

 

What are your plans for using this 3G broadband for? For gaming, you also need to take in account for what your latency will be, which you can use pingtest.net to check it out. If it shows good latency and you are able to play games fine, then -80 to -90 dB is probably okay for you. I play games with as high as -92 dB, but depending on your ISP provider, you may have horrible latency. I used to use sprint and their latency was horrible, Verizon had the best latency, even though I had high dB.

For everyday web surfing, emails, that would be fine to use it. But if you want to download lots of files at faster speed, it may help with download speeds if you improve your signal. But make sure you read that tutorial and know for sure whether an antenna will help you or not. In some cases, you may already have the best signal/latency/etc that your provider offers and adding an antenna will not help you at all.

 

My plans for this internet will be mostly for gaming/skyping with family in the USA. And of course downloading some music and movies (I usually just download stuff at night while I'm sleeping). After doing a few more tests I realized the reality is more like -85 up until -91 dB. And after doing 5 tests on speedtest.net I have gotten a latency of (41, 47, 46, 102, 117)

Now, for those of you with experience with these 3g usb datacards... Does yours get really hot after using it for like 1 hour? Mine gets hot as f*uck while I'm using it. Could it be defective?

 

Don't worry about heat too much.

My 3G module (USB version) gets hot enough to bake a pancake. It's been years I've been using it and it still works fine.

Heat is overrated in these forums.

 

I just skyped with my parents for about 30 minutes using this thing and the connection was very unreliable... If I can't improve the signal I think I'm going to bring this thing back...