Resolved Internet connection problems in Australia

I'm posting this on behalf of a friend of mine who currently lives in western Australia not far from Perth. Below is his tale of woe, and I'm hoping someone on this board can help him. When he was visiting the U.S. recently he didn't have any of these problems. I have no experience with wireless or laptops and can offer him no help or insights. I'm paraphrasing his words.

Not only has his laptop (using Vista, 32-bit) been running painfully slow, but he's living in an area where he's lucky when he gets any signal at all, even a telephone signal. All he's got to connect to the Internet with is an "air card" (it looks kind of like a USB flashdrive) through Telstra, and folks in that area whom he's talked to say there really isn't any better Internet service unless you're living right in Perth. (He's living in Chittering, which is basically a truck stop. The nearest semblance to a town is Bindoon to the south. And he doesn't have access to a landline.)
Yesterday he drove 45 minutes to the computer store and had some young kid help him who obviously knew nothing and ended up getting sold a router for $80, specifically this brand: http://www.tenda.cn/ The model is 306r.

Now I'm thinking a router isn't what he needs at all because all a router does is take your hardwired cable connection (which he doesn't have) and make it so your wireless card (or, in his case, "air card ") can pick up the signal. Is that right? Is this router of any use to him and, if not, is there any way he can get a better signal? Meanwhile, Telstra charges him the same arm-and-a-leg for service, no matter where he lives and no matter how non-existent the signal he gets is. They also charge him every time he tries to change his Internet plan because he has to pay by the MB, and he never knows how many MB he's going to need or be able to use if he can't get a connection!)

Any and all suggestions to improve his situation would be appreciated. Thanks!

Frank D

 

Tony,

I gave him your advice. I'm still waiting to hear back from him.

Frank

 

Definately doesnt need the Router!
Return Router with prejudice.
With the Telstra NextG wireless network he is using to connect he is rural so he will only have 1 tower to get a signal from and everyone in the area is in the same boat, so that means you have a limited amount of bandwidth shared amongst the whole community so everyone will be getting a very limited amount. Plus the further you are from the Tower the more his signal will degrade.
So that means he is getting a trickle of bandwidth that is also degrading over the distance it needs to travel to get to his NextG device, all in all not a good enviroment for stable internet.

In regards to a solution to the problem, his choices are limited and most will cost a small sum to try and get a small improvement.
Any solution that is going to get a reasonable improvement will cost in excess of $1000 to $2000 dollars.

 

AlphaOne,

Thanks! I've passed your advice on to him.

Frank

 

When I was in coastal Victoria recently I used a Telstra Elite Pre-paid Mobile Wi-Fi , to give it it's full name on the box.

I found that it worked pretty well most of the time but certainly very much slower than a hard-wired broadband connection. The service degraded at peak times though and I found it best to work 'off-peak' when there was more capacity on the local network.

It also helped to place the modem, if that is the best descriptor, in a higher position, because I was in a poor signal area. This device was much more convenient than a USB stick and needed no changes at all to my computer configuration. I liked it so much that I'll take it back with me next time I visit VIC and just buy a new sim card. The Telstra site has quite a lot of info on the device.

 

Thanks, Tony! I'm passing this along to him in an e-mail. I'll let everyone know how he's doing as soon as I hear from him.

Frank

 

Tony and Alan,

He says he's looked into buying an antenna, and found that they start at around $150. (This is before he's had a look at TonyT's recommendations, above.) Instead, he managed to rig up a kind of parabolic antenna on his own, and his signal improved vastly. (He hopes that everybody else's signal in the area didn't just get weaker!) Meanwhile, he's planning on returning the router.

I'll keep you posted.

Frank

 

A homemade fix solves the problem.

I just received an e-mail from my friend in Australia. Here's what he says:

"Thank you for the tips and links on my internet connection. I've tried many things to try and improve my connection, using tin foil, etc, etc, but finally came up with the idea of using a cooking vegetable strainer made of woven stainless steel mesh and frame and seem to be having a more desirable effect (screenshot at http://gyazo.com/5eb97652db7c37d0cd5fe88abb18ceec). I still get the odd times it acts up but overall it's better. The modem I have has its own antenna attachment which I have mounted in the center of my my veggie strainer. I think that without spending too much money what I've come up with will do the trick for now. "

I guess we can call this thread resolved.

Thanks to all for your help and advice!

Frank D