Hi All

Do you know of any way to boost a USB wireless internet signal? I am living in Candolim and have a BSNL USB wireless 'dongle' which only gets two signal bars out of a possible five (signal comes from Panjim I believe). It is painful and soul-destroying to use the internet at present! Sometimes I try to come online and eventually decide (after 20 mins to load a page) that I would rather do the laundry Indian style, beating the clothes on rocks as I scrub!

Suggestions anyone? Thanks!

Julia x

The time of day you log on makes a difference. It seems to be faster in the mornings but slows down around lunchtime and early evening.

Hi Catpat, Do you have the same setup I do then? Thx

J x

Julia, if such a thing exists in Goa the people at Arte Douro, just out of Calangute heading north on the left will probably know about it. Or you could try Rom at the computer shop above Ajays Supermarket in Mapusa.
J5
xxx

Hi ,I am in the same boat as you, I would rather do the laundry Indian style ,with you anyday, soul-destroying in not the word, we need help.Thank you, please.

H B.

Now that I have re-read your post, I'm not sure. I have an Airtel dongle but the man in the shop gave me an aerial for when the signal is poor which is basically a lead which you plug into the USB on your laptop and then put the dongle on the other end. I haven't really needed it too much though.

That lead is not really an aeriel although it does partially fulfil that purpose. I always use my UK 3G dongle with its 3 foot extension lead as it seems to help and allows beneficial placement of the dongle. There are boosters offerted on e-bay for both mobiles and dongles (your dongle has a sim card in it, just like your phone but it works on a very slightly different frequency) and they cost anything fron £1.99 (probably crap) to £100 plus.

Unlike your phone, where reception is so important, your dongle should work fine on quite low reception. Here in the UK I get very acceptable speeds on two bars out of five. What is more important with mobile broadband, as Catpat so correctly says is how many people are using it at the time. Even here there are times when it slows a bit, but in Zimbabwe-on-Sea where the whole system is marginal it does spend a lot of the time in a state of uselessness, and aeriels and boosters will not make a blind bit of difference, sorry....................

I was told by the shop (think yours catpat) that I could not use my telephone to access the computer this year!! and would have to buy a dongle from him did not believe him - wonder why cynical perhaps. Spoke to my computer guy (will give anybody his number if you pm me) he came along to sort out bluetooth spoke to the telephone company and I was on line straight away. 250 rups well worth spending. He did a few other things on the computer for me. I find the speed acceptable, but better this time of the day. Have never taken 20 mins to download a page.

Thank you J5

I have now purchased a 5 meter USB extension lead for the dongle and will place it on the roof of my house. See if that helps! I think some of my problem might be that I live in a built-up area and nearby buildings are blocking the signal. Can't do much about others using at the same time though. I feel it is worse in the afternoon when all the teenagers come home from school and contend my bandwidth!!

Make sure you put it on a part of your roof that isn't too easy to climb on to. My mate fed hers out onto her roof, was happily surfing away one morning, when some fxxker climbed up and nicked the dongle !!! (That was Candolim too !!)

Dread - happy surfing
x