We live in the north west Galicia with no landline and hence are using a USB modem (dongle) for internet connection. Telephonica have told us we need 3 poles to get a line to the house and local experience suggests this may take a little while!! The signal we get is variable and in general provides a slow connection.

Does anyone have knowledge of methods of boosting the signal strength to provide a more consistent and faster connection.

You need a High Gain external directional Antenna Im having a a quick dig for a suitable product...

These are the sort of products that will give better performance on long range 3g Networks.

Or a Simple Signal Booster which is sold in the UK by these Chaps may help give them a bell or eMail.

Many thanks Ka Ora! I'll check the info out. Current Velocidad 8 kbits/sec! On a good day can speed along at 40 kbits/sec and my laptop starts shaking!

Ouch, I would get Two way sat from Astra2connect via these guys and it's affordable.

Yes I've heard it can work well

Hi

I use a dongle for internet access as I can not get a telephone line for many years. I recently upgraded to 3.5G with Telefonica and the speed is tremendous and for some unknown reason, the price has gone down! Today I actually got a 1Gb download speed but averaged around 750Kb. However I don't know if you have not come to the end of your current contract whether you can upgrade - but it has made the world of difference to me, I now Skype videoconference with Canada & the UK.
Davexf

Hi Davexf,

I have the 3.5G plus from Telefonica movistar and it is as you say quite fast if you are have a strong signal. I think our problem at the moment is the weak signal in our particular location and in addition the fact that we can only connect to a 2.5G signal. If you left click on "Novatel HSPDA" at the bottom of the Escrito movistar connect widow and then left click on the "Seleccion technologia de red" you will see the options. If I select "UMTS 3G solo" I get only one bar on the signal strength indicator and I am not able to connect.I get four bars signal strength on the other options, presumably because it opts for 2.5G.

I'm not sure where our nearest transmitter mast is and the fact we are surrounded by trees may not help!

Hopefully the network locally may be upgraded but which decade this may take place I am not sure! Whether the Videophone equivalent would be better or infact they share the same infrastructure as Telephonica I need to check out.

Thanks for your suggestion. As a matter of interest which contract are you on viz 1Gb or unlimited. No problems using Skype with movistar? I know UK mobile phone networks (Orange, O2) were not allowing it 18 months ago - presumably because they would lose revenue with people not using their mobile phones for the calls.

The boosting option I will investigate further and if all else fails mat resort to Satellite but this would be a relatively expensive option.

I will now send this message at a speed of 20Kbits/sec, if I'm lucky!!

Hi

My contract is for 3Gb a month, the first 1Gb is at the fastest possible but the next two is software limited to 128K (about double dial-up speed), but it is constant. As an aside, my contract renews on the 18th of every month so I get the fastest rate then.

Dave