Experience of Wind GPRS in Italy

[DaveRo]

I have just come back from sailing down the west coast if Italy. I was using an XP laptop connected via Bluetooth to a Nokia 6310i phone to Wind GPRS - principally to get weather forecasts via the web, email, and download weather data. I was subscribed to MEGA 15000.

My experience was that this sometimes worked well, and sometimes not at all - depending on where I was and the time of day. In particular I had two problems:

1 It often took many many attempts to get a PPP dial-up connection. For example, in Vibo Marina (a small but not tiny town in Calabria) it often took 20 or 30 attempts which got stuck on 'dialling' before getting a connection. In other places (often 5 miles out at sea!) I would get a connection first time.

2 Once connected, I found that if data stopped flowing, the connection would die. It would continue sending but receive nothing back and I have to disconnect and reconnect it - leading to problem 1. I found that I had to keep loading webpages in the background while I read email and replied otherwise I would lose the connection.

My question: is this normal? Is it just that Wind's GPRS network has little capacity in these remote places and is unreliable - or do people think there's something wrong with my equipment or configuration? I commonly found that I could get a good connection early in the morning but that once I lost it I could not get another one for some time. Do Wind operate some sort of rationing?

I'm be in Sicily next, so I'd like to fix this if I can - or at least understand why it's happening.

Dave

[Landis]

Not sure what you mean by dialing? Since GPRS is an always on connection you don't really need to dial anything to be online. Maybe you can clear this up.

[DaveRo]

Originally Posted by Landis

Not sure what you mean by dialing...

As far as the laptop is concerned it's a 'dial up' (PPP) connection using a bluetooth modem. Once the bluetooth serial link has been establshed between the laptop and the phone (no problem with this AFAICS) the laptop 'dials' *99# to establish the connection with the access point - which in my case is set up in the phone as the default AP. Once it establishes the connection it then authenticates and establishes an internet connection.

It's the dial/connect phase that fails - usually no response so it times out. If that works the authentication nearly always works.

I get the same connection problems with my Zaurus PDA, so it's not the laptop (but it could be the phone - I only have one unlocked bluetooth phone.)

Once the network connection has been established it should be 'always on' until I disconnect, but as I said it generally dies once data stops flowing - and often dies even when it is. In that case the phone thinks the GPRS session is still active - it just doesn't work.

(Funny how the work 'dial' has survived long after the rotary dial has become obsolete.)

Dave

[DRNewcomb]

A few years ago I used Wind's unlimited GPRS option while on vacation in Italy. It worked reasonably well as long as I had a good signal. The phone I was using (SE T68i) limited the connection speed, so it was slower than a good dial-up connection.

[Landis]

Well, I don't really have anything useful to add, all I can say is that the last times I used WIND GPRS I had no such problems. I even managed to keep a single connection up during a 3h drive through northern Italy. Sorry

[DaveRo]

Thanks for those anecdotes.

I don't think it's a signal-strength problem. I've been on islands where I've been within sight of the only mobile mast and can't connect, and I've been offshore with 1 bar of signal and it's worked fine.

I suspect some kind of throttling or capacity issue. The fact that it often connects first time early in the morning (Italians still asleep? Date change?) and successfully transfers megabytes of data (I was loading news pages to keep it going, and even doing Windows Updates) but then refuses to connect for hours afterwards suggests to me that that subsequent connections are being refused because 'I've used my share'. Maybe they're restricting 'tethering' - as mentioned elsewhere.

I also wondered whether, in some small places, the local GPRS capacity is low. I was on the small island of Capraia (population about 200?) for 3 days and only got a connection once during that time - very early in the morning of the day I left. Maybe it's only sized for 5 connections in total or something?

Dave

[DRNewcomb]

If the site you are using is GPRS it shares capacity with the voice channels, which usually have higher priority. If the area is near cpacity there may not be much left for data. What you describe of being able to connect early in the morning but not later in the day sounds almost like this is the case.

[AndreA]

Originally Posted by DaveRo

I suspect some kind of throttling or capacity issue.

you're right, this is a italian trouble (Wind and others )

The fact that it often connects first time early in the morning (Italians still asleep? Date change?) and successfully transfers megabytes of data (I was loading news pages to keep it going, and even doing Windows Updates) but then refuses to connect for hours afterwards suggests to me that that subsequent connections are being refused because 'I've used my share'. Maybe they're restricting 'tethering' - as mentioned elsewhere.

The problem is that some town (Vibo Valentia) has a good coverage but with a minimal number of BTS. Expecially in the South (or in rural areas) Wind tries to have coverage using not so much BTS, so you have that kind of problem on peak hours. The network can't work so many connections between calls and data, so the priority is for the calls

I also wondered whether, in some small places, the local GPRS capacity is low. I was on the small island of Capraia (population about 200?) for 3 days and only got a connection once during that time - very early in the morning of the day I left. Maybe it's only sized for 5 connections in total or something?

In Capraia (population 375 ) same problem. I don't remember if they actually have a own BTS or they are still using one from Elba... if it's from Elba you can understand that the capacity of GPRS is lower because that area has a huge traffic for its possibilities...

[DaveRo]

Thanks for all the replies. Back to Vibo Valentia - same problem. Sail to Vuncano in the Aeolian Islands - connection first time every time and stays alive for hours.

Dave

[Richard10002]

Dave,

I use both TIM and WIND on my boat, but connect by putting the SIM in a datacard which sits in the PCMCIA, (or whatever it's called), slot in the side of the laptop. I also have an aerial which I got from Options who make the datacards for most operators.

I bought the TIM in Pompeii, but didnt get connected until Amalfi, then signed up for their 9GB per month in Stromboli where I bought a 30 euro top up card = got good GPRS in Stromboli and Vulcano, as well as at sea all the way from Stromboli to Vulcano then through the straits down to Riposto.

I then got a WIND SIM in Riposto, (well, Giarre), so that I can use their 5GB during the daytime. get a good always on GPRS signal in Riposto marina, and a reasonable, (1 or 2 bar), 3G signal at anchor in Taormina. TIM gets 4 bar 3G in Taormina, andonly 1 bar 3G in Riposto.

I have a feeling it might be more to do with your bluetooth connection rather than WIND. Can you hardwire the phone to the laptop and/or PDA. I wonder if the bluetooth times out if it doesnt see any traffic, perhaps to save on battery life. It might, of course, be due to WIND.

In England, when I had left my datacard on the boat, I hardwired my HTC TyTN to the Laptop and got always on 3G using a T-Mobile PAYG SIM - had trouble making the bluetooth work.

Are you planning to come down the East Coast of Scicily - Riposto marina is a nice place for a day or 2 of R & R, and the anchorage at Taormina/Naxos is enormous, good holding in mostly sand, and Taormina is a must see up on the cliffs.

I'm in Riposto till Saturday midday, then back to Taormina, (spent 3 weeks there up to last Monday), for a few days probably, then on to the anchorage at Syracusa.

How are you getting on with the anchorage at Vulcano - Porto Levante 50m to 5m in almost a couple of boat lengths, or are you on the other side.

If you come down this way, I'm in a white Moody 44 with the orange danbuoy flag flapping at the stern.

Cheers

Richard