Getting the Best from Rural 3G Broadband in Ireland

I live in an area where there is no Cable and the copper phone cable is too poor to support ADSL.  Therefore, my internet access options are limited to Dial-Up, ISDN, Satellite, Wide Area WiFi or 3G.

My preference is for 3G as it give me more flexibility (I can take it with me).

Hardware Selection

Having made my connection choice, how do I know I am getting the best out the potential service.  Well, I know from my mobile phone signal strength meter that I am a fair distance from the nearest mast, so I decided to make sure I had some decent gear to receive 3G data.

Here is my hardware:

3G WiFi Router

Option Globesurfer III+

£178.80

http://www.3grouterstore.co.uk/3G/Globesurfer_III_plus.html

Directional 3G Antenna

Panorama High Gain Multiband Directional Antenna  (can be externally wall or internally desktop mounted)

WM11-DEP3G-5-MCPL

£81.70 + Delivery

http://www.panorama-antennas.com/shop/

Alternative Antenna

GXD1201 Flat Panel Directional GSM and 3G 

£66.00

http://www.globesurfer.co.uk/globesurfer/3G_Antennas.html

The Globesurfer III+ has an 'MC' external antenna connector.  It is very delicate, so use minimal force to connect the antenna cable to the router.  Also, call the antenna supplier to make sure any adaptor is included as some antennae come with SMA connectors, so you may need a short adapter cable (about £18).

3G ISP Choice

From my mobile phone, I can tell which mobile operator gives me the best 3G data signal.  Note, that not all GSM masts carry both voice and 3G data, so you may be in an area where voice is best with one mobile operator and data is better with another.

In my case, O2 seem to be the best for voice and Vodafone is the best for data.  Unusual I know, but practical experience showed this.

So, I opted for a 10GB 3G SIM from Vodafone Ireland.  At the time, it costs 15 Euro per month (it seems to be going up to 20 Euro for the same).

Antenna Setup

The advantage of using this hardware is that I can place the WiFi router in a good location for WiFi distribution around my house and still place the antenna in the best place for 3G data signals.  So, I placed the WiFi router with Vodafone SIM in my attic.  Before setting up the antenna, I set up the router to use '3G only' as sometimes the router will decide to drop to GPRS if it thinks the 3G signal is poor.

So, the antenna is directional, so how do I find out where to place it…..

Step 1: Find your local 3G mast

I went to this web site from Ireland's communications regulator and zoomed into my location:

http://www.askcomreg.ie/mobile/siteviewer.273.LE.asp

From this I could see that there are a few masts within 3km of my house and in direct line of sight.  When I clicked on the mast icons, I could see the provider and the data capability.  This confirmed my experience as an O2 mast was closest, but had no 3G whilst a Vodafone mast was a bit further away with both voice and 3G.

So, I obtained the co-ordinates of the location of the Vodafone 3G capable mast:

ID: WW0xx
XCoord: 3xx452.0
YCoord: 2xx521.0
Operator: Vodafone
GSM: Y
3G: Y

'xx' is used for privacy!  You will of course get numeric values.

I then converted to these values to standard Lat/Lon co-ordinates for the next step using this site:

http://www.fieldenmaps.info/cconv/cconv_ie.html

Here, enter the X and Y co-ordinates above in the 'Irish Grid' section, 'Full Coordinates' and click convert.  This gave me:

OS Ireland 65

Used as graticule markings
on OS maps of Ireland
Not GPS-compatible

	Degrees
Lat		N
Lon		W

'x' is used for privacy!  You will of course get numeric values.

Step 2: Get the bearing from my home to the mast

I picked the best location to place the directional antenna on the outside of the house.  This was as high as I could and clear of any trees.  I then used this site to obtain the Lat/Lon of my directional antenna:

http://www.gorissen.info/Pierre/maps/googleMapLocation.php

And then, the following site to calculate the bearing from my antenna to the 3G mast:

http://www.movable-type.co.uk/scripts/latlong.html

I obtained the result of 33 degrees.

Step 3: Point the antenna to the 3G mast

I mounted the antenna and adjusted the flat face to the 33 degree required (using a compass app on my Android phone).

After rebooting the router, the 3G signal was picked up (you may need to set the SIM PIN).

Result:

I generally obtain a 10x boost in data rates and a near 100% connection to the 3G mast compared to when I had no antenna.

My Current Top 10 Droid Apps

10. 1Password
Perfect for securely storing your passwords and credit cards for convenient access. Syncs from desktop version using Dropbox.
Free but needs a paid for desktop app.

9. QR Droid
Best QR barcode scanner with handy addons for product look ups, etc.
Free.

8. Flashlight
Turns the phone into a powerful torch with colour and flashing options. Great standby app.
Free.

7. Twitter
We all tweet right? I like the simple app from Twitter themselves.
Free.

6. Luas Times
Living in Dublin and as a Luas user, I use this twice a day to plan the time I need to get to the station.
Free.

5. GPS Essentials
Love the non navigation modes of this app such as the Head Up Display and the Dashboard.
Free.

4. Chrome Browser
I am a new user of this Beta App, but I love the navigation and pre-load speed.
Free.

3. NFC TagInfo
The best app for discovering RFID cards, types and open data. Great app from one of the greats in RFID!
Free.

2. Sygic Route Planner
Brilliant off line route planner with maps for most countries. Very detailed, fast and saves a fortune when roaming.
Paid App.

1. TouchDown
Email client, so I use it every hour of the day. I think it is the best, especially for Exchange server connections.
Paid App.

Homebrew NFC Test Probe

If you ever need a NFC / RFID test probe for your hardware and software development, here is a neat idea I picked up from the guys at Ingenico, Paris.

The idea is that you are testing your RFID control software on a terminal or a phone and you are not sure if the sensor is really active.  Make this little gadget and it will tell you if the sensor is broadcasting an RFID signal.

* Note it is intended to be used for 13MHz RFID (Mifare or similar card types).

1.  Take some thin, insulated wire

2.  Create a loop of the wire around your fingers with 4 turns (for Mifare, use 4)

3.  Bend or solder the wire ends to the pins of an LED - you don't need a resistor, just the LED

4.  Form into a nice rectangle, about the size of a VISA card

There you go.  If you bring the gadget within range of an RFID signal, the LED will light up and show the antenna is broadcasting.

It works equally well with your NFC phone too, allowing you to check if it is broadcasting an RFID signal.

Here are some photos of it in use...you can just about see the LED lit up...

The basic tool - 4 turns of cable and an LED - no light

In Use with an Ingenico iCT250 terminal - lit up

In Use with a ViVOtech VP5000 Reader

In Use with a Google Nexus S Phone

 

Handy little tool for your pocket!