3 UK modem no longer connecting... but only in one 3 Ireland location

willkie

Hello all, strange problem here. I hope someone can shed some light on this!

I have a 3 UK contract modem, ZTE MF622. I have been able to use this roaming for about a year in Donadea, Kildare. I believe the coverage may be from the Maynooth 220KV Radio Site off the Straffan Road. It seems to be from an easterly direction anyway. Up to about 3 weeks ago it worked the best (well, as best goes for 3 internet). It's all that is (was) available (no landline). Signal is (still) generally 3 - 4 bars and it usually works well enough even to use things like BBC iPlayer, so there is no coverage or signal problem.

But since 3 weeks ago, at that location, it will show that it connects to the HSDPA network, but there is no internet access, no email, nothing. All the time the 'sent data' counter is counting up gradually, but the 'received data' counter shows 0.23 KB when it first connects, and there it stays. I have tried the usual things like creating a manual connection, entering DNS addresses, reinstall the modem / software; no difference. I then thought it was a roaming or account problem. But the strange thing is, anywhere else on 3 Ireland i.e. on a different cell / sector, I can use it normally. I am using it in many other locations on the 3 Ireland network and there is no problem. Also, a second 3 UK ZTE MF622 modem does exactly the same; works anywhere on 3 Ireland but has stopped working in this coverage area. So I borrowed a 3 Ireland modem and took it out to Donadea. And guess what, the 3 Ireland modem works fine there! So I rang 3 Ireland tech support, who of course couldn't help because I am not a 3 Ireland customer. Their advice is to ring 3 UK, but I think I know already what they are going to say. And round and round we go!

So it seems that whatever 3 Ireland tower / cell / sector is covering Donadea, has for the past 3 weeks ceased providing internet service for roaming 3 UK modems. They can connect to the HSDPA network, but not access anything beyond that. Running 'ipconfig /all' shows the gateway, DNS, WINS and modem (same as gateway) IP addresses are all present, so there is at least some network connectivity; just no internet, email etc. I can't ping anything at all. The 3 Ireland modem on the other hand works fine. Is this a backhaul problem specific to just that one area? Is that possible? And how on earth would I go about getting this fixed?!

As a last resort, next week I am going to try one of the other types of 3 UK modems (Hauwei?) and rule out the ZTE ones as the problem, although I fail to see how both of the ZTE modems could be identically affected. But stranger things have happened. After that I am afraid I am stuck!


Any ideas appreciated!

awkrin

I have the same problem, except that I am a 3 Ireland customer and I use the new huawei e160 modem(smaller, male usb plug). I don't really know when this problem started since I used up all my data allowence, but since the 15th this month, it would rarely send any packets. customer support told me to clear the chache etc, which obviously didn't do nothing.

it sometimes work better at nighttime, so I think some of the towers have been shut down and the remaining are overloaded, or ip issues?

I live in Coolock, Dublin, so there should be enough covarage. I never checked before, but now, on registration mode, there are two 3 networks, and it won't register to one of them.

there is nothing on their website(not that I would expect to) about this issue. customer support also told about something, but very brief..

willkie

Well, I tried the Hauwei 3 UK modem and the result is the same - connects to the HSDPA network, 5 bars signal, but no further - no internet etc. So my next step will be to ring 3 UK and ask for tech support to look into it, but I think I will be p*ssing into the wind TBH. It looks like I will be cancelling my contract!

willkie

Could anyone local confirm for sure where the 3 coverage for Donadea might be from? From the performance I used to get when it did work, it was from an easterly direction and I am guessing that it is from the tower at the ESB site at Straffan Road (Taghadoe?), south from Maynooth. When I spoke with 3 Ireland CS last week, they were trying to convince me (reading off their CS script of course) that there was no coverage there. It didn't seem to matter that I am there and can see the 3 - 4 bar signal I am getting :mad:

If anyone knows for sure, at least then I can try and get 3 UK to get 3 Ireland to look into it. You would never think they were part of the same company when it comes to a problem like this


TIA!

Walkman

willkie wrote: »

You would never think they were part of the same company when it comes to a problem like this

TIA!

3Ireland and 3UK are not part of the same company. They are two totally seperate companies trading under the '3' brand. IIRC 3Ireland's correct company name is 'Hutchison 3G Ireland Ltd' and 3UK's is 'H3G UK Ltd'. Both companies trade independently of each other (same with Vodafone Ireland and Vodafone UK).

willkie

Ultimately, yes, they are: http://www.hutchison-whampoa.com/eng/about/structure/telecom.htm

Walkman

willkie wrote: »

Ultimately, yes, they are: http://www.hutchison-whampoa.com/eng/about/structure/telecom.htm

Yes both are 100% owned by Hutchison Whampoa but both networks are totally seperate and ran as such.

willkie

I captured the packets from the initial connection onwards and there is a clear difference between the behaviour of the site in question and all the other 3 Ireland sites I have tried and that don't have this problem. I haven't got the means to post extracts here at the moment, but I will later. From memory, the differences relate to:
the SSDP protocol (uPNP, port 1900)
"v3 group membership", whatever that is
an address in the (IIRC) 224.x.x.x range, which relates to uPNP

I will post the relevant extracts here when I get a chance, and maybe someone in the know will be able to look over them and see, or have an idea, what the problem is. Getting 3 to do something might be another matter though.


TIA

foggy_lad

they are probably restricting your roaming to persuade you to enter into a contract here in ireland.

willkie

No. This only applies to one 3 Ireland cell / sector, and since the first week of April. Everywhere else on the 3 Ireland network it, and the two other 3 UK modems, still work fine. The trouble is, I only really need it to work in that location.

willkie

Here are the summary packet captures; both are while connecting to the 3 Ireland network but in different locations. I have cut this down as short as possible, and the significant differences are in bold.

The first is on a working 3 Ireland cell / sector; this gets to 0.23KB received, pauses for a second right here during these packets, and then continues on to work perfectly well:

No. Time Source Destination Protocol Info
20 1.671875 Send_0e Send_0e PPP IPCP Configuration Request
21 1.671875 Receive_0e Receive_0e PPP IPCP Configuration Ack
22 1.968750 10.235.111.249 224.0.0.22 IGMP V3 Membership Report / Join group 224.0.0.251 for any sources
23 2.046875 10.235.111.249 10.11.12.13 NBNS Multi-homed registration NB machine name<00>
24 2.156250 10.235.111.249 224.0.0.22 IGMP V3 Membership Report / Join group 239.255.255.250 for any sources
25 2.671875 10.235.111.249 224.0.0.22 IGMP V3 Membership Report / Join group 239.255.255.250 for any sources / Join group 224.0.0.251 for any sources
26 2.937500 10.235.111.249 239.255.255.250 SSDP M-SEARCH * HTTP/1.1
27 2.968750 10.235.111.249 255.255.255.255 DHCP DHCP Inform - Transaction ID 0x8de21a25
28 3.546875 10.235.111.249 10.11.12.13 NBNS Multi-homed registration NB machine name<00>
29 5.046875 10.235.111.249 10.11.12.13 NBNS Multi-homed registration NB machine name<00>
30 5.968750 10.235.111.249 239.255.255.250 SSDP M-SEARCH * HTTP/1.1
31 5.968750 10.235.111.249 255.255.255.255 DHCP DHCP Inform - Transaction ID 0x8de21a25
32 6.562500 10.235.111.249 10.11.12.14 NBNS Multi-homed registration NB machine name<00>
33 7.296875 10.235.111.249 172.30.140.69 DNS Standard query PTR 1.0.0.127.dnsbugtest.1.0.0.127.in-addr.arpa
34 7.406250 172.30.140.69 10.235.111.249 DNS Standard query response, No such name
35 8.062500 10.235.111.249 10.11.12.14 NBNS Multi-homed registration NB machine name<00>
36 8.968750 10.235.111.249 239.255.255.250 SSDP M-SEARCH * HTTP/1.1
37 9.562500 10.235.111.249 10.11.12.14 NBNS Multi-homed registration NB machine name<00>
38 11.078125 10.235.111.249 255.255.255.255 NBNS Registration NB machine name<00>

And then on the non-working 3 Ireland cell / sector; this, just as above, gets to 0.23KB received during these packets but stops there, and that's it. But it remains connected and occasionally sends DNS A queries, but of course doesn't receive anything back:

No. Time Source Destination Protocol Info
21 1.859375 Send_06 Send_06 PPP IPCP Configuration Request
22 1.875000 Receive_06 Receive_06 PPP IPCP Configuration Ack
23 1.890625 10.235.175.97 224.0.0.22 IGMP V3 Membership Report / Join group 239.255.255.250 for any sources
24 1.906250 10.235.175.97 255.255.255.255 DHCP DHCP Inform - Transaction ID 0x405aace0
25 2.109375 10.235.175.97 10.11.12.13 NBNS Multi-homed registration NB machine name<00>
26 2.109375 10.235.175.97 172.30.140.69 DNS Standard query A time.windows.com
27 2.875000 10.235.175.97 224.0.0.22 IGMP V3 Membership Report / Join group 239.255.255.250 for any sources
28 3.109375 10.235.175.97 172.31.76.69 DNS Standard query A time.windows.com
29 3.609375 10.235.175.97 10.11.12.13 NBNS Multi-homed registration NB machine name<00>
30 4.109375 10.235.175.97 172.30.140.69 DNS Standard query A time.windows.com
31 4.906250 10.235.175.97 255.255.255.255 DHCP DHCP Inform - Transaction ID 0x405aace0
32 5.109375 10.235.175.97 10.11.12.13 NBNS Multi-homed registration NB machine name<00>

Obviously something mis-configured in the backend for that cell, such that it blocks roaming modems from using uPNP (or something). How to get that through to 3 Ireland? I know it would be a pointless waste of time trying to explain any of this to 3 (Ireland or UK) Customer Services. So I thought I would post it here in case anyone had an idea what might be wrong. Although right now, Meteor is looking like it might be worth a try :eek:


TIA all, and thanks for reading!

willkie

An update, but no further on! I went on a survey with netbook and 3 UK modem and visited some of the most likely nearby 3 Ireland sites, to try and pin down which one I cannot connect to - and found the same problem at 3 of them! The tour went as follows:

1. KD0006 (M4 / Maynooth roundabout): OK
2. KD0049 (Maynooth ESB site): OK... this is the one I originally thought I was connecting to and was causing the problem - not so.
3. KD0034 (K Club, Straffan): NOT WORKING
4. KD0011 (Clane): NOT WORKING
5. KD0029 (Prosperous): NOT WORKING

So there is a problem affecting this group of sites, which at least proves that it is something in the network / routing, and not any individual site. Unfortunately it must be one of these 3 non-working sites that is providing my coverage in Donadea.

I sent 3 Ireland an email today, listing these sites and their ID's. But I am not holding out much hope for a solution. The only thing that might get it addressed would be some wealthy visiting golfer unable to connect at the K Club - I imagine that would get things moving. Unfortunately by that stage I will probably have moved to Meteor...


Regards,


willkie


UPDATE: I have had a very helpful 3 Ireland proper tech support person on today, who is now looking into this!

foggy_lad

willkie wrote: »

UPDATE: I have had a very helpful 3 Ireland proper tech support person on today, who is now looking into this!

it is probably due to one of the golfers having the same trouble using their 3uk modem:)

Our man in Havana

willkie wrote: »

An update, but no further on! I went on a survey with netbook and 3 UK modem and visited some of the most likely nearby 3 Ireland sites, to try and pin down which one I cannot connect to - and found the same problem at 3 of them! The tour went as follows:

1. KD0006 (M4 / Maynooth roundabout): OK
2. KD0049 (Maynooth ESB site): OK... this is the one I originally thought I was connecting to and was causing the problem - not so.
3. KD0034 (K Club, Straffan): NOT WORKING
4. KD0011 (Clane): NOT WORKING
5. KD0029 (Prosperous): NOT WORKING

So there is a problem affecting this group of sites, which at least proves that it is something in the network / routing, and not any individual site. Unfortunately it must be one of these 3 non-working sites that is providing my coverage in Donadea.

I sent 3 Ireland an email today, listing these sites and their ID's. But I am not holding out much hope for a solution. The only thing that might get it addressed would be some wealthy visiting golfer unable to connect at the K Club - I imagine that would get things moving. Unfortunately by that stage I will probably have moved to Meteor...


Regards,


willkie


UPDATE: I have had a very helpful 3 Ireland proper tech support person on today, who is now looking into this!

I has the exact same problems with a 3UK modem in Laois. I can connect but no data is being received. The sent data counter increases, nothing comes in.

I have tried a 3IRL modem and it works without issue.

willkie

Bond-007 wrote: »

I has the exact same problems with a 3UK modem in Laois. I can connect but no data is being received. The sent data counter increases, nothing comes in.

I have tried a 3IRL modem and it works without issue.

Thanks for posting - this helps - not your connection of course, but it shows that this is more widespread on the network than just the area I checked out :eek:

I told the 3 Ireland network guy the whereabouts of this thread, mainly so that he could get a look at the above packet captures, as there might be some insight there. If you can find the likely site in Laois that you are experiencing the same problem with and post the ID here, that may also help pin this down at last. You can find it in the askcomreg.ie 'siteviewer' section.


Regards,


willkie

willkie

foggy_lad wrote: »

it is probably due to one of the golfers having the same trouble using their 3uk modem:)

I thought the same when I saw 3 are sponsoring the Irish Open, but it's at Baltray, not the K Club. Although some of the top players might want to pitch a few at the K Club while they are here, so best have it all up and working before May 14th!

willkie

Updated the title - plural now!

0lddog

willkie wrote: »

............ I went on a survey with netbook and 3 UK modem and visited some of the most likely nearby 3 Ireland sites, to try and pin down which one I cannot connect to - and found the same problem at 3 of them! The tour went as follows:

1. KD0006 (M4 / Maynooth roundabout): OK
2. KD0049 (Maynooth ESB site): OK... this is the one I originally thought I was connecting to and was causing the problem - not so.
3. KD0034 (K Club, Straffan): NOT WORKING
4. KD0011 (Clane): NOT WORKING
5. KD0029 (Prosperous): NOT WORKING
.....................................................!

Willkie,

Can you tell me where I can find a map of 3 base station sites? ( "KDXXXX" )

I seem to have encountered a similar issue to yourself in one of the areas that I frequent & believe a tour of the locality followed by sharing my findings with 3 locally is best way forward

TIA

0lddog

willkie

0lddog

You can find it on askcomreg.ie, in the 'siteviewer' section. At the top left of the map is the 'site details' button. I found that is the easiest way to find all the sites in the surrounding area. As many are co-sited they overlap, so if just browsing the map they can't be distinguished easily.


HTH


willkie

foggy_lad

siteviewer

0lddog

Willkie, Fogggy,

Thanks

OD

willkie

Update: I have a suggestion from the 3 network guy, but I won't be able to try this until tomorrow at the earliest. So maybe one of you guys with the same issue could try this.

You need to create a new profile with the same settings as the current one except for the APN (and of course the profile name; it can be whatever you want):
Current APN: 3internet
New APN: three.co.uk

Then save this and set it as the default profile. Can someone give this a try at an affected 3 Ireland site and post back here?


TIA


Willkie

Our man in Havana

That fixed the problem. Thanks Willkie.

willkie

Good result! - thanks for posting the confirmation. I will pass it on to 3 Ireland tech support.

It might be an idea to post a sticky with this solution. Although with 3 UK proposing the withdrawal of '3 Like Home' after 30th June, it could soon be obsolete. Talk about shooting themselves in the foot! I have taken them to task on that, starting today. My next crusade - let battle commence! :mad:

This one is looking like solved anyway, so at least I get another few weeks out of it before moving to another network.


Thanks all!


Willkie

jamiebeamish

Sir I could kiss ya the three.co.uk apn finally worked for me so now I have cheap 3g instead of bankrupting myself roaming on my iphone. On tuesday I spent an hour on the phone to 3uk tech support. Went through a guy who was obviously just reading from the screen the usual "turn off modem - turn off computer etc." only then to be passed on to a 'senior' technician whose first words to me were "ok can you please unplug the modem' - same script as before!!! Unbelievable! I complained and got £15 credit so the call is paid for at least but how much hassle a well placed question on google would have saved me. It seems i was just asking the wrong questions till now.

Thanks so much again. More power to you

Best
JB