Connecting to orange via laptop - any ideas how to improve speed?

[Guest leftofcentre]

Hi folks i got a new e650 for my girlfriend, the idea was that she can connect it to her laptop to give her internet access at home (she is in a rented house with no broadband).

I can get the laptop connected to the phone ok, but the problem is the connection is so slow, worse than dialup.

Am i missing something? Is there a setting i need to change?

I am in a city and the signal strength is good, and i have the G icon displayed.

Is there any way to speed up the connection?

If not, should i look at a service like http://www.onspeed.com ?

The laptop is running windows xp.

Would appreciate any advice.

Thanks in advance.

Brian

[Guest Neil5459]

The general answer is no :rolleyes:

GPRS has a theoretical maximum of 56kbps, which is the same as a dial-up modem. The E650 has Edge which ought to give a slightly better performance, but no 3G or HSDPA. You probably won't realistically achieve much more than a sustained 50kbps.

Onspeed has had mixed reports- most seem to suggest it only gives marginal improvements.

For usable home access, you really need to lok at a 3G device. But make sure you have a good data bundle, or it will cost an absolute fortune. The £5 per month 'Unlimited' off peak plan does not permit use as a modem, so you could find yourself being charged £3 per MB if Orange suss it is being used that way.