Updated:- 4:30pm – Arriving back from a business trip overseas, I see Telstra have applied an update to their NextG (3G) wireless broadband system that has crippled Far North Queensland wireless broadband speeds.

The Symptoms

I arrived back from an overseas trip on Sunday. Wireless broadband performance was OK when I passed through Sydney, but flying into Cairns for an overnight stay I started noticing problems with slow connection speeds. My Bigpond Connection Manager had 5 bars of signal, but was extremely slow loading pages. (You know there is a problem when it takes over a minute to load Google’s home page.)

The speeds were so slow, many of the programs on my machine (such as email) failed to connect.

Trying to connect multiple times, I would occasionally get a fast connection for a few minutes, before it reverted back to the low data speed.

If I stayed connected continuously, the connection would occasionally speed up for a minute or so, and then slow back down again for a long period of time.

I did some testing using the speedtest.net site. My typical wireless download speed on a 7 Mbps (Mega bits per second) NextG wireless modem is 1-1.5 Mbps, occasionally getting up to 3 Mbps, but this new issue is causing speeds of 20-50 kbps speeds, (which is less than dial-up), and is crippling on a computer system. To the average user, this would give a similar experience to exceeding your monthly allowance, but slower.

Finally arriving at home in Port Douglas on Monday, I was having the same connection problems.

Further investigation has showed the same effect also happening with my iPhone 3GS.

Others Affected

Sitting in a local phone service business today to do some work using their high speed internet connection, 3 people have come in over the period of an hour complaining of slow speed problems on the NextG system. Several other people around town mentioned they have also experienced problems for the last 2 days.

The Problem

I first came across this problem with a computer system in remote central Victoria two months ago, and at the time put it down to signal issues, but now with three devices with different modems having problems it’s becoming obvious the source is a Telstra NextG system software update that is throttling speeds.

I expect the software update was first applied in Victoria, and has only recently been applied here.

Having seen this sort of thing happen before while working with cellular operators overseas, I thought it may be an issue with a software update (such as a HSPDA+ or database upgrade) being applied and effecting older modems (I use the Sierra Wireless AC875 wireless card, and my remote computer uses the blue Maxon BXP3-EXT modem), but that would not explain issues with the iPhone 3Gs.

The Solution

I have gone through the process of talking with Telstra technical support today. After many calls being diverted to the Philippines, I finally reached someone with some technical knowledge, and the issue has been escalated to level 3 support. I was informed the issue would be given a ticket number within 6 hours, and am waiting on an answer.

However, knowing the problem has been around for several months in Victoria (and is still there), I have little confidence in it being resolved any time soon.

A Bigpond wireless user for 3 years (without too many issues), I rely on the internet for business, but having no connection will eventually force me to change providers.

I searched around town today for an OPTUS modem, but they are all sold-out. (Not sure if the shortage is normal, or brought on by the current issue). Vodafone and Virgin Mobile modems were available, but they often piggy-back on the bigger networks in remote areas, so I would have seen no improvement.

Interesting other info

• While talking with an Australian based technical support person this morning, I mentioned being routed to the Philippines a number of times, and they had not been able to solve the problem. I was informed that all technical support for Telstra/Bigpond broadband is now provided from the Philippines. CEO David Thodey has been talking recently about Telstra’s poor customer service, saying how he wants to improve it, but I do not see how moving everything to the Philippines improves things. The quality of the VOIP connection used is typically very poor (ironic for a telecom company), and the different accents can be difficult to follow at times.
• I tried to do some system testing on using my iPhone in field test mode, but it looks like the latest Apple update has disabled the field test mode following the “antennagate” issues with the iPhone4. This stops the users looking at the actual signal strengths in dBm, therefore not being able to prove Apple wrong.
• Shortcut the convoluted Telstra telephone system by calling Technical Support directly on 133933.

I have finally upgraded my 2 year old Palm Treo to an Apple iPhone 3Gs, and thought I would share a few of my initial observations and tips.

Save battery capacity – By switching off a couple of items when they are not required, you can get 2-3 days of use on a single battery charge, compared to 1 day on a single charge when they are all switched on.

• Turn off WIFI – Settings/Wi-Fi
• Turn off Bluetooth – Settings/General/Bluetooth
• Turn off Location Services – Setting/General/Location Services
• Turn off any apps that continually send data.

The iPhone is one of the only phones on the market in which the user cannot change the battery. For heavy users or travelers, it is nice to be able to carry spares and change them as needed. When the iPhone first came out there were reports of having to send the units back to Apple to change the battery for a $50 fee if needed.

Watch your data rates – The iPhone 3G can be very hungry on data usage. Unless you have massive data plans, it’s necessary to pay attention to data usage or you will end up with excess data charges.

• Use the Data Usage indicator found under Settings/General/Usage/Cellular Network Data to keep a track of your data. I like to reset the statistics before using a new app to see how much data is used. You will be surprised by the results.
• Download Apps – Download applications from the apps store via the iTunes program on your PC and then load them into the iPhone when syncing. Some apps can be fairly large in size and this will be charged to your data plan if you download directly from the apps store using your phone.
• Application Data – Beware of apps that have high data usage. e.g. Some news service apps access one page at a time, and some download a large selection of pages when accessed. One news reader application I tested used 7MB of data each time I opened it, compared to 10 kB for other apps. (I found one radio station app that uses 30 MB per hour…. I bet the cellular provider is rubbing their hands together.)
• Roaming – Make sure your data roaming is switched off at Settings/General /Network/Data Roaming when travelling overseas. I have heard lots of horror stories of people who arrive back from overseas to be greeted by huge bills for data roaming charges. This often happens because they have apps running in the iPhone background that keep sending data without them being aware. (Telstra phones are billed a horrendous $15 per 1MB when roaming.)

Use Screen Protectors – Protect your screen from scratches, grease, food, dirt etc using screen protectors. They are cheap and can be easily replaced.

Low ring volume – The default ring volume on the iPhone is quite low. Adjust the ring volume in Settings/General/Sounds/Ring to maximum if you want to be able to hear it in city environments.

Silence button – Beware of the silence button on the left side of the phone above the volume control. It is easy to unknowingly switch your phone into silence mode when removing it from a bag or belt holder.

No Bluetooth Syncing – I was surprised to find there was no function for syncing the iPhone to a PC via Bluetooth. This is a standard feature on many Windows Mobile based phones, and is a lot more convenient than having to connect using the cable to sync each time.

No separate 3G Voice/Data controls – I had separate control of 3G voice and 3G data on my old Palm Treo. This allowed me to turn off my 3G data modem and save battery and data usage. In the iPhone the voice and data are linked together for 3G, and turning 3G off forces the phone to 2G.

No Flash support – Adobe marketing continually spout how Flash is on 98% of computers around the world, but interestingly they never mention that it is not supported by the iPhone.

If you try and access the Adobe Flash Player web page on your iPhone you get the message “Flash Player not available for your device – Apple restricts use of technologies required by products like Flash Player. Until Apple eliminates these restrictions, Adobe cannot provide Flash Player for the iPhone or iPod touch”

Hmm… reading between the lines I get the impression there is some kind of conflict between Adobe and Apple over this one.

Password Protection – Use the Settings/General/Passcode Lock function to protect the data on your phone. The last thing you want is someone to steal your phone and have access to all your contact and email information.

Free Apps – A couple of free applications worth loading onto your phone are Skype Mobile, Facebook, Google Earth, Flickr, White Pages and Tweetdeck.

Field Test Mode – For those technically minded people interested in cellular system performance and information, the Field Test Mode can be accessed by dialling *3001#12345#* and pressing send. Field test mode is then displayed with RSSI (Signal Strength), channel information, neighbor lists, 2G and 3G information, and much more.

I hope this has been helpful. Let me know if you have any other useful observations, tips or tricks.

Operators are seeing a dramatic increase in data traffic – but now need to operate smart controls to protect their revenues and the user experience, says Merav Bahat

The growing adoption of Apple’s iPhone, and the G1 Google phone combined with flat-rate data plans is creating a dramatic increase in mobile Internet traffic. This increased mobile data usage could eventually suffocate network bandwidth and clog wireless networks……

Read more of this article at European Communications