I hereby proudly present you a huge list of Acces Point Names (APN) here on the Mobile Broadband User Blog. The list is presented in collaboration with French Vysoo, a worldwide leading company in Communication Over Wifi devices and services. The list is for you, the mobile data / broadband user, who for some reason need these names as part of setting up your device.

Go to the worldwide list of APN names and learn about the ideas behind it.

If you sometimes experience that your mobile broadband connection is dropped and you therefore have to connect again in your mobile broadband connection client (such as 3Connect), you might think that it is caused by a bad network connection. Although that sometimes might be the case, you could also be experiencing a problem in a whole different area.

The drop in connection can instead be caused by the power management on your computer (experienced on Windows XP computers). You see, when the power management on your computer thinks that you're not using a USB port, it might turn off the USB port to save power. Very clever in many cases. However, from the perspective of mobile broadband the power management can have a negative effect. Sometimes, it seems, the power management misinterpret whether the USB port is used on not. As a result, the power management might decide to turn off the USB port on which mobile broadband dongles and sticks are connected and running perfectly fine.

As a user, you would experience that the connection to the Internet is lost and that you have to re-connect. And of course you would naturally conclude that it is because of bad mobile network reception when it is actually not.

Fortunately, it's possible to turn off the power save on USB ports. This means that you will not be harvesting the positive effects of power saving on the USB ports, but I would say that it is worth the sacrifice. Here's what you do to turn it off (in Windows XP, it should be possible in Vista as well):

Go to: Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager -> Universal Serial Bus -> Right click on USB Root Hub -> Power Management

Remove the check at "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power". Repeat for all USB Root Hubs.

That's all for now! Send me a comment below, if this helps your connections problems, no? :-)

If you're a Telenor mobile broadband user in Sweden, Norway or Denmark I suggest you continue reading this blog post.

Admitted, this blog post is about a very geeky, nerdy and technical issue with Telenor's mobile broadband connection client, known as "Mobilt Bredbånd" (at least to Danish customers, for many others its known as HUAWEI Mobile Partner). As a matter of fact, it's so nerdy, that my girlfriend gave me the "what-the-h*ll-are-you-babbling-about"-look when I told her last night what I was doing (what I don't do for you guys!). However, even though it's nerdy and all that, you should read it to know the very tangible effects is has on the computer you're using Telenor's connection client on. Normally blog posts should be kept short and concise, I know, however, since the subject is so technical I've divided this long blog post into three sections. Here we go...

 

Introduction - what is this about and why should you care?
Ok, I'm going to give it to you straight away. No need to keep it back: The Telenor "Mobilt Bredbånd" connection client writes to a set of log files on your computer. The writing frequency is about once every 10th second when you're offline and every second when you're online. On top of that, the Telenor connection client also reads (in my opinion) excessively from the so-called Windows registry. It doesn't matter if you don't know what the Windows registry is or not, just trust me on this one, it's not a good thing.

Why is this important? Well, first of all, let me tell your that the content of the log files are technical and do not, as far as I know, contain any personal information. However, file access is normally considered a "heavy operation". I mean, think about it: Once every second. That's 3600 writes every hour. This is, in my opinion, very important in the context of your hard disk's life span and well being. It also slows your computer down. You might not notice it when you're using it on a fairly new computer. This issue is very similar to the logging issue I found with 3's connection client, and the difference in system performance while using that client with and without logging every second was significant, and could especially be seen when running on batteries. And that's what you do, when you're out and about, writing blog posts on nice cafés, right? [Artistic break, while sipping coffee on nice café]

The logging issue i found with 3's connection client was actually the very reason why this blog started. Oh, I remember the days.... at the time, I was very annoyed of being in the hands of a telecommunications company that was also taking on the role of being a software company, and it annoyed me that they had released software with such heavy logging. On a side note, I'm still a bit annoyed, because although 3 has released two updates to the software since then, the logging issue has not been rectified and therefore their customers need to change it themselves by following the guides on this blog.

Telenor customers however, need not to be as annoyed as I was and am. This test of the Telenor's connection client is based on a request from Telenor themselves to test their software, which, in my opinion, shows that they care and want to know the reality of things. Kudos! 

The techincal stuff
Now, there's a huge difference from the 3 issue and this Telenor logging issue. Telenors "Mobilt Bredbånd" connection client writes to 4 different logs files! They files are...

ATRecord.txt
Callbalk_trace.txt
Func_trace.txt
trace_0.txt 

... and can normally be found under C:\Program Files\Mobilt Bredbånd\Log. There's also a file called log.txt, but it doesn't seem to be called very often.

When you're offline, the client writes to the files ATRecord.txt and Func_trace.txt every 10th second or so. When online it also writes to Callbalk_trace.txt, and even reads from a file called RunInfo.ini. When you're online, they're written to every second or so. View my logging of Telenor's connection client's file and registry access here on Google Docs or download Excel file for Excel 2007 (301,12 kb). Note the three sheets, “File access while offline”, “File access while online” and “Registry access” (while online).

Because of the several files the Telenor connection client writes at least 7200 times every hour.

Here are some sample log files...

ATRecord.txt (468,11 kb) 
Callbalk_trace.txt (172,12 kb)
Func_trace.txt (100,55 kb) 
log.txt (284,00 bytes)
trace_0.txt (68,97 kb)

... and RunInfo.ini (275,00 bytes)

Conclusion
So now what? What to do, what to do. Well, unfortunately, as a end user you cannot do anything yet to change this behavior. As a reference, my history with 3 was several months of correspondance with 3 and BirdStep Technology, who are the suppliers of 3's software. It ended with me getting a description to a very technical workaround, that are the base of the guides on this blog. In this case, there's a few things that leaves me very positive about the prospect for (1) a technical workaround and (2) maybe an update that solves the problem where it is:

* In this case Telenor's software supplier is HUAWEI. It's a skinned application and seems fairly structured in the way it is built (file wize). 

* The golden key seems to be the file RunInfo.ini, where, as far as I can see, there are settings regarding logging levels. A workaround could maybe be made possible by letting the Telenor customers know what settings they can set and with what values to minimize the logging themselves.

* The possible workaround above does only target the technical customers. However, as my investigation was initiated by Telenor, they've come across as being interested in the well-being of their customers computers, and might provide an update to target all customers. A suggestion here could be to release it with lowest possible logging as default and allow customers to change the logging level from inside the application itself.

That's it for now. Thank you for reading this far. This blog posting has been forwarded to representatives of Telenor. Stay tuned on progress via my RSS feed and on Twitter.

If you want me to check your connection client (O2, Vodafone etc.) let me know.

ProcessMonitor output sanity checked by Björn Johansson.

Are you affected?
You might want to check if you are affected by the logging problem or not. I suggest you try out our new free Mobile Broadband Logging Monitor tool.

I want to share an awesome experience with you guys!

Some days ago I bought Burnout Paradise for PlayStation 3 and yesterday Björn and I finally got to play against each other online.

We had an excellent two hour gaming session using, in my end, mobile broadband and a HUAWEI B970 router with wifi connection to the PlayStation. At the same time we used a Skype call via laptops to speak with each other while playing.

At no time during this gaming session did I experience any glitch with the connection. In other words, it is possible to use mobile broadband connections for playing intensive games online. I must admit I was quite amased.

I got an e-mail yesterday from a user of my blog. I replied to him directly, but since that mail bounced and never got through I hereby put the question and answer here instead, in hope that he (and others) will see it.

Hello there,

I browsed your blog and find DU Meter for PC. Do you know is there any software or widget for checking data usage on Mac?

with regards
[removed]

Thank you for your interest in my blog.

I've looked around and Net Monitor (http://homepage.mac.com/rominar/net.html) seems promising. I haven't got a Mac myself, so I haven't tested this program personally.

I'd be very interested in knowing if it does the job, could you let me know? In such case, I'll put it out there in a blog post for other Mac users to see.

Kind regards,
Christer

Apparently it’s a highly compressed one. Yes, O2 (UK) gives you a compressed Internet browsing experience by compressing all the pictures you download from web pages before they get sent to your computer.

I’d heard rumors about this before. But a few days ago I came in contact with a mobile broadband user on twitter, who could not only tell me how it affects you as a user but also provide a screen shot.

Below is a example of such an Internet experience. If you click the image, you’ll get it in the original size. As you can see, the images on the page are highly compressed and compression artifacts are clearly seen.

You can argue that this is a good thing because you then get more from you download allowance, sure. But you could also argue that this is a strategy chosen by O2 to get as many users on their network.

The problem is, however, that potential customers are not told about this aggressive compression service(?) before they buy their product. O2 customer are simply not getting the same Internet as the rest of us, and that they’ll not know until they buy the product. That’s just #evil business.

And it doesn’t stop with your web browsing experience. Images in other Internet connected applications are affected as well. The aforementioned user could confirm that images in for example iTunes are compressed aggressively as well. And that there’s no way to turn it off, as this compression happens before the images even reaches you computer.

[Update] See fix here.

[Update 2] Fix for O2 iPhones.

Are you an O2 user? Share your thoughts below.

To be honest, it can be a confusing job to find a mobile broadband carrier and plan that fits your needs.

The ASDL-based broadband we've been used to for years now are almost always based on flat-rate contracts. Flat rate in this context means same price each month no matter how much you use it. With ADSL broadband we've been spared, especially during the later years, to think about anything else than the upload and download speeds. Sure, there are still things that can affect your service level, such as the distance to your telephone central. The distance was a major influence on the decision making in the early years. But today, as a consumer, you hardly notice the difference between the 24Mbit promised and the 20Mbit delivered.

It's a bit different with mobile broadband. With mobile broadband there are a lot of things you have to take into account when choosing your mobile broadband plan. Some of these things we recognize from the ASDL plans, others can leave you confused because you have no background information to base your decisions on. Very Catch-22, but that's unfortunately how it is.

Many of the plans come with binding periods. That means that when you sign up (save the "regret period"), you're stuck with that plan for up to two years. For that reason, what you want as a consumer, of course, is to make the right decision from the beginning. This means that you have to think through some of the angles of the plan. The two major angles are:

First: How is the coverage in your part of the country, in your city and especially in your house / apartment? Some carriers have more or less advanced coverage maps (http://glu.tre.se/coverixwww/Default.aspx / http://www.three.co.uk/_popup/Coverage_checker). I like the idea behind this initiative, however, the truth is that no matter how good and updated the maps are, they cannot be 100% relied upon. My sister, for example, lives in the middle of a Turbo 3G+ area on such a map, but because her apartment is placed where it is, she has jumpy mobile broadband. So does a colleague at work. So how to you really know if you place has good coverage? The truth is, that you can't. No from the maps anyway. You might have a pretty good chance of having it but there are no guarantees. The best you can do is to find a friend or someone else who has mobile broadband from the carrier you are interested in, and let them go online from where you would go online.

Second: Most mobile broadband plans come with different upper data transfer limits. You will typically find 2, 5 or 10 GB limits. Just as with coverage, you'll be forced to choose your data transfer limit based on almost no insight about your data usage. Even the most nerdy of my friends wouldn't be able to give a straight answer on how to get insight on personal data usage. There are probably some cool sniffer / hacke-dy-hack programs that can give you exact insight, sure, but can you really expect on normal consumers to have access to those? In my opinion no. So, if you want to make an informed decision, read and learn. Personally, I've been posting my data usage here for some months now, and will continue to do so. From that you can get some basic data usage insight based on my usage profile. Some carriers, like 3 UK, have tried to make it easier for potential customers by making a calculator online: http://www.three.co.uk/Mobile_Broadband/Recommend_a_plan However, it's simple and the relatively vague answer it gives does not measure up to the very hard limit you will have on your mobile broadband plan. Again, as the map, it's a tool to give you an idea. In the end, you may narrow it down, but will not know the exact answer until you get the mobile broadband yourself.

This post is not meant to discourage you from getting mobile broadband. Based on my own experiences, on the contrary! And, of course, there are independent web sites such as http://www.top10-broadband.co.uk/mobile_broadband/ who can lead you to the best deal. But, again, some of the things they offer you to select them upon are based on the same things as mentioned above (speed / coverage / data), and assume that you know these things. Luckily, by now, a lot of people have acquired mobile broadband and chances are that you might know someone, who can help you. So, it's not impossible, just a little bit harder.

If you have any questions about mobile broadband, please don't hesitate to contact me. However, don't ask me on how the coverage is in you area. I will most likely not know (unless you're willing to pay the ticket and I'll come by and go online near you! :-)

Let’s say that you have full signal strength on your mobile broadband or tried the antenna and beer can tricks with success, right? But even though you have full signal strength, I guess we can agree upon the fact that using mobile broadband puts you back several years in comparison to cable based internet connections, right?

Well, I have a little advice to give on enhancing your mobile broadband experience while using the world wide web. Although it doesn’t directly have anything to do with the mobile broadband hardware or network, I think any trick is valid given the network speed we have at the moment.

The trick is simple (and maybe even old news to some, but still): consider changing your browser. 

Why this? Because popular web applications such as Facebook, Google Docs and Google Mail are using the so-called Javascript a lot, you’d want a web browser that can execute Javascript very quickly. 

Sorry, it maybe got a little technical with the Javascript. But here’s why considering this is important: If you’re using for example Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 7.0 or less  (and many of you are), you’re using a browser that is quite slow in interpreting the web pages and their Javascript. Internet Explorer 7.0 may normally survive on the mercy of our fast broadband connections at home or at work. But that’s not good enough when using mobile broadband. So in case you’re using Internet Explorer, you might want to consider installing a faster alternative.

The alternative I personally use is Google Chrome brower (some also favor the Firefox browser). The Google Chrome browser has a killer Javascript engine and really adds a lot to the internet experience. Yes, it’s a bit like playing a trick on yourself, because the Google Chrome browser won’t make the data travel faster to your computer. But it’ll give you a sensation of higher speed because the browser you’re using is optimized to give you a fast experience. Why not try it?

Google Chrome

In the context of using mobile broadband plans with an upper limit (in this case 5GB), it's useful to have an idea about how much data transfer the different kind of internet media will require. Basically, as a rule of thumb, you can say that the more complex or higher the quality an internet media is, the more data will be transfered when you use it. Below I've tried to divide different types of typical internet media into three categories. The higher the data transfer requirements, the faster you'll be hitting your upper limit on your mobile broadband plan.

• Low data transfer requirements
  • Text chat.
  • Simple web pages (like http://www.google.com frontpage and Google result pages).
  • E-mail with no or small attachments.
• Medium data transfer requirements
  • Low and medium quality sound (mp3's and net radio)
  • Complex or content heavy web pages (for example http://www.nytimes.com/ or http://www.flickr.com/)
  • E-mail with large attachments. 
• High data transfer requirements
  • Video (for example http://www.youtube.com/ and web cam conversations).
  • High quality sound.

The categories given above are just examples. As you can see, an internet media can exist in more than one category, depending on the quality. I have no figures to back up my claims, but if you use media from the "Low" category, you'll almost never run into your 5GB limit. You can use media from the "Medium" category a lot (and I mean a lot!) before reaching the upper limit, but it's possible. You should be more cautious with media from the "High" category: I think I once saw that a 3 hour web cam conversation on Skype used about 0.6GB of combined data transfer of upload and download.  

I hope you find the information above useful! I you have any additions to this subject, you’re welcome to post a comment. Cheers!