mobile broadband speed very slow -- Option GlobeTrotter Express 7.2

[Martin Konôpka]

Binary package hint: network-manager

I have a 32-bit notebook and I am using Option GlobeTrotter Express 7.2 datacard (GSM 2G/3G modem). My operator is the Orange company in Slovak republic. Sometime the connection speed is very slow, resembling GPRS speeds, although the device reports 3G HSDPA connection (by blinking its blue LED). I observe the very slow speeds in both Firefox and Chrome browsers so that it is not a browser issue. I am pretty sure that the mobile connection in my ubuntu 10.04 does not work as it should because when I reboot to Windows XP I can browse very swiftly the same pages which I could not even load in reasonable time in ubuntu.

The issue usually appears randomly; I am not able to reproduce it after each boot of my notebook. However, statistically it appears in, say, one of 4 boots.

I think I did not observe the problem for a period of about first 5 weeks after the installation of ubuntu 10.04. It started to appear from, say, 2nd week of June or so, but this is just my rough estimate.

It is possible to regain the speed by either rebooting the machine or restarting connection (disconnect, remove the device, plug it in again, connect). It is however annoying.

Finally, I always observe that the connection procedure takes much longer time in ubuntu compared to Windows XP (but this may not be related to the reported issue).

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: network-manager 0.8-0ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-23.37-generic 2.6.32.15+drm33.5
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-23-generic i686
Architecture: i386
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Date: Fri Jul 2 22:37:49 2010
IfupdownConfig:
 auto lo
 iface lo inet loopback
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100429)
IpRoute:
 10.64.64.64 dev ppp0 proto kernel scope link src 10.192.116.85
 169.254.0.0/16 dev ppp0 scope link metric 1000
 default via 10.64.64.64 dev ppp0 proto static
Keyfiles: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_GB.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
RfKill:
 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
  Soft blocked: no
  Hard blocked: yes
SourcePackage: network-manager

[Martin Konôpka (martin.konopka)]

I have to confirm after some period that the problem still persists. Data transfers in my linux sessions often become quite slow. When I immediately boot the machine to Windows XP, I get fast connections; in testing that I browse quite a few different web pages so that I have good statistics. The whole computing, nowadays so much dependent on network functionality, thus becomes much less usable. (And I guess that other people also encounter similar problems although may not report them.)

Is there any chance that the things become better in future? Can I hope in some improvements in linux driver for Option GlobeTrotter Express 7.2 ? Or should I forget about that datacard and purchase a different one? Or is the issue due to problems in ModemManager?

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

@Martin: Any improvement in Ubuntu 12.04?

[Martin Konôpka (martin.konopka)]

I can not verify it at the moment. I am using ubuntu 11.04 on that machine (and other model of modem). However I have a plan to upgrade my notebook in a close future. Then I will check it and let you know.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for network-manager (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]