paraibaparadise.com

[p4ul]

Hello

I'm looking for opinions about the 3G internet connections.
I have heard it could bottleneck quite easily.
I need to know if it's as reliable as a usual WIFI connection
please share your good or bad reviews

thanks

[Toby Jugg]

Not me personally but I do know someone in the sticks who does all his work, actually earns his living, working off that connection. He gave me the impression that it wasnt much of a problem. Hopefully he will come on and tell us.

[London Lad]

I know a couple of people using Tim (web and walk in the UK) and they say they have no problems, but I have not used this system yet myself.

[lulu]

I know a couple of people using Tim (web and walk in the UK) and they say they have no problems, but I have not used this system yet myself.

I'm a bit late, but I thought I'd reply anyway...

I have just been using 3G from Oi. I didn't use the USB-Modem but my cell phone (supporting GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA) connected through USB instead. That shouldn't make a big difference regarding connect-ability. Oi offered me a 1mbps connection. I just used it as an additional connection I must add.

My impression is that when you're in an area with good signal (mostly cities), it's great but not too fast (1mbps). So if it works well where you are working (in your office/flat/house) you can rely on it. It' fast enough to use Skype etc. If you're in a place where you just about get a connection, it's useless.
But: IMO you cannot compare this to what we're used to in Europe, with speeds like 7.2mbps in the mountains, forests etc.

My other impression is that we anyway don't get what we were used to, here in Brazil. I remember and miss my 20mbps, constantly working connection. I'm nowhere near that here, but almost happy with my Oi connection (phone line)... (I only use 3G when traveling because I want multiple computers and other devices connected at the same time at home.)

I don't know enough about Vivo and others in João Pessoa... I know that in some places Vivo covers far more areas "out of town" with 3G than Oi does.

I think it really depends on:
- where will you be using it (one place or different places) - it also gets slower when moving at the time (in buses, taxis, ...)
- what's more important: speed or reliability (100% uptime)

HTH a bit

[p4ul]

thanks lulu

for me the most important is reliability, definitely, so I suppose I'll stick with the wired connection

what would be great is being able to buy prepaid 3G credits or something like that, does that exist?

[lulu]

for me the most important is reliability, definitely, so I suppose I'll stick with the wired connection

That's what I did.

what would be great is being able to buy prepaid 3G credits or something like that, does that exist?

I've never heard of that, but Oi has a very cheap connection which is something like R$ 9 per month for a very limited amount of data. After that it's R$0.10 per MB.
I just got a new 3G connection on my phone. It's 200MB per month for something like R$ 25 or R$ 29.

I think it's good to have a 3G connection as a backup. For me it's a pain if I have an on-line meeting and then the Internet or power fails. With 3G and laptop battery I can be on-line for some time in any case. I haven't had any of these problems for months now but I still feel safer.

I have an Oi plan for (Oi conta total) Internet, fixed phone and cell phone, so I'm not sure I get these prices for 3G because of that, but I think not.
If you get a magazine or something with a list of what they offer, it's worth asking if they have something cheaper/slower as well, because they may just not have it printed. That was the case with Oi...

HTH

[lulu]

By the way, I'd like to add, that with Oi you call and say I'd like a 3G connection, then 24h later they send the configuration to your phone. When you don't want it anymore you call again and they cancel it straight away, so you only pay for what you get. For example, if you go for a holidays and just want it work two weeks or so...