Emtel 3G/HSDPA, second set of test results

11 Responses to Emtel 3G/HSDPA, second set of test results

1. jambo | 4 December 2007 at 4:38 pm | Reply

   Pardon my ignorance, but wouldn’t you get a better connection with MT’s ADSL? I believe you could get 512kbs? is 310 kb/s a “good” thing?

   Also, do you get/ have you ever got the maximum 1.8mbs which the 3.5g promises?

   Am weighing the pros and cons of getting this – A major issue is that I would need to buy the modem, albeit not extremely expensive, but if I am not happy with the service and want to cancel soon afterwards, am landed with a 7,000 piece of shiny plastic!!!

   Thanks,

2. jambo | 4 December 2007 at 4:39 pm | Reply

   re: your previous post, as to using modem with other providers – I understand the modem is sim-locked. Is that correct?

3. Eddy | 4 December 2007 at 4:57 pm | Reply

   Jambo,

   The trouble with MyT’s and Wanadoo’s ADSL is that the speed limit is not guaranteed — there are many complaints related to this on some Mauritian blogs. The maximum speed reached was 3.6 mbps during the demo given by the sale representative, but personally, I self-imposed a speed of only 384 kbps with 3G over Bluetooth for the sake of convenience.

   I find the Emtel HSDPA service convenient because I am in Mauritius for only about a month in a year. The versatility of the service is ideal in this situation.

   I don’t know if the modem is SIM-locked, but even if it is, the lock can probably be broken with appropriate software.

   Overall, if you are not interested in heavy downloads and do not expect to exceed the quota in the various packages, I would highly recommend the service. Anyway, a simple test of the guaranteed bandwidth is to check if you can hit 3G speed in your area; if you can, then you can be pretty sure that you will get good speeds with the service.

   – Eddy

4. jambo | 4 December 2007 at 6:19 pm | Reply

   Thanks, Did you get 3.6mbs? Emtel advertises 1.8 as the maximum available.
   If you are not in Mauritius the whole year, isn’t the fact that you need to have an EMTEL contract a bugger?

5. Eddy | 7 December 2007 at 5:59 am | Reply

   Jambo,

   As I said, the sale rep managed a 3.6 mbps connection during the demo. Whether this bandwidth was available only for her SIM, I don’t know, but that is how it was.

   Emtel uses utility bills as proof of address. Since I have some to my name, it was not difficult to open an account. Which brings me to another interesting feature of the Emtel contract: I am free to change the package at any time. This is convenient since I can activate the package only when I am in Mauritius, and put it on hold when I’m away.

   — Eddy

6. Dan | 15 December 2007 at 6:17 am | Reply

   And this is what i get using MyT 512 at home on a saturday mornning. We have 2x1Mbps (MT) at the office and we get roughly the same result as you did with the HSPDA

7. Dan | 15 December 2007 at 6:19 am | Reply

   http://www.speedtest.net/result/212239505.png

8. Eddy | 16 December 2007 at 2:27 pm | Reply

   I have been very satisfied with Emtel’s HSDPA service. The tariff is great and is even cheaper than Vodafone UK’s! The service could be ideal for someone who does not need to download a lot and can stay within the quota.

   — Eddy

9. pascal | 18 March 2008 at 7:18 pm | Reply

   As compared with SFR’s Vodafone Live 3g+ common name for 3.5g, huawei usb key,
   Price is competitive with wired deals. Beats everyone including Myt. You don’t get web storage space or email boxes but for that price and that speed… no need to answer.
   I obtain roughly 2 bars in hsdpa when the device is dual-powered(pc and usb power adaptor), but it peaked 1.2Mb. Youtube, downloads, live radio are skipless at such speed. But bandwidth isn’t linear. It can load a page at 14Kb/s but stream videos at 768Kb/s.
   3rd party software provided by emtel: Netmeter. Gives you detailed monthly/weekly/daily consumption, totals your up/download, and also sets limits and alerts.
   Service: Emtel’s 4989898 call center is the worst customer care, ever. They’re not even able to give you your detailed consumption and just redirect you to their head office 4545400 which never answers. Only way to obtain info is through their showrooms, which obtains 5 star service for their professionalism. But a busy person like me cannot go every week to their showroom, means that their call center service has to be improved a lot!!

10. tim | 7 October 2008 at 9:52 am | Reply

    I am an adsl 512 subscriber and is a real frustration to be a client of Mauritius telecom or Orange now. Can get only about 52 kbs download IF EVERYTHING IS OK OR IF I AM LUCKY ENOUGH. At the start mt was advertising unlimited download , but unlimited of what ? Of frustration.I was wondering does orange give the same kind of service or “mediocrity” in France. Of course not, in Europe the consumer rights are better applied, not as in mauritius where it is inexistant or someone merely know what it means.I’ve seen on the Gizmodo site that in Japan there will 1Gb/s yes it is 1 Gb/s download speed. In Mauritius,can’t even be allowed to dream of such speed. Paying 1,400 rs + vat for this kind of insult ? Is this the way that the Mauritian government want to be an I T hub ??? It would be better qualified as a mediocrity hub according to me and as everything goes in Mauritius.

11. Yasir | 8 July 2009 at 10:48 am | Reply

    same stuff @ http://yasir03.online.fr/?p=139