Looking for feedback on Orange Internet in Bavaro

tim514

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Nov 12, 2011
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I am considering 3G Orange Internet with Huawei modem (NOT Flybox) as described below:
internet Orange - planes, precios y beneficios.

42MBPS seems to be too good to be true?

Anyone can provide feedback on this new service? What speed you really get? How stable the download speed? Even at 1/10 of the announced speed it is still good?

I am in Bavaro and I can get 4-bar signal from Orange.

Planes_Precios_Beneficios.jpg
 

caribmike

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Jul 9, 2009
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I had the flybox for 18 month (you have to sign for that term). The first 2 month were fast as promised (max 4. something, but not constantly, it depended on the time of day).

The rest of this 18 month it went barely over 1 mb down and 200kb up. Couldn't open i.e. youtube vids etc. A dissapointment. I am in Pueblo Bavaro and using Tricom Wimax and Claro. With both I am very happy. Stable and I get the promised velocity.
 

SKY

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Apr 11, 2004
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Forget Orange in Bavaro. Your best bet there is Claro with a landline phone. Orange does not deliver anywhere near the speed they claim there.
 

tim514

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Nov 12, 2011
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I had the flybox for 18 month (you have to sign for that term). The first 2 month were fast as promised (max 4. something, but not constantly, it depended on the time of day).

The rest of this 18 month it went barely over 1 mb down and 200kb up. Couldn't open i.e. youtube vids etc. A dissapointment. I am in Pueblo Bavaro and using Tricom Wimax and Claro. With both I am very happy. Stable and I get the promised velocity.

I am in Bibijagua/Bavaro near IFA residences. I have not heard of Tricom Wimax. Do they have an office i Bavaro? What speed you get with Tricom Wimax? Is it reliable? What is the cost?

Thank you for sharing.
 

tim514

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Nov 12, 2011
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Forget Orange in Bavaro. Your best bet there is Claro with a landline phone. Orange does not deliver anywhere near the speed they claim there.

I know I know about horrible story about Flybox... Have you tried the new services with Huawei modem?
 

caribmike

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Jul 9, 2009
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Tricom office is in Plaza Mayoral. Max. Velocity is 3 mb down 768 kb up. It is stable. I have 2 and no problems so far. Cost is 2500 DOP per month. 3 mb is the maximum Tricom offers atm but I was told in 3 month around they would have "4G" available and faster plans.

Claro is the faster option, I use a connection with 4 mb down and 1 mb up, works fine fro me too. I will soon upgrade to 10 mb down.
 
Feb 7, 2007
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Forget Orange 3G anywhere. As much as I hate to say it, Orange Data sucks enormously nowadays, regardless o 2G or 3G. It used to be (like 2 years ago) that on 2G you were getting almost 256 kbps down on EDGE (2G), which for mobile browsing even on 2G phone was quite sufficient and pages (unless media heavy) were loading very fast. Then they started with 3G and it was also quite fast. Today, EDGE (2G) sucks on all carriers, and in 3G, Claro gives much better service and speed and provides more reliability than Orange does on its 3G.

Example: Orange 3G on BB. Yesterday morning (11 am) in Higuey, I tried to open online banking page through my BB, had full 3G bars (-77 db, which is as good as it gets on Orange standing under the cell tower) and it took me about 20 minutes to complete online banking transaction.

Another example: Day X, 7 am, BB on set on 2G on Orange, opening DR1, Z101digital.com and other online papers, blazing fast including fast image loading.

Orange's network is hugely saturated.

A friend of mine is exec with an alternative cable company in Higuey. He tells me that for the cable company's Internet service, their primary competitor is not Claro DSL, but Orange 3G (Flybox). Claro has no lines (very difficult to get a line today in Higuey), what is left is Orange (and cable) so it gets saturated.
 
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caribmike

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Jul 9, 2009
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That's why I ditched Orange, doesn't work...

Forget Orange 3G anywhere. Yesterday morning (11 am) in Higuey, I tried to open online banking page through my BB, had full 3G bars (-77 db, which is as good as it gets on Orange standing under the cell tower) and it took me about 20 minutes to complete online banking transaction.
 

tim514

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Nov 12, 2011
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Tricom office is in Plaza Mayoral. Max. Velocity is 3 mb down 768 kb up. It is stable. I have 2 and no problems so far. Cost is 2500 DOP per month. 3 mb is the maximum Tricom offers atm but I was told in 3 month around they would have "4G" available and faster plans.

Claro is the faster option, I use a connection with 4 mb down and 1 mb up, works fine fro me too. I will soon upgrade to 10 mb down.

Thanks for this insight. For sure, Claro is a safe choice. To be honest, I am still tempted by Orange offerings with the Huawei modem, cost wise and speed wise. My rationale is that if only they deliver 1/10 of the claimed speed (42MBPS) it might be worth a trial? Anyone has used this new service?
 

tim514

New member
Nov 12, 2011
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Forget Orange 3G anywhere. As much as I hate to say it, Orange Data sucks enormously nowadays, regardless o 2G or 3G. It used to be (like 2 years ago) that on 2G you were getting almost 256 kbps down on EDGE (2G), which for mobile browsing even on 2G phone was quite sufficient and pages (unless media heavy) were loading very fast. Then they started with 3G and it was also quite fast. Today, EDGE (2G) sucks on all carriers, and in 3G, Claro gives much better service and speed and provides more reliability than Orange does on its 3G.

Example: Orange 3G on BB. Yesterday morning (11 am) in Higuey, I tried to open online banking page through my BB, had full 3G bars (-77 db, which is as good as it gets on Orange standing under the cell tower) and it took me about 20 minutes to complete online banking transaction.

Another example: Day X, 7 am, BB on set on 2G on Orange, opening DR1, Z101digital.com and other online papers, blazing fast including fast image loading.

Orange's network is hugely saturated.

A friend of mine is exec with an alternative cable company in Higuey. He tells me that for the cable company's Internet service, their primary competitor is not Claro DSL, but Orange 3G (Flybox). Claro has no lines (very difficult to get a line today in Higuey), what is left is Orange (and cable) so it gets saturated.

A friend of mine living in Bavaro said the same thing. He canceled Orange 3G Flybox for Claro landline Internet. But I still argued that the speed might depend on the modem underlying technology (Flybox is quite dated). My understanding is that if Orange claim 42MBPS, we are not talking about 3G but 3G LTE? Or sort of HPSA+? So I persist my question here: Anyone has tried the new Orange service with the Huawei setup?
 

caribmike

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Jul 9, 2009
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Hmm.... My Flybox says "Huawei Model B260a"... So Flybox = Huawei. What is outdated now?
 

tim514

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Nov 12, 2011
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Hmm.... My Flybox says "Huawei Model B260a"... So Flybox = Huawei. What is outdated now?

I am talking about Huawei E372 that just came out. The bold difference here is that Orange claimed 7.5MBPS with the Flybox, 42MBPS with E372. If only they can deliver 1/10 of the claim as often the case in DR, it is still worth a try?
 

caribmike

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If their signal is crap I doubt that the model of the modem matters... But I am no expert...
 

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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Our Orange flybox was Ok at first but now it's pathetic. It's rare to be able to watch a video, and it grinds to a halt most evenings. We're going to have to look into other options.
 

caribmike

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And don't forget their monthly DL caps. Even if it reaches the velocity they claim it will revert to snail pace when reaching the cap...

If their signal is crap I doubt that the model of the modem matters... But I am no expert...
 

tim514

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Nov 12, 2011
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And don't forget their monthly DL caps. Even if it reaches the velocity they claim it will revert to snail pace when reaching the cap...

My intenet usage is about 5G/month. I am using for email and web browsing. No youtube or netflix. However I need responsive web, no timeout. I am using Viva 3G right now. Supposed to get 3MBPS but I am getting about .2 - .3 most of the time. With Orange, I dont know how strong is your signal, if the signal you get is less than 4 bars, the signal is scrappy. My two cents...
 
Feb 7, 2007
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A friend of mine living in Bavaro said the same thing. He canceled Orange 3G Flybox for Claro landline Internet. But I still argued that the speed might depend on the modem underlying technology (Flybox is quite dated). My understanding is that if Orange claim 42MBPS, we are not talking about 3G but 3G LTE? Or sort of HPSA+? So I persist my question here: Anyone has tried the new Orange service with the Huawei setup?

Orange does not have LTE besides a half-square mile area in Santo Domingo, so to speak. Also they have just recently (like a week ago) been allowed to re-start marketing and selling LTE in SD, because they were under injunction since last year.
 
Feb 7, 2007
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If their signal is crap I doubt that the model of the modem matters... But I am no expert...

Not the signal, the network congestion. If the pipes* from the tower onwards can deliver only X, you cannot pack 2X into them. To the OP, it's pointless to discuss what speed you can get from the antenna to the tower, it's the network throughput that matters, and that's problematic. Also the network is so saturated that regardless of what your modem technically can support, if there is just 0.001 Hz available for your connection you are getting 48.7 kbps down regardless of whether your modem can do 42 mbps when there is 2 Hz of bandwidth available (this is a non-expert example so don't start picking me on Hz stuff...I don't know how many Hz in the 900 Mhz band you need to do a good 3G connection per user).
 

tim514

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Nov 12, 2011
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Not the signal, the network congestion. If the pipes* from the tower onwards can deliver only X, you cannot pack 2X into them. To the OP, it's pointless to discuss what speed you can get from the antenna to the tower, it's the network throughput that matters, and that's problematic. Also the network is so saturated that regardless of what your modem technically can support, if there is just 0.001 Hz available for your connection you are getting 48.7 kbps down regardless of whether your modem can do 42 mbps when there is 2 Hz of bandwidth available (this is a non-expert example so don't start picking me on Hz stuff...I don't know how many Hz in the 900 Mhz band you need to do a good 3G connection per user).

You are absolutely if the network was saturated. But so far I have not found any factual evidence of Orange network saturation. Can you provide insight into this matter?

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