A few months back, I received an email from one of the visitor of this blog asking me about this problem, "limited connectivity". The good news is that this error happen rarely if you own a Windows XP based machine. The bad news is, the probability of having to face this error on a machine with Vista OS is greater. Limited connectivity error is a result of the mulfunctioning DHCP system.

Diagnosis:
Celcom Broadband utilized Public Dynamic IP, meaning that there is a big chance that you might be sharing an IP with someone else. Celcom provide a "pool of IPs" and each time your computer connect to the internet, you will never know which IP you will be assigned untill you are connected to the internet network. The system which control this is called the DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol).

Scenario:
Everytime you start a PDP session a.k.a. creating a connection to the internet network, (in this case, since you do not have a specific IP) your computer will send a request to the Celcom Server asking for an IP. Due to network error, the server did not respond to your computer request. After several request went unanswered, your computer will create a dummy IP (usually starting from 169.***.***.***). What happen is that the data session bridging is success but no reply from the ISP server. Just imagine a car moving from point A to point B. The highway connecting A and B is available but the car is out of petrol.

Solutions:
1. Connection is there but without a valid IP address. Thats why it shows erorr "limited connectivity".
2. Without valid IP your connection to the internet network is meaningless because other computers and servers on the network will not recognize or communicate with your computer and vice versa.
3.Rebooting your computer usually solved this problem.
4. Or, try to change your network band (e.g. from 3G only to GPRS only etc.)
5.If you are on Vista OS, upgrading your drivers/firmware is the best bet if you frequently bugged by this problem. There is an unconfirmed report (but highly possible) about the problem with Vista`s TCP/IP with some old modems and routers.

--
Andrey Arshavin The Legend
amrymr.blogspot.com

Good day..

New updates on this unintentional rerouting to vlbdc.com website.
1. its not virus or a malware
2. its a network error
3. only effect Celcom Mobile Broadband PREPAID customers (so far there is no such same report for postpaid broadband)
4. usually happen during peak hours..

how to solve?
openDNS!!! remember these number [Preferred DNS:208.67.222.222 and Alternate DNS:208.67.220.220]. Tested before and it works!!

For XP users: Go to control panel> network Connections> then right click on your existing connection> click properties> networking> and double click on TCP/IP.

For Vista users:
Go to control panel> View network status and tasks> View status> Properties> Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), then click the Properties button> Click the radio button Use the following DNS server addresses: and type in addresses in the Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server fields.

--
Andrey Arshavin The Legend
amrymr.blogspot.com

For Celcom Mobile Broadband subscriber, sometimes you may face this kind of error.

Root Problem:
1. Network congestion - computer failed to do successful dial up operation due to the unavailability or failure to transmit data packets.
2. Hardware problem - Modem not connected properly or the USB contact point damaged (for USB modem).
3. For For Broadband package subscribed together with a voice plan, in some remote cases voice mail system may interrupt with the computer dialing system.

Solutions:
For network error, just contact your service provider. If the error is not caused by network congestion, you can try to do these steps:

Go to control Panel>>Phone and Modem Options>>Modem>>(highlight your modem)>>properties>Modem tab and unchecked wait for dial tone before dialing.

In some remote cases, receiving voice mail while the computer is attempting to execute dial up networking may confuse your computer into thinking that there is no valid dial tone (this is because some voice mail system keep sending a beeping signal which will wrongly interpreted by the computer). Depending on the carrier you subscribed, try to check that your computer setting is set to the correct local country so that your computer is listening to the correct dialing tone.

Start>Control Panel>Printers and Other Hardware>Phone and Modem Options>Dialing Rules>Edit>General tab>make sure that the correct country is listed under Country/region.

--
Andrey Arshavin The Legend
amrymr.blogspot.com

Its almost 2 months since the last time I updated this blog [ I took a long leave :) ].

Last weekend I have a training/meeting with ZTE personnel. For those who does not know yet, ZTE currently is the main modem distributor for Celcom Mobile Broadband. They supply ZTE K3565-Z (Same spec with Huawei or Vodafone K3565). Same product, but from two different distributors. Both modem are using Vodafone Mobile Connect Lite as a dialling software and both a made in China products ;)..


Based on the training given, it seems that among the most common problem faced by those who are using this modem on a Celcom Mobile Broadband network is they frequently face this error "Mobile connection is not possible". Due to my laziness, I just copy and paste it here for us to share the available solutions:

The question that need to be answered here is that can we increase the speed of our Celcom Mobile Broadband? The answer is quite relative. In some ways, yes we can speed up the internet connection (be it download or upload). But in some other aspect, the answer is a BIG NO!!!

For better understanding, we must have a bird view on how the Internet user communicate with each other. During my early tertiary education level, I still remember my lecturer explained that there are several parties which form the communication convergence:

a) End user and the system which process the digital data into readable and understandable data. (In this case it is reffering to the individual and his computer set)

b) ISP provider or the Internet provider.

c) The internet itself

Of the three separate parties, you can only took control of the item a and item c above. For the Item b, you dont have the power to control it since it falls solely under jurisdiction of your internet service provider and you dont have privilidges to manipulate it.



A)End user and the computer system

1. Better computer and machine specifications actually will speed up your internet access. Computer with big RAM ammounts and faster processing powers will process all the incoming data seamlessly without any lag. For example, loading a data intensive page such as youtube.com will be faster on the machines which is powered by an Intel Dual Core processor with a multi Gigabytes of RAM compared to machines which was powered by older Pentium 3 processor with a mere 64MB or 128MB of RAM.
2. Upgrading your Operating system (OS) will also in theory will speed up your internet connections due to newer OS will take advantage of the power of the processor. Windows XP handles internet connection better compared to Windows 98.
3. Apart from the computer specification and software, better modem specification also will give positive result for your internet speed. For example Huawei E160G USB Modem is better than let say the old Huawei E660 datacard.
4. Using specific software for specific activity will no doubt will increase your internet speed. For example using a speciallized downloader software to download data or application from the internet will be the best options compared to the built in downloader function for Internet browser.
   

B) The Internet Service Provider

1. I will not discuss further about internet service provider since subscriber are unable to control the flow or the process anything which are related to this matter.

Recently a Celcom careline representative consulted me on a matter with regards to whether Celcom Mobile Broadband support the next generation of internet protocol IPv6.

A Celcom Mobile Broadband subscriber unable to send POP3 and IMAP E-Mail. However if connected to other ISP provider such as Streamyx or Jaring, the problem is not exist. In this case usually the subscriber are able to surf the internet and able to recieve Email. The only problem is when trying to send email using POP3 or IMAP protocol email.

Root Problem:
The IP which you are hooked to were blocked by your email provider server or even the intended or recepient email server. Why did the subscribers IP was blocked? There are several reasons but nowadays the most probable answer is that the IP was tagged due to spams (suspected spammers).

This is the downside of using dynamic IP where the IP were shared by multiple subscribers, and once one of the subscriber "missuse" or abuse the connection to send spams, then the IP will be blocked or tagged as spammers.

So how to solve it:
1. get your external IP address (you can get your from this e.g. website www.whatismyip.com or other online IP tools).

2.Once you get your IP, contact your email provider (if your email is your own company email, refer to your respective IT department) and verify this matter. If its confirmed that the specific IP was blocked or tagged as spammers, ask them to remove it.

Since a lot of visitors are inquiring about error 619, I thought that my previous post may not giving you a comprehensive understanding with regard to ERROR 619. Indeed most of the hits to this blog are from those who are searching solutions to this error. So here we go again (please note that this troubleshoot is done using Celcom Mobile Broadband):

what does error 619 mean?
This error indicate that the connection to certain network is timed out usually due to
1. Network Congestion/Poor Signal Strength
2. Port error

Root Problem:
1. For network congestion and poor signal strength, in the case of Celcom Mobile Broadband, it may means the 3G or WCDMA network which you are trying to connect may be congested or probably due to your location which is too far or beyond the range of the Celcom WCDMA transmitter tower.

2. For port error you can refer to my previous post: http://amrymr.blogspot.com/2009/03/error-619-connection-to-remote-computer.html


Solutions:
1. Please make sure your device detect Celcom WCDMA network and at least there are 3 bars of signal strength are available. Below than that may cause your connection being frequently disconnected or worst, no connection at all.

2.If the error occured when your device attached to WCDMA network, the best bet is change your device network setting to GPRS only. A thing to note here is that whenever you want to choose connection type please make sure you use GPRS only or 3G/WCDMA only. Do not use GPRS preffered or 3G/WCDMA preffered because it may effect your signal and connection stability.

3. Sometimes your computer confuse itself by mistakenly arrange devices within a same port. This may happen when you unplug your modem improperly. Rebooting your computer will repair the mis-managed port.

4.Sometimes your modem will not work (due to file or installation corruption) on the pre-installed software such as mobile connect lite or mobile partner. In a rare but possible situation, the dialing software got bugs. Try to download the latest version of your dialing software from the internet such as www.business.vodafone.com (for hua wei and vodafone brand only).

5.If the connection is still failed, you need to do a manual connection. In brief, I try to explain it here:

Last night I was surprised to see that I was hooked to a new IP. I said its new because previously I never hooked to this IP. So I am glad to know that actually Celcom do provides more than 2 IPs for the Peninsular Malaysia subscribers. The new IP is 203.82.91.101 [previously I was hooked to 203.82.79.2 and 203.82.91.34] Please refer to the attachment below:

Since the early of this week, there were several complaints with regards to the Prepaid Broadband offered by Celcom. This package operate using WCDMA network spectrum which offers speed of up to maximum 384Kbps only. The most common problem, is that whenever subscriber want to do the connection, error message pop up saying that service is unavailable.

As noted on the previous post, Celcom Mobile Broadband are using Public Dynamic IP (which means that there is no specific IP address assigned to your connection and in most cases it may means that you are sharing a same IP with other subscriber). Most blogs out there mistakenly states that Celcom use static IP, however the truth is Celcom are using Public Dynamic IP where several IP are shared by Celcom subscribers. Static IP means each subcribers got their own IP which in this celcom broadband scenario is not the case (since subscriber are sharing the IP and not using distinctive personal IP per subscriber)

This is a general outline using your phone as a modem for Celcom BIS subscribers. Please note that these steps are applicable generally for all Blackberry smartphone, connected to a Windows based PC/Laptop using USB cable.

Connect Your BlackBerry
Make sure your BlackBerry is connected by USB cable, and your BlackBerry Handheld Manager is running (just launch BlackBerry Desktop to run it.) This is necessary for using the BlackBerry as an external modem. You cannot use BlackBerry as a modem unless you have BlackBerry Handheld Manager running in the background

Modem Driver Install
If you installed a recent version of BlackBerry Desktop that came with a 7100t, 7290, 7250, or 7520, it should include modem drivers and already be automatically installed. In the event you need to manually install them, the modem drivers should be located in this directory:
C:\program files\Common Files\Research In Motion\Modem Drivers
However, if you are having problems with these drivers, uninstall, delete all leftover RIM files, and then reinstall the latest version of BlackBerry Desktop.

Verify The Modem Driver Exists
Go to Control Panel -> Phone & Modem Options. In the Modems tab, you should see a new “Standard Modem” on a new port (such as COM6 or COM11). If you do, jump to the next step.

However, if your modem is missing:
If this modem entry is missing and cannot be found using Plug n Play, you may have to manually add it. Verify you have “RIM Virtual Serial Port” drivers installed. Find out which COM ports the RIM Virtual Serial Ports are, go to Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager -> Ports (COM & LPT) … This will tell you which COM ports your BlackBerry Modem is on. Next, go to Control Panel -> Phone and Modem and Remove the modem. Re-add the modem by clicking on Add. You MUST select the “Standard 33600 bps Modem” (correct) INSTEAD OF “Standard 56000 bps Modem” (wrong). Click Next. You will be asked for the ports to add this modem to. Add this modem to all COM ports that the RIM Virtual Serial Port is on. You must choose the “Standard 33600 bps Modem” because of incompatible AT commands that result in an Error 628. Don’t worry, the speed won’t be slower.

Verify The Modem Driver Is Functioning
Go to Control Panel -> Phone & Modem Options. In the Modems tab, you should see a new Standard Modem on a new port (such as COM6 or COM11). Click Properties -> Diagnostics -> Query Modem. You should see the following:
Quote:
ATQ0V1E0 - OK
AT+GMM - BlackBerry IPmodem
AT+FCLASS=? - OK
AT#CLS=? - OK
AT+GCI? - OK
AT+GCI=? - OK


IMPORTANT SPECIAL CONFIGURATION STEP
Click Properties -> Advanced and add only ONE of the following Extra initialization commands with the appropriate carrier-specific APN Setting:
+cgdcont=1,"ip","celcom3g"

Add A New Internet Connection
Close the Phone and Modem Options and the Control Panel. Create a new connection with Start -> Connect To -> Show all connections -> Create a new connection.

1. Click Next

2. Select “Connect To The Internet” then Next

3. Select “Set up my connection manually” then Next

4. Select “Connect using a dial-up modem” then Next.

5. Check only the Standard Modem (if prompted).

6. Give the connection a name such as “BlackBerry Modem”, then Next.

7. On the next screen, key in the dial up number: *99# or *99***1#

8. Click Next.

9. On the next screen, key in username and password:
Username: blank
Password: blank

10. Clear all checkboxes (”Use…when anyone…” and “Make this the default…”)

11. Click Finish


Disable IP Header Compression
Make sure TCP/IP Properties (Advanced) “Use IP Header Compression” checkbox is NOT checked. To verify this, do these steps:

1. Start Menu->Network Connections->”BlackBerry Modem”
2. Click Properties Button
3. Click Networking Tab
4. Select “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)”
5. Click Properties Button
6. Click Advanced… Button
7. Disable “Use IP header compression” checkbox
8. Click all OK buttons to close all dialogs
Also make sure you clear all these checkboxes, if you see any of these checked:
Turn off “Enable Hardware Flow Control”
Turn off “Enable Modem Error Control”
Turn off “Enable Modem Compression”