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Actually the title says it all. I have a Surface 3 LTE which connects to the internet just fine! I'm using Vodafone on the Netherlands.
However, at some point I see that I have no internet. The indicator still shows I am connected. And it takes forever for the computer to come to the conclusion that there is a network to connect to (HSPA+) but there is no internet on it. After disconnecting if I want to reconnect I have to enter an APN of which I am pretty sure I have already done that!
A reboot fixes the issue. Then the tablet sees the LTE band/network again and I am happy internetting again.
Any thoughts?
The Surface family includes Surface Pro, Surface Laptop, and other Surface products. Surface is designed to help organizations, students, and consumers be more productive.
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Add: latest firmware upgrades up untill date mentioned above didn't fix anything.
Hi Plantje,
I'm in the netherlands aswell. I own a Surface 3 LTE since March. I totally know what you are going through and tried all the steps you tried and got exactly the same returns. My provider is KPN. I'm a pilot and work on ships with the surface 3. At home it's a wonderfull device, but as soon as you start moving you lose connection and get the HSDPA+ no internet crap. Restarting all the time is a real pain and I don't have time for that, I'm busy sailing a ship. It's frustrating that during those times my phone always has internet, allthough it's much smaller and probably has a smaller antenna. Losing connection now and then is fine (also my KPN android-phone has that), but one should be able to reset the modem without restarting the whole tablet. I was just searching for a script to do that once I figure out what to restart. You're right. Devicemanager freezes, the whole restart-sequence freezes. I can't seem to work around it satisfactorily. Better still would be an update that polls better. If you have found a way, let me know. Otherwise I love my surface. I regret the fact that I didn't buy the €300,- cheaper version without LTE and use thetering from my phone.. Regards, Aart from Brielle.
Let's hope the firmware update completely solves the issue: http://www.neowin.net/news/heres-whats-improved-in-todays-surface-3-firmware-update
The last few days it doesn't seem to be a huge issue for me. My Surface 3 is now on the Insider Preview, meaning it runs the Anniverary Update.
Next to that I have found some sort of a work around that enabled me to work for a few times on the train. When I needed the LTE connection I saw it was connected to either LTE or HSPA+. Then I first disconnected and in most cases then I immediately saw HSPA+ as the available connection (so somehow even while displaying it was connected to LTE it was in fact connected to HSPA+). Then I switched to the "Wi-Fi" tab in the settings and switched back to the "Mobile" tab and saw that LTE was available. If I then connect to LTE it works and stays connected to LTE.
There is a slight possibility that Vodafone NL has added LTE antennas but that would be a real concidence.
The huge downside of this workaround is that you have to disconnect and reconnect manually every single time! Which makes you wonder what the advantage is of a non LTE Surface 3 and use a cell phone to connect through a shared internet connection
Hi!
Thank you for your reply.
It seems to really go wrong when switching networks indeed. Last few times I have had some succes with the following: when arriving at the train station I start up the Surface 3 and see it connect to HSPA+. Then there seems to be no issue and I have internet. If I get on the train then and start moving it seems to go wrong. Probably because the HSPA+ coverage is not sufficient and it doesn't switch, no it tries to stay connected to HSPA+. If I then disconnect it only disconnects the current data flow, but it stays connected to the network indicating "HSPA+" That's why I am then also unable to reconnect and have it search for the best connection.
However, if I use a different scenario: arrive at the train station, startup Surface 3, see it get connected to HSPA+, have internet and all and then disconnect and wait a while I am able to reconnect and it gets connected to LTE. Then I see that I have LTE the whole train ride and the connection is 100% stable. I should not try to reconnect too fast, because it starts complaining about the APN not being correct. For the time being, that seems to be the only way to force the Surface 3 to look for a better connection.
I really wonder if this is better in a Dell Venue Pro for example (since they have different WWAN cards). And I hope that at some point Samsung will come with a nice Surface 3 like device with LTE. The Tab Pro S is really looking good when it comes to that, but I think it is too large and it doesn't have LTE.
Regards,
Rudi