Three Broadband 4G

DebtHurricane

Is it worth switching from 38mbps with Now Broadband where I usually have to turn WiFi off and use my mobile signal to get things done quicker? I was thinking of switching to Three’s 4G home router? It has Alexa built in which is pretty cool and it’s only £25 a month with a £70 cashback. 

JJ_Egan

Depends upon your signal from Three and how good it is  .

Turning wifi off suggests a wifi problem as 38 meg is plenty .

Try Ethernet cable connection .

Biggus_Dickus

DebtHurricane said:

Is it worth switching from 38mbps with Now Broadband where I usually have to turn WiFi off and use my mobile signal to get things done quicker? I was thinking of switching to Three’s 4G home router? It has Alexa built in which is pretty cool and it’s only £25 a month with a £70 cashback. 

I tried a ‘3’ Homefi 4G router a few months ago;...it started really well,.. but then went downhill rapidly.

When the network connection was ‘up’ it was fine,...but it started to suffer glitches and prolonged outages that rendered the whole set-up effectively useless.

I then had a real fight on my hands with ‘3’,...which wasn’t easy, to say the least.

That being said, my daughters runs two ‘3’ homefi  4G routers (one at home, one at her office) and has done for some time;...however, one of her routers (the one in her home)  recently started to show worrying speed/connection problems. She’s swopped the routers between her home and office but the speed/connection issues have persisted at her ‘home’ location. ‘3’ support have been completely useless in offering any kind of help.

Before you make any decision you may find it advantageous to read my thread from a few months ago. It may help to inform your decision.

A ‘3’ Homefi 4G router may be a good solution for you,...but unfortunately it didn’t work out for me.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6052376/4g-mobile-router-to-buy-or-not-to-buy-that-is-the-question/p1

 

 

 

 

Mister_G

A lot of these 4G solutions really do depend on the quality of your 4G signal.  If you live sufficiently close to a mast, then they can work quite well, as long as there is no congestion.

Cisco001

I personally against the idea to sign up 2 years three homefi.

If you purchase the router and sign up 12 months unlimited mobile tariff. The overall cost for 2 years is similar.
Also, if Homefi not work as expected at your home, you can at least having a shorter contract and could make phone call and use mobile internet when you are not at home.

DebtHurricane

cheers everyone. I might just go with talk talk for £1 more. But it’s 18 months and I suppose more wiggle room to get out of the contract if I don’t get proper reliability?

matelodave

The big problem at the moment is that more people will be using their mobile phones in areas where they don't normally, so there will be less bandwidth available especially in rural and suburban locations where the coverage may be less dense and the cell coverage area is a lot bigger.

I've got a 3MifI unit (which use in my caravan or as a backup at home) and on a good day can get around 20mbit/s but it's all over the place whenpeople get home form work and start doing whatever they do in the evenings.

DebtHurricane

So, I ended up placing the order but got no confirmation email whatsoever. No email from DPD. 

I assumed the credit check either failed or the order hadn’t been processed. Then DPD turned up out of the blue yesterday and delivered the HUAWEI AI Cube Router with my Three sim. 

I was super impressed with the router. It’s loud, looks amazing and doesn’t take up much room. 

The bad part- I put the sim in. Everything connects perfectly but the speed is god awful. 

2mps - 4mbps at BEST!

My current broadband is 33mbps at best. 

Such a disappointment. The actual price (£20 a month) and the router with Alexa built in was a perfect solution for me. But I cannot risk the speeds being that rubbish going forward. 

Everyone who commented - you’re right. Loads of people are working from home which is slowing things down, and I am in a more rural (1hr outside London) area so signal isn’t the best round here. 

This is when I miss living in London. The speeds of 4G/ broadband were so much better and the services on offer were broader. Can’t get virgin media here which is a shame. 

Contacted three on live chat to arrange return. They said: we can’t do that sorry. Returns team are not working due to COVID-19.  Try again in a few days. 

Wonderful experience so far

matelodave

A wireless solution will always be less reliable than a wired one. Make sure that you keep a record of your chat or any communication with 3 to ensure that you can still return the kit even if you end up outside the official return window otherwise you could end up with a big bill.
BTW I did a speed test today and got 4.5mbit's with my MiFi unit on Three whereas I have had up to 20 when the airwaves are quiet. However thats still better than the 2mbit's I was getting on ADSL before we managed to get 76mbit/s FTTP last year

squidgysponge

I'd recommend everyone steer well clear of three's 4g broadband, let alone its 5g thing. I've been with them a year now and the reliability of the service is going down hill with every passing month. I started in September of last year getting 100Mbps (I can see the mast out of my window, its less than 1000ft away), then new year came and reliability started to suffer with constant outages and multiple reboots a day of the router required. It also started to suffer from webpage hangs where you'd just not get any response. Looking at ISP review and Thinkbroadband forums they are covered with this issue, but three continued to ignore it. I tried contacting them, but the reality is they don't want to sort the problem. I even wrote a recorded delivery letter complaining to head office, 2 weeks later I got back a reply saying they'd not address my issue because i'd not included my date of birth in the letter!

As they grow their customer base they are not increasing the back-haul across they're network, the outcome is slowing speeds and dwindling reliability of service month after month. Just over a year later I'm lucky to see 30Mbps for the morning in a weekday, evenings are worse. That's how bad the service is now.

2 year contract people? My advice. Avoid.