Three 4G SIM Forced to use 3G

Mee

Just trying to get an idea whether this is a wide spread problem.  I took out a Three 4G SIM only deal as advertised on MSE  earlier in the year. In less than a month I could no longer access websites ( incl.Three's)  & services (time outs etc.) on 4G.  After contacting webchat I was advised to change my preferred network to 3G.

With the numerous no signal areas I complained but have got nowhere. My first letter sent twice got a feeble response which just referred me to the helplines. Another letter asking for my complaint to be treated as such has been met with silence.

Wondering whether to escalate to CISAS.

Thanks

eDicky

Does this occur wherever you are, or in a certain location such as your home area..? Does your phone indicate a strong 4G reception, or very weak..?

Networks are unable to guarantee effective coverage in every area. Usually it's best to check your local signal with a free PAYG SIM before signing up for a contract on a particular network.

Do you receive acceptable service on 3g if you switch to it as suggested..? Sometimes 3g gives a faster connection than 4g in certain areas.

jon81uk

The bandwidth is better on 3G compared to 4G. I have found that when unable to download things sometimes on Three I have to switch to 3G to get it going as there are too many people in the area using the 4G signal and there isn't enough bandwidth.

Mee

Thank you for the above responsea.

The service deteriorated in less than one month from 3/4 bars to one in my home area. Between 04-06:00 I was able to access numerous websites then I kept getting timed out from those same websites at the same time of day. Yet they were fine on wifi.

I had to stand outside a supermarket in the rain to use its wifi to connect Three support as I couldn't access it on 4G.

The 3G connection is slow.

I wonder whether Three ofloads 4G SIM offer only bods onto 3G as a matter of course.?🤔

[Deleted User]

No, all the networks are having capacity issues as their networks aren't designed for mass home working and lockdowns  - I had a recent similar experience with Vodafone and decided to cancel in the cooling off period.

Frozen_up_north

Exactly as said by dahj in the previous post. I live in a small village and Three were excellent from home, both for coverage and data rate (circa 50Mb/s download) around a month ago, yet in a nearby city centre the data rate on Three was unusable, around 0.1Mb/s!

I've ditched Three as they wanted to move me to a more expensive contract, I am now with O2 and find a similar situation, the same city centre is slightly faster but nothing to get excited about (around 5Mb/s download). At home I get typically less than Three, but usually 10Mb/s up to a similar rate to Three. I am around half a mile from the O2 mast and get 4 to 5 bars (out of 5) on my iPhone SE (2020) on 4G.

You can see what data rate each network has in your area, based on real user data measurements, using the Rootmetrics "Coverage Map" phone app.