Sick of three's mobile broadband

rafhelp

signed up with Three mobile broadband after being told about it benefits by sales teams.

I was told it would be over 20MB per sec

Since i have had it ive had numerous problems with the connections.

ok most of the time it is working be it slower than promised.

But if i start streaming a movie, then browsing on phone becomes much slower

Several times ive had an almost 100% reduction of speed.  Today the speed has gone down to almost 0.1mb per second and its annoying to say the least

I had the same issue last Friday and they said they would fix network issue on the sunday, but obv whatever they fixed only lasted a week....

My mobile phones data is like twice as fast and 100% more reliable than this....the only good thing about Three's is that it is unlimited data but no good it being unlimited if you cant use it.

Anyone else have three mobile broadband (Huawei router) and have these issues with it?

matelodave

The problem with 4g data is that its subject to the vagaries of the weather, wireless propagation and network congestion, especially at the cell sites that are serving you. There is less certainty about speed and reliability with a wireless system than there is with wired

You may be able to improve your speed and reliability by putting the router somewhere different - either higher up or in another part of the house or even installing an external antenna. Find out where the cell site is and make sure the router is on that side of the house. However if there;s poor service where you live there's not a great deal that can be done about it.

There's not a lot you can do if everyone comes home and starts using their mobile phones or streaming stuff and clogs up the network - there's only so much bandwidth available.

Have you tried different network providers (can I assume that you phone is on the Three network as well). You may even find that your mobile phone latches onto a different cell site to your router. 

Supatramp

I use 3 mobile broadband when away in the caravan, via a mifi unit, I've never had any problem with it.  In one area where I go regularly,  the EE/Virgin signal is very problematic, but the 3 signal is usually usable.   But of course,  I'm using it as I obviously can't  have a landline based system.

rafhelp

matelodave said:

The problem with 4g data is that its subject to the vagaries of the weather, wireless propagation and network congestion, especially at the cell sites that are serving you. There is less certainty about speed and reliability with a wireless system than there is with wired

You may be able to improve your speed and reliability by putting the router somewhere different - either higher up or in another part of the house or even installing an external antenna. Find out where the cell site is and make sure the router is on that side of the house. However if there;s poor service where you live there's not a great deal that can be done about it.

There's not a lot you can do if everyone comes home and starts using their mobile phones or streaming stuff and clogs up the network - there's only so much bandwidth available.

Have you tried different network providers (can I assume that you phone is on the Three network as well). You may even find that your mobile phone latches onto a different cell site to your router. 

"Find out where the cell site"

How?

Rodders53

rafhelp said:

"Find out where the cell site"

How?

Try this website for example

[Deleted User]

Complain to 3 and see what they can do to help - new device (for example) as they have multiple 3G/4G/5G frequencies.
All the UK networks are having issues as their networks weren't designed for home workers.

matelodave

another option which may help is to find out where your cell sites are located, put the router on external antenna on the side of the house that's nearest to it, by a window if indoors and as high up as you can. . https://kenstechtips.com/index.php/mobile-broadband-antennas

Dunno which router you've got but most of them have to facility to do some tweaking. You may be able to set which band your router latches onto to rather than letting it do its own thing and try some speed tests to see if you can improve your speeds or signal quality

droopsnoot

I'm on Three mobile broadband and find that I can only get a decent signal if I balance the mi-fi box against the open window - if I just leave it on the window sill, it will connect, but with much worse performance. I'm in a marginal area though - despite being on an estate that's been here since the late sixties, the coverage for most mobile broadband providers stops about two houses away in all directions. Same for general mobile phone signals - the phone gets a signal in the kitchen, perhaps because the double-glazing is older there, but won't connect to the network in most other rooms.

Cisco001

droopsnoot said:

I'm on Three mobile broadband and find that I can only get a decent signal if I balance the mi-fi box against the open window - if I just leave it on the window sill, it will connect, but with much worse performance. I'm in a marginal area though - despite being on an estate that's been here since the late sixties, the coverage for most mobile broadband providers stops about two houses away in all directions. Same for general mobile phone signals - the phone gets a signal in the kitchen, perhaps because the double-glazing is older there, but won't connect to the network in most other rooms.

Would that be any help if you spend £7 getting a TS9 antennas? 

jamesperrett

I gave up with 3's signal after a couple of weeks and moved to GiffGaff. Slightly more expensive and capped but far better signal and I can get up to 40Mb/s and it is rarely below 20Mb/s (my router doesn't have the latest tweaks that can be used to gain even higher bandwidth).

droopsnoot

Cisco001 said:

droopsnoot said:

I'm on Three mobile broadband and find that I can only get a decent signal if I balance the mi-fi box against the open window - if I just leave it on the window sill, it will connect, but with much worse performance. I'm in a marginal area though - despite being on an estate that's been here since the late sixties, the coverage for most mobile broadband providers stops about two houses away in all directions. Same for general mobile phone signals - the phone gets a signal in the kitchen, perhaps because the double-glazing is older there, but won't connect to the network in most other rooms.

Would that be any help if you spend £7 getting a TS9 antennas? 

Unfortunately not, as it's the Huawei E5573 mobile box which doesn't have a socket for an external antenna. I could replace that with something better, but the things I see people recommend are approaching £200. I'm just about to start the 13th month of a 24-month contract, so I figure I'll put up with it for that time and start to look at other things towards the end.

Thanks for the suggestion, though, I was really hopeful for a minute.