Three UK - 4G Home Broadband - any users here?

[bunchofkeys]

About to pull the trigger on the EE unlimited contract, but will need to find a router that will accept a SIM.
The Asus is a great shout (CAT6), but i was wondering if i should invest in a router that is capable of CAT. 20 or CAT13?

Are the masts pushing that amount of bandwidth out at the moment for 4G, or is CAT 13/20 specifically for 5G?

I think my Samsung Note 10+ 5G is CAT20 compatible, but i've only seen downloads and uploads of 100/50mbps, respectively.
Maybe i've just answered my own question.

Edited by bunchofkeys on Monday 27th January 08:42

[alorotom]

same boat here - just ordered a Smarty unlimited sim, 1mth term, £20mth ... looking at the regular up and down speeds of our FTTP which is slower than the current 4g signal I just need a router!

[alorotom]

alorotom said:

same boat here - just ordered a Smarty unlimited sim, 1mth term, £20mth ... looking at the regular up and down speeds of our FTTP which is slower than the current 4g signal I just need a router!

To update, I ordered a TPLink Archer M600 router

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/3g-4g-r...

£104 from amazon.

I debated on a used Huawei cube but almost all were locked to EE or Vodafone as they can be had from £40 on ebay but ive not got a good history of used tech.

[bunchofkeys]

I've just ordered a EE unlimted SIM with Extra Speed, and it will be popped into Huawei B618.

Will let you know how it goes, once it's all up and running.

[Lemming Train]

After approx 6 months of rock solid service from EE it has fallen over today . Barely getting 1 Mbps for the past couple of hours, but in fairness to them they are showing a "major issue" for my postcode area (BD19) on their network status checker so I guess something has broken and they're on with fixing it .

[bunchofkeys]

Very impressed with the 4G setup, and will cancel the PlusNet connection, that was put in place last week.
For comparison, i can only just get past 40mbps down and 3.5mbps up though the landline.

This is from just popping the new router in the study, but i could move it to the back room (other side of the house, nearer to the masts). And the use powerline networking option of getting the Internet connection around the house/study.

I don't suppose it's really worth looking into an external antenna, if i'm getting speeds like this?

This was taken from the phone, wifi connection (5Ghz) to the router.
Fingers crossed a wired connection may actually show a higher speed.

Edited by bunchofkeys on Friday 31st January 22:43

[Lemming Train]

Lemming Train said:

After approx 6 months of rock solid service from EE it has fallen over today . Barely getting 1 Mbps for the past couple of hours, but in fairness to them they are showing a "major issue" for my postcode area (BD19) on their network status checker so I guess something has broken and they're on with fixing it .

And we're back.

[journeymanpro]

Looking to get an unlimited from ee but can't find the £28 one. Can anyone point to the right one.

[Lemming Train]

journeymanpro said:

Looking to get an unlimited from ee but can't find the £28 one. Can anyone point to the right one.

It's £34 not £28. Mine is £34 base (I have loyalty discounts but £34 is the price for new customers).

https://shop.ee.co.uk/mobile-phone-deals/unlimited...

Go with cheaper providers at your own peril !

[AndyTR]

If you give them a call they will usually offer the £28 deal and some other good deals if you want to move your mobile contract over as well. They were really helpful when I called them, even called me back a few weeks later to check everything was ok.

[bunchofkeys]

AndyTR said:

If you give them a call they will usually offer the £28 deal and some other good deals if you want to move your mobile contract over as well. They were really helpful when I called them, even called me back a few weeks later to check everything was ok.

This is what they did for me.

I signed up for the Unlimited SIM at £34 a month, then also signed up to their cheapest £13 SIM for unlimited mins/text, but only 250MB of data.
This is to replace my normal phone SIM with BT.

Because of that, they reduced the £13 SIM to £7 a month, and brought down the £34 SIM to £30 a month.
£28 was offered, if i took their landline broadband.

The thing with EE, is that i can "gift" up to 100GB of data a month from the Unlimited SIM to the 250MB SIM.
So now i only pay £37 a month, instead of £52; the previous setup with BT broadband and BT Mobile.

[journeymanpro]

Ok cool. Is there are traffic management on ee. Looking at our usage it's over 1tb downloads most months.

[bunchofkeys]

In the T&Cs.

Unlimited Plans
Uncapped and Unlimited data - 50GB fair use policy applies outside UK. Personal, non-commercial use only. If you regularly tether 12 or
more devices, we will consider this non-personal use and have the right to move you to a more suitable plan. We will consider usage
above 1000GB/month to be commercial use and have the right to move you to a business plan. You can choose from 3 swappables
(Amazon Prime Video, BT Sport or the Roam Further Pass). You can gift up to 100GB. Data usage on an unlimited plan will decrement from
giftable allowance. Any data boost allowance will be added to the giftable allowance.

[bitchstewie]

Posted a thread here https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

But this one looks very relevant.

Any thoughts especially around a router that won't break the bank but won't need throwing away too soon?

[NDA]

I am about to try 4G broadband... I am moving somewhere very rural with 1Mbps speeds quoted from BT for my postcode.

I have ordered a Huawei B525-4G and a Poynting unidirectional antenna - which all arrives later in the week. I have SIM cards from 02, Vodafone, 3 and EE to test signal strength.

Currently the house has zero mobile signal inside or outside - so I have my fingers crossed that this router and aerial can sniff out some 4G or it's a satellite solution, which looks costly.

Being new to this, I am a bit confused by the airtime company tariffs - data only SIMs seem to have less data than regular SIMs... is there a difference? No idea.

I live on the internet - only me using it - I wonder what data amount I need.... Netflix, browsing, YouTube. How long is a piece of string I guess, unlimited is probably the answer.

[PushedDover]

Look for bargain PHONE sims with a high volume of Data


It is the way forward

[thetapeworm]

Well this turned into a much more epic topic than I could have ever imagined

I left Three last week, months of issues (that I moaned about here, sorry) and then on the day I moved to my new ISP Three 4G suddenly started working like it had in the first month.

For the week running up to this I'd been forced to use 3G as the 4G was utterly woeful.

Three were decent about it in the end, they released me from my contract early, refunded my last month's payment and didn't charge me an exit fee or the £35 they'd earlier asked for to cover the cost of the hardware.

[IanA2]

thetapeworm said:

Well this turned into a much more epic topic than I could have ever imagined

I left Three last week, months of issues (that I moaned about here, sorry) and then on the day I moved to my new ISP Three 4G suddenly started working like it had in the first month.

For the week running up to this I'd been forced to use 3G as the 4G was utterly woeful.

Three were decent about it in the end, they released me from my contract early, refunded my last month's payment and didn't charge me an exit fee or the £35 they'd earlier asked for to cover the cost of the hardware.

You seem to have been terribly unlucky. I've been with Three for a bit under 18 months now without any issues.

Always get decent speeds. Ten mins ago Ookla said 38.80. It's never below 30 and sometimes double that.

Did you ever try a Huawei 618? I find it significantly better than other Huawei routers even without any antennae.

Let us know if another ISP is better.

[IanA2]

NDA said:

I am about to try 4G broadband... I am moving somewhere very rural with 1Mbps speeds quoted from BT for my postcode.

I have ordered a Huawei B525-4G and a Poynting unidirectional antenna - which all arrives later in the week. I have SIM cards from 02, Vodafone, 3 and EE to test signal strength.

Currently the house has zero mobile signal inside or outside - so I have my fingers crossed that this router and aerial can sniff out some 4G or it's a satellite solution, which looks costly.

Being new to this, I am a bit confused by the airtime company tariffs - data only SIMs seem to have less data than regular SIMs... is there a difference? No idea.

I live on the internet - only me using it - I wonder what data amount I need.... Netflix, browsing, YouTube. How long is a piece of string I guess, unlimited is probably the answer.

Rural here too. Middle of field in fact. Tried the 525, it was good, but the 618 is considerably better.

Speed wise, I get 30 plus minimum and up to sixty plus (without antenna) which is way fast enough for us.

If you can get a signal for Three, you can buy truly unlimited everything for 20 squids (or less) a month.

Our current 24 mth deal works out at 17.50 a month with no extra for 5G ifit comes our way.

Good luck.

Oh, and you can plug a DECT phone into 525 and 618.

[NDA]

IanA2 said:

Oh, and you can plug a DECT phone into 525 and 618.

Is there an advantage to doing this? I have a mobile which does everything - and is unlimited calls... via wifi at home.