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

[alorotom]

alorotom said:

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.

So the smarty sim would only provide 18mb max dl

In my iPad it was hitting 60mb ... they couldn’t advise why the difference would be.

In reality 18mb just isn’t fast enough for a whole home connection In our case so scrapped the sim and sent the router back to amazon - who refunded as soon as it was collected from the amazon locker surprisingly.

I spoke with BT who previously provided our FTTH service and they offered me a 78mb connection for £24mth (2yr contract) so have opted for that and it’s consistently above 70mb.

[Johnnybee]

NoComment said:

As a follow up to this after speaking with Three over the last few weeks again and complaining they have agreed to cancel the Home Broadband contract as its not performing as it should. No financial penalties to me and all i have to do is return the hardware to them.

Great result as they could have held me to the 2 year agreement if they wanted to.

I still don't understand however why Broadband speed would be different to my mobile phone speed.

I'm now going to look into buying a used 4g router and go through the different providers to see which is best for my location.

Any recommendations for a used 4g device?

NoComment

Interesting. I've had three home broadband for a couple of months and after a promising start the service is now terrible. The home router struggles to connect and when it does is extremely slow, no amount of reboots helps. On top of this both my bills so far have been incorrect. The hours spent on the help line or chat are soul destroying. How did you cancel?

[megaphone]

Picked up a used D-Link DWR921 https://eu.dlink.com/uk/en/products/dwr-921-4g-lte...

Stuck in my EE sim and all working well, getting 40Mbps down and 30 up, that's with it just sitting on my desk. Hopefully some external antennas will speed that up a bit.

Just need to get a Three sim now to try. If it works well I may ditch my wired ISP.

[NDA]

megaphone said:

Picked up a used D-Link DWR921 https://eu.dlink.com/uk/en/products/dwr-921-4g-lte...

Stuck in my EE sim and all working well, getting 40Mbps down and 30 up, that's with it just sitting on my desk. Hopefully some external antennas will speed that up a bit.

Just need to get a Three sim now to try. If it works well I may ditch my wired ISP.

Try the SMARTY deal - it seems better and easier than 3. Same network.

[DuckSauce]

Can anyone help with access to my Cctv camera?

I can't seem to access it since the switch to Vodafone mobile broadband.
I have the Huawei B525 Router and run Google Mesh from that. It sometimes works, but 9 times out of 10 it fails to connect (same for my NAS)

[BobSaunders]

thetapeworm said:

On the "unlimited" thing I received my final bill through from Three in the post today (presumably because they can't send me a text with it now). I hadn't paid any attention to the previous ones but I found the "outside of your allowance" bit interesting as I was on an "unlimited" package and had no knowledge of an allowance.

[BobSaunders]

BobSaunders said:

thetapeworm said:

On the "unlimited" thing I received my final bill through from Three in the post today (presumably because they can't send me a text with it now). I hadn't paid any attention to the previous ones but I found the "outside of your allowance" bit interesting as I was on an "unlimited" package and had no knowledge of an allowance.

[megaphone]

megaphone said:

Picked up a used D-Link DWR921 https://eu.dlink.com/uk/en/products/dwr-921-4g-lte...

Stuck in my EE sim and all working well, getting 40Mbps down and 30 up, that's with it just sitting on my desk. Hopefully some external antennas will speed that up a bit.

Just need to get a Three sim now to try. If it works well I may ditch my wired ISP.

Got myself a Three payg sim and stuck some data on it. Bit disappointed so far with the speeds I'm getting, best so far is 22Mbps down and 24 up. Tried the router in various spots in the house and also outside, doesn't really improve the speeds or the signal. Had speed tests as low as 6Mbps, very random. Not sure if an external antenna will help.

Looking at the Three coverage map I'm right on the edge of an 'indoor' signal and really in an 'outdoor' area, strange as the mast is only just up the road. EE mast is further away but gives a better signal and speed, problem is their costs are more for unlimited data.

[DuckSauce]

Any suggestions on what's gone wrong here?

The router is in the same place its always been, 3 to 4 bars and set to LTE

Used to get around 20 to 25 and now I'm struggling to get above 2. Noticed the last few days everything has been really slow

[OlonMusky]

Throttling caused by increased usage thanks to everyone sitting at home?

[DuckSauce]

OlonMusky said:

Throttling caused by increased usage thanks to everyone sitting at home?

I thought that, but to drop that much is quite extreme, so I looked at my setup.
My B525 modem connects to a Google Mesh puck and all my devices access through Google and not the B525.

I connected my phone direct to the B525 WiFi and the speeds increased, almost to where it used to be.

I then looked at putting the B525 in bridge mode, but I'm obviously missing something, as when I do that, I get no Internet access through the Google puck at all.

Is there a guide for setting up Bridge mode?
I've had to factory reset the B525 just to get back online for now, but it's dam slow

[Tlandcruiser]

I might try this instead of broadband, my speed is only 22mbs. Are these reliable? Will my ping for gaming still be good etc?

I assume if I can get quick enough speeds it will be just as good as traditional broadband?

[Lemming Train]

megaphone said:

Looking at the Three coverage map I'm right on the edge of an 'indoor' signal and really in an 'outdoor' area, strange as the mast is only just up the road. EE mast is further away but gives a better signal and speed, problem is their costs are more for unlimited data.

Cheap cost and crappy service or higher cost and good service? Pick one.



I'm around 6 months in and it sits 75-125 Mbps 99% of the time. B525 on a downstairs window sill with no antennas attached, mast is a couple of miles away with a block of flats and long line of 3 storey town houses all blocking line of sight. Connection has been rock solid and it's in use 24/7 recording a remote internet stream as well so I can see if there have been any drops. Current up-time on the router admin page is 1474 hours! That's got to be around 2 months if my calculations are right.

I was tempted by Three, Smarty and the other networks when first looking but past experience told me cheap internet = unreliable + problems. EE is more expensive than all the others but it just works. Reading back through this thread it appears that a great number of folks have experienced speed problems with the other networks. You pays your monies...

A quick reminder to those of you new to the thread : ignore any signal strength and speed test results if you're testing on a mobile phone, particularly so if the results are marginal. The good 4G routers are far superior at pulling weak signals through the murk than a mobile phone. As I've said before, I show no signal whatsoever on my phone for voice calls or internet. If I'm lucky I may see 3G flash up momentarily, yet my B525 router gives me 3 bars out of 5 and gives me over 75 Mbps all day long. I can't even connect to the internet on my phone!

Good luck to all newbies entering the world of 4G broadband! It's a lot of trial and a lot of error, but you'll get there in the end . My recommendation would be to get an EE sim and bung it in your phone. If you're showing more than a few bars of signal where your router is going to go then I'd say you can safely assume you'll get a strong signal through your 4G router so go ahead and order your 'unlimited everything' contract phone sim (needs to be a phone sim not a data sim). Shell out for a Huawei B525 or B618 (£100 or so) and you should be set up to go. The internal antenna on the B525 is excellent and in my case the speeds are far better than using the external rabbit ears. Logic seems to go out of the window with 4G. Stuff you think you would work better often doesn't!

[Lemming Train]

A couple of lengthy threads about Three 4G broadband woes on thinkbroadband forums that may be of interest to those of you suffering :

https://forums.thinkbroadband.com/mobilebroadband/...
https://forums.thinkbroadband.com/mobilebroadband/...

[SpudLink]

Lemming Train said:

Shell out for a Huawei B525 or B618 (£100 or so) and you should be set up to go. The internal antenna on the B525 is excellent and in my case the speeds are far better than using the external rabbit ears. Logic seems to go out of the window with 4G. Stuff you think you would work better often doesn't!

Switched from Virgin Broadband to Three 4G a few months ago. I’ve been using the Huawei B311 router. It’s not perfect but has been good enough until now. Working from home has exposed limitations, with signal dropping at some points during the day.

I’ve just placed an order for the Huawei B525. Let’s hope it does the job.

[bunchofkeys]

Lemming Train said:

Cheap cost and crappy service or higher cost and good service? Pick one.



I'm around 6 months in and it sits 75-125 Mbps 99% of the time. B525 on a downstairs window sill with no antennas attached, mast is a couple of miles away with a block of flats and long line of 3 storey town houses all blocking line of sight. Connection has been rock solid and it's in use 24/7 recording a remote internet stream as well so I can see if there have been any drops. Current up-time on the router admin page is 1474 hours! That's got to be around 2 months if my calculations are right.

I was tempted by Three, Smarty and the other networks when first looking but past experience told me cheap internet = unreliable + problems. EE is more expensive than all the others but it just works. Reading back through this thread it appears that a great number of folks have experienced speed problems with the other networks. You pays your monies...

A quick reminder to those of you new to the thread : ignore any signal strength and speed test results if you're testing on a mobile phone, particularly so if the results are marginal. The good 4G routers are far superior at pulling weak signals through the murk than a mobile phone. As I've said before, I show no signal whatsoever on my phone for voice calls or internet. If I'm lucky I may see 3G flash up momentarily, yet my B525 router gives me 3 bars out of 5 and gives me over 75 Mbps all day long. I can't even connect to the internet on my phone!

Good luck to all newbies entering the world of 4G broadband! It's a lot of trial and a lot of error, but you'll get there in the end . My recommendation would be to get an EE sim and bung it in your phone. If you're showing more than a few bars of signal where your router is going to go then I'd say you can safely assume you'll get a strong signal through your 4G router so go ahead and order your 'unlimited everything' contract phone sim (needs to be a phone sim not a data sim). Shell out for a Huawei B525 or B618 (£100 or so) and you should be set up to go. The internal antenna on the B525 is excellent and in my case the speeds are far better than using the external rabbit ears. Logic seems to go out of the window with 4G. Stuff you think you would work better often doesn't!

Like you, i'm getting excellent speed and a stable connection through EE, but i'm on the Huawei B618.
Do you, or anyone else, feel the need to for an external antennae, if you're already hitting these speeds on 4G, would there be any extra speed gain?

[megaphone]

Lemming Train said:

megaphone said:

Looking at the Three coverage map I'm right on the edge of an 'indoor' signal and really in an 'outdoor' area, strange as the mast is only just up the road. EE mast is further away but gives a better signal and speed, problem is their costs are more for unlimited data.

Cheap cost and crappy service or higher cost and good service? Pick one.



I'm around 6 months in and it sits 75-125 Mbps 99% of the time. B525 on a downstairs window sill with no antennas attached, mast is a couple of miles away with a block of flats and long line of 3 storey town houses all blocking line of sight. Connection has been rock solid and it's in use 24/7 recording a remote internet stream as well so I can see if there have been any drops. Current up-time on the router admin page is 1474 hours! That's got to be around 2 months if my calculations are right.

I was tempted by Three, Smarty and the other networks when first looking but past experience told me cheap internet = unreliable + problems. EE is more expensive than all the others but it just works. Reading back through this thread it appears that a great number of folks have experienced speed problems with the other networks. You pays your monies...

A quick reminder to those of you new to the thread : ignore any signal strength and speed test results if you're testing on a mobile phone, particularly so if the results are marginal. The good 4G routers are far superior at pulling weak signals through the murk than a mobile phone. As I've said before, I show no signal whatsoever on my phone for voice calls or internet. If I'm lucky I may see 3G flash up momentarily, yet my B525 router gives me 3 bars out of 5 and gives me over 75 Mbps all day long. I can't even connect to the internet on my phone!

Good luck to all newbies entering the world of 4G broadband! It's a lot of trial and a lot of error, but you'll get there in the end . My recommendation would be to get an EE sim and bung it in your phone. If you're showing more than a few bars of signal where your router is going to go then I'd say you can safely assume you'll get a strong signal through your 4G router so go ahead and order your 'unlimited everything' contract phone sim (needs to be a phone sim not a data sim). Shell out for a Huawei B525 or B618 (£100 or so) and you should be set up to go. The internal antenna on the B525 is excellent and in my case the speeds are far better than using the external rabbit ears. Logic seems to go out of the window with 4G. Stuff you think you would work better often doesn't!

This is really and experiment for me, I have both Virgin and an Openreach line into my home, both give good service. Unless I can save a few £ going 4G I won't bother. I was really trying to get a 3rd option. My current Virgin contract is up soon, unless they do me a deal I'll be switching.

[thetapeworm]

DuckSauce said:

Any suggestions on what's gone wrong here?

The router is in the same place its always been, 3 to 4 bars and set to LTE

Used to get around 20 to 25 and now I'm struggling to get above 2. Noticed the last few days everything has been really slow

I suspect they've "carried out some great work to bring you 5G" and screwed up 4G as seems to be the case for so many Three UK customers over the past 6 months.

Towards the end of my period with them I found 3G to be far faster than 4G 99% of the time.

[DuckSauce]

thetapeworm said:

I suspect they've "carried out some great work to bring you 5G" and screwed up 4G as seems to be the case for so many Three UK customers over the past 6 months.

Towards the end of my period with them I found 3G to be far faster than 4G 99% of the time.

I'm using Vodafone if that makes any difference.
From my research, it could be down to the "double nat" issue, as the Google pucks are routers and the Hauwei is a router. Ideally, I need the Hauwei in bridge mode, but it doesn't work.

I've now put the Google puck into the DMZ, but I'm still getting double Nat and slow speed.

I might look at trying a 4g router that supports bridge mode, if there is such a thing.

This would hopefully solve my Cctv issue too.

[rfsteel]

DuckSauce said:

I might look at trying a 4g router that supports bridge mode, if there is such a thing.

Netgear support this, I've a LB2120 and AirCard with dock both in bridge mode connected to a TP-ER5120 that then load balances these connections along with my existing ADSL.