topic Re: APN 3hotspot in Broadband

APN 3hotspot

logperiodic — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 19:24:56 GMT

I’m a recent 3 user, but a many year rural 4G user by necessity. New service is generally ok on a recently installed local “coastal installation” mast (diesel generator powered) and since the mast recently grew a microwave link and got rid of the twin starlink backhaul devices is pretty robust with data rates usually exceeding 100mbs.

My router normally uses its internal APN detection and right now it’s using APN=“3hotspot”. I’ve scoured the community threads and seen no reference to this named APN and only “3internet” or simply “three.co.uk” but never “3hotspot”

If someone could shed some light on this APN name and how it is configured with respect to CGNAT and/or public ip I would appreciate the information.

Should I be using it as it stands or is it legacy or new name or maybe even a hiccup in the router decoding of the sim category.

thanks

Re: APN 3hotspot

logperiodic — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 06:46:15 GMT

After a bit of self diagnosis is seems that 3hotspot APN uses CGNAT so switched to 3internet which is now giving us a probable non CGNAT address. We do use DDNS with ssh incoming but hadn’t needed it since switching so good job this was fixed now and not later. As it’s a genuine 3 mast and not a MOCN connection it’s working. Also there are no voda masts out here in Scotland we can use.

An interesting resource I found (is teltonika centric but I have a a RUTX09, which was why google threw it up) is linked here. Is mostly accurate apart from the 100.64.x.x should explain it’s a bigger range than a class B.

https://iotportal.co.uk/cctv/when-threes-3internet-apn-stops-giving-you-a-public-ip-what-cctv-installers-need-to-know-in-the-vodafone-three-era/

Re: APN 3hotspot

JonathanB — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 14:42:48 GMT

Hi @logperiodic,

Very odd, I expect 3hotspot is an APN intended for tethering a phone connection to other devices but I've never been aware of it being used. We only recommend 3internet for Broadband purposes, and three.co.uk for mobile phones. There are a number of other APNs but to my knowledge only those 2 are intended for current consumer purposes.

Thanks,
Jonathan

Re: APN 3hotspot

logperiodic — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 16:09:18 GMT

Thanks Jonathan

Clearly 3hotspot is a valid APN as it connects and we now know it sticks you behind CGNAT but could be because the internal sim type to naming db is out of date. Firmware hasn’t been updated for a bit due to continuous use.

if and when I update it I’ll try again on auto APN to see if it changes to offer 3internet on its own. As of now it’s set as that in the custom setting. Let’s simply add it to the list of discovered things.

Re: APN 3hotspot

Paddiewack — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 14:36:35 GMT

Pardon?🧐🧐🧐

Re: APN 3hotspot

logperiodic — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 08:57:31 GMT

this