topic Re: 5g Hub started great - now very slow speeds + unreliable connection in Broadband

5g Hub started great - now very slow speeds + unreliable connection

joespa89 — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 20:19:31 GMT

I got a three 5G hub last month after making the switch from regular broadband. Speeds and reliability were great, anywhere between 150-300mbs dl, and no drops.

Until today when I noticed that my work VPN kept dropping (I WFH). Now I can barely get a stable connection, despite the app saying I have 5/5 strength signal, and nothing changed in terms of setup. I phoned support twice who assured me that them resetting it from their side would fix things, as well as cleaning the sim. I was skeptical given I work in IT, but I gave it a go. No joy, and if anything the performance has got worse. I don't want to phone again to be told to do a factory reset again. Has anyone had any similar issues, and any luck improving the situation?

I can't even complete a download speed test due to the connection dropping, and a ping test seems to show a fail every 25/30 or so packets. My download speed test on the PS5 has went from 150+mbs to 14.5 mbs.

I really would like to fix this as I can't get fibre and it was working so well initially, but I might be forced to cancel my contract sooner rather thn later if it doesn't improve quickly. There just seems no explanation for it. Hub model is NR5103E and firmware version is 1.00(ACBJ.0)b12.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or help. I really don't want to phone support again to be told to factory reset!

Re: 5g Hub started great - now very slow speeds + unreliable connection

Cherenjeet — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 21:10:59 GMT

Use three's network status checker to see if there is any ongoing maintenance in your area

Re: 5g Hub started great - now very slow speeds + unreliable connection

joespa89 — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 21:20:37 GMT

Hi,

I've done this, no reported maintenance or outages.

Re: 5g Hub started great - now very slow speeds + unreliable connection

techbloke — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 21:46:53 GMT

Make sure the hub is as high as possible and near a window as you want as clear a line of sight as possible between it and the serving cell.

It may also be a session issue, unplug router from power for two minutes then plug it back in.

Re: 5g Hub started great - now very slow speeds + unreliable connection

joespa89 — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 22:08:56 GMT

Hi, it's literally on a windowsill, and the position hasn't changed since it was working really well.

I've tried unplugging and leaving for a period of time, not to mention numerous factory resets.

Re: 5g Hub started great - now very slow speeds + unreliable connection

Anvil_Iron — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 10:24:06 GMT

Hi, Maybe the router needs to move location. Use the Three 5G broadband app to find this. If it's downstairs, try it upstairs.

What happens with the router SIM in a phone, inside and outside?

Have you tried changing the Preferred Access Technology to just 4G or manually setting the frequency bands in the web configurator?

Do you see a drop in speeds during the day but improve at night?

Re: 5g Hub started great - now very slow speeds + unreliable connection

JonathanB — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 10:39:42 GMT

Hi @joespa89,

Thanks for confirming this, do you use Three for your mobile too, or have an unlocked 5G phone? It may help to test if either a Three phone SIM, or by testing your router SIM in a mobile whether this seems to be a drop in speeds for the local network overall, or just with your router?

JonathanB

Re: 5g Hub started great - now very slow speeds + unreliable connection

joespa89 — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 11:18:28 GMT

Hi there,

Thanks for your suggestions - I live in a flat so no upstairs or downstairs. The Hub is currently in a windowsil, with 5/5 strength - like I say it was performing brilliantly there up until yesterday. The app still shows strong signal strength, despite me running diagnostics separately to see the connection dropping with a ping check.

What happens with the router SIM in a phone, inside and outside? - Tried the sim in my phone, and it works fine. Which makes me believe it might be a hardware issue. However, using the phone as a hotspot does result in the same performance connection wise, which makes me think there is a wider issue with Three in my area (despite the website saying there isn't.).

Preferred access technology - No I haven't tried this. Can you advise of steps? I'm not sure I want to be relying on 4g for my home wifi however..

Drop in speeds during the day / improve at night - No, the performance has been consistently bad throughout day and night since yesterday.

Re: 5g Hub started great - now very slow speeds + unreliable connection

Anvil_Iron — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 14:16:25 GMT

Network Setting > Broadband > Cellular Band > Preferred Access Technology > 4G.

If it does work, put back to 5G to see what happens.

Otherwise try setting the bands. Go back to Home > Cellular Info and note down the bands used in the Cellular Info page. Mine use B1, B3 and n78.

Go to Network Setting > Broadband > Cellular Band > disable Auto Band Selection

Select the bands in the list and Apply. You can also try omitting one of the B bands but n78 remains for 5G.

Another possible problem with the weather getting warmer and the router being by the window is overheating.

I guess the only way to check if it's a router problem is to plug it in another property.

If router works then as you said, Three are probably doing work to the mast but status not updated.

Re: 5g Hub started great - now very slow speeds + unreliable connection

joespa89 — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 15:45:56 GMT

Ah, thank you. I did try the bands last night after reading a post on ispreview but it didn't help.

I live in Scotland so while it may be getting warmer, I don't think that'll be too big an issue here haha!

Re: 5g Hub started great - now very slow speeds + unreliable connection

JonathanB — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 15:28:34 GMT

Hey @joespa89,

Thanks for trying all the suggestions everyone has been giving. I can't help but feel we're possibly missing some sort of network issue here. I'll send you a private message to direct you to some colleagues that can get this looked at in more detail.

To view your private messages on the community, click on your avatar image in the top right of any community page, then "Messages".

JonathanB

Re: 5g Hub started great - now very slow speeds + unreliable connection

RReeson — Thu, 27 Apr 2023 18:29:38 GMT

I've been having the exact same issues for 2 weeks now. I pay for two hubs too. One which is solely for my PS5 and another for the rest of the house. Both averaged around 100+mbps download and 7+mbps upload. But now i get between 15-40 download and what's causing the biggest speed issue is upload is near on non existent, as sometimes it can't even get an upload speed and when it does i get a max of 0.4!

Re: 5g Hub started great - now very slow speeds + unreliable connection

AX — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 11:27:35 GMT

Same issue for me. Worked really well for over a year until early May 2023. Since then everytime I contact customer services its the same script... it will be fixed in a few days.

Re: 5g Hub started great - now very slow speeds + unreliable connection

ShaneWilsonDN — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 18:44:25 GMT

TLDR: I have the exact same issues since May also. Obviously their is more too it than we think.

Obviously theirs something else going on here then, since I have the exact same issues down to the last detail. Worked great since I got it in August last year, speeds hitting between 300-700 with 900 on some good days, but never dropped below 300.

Noticed it drop on the 16th May (23 days ago) to under 1mb, we were in the 600-900Kb area..... have had 5 support calls and gotten pretty much nowhere other than "Its been reported as an incident and you need to wait 7 days" which was 2 weeks ago. They lied and said we had issues in the area on 3 of those calls which their were non reported and the lad in the Three store told me they hadn't had any in the area, only the next town over from us had them.

We tested ever aspect (I also work in IT), the 5g tower near me is working fine and I'm under 2 of its cells coverage. the router shows perfect connection with always perfect signal. I have tested it in 5 locations of the house all in windows and even tested it out in the back garden. no improvements anywhere. I even borrowed a mates Huawei router and the issues were the same, A different friend of mine lives a few roads down and uses Three Mobile on his phone, he's not had any issues. In the end I tested the SIM in a phone instead and it was still awful, so figured it had to be the SIM and got a new one from the Three store.

Nope.... same issues. The new SIM seems to have improved the speeds from the <6Mb we have had for 3 weeks to around 20Mb instead, but now its completely dropping out more often.

So I have boiled it down to NOT being the following:
- The router itself
- The SIM
- The location
- The Cell Towers
- Any other crap they are spewing at us.

Thus we are left with only a couple options. Either there is an issue on three's end that they are refusing to tell us about OR they don't even have a clue what's going on and are just making us wait over and over hoping it will magically fix itself with ye' old off and on strat.

Re: 5g Hub started great - now very slow speeds + unreliable connection

mhdis — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 09:26:02 GMT

We've had the same problem since May-ish too. Any updates on this??

Re: 5g Hub started great - now very slow speeds + unreliable connection

lordxenu — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 13:05:03 GMT

I'm experiencing the exact same problem. I've had three 5G since 2019 and I was very happy getting between 300-600mbit. My equipment hasn't changed, and is in the exact same location it has always been, and now i'm seeing 30-40mbit regularly instead of the usual over 300mbit. Restarting the router does nothing. Three service status says there are no problems in my area.

I am at this point 100% convinced that three have done something on their end, like reduce power, throttle speeds etc. But they're not admitting it and their support staff tell you to restart your router etc. I have one of the top end Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 routers and it always used to give me excellent speeds but right now, three 5G is useless and i'm having to turn it off and use my O2 SIM card in there to give me decent speeds again.

Are three even listening to us? There are dozens of complaints, and the same complaints on thinkbroadband and ISPReview but three aren't listening / denying everything. I have a strong 5G signal, but i'm getting 30mbit. Why? When it used to operate at hundreds of megabits.

Three, please, for the love of god undo whatever it was you did or i'll be leaving you for O2/EE.

Re: 5g Hub started great - now very slow speeds + unreliable connection

Brotherkennyh — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 21:29:49 GMT

Hi,

I would like to also report the same problem.

Also fobbed off by Three support, with the usual reboot device, reseat sim, they are tweaking something their end etc etc.

Been going on for months now. I need to change providers because it's just not usable.

I used to get around 80mbps with some days going to 500+mbps. The speed drops to around 5mbps, but the biggest problem is the connection isn't stable. Rebooting the router usually helps, but it soon goes back to having issues.

My router has been in the same position for years with no problem. The cell tower is just up the road, so no problem there. Nothing changed our end at all.

Re: 5g Hub started great - now very slow speeds + unreliable connection

zaizai94550 — Sun, 24 Sep 2023 20:15:00 GMT

I have the same problem. At times the connection is just awful, literally nothing over 5Mbs. I can't stream anything - especially in the evening.

I am getting their new 5G hub in couple days and hopefully this will make it better. Even loading this page right now seems impossible. Three you need to sort this out right now.

Will let you know with the new hub.

Re: 5g Hub started great - now very slow speeds + unreliable connection

AX — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 07:58:04 GMT

Five months later and the problem continues. Never get a reliable connection and speeds are around 10Mbs upload and an abysmally poor 0.1-3Mbs download. Just waiting for contract to expire in a few months time and I can leave Three for something more reliable. Connection speed was excellent for over a year, consistently getting 300Mbs however since May 2023 its been appalling.

Re: 5g Hub started great - now very slow speeds + unreliable connection

kushla0 — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 06:08:51 GMT

Hey all

I just saw this thread because for the last two weeks I have been experiencing the same issue. My contract is one of the older contracts where my speed and usage are not supposed to be throttled including at peak times. I've noticed that the more recent contracts have this applied between 8-10pm. However, the throttling being applied is crazy. My download speed drops from an average of 250-300Mb download during the whole day, down to 10-20Mb between 8-10pm every day for the past two weeks. Prior to this I've never had this level of poor service. I've been using Three 5G broadband for a good 9 months before this with none of these issues. The only issue I experience is random disconnects to the internet but I still have excellent signal. Can someone explain why my speed is so slow, when it should not be?

I've called up three customer service so many times in the last month for issues on my service and each time I get told to move the hub, reset the hub etc. None of it resolves any of the issues. My hub looks directly at the mast that is 200m away from it.

Even a reset or reboot does not fix the terribly slow speeds during 8-10pm. I have the Zyexel NR5103E hub too but my firmware is V1.00(ACBJ.0)b14.