topic Re: Issues getting Outdoor hub to connect to 5G and stay connected to it. in Broadband

Issues getting Outdoor hub to connect to 5G and stay connected to it.

Xandros — Sat, 31 May 2025 06:08:19 GMT

Hello. I signed up to Three 5G Broadband back in April with the promise that I'd get around 120mbps downstream on average, and got given the Greenpacket 5G Outdoor hub and eero router.

I live in a three story block of flats (on top floor) and I'm about 100m away from the mast so I figured I'd probably get fairly good signal with an outdoor hub. Indoor though is non existent, always has been. I knew that beforehand though as I've checked 5G coverage here before when I first got a 5G capable phone and the coverage maps say outdoor coverage is supposed go be good but indoor is a no go in this area which rings true.

When I got the hub I initially put it on my windowsill with the temp stand just to see if I could a 5G signal there. I was surprised to find I could. It wasn't great, it varied around 50-60 percent according to the hub metre, but that got me around 100-150mbps downstream at best and 10mbps upstream (seemed to start high and drop down before evening out when I did speed tests).

Occasionally (like once every few days) it would drop to 4G which is abysmally slow here, but I found rebooting the hub from the web portal would kick it back into 5G. I'd obviously been meaning to fix it to an outside wall but as it worked most of the time on the windowsill I kept putting it off.

Then about two weeks ago, it started to drop to 4G after only a couple of hours and would often not connect to 5G again at all, ever after rebooting. I repositioned the hub on the windowsill multiple times until I found a new "sweet spot" but again, it only lasted a few days before it began dropping to 4g constantly and getting it to connect to 5G again was difficult to achieve.

I decided that clearly I needed to bite the bullet and fit the hub outside on the wall as it was intended, altho I couldn't understand why it had suddenly stopped working on the windowsill, it was almost like the signal had been reduced from the mast. I rebooted it leaned out the window with it my hand and looked for a good place to put it.

Seemed like right next to the window was good enough, I would get 70-80% signal there. And around 200-350mbps downstream and upwards of 40mbps upstream which was great.

Having said that again when doing a speed test it would start off around 350mps and drop rapidly to 200mbps before leveling out. The upstream was always fairly constant at around 40.

I fitted the modem a couple of days later to that spot on the wall, only to find it refused to connect to 5G. I tried restarting it from the web portal multiple times but it only ever connected to 4G again, which even outside on the wall only gives me around 5mbps downstream and barely 1mbps upstream.

I can only manage to get it to connect to 5G if I turn it off completely and leave it off for a good few hours. However this itself only seems to last a few hours before once again it was back to 4G. Multiple restarts and power cycles later I got it back on 5G, again with 75%ish signal. And again within a couple of hours (if not less), back to 4G.

I was worried at this point but used Three's network status checker and found it said there was an issue in my area that was being addressed, so I just chalked these problems down to that and put up with it. This lasted at least a couple of days until the night before last when I checked the service status again and it went back to saying no issue was reported.

However, my hub was still connected to 4G. Leaving it switched off for an hour didn't work (it was late at night by this point) so I turned it off and went to bed.

Yesterday morning after turning it back on again, it connected to 5G and stayed connected. Although the portal claimed signal strength was around 80% doing speed tests of it varied. It would either be around 350mbps and drop to 150, or it would start at 40 and creep up to around 120. Within hours, it had fallen back to 4G again and simple restarts or even powering it off for an hour won't get it to connect back to 5G. This time I've had it switched off for an hour, just turned it back on and it went straight back to 4g!

Seems like it needs to be switched off for many hours to make it work again. Even then I'm not sure this is a "reliable" (for want of a better word) way to get it to connect to 5g. So I'm starting to wonder, why? Has the 5G signal from the local mast been reduced in power or something, or does it keep dropping out, and the hub is only sporadically able to pick it up, and in the end it gives up and connects to a much poorer but evidently more stable 4g signal?

I will note that my phone doesn't pick up 5G at all most of the time when I'm in my flat or even if I stand near the window. It doesn't even pick it up outside if I'm round the kther side of the building where the entrance is (although that's not where my window is).

I have noticed sometimes though even before I got this hub that imy phone would randomly connect to 5G in the same room where I had the hub on the windowsill so even it seems to sporadically see signal (however its rarely a good signal, my phone usually shows it as having none or 1 bars signal strength).

There is another block of flats identical to mine next door which blocks line of sight to the mast from my windows so I'm wondering if I'm actually just SOL and the signals being blocked by that building. But, why did it work OK for those first few weeks just sat on the windowsill? And why when it does connect to 5G do I get 80% signal strength?

Obviously if I hadn't been able to get it to work on the windowsill initially I'd have tried fitting it outside sooner and when I found that didn't work properly I certainly wouldn't have stayed with the contract if I had these issues, but it's almost like it waited until after the cooling off period I was given to end before it decided to stop working properly (and now doesn't work at all unless I switch it off for a ridiculous amount of time). So now I'm stuck on a 24 month contract and no doubt will get s hefty cancellation fee if I cancel it?

I can't feasibly keep having to turn the poxy thing off all night just to get it back on 5G for a few hours. Given im in a flat too theres a limited number of places I can refit the modem as well. I did try other areas when I first got it but only that windowsill and directly outside that window seems to get the strongest signal anyway.

Any ideas?

Re: Issues getting Outdoor hub to connect to 5G and stay connected to it.

PeteG — Sun, 01 Jun 2025 11:37:07 GMT

Hello.

That's not so great. It doesn't sound like it's running as expected for sure. Since a restart sometimes resolves the issue for a short time, it would seem to hint that the issue might be with the Hub, since restarting wouldn't really change anything on the signal side of things.

All I can recommend from here is to speak to the Home Broadband Support team about it. Reporting it to them, and keeping them up to date with any changes would ensure all available information is going to the right team.

Re: Issues getting Outdoor hub to connect to 5G and stay connected to it.

Xandros — Sun, 01 Jun 2025 13:00:53 GMT

Hello. Yes I thought I might end up having to go that route, was just hoping someone might have an idea what was going on. I did suspect the hub might be the issue, or rather hope it is as odd as that sounds because at least then the problem can perhaps be fixed.

One thing I realised I hadn't tried yet was a full factory reset of the hub so I did that. It didn't appear to work initially as the hub came back online and immediately connected to 4G but after restarting it again it connected to 5G. Just to show what it says in the web portal regarding signal strength and whatnot:

This was it after the restart.And this is after about 15mins runtime

And again about a minute later

First image is after the restart, second is after 15 mins runtime and third is a minute or so after that. Signal is there, fluctuates apparently between 60-75% currently. Although I fully expect in a few hours it'll have dropped down to 4G again. If it does I'll get in touch with support.

Thanks.

Re: Issues getting Outdoor hub to connect to 5G and stay connected to it.

Sal09 — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 16:13:59 GMT

Those are very poor numbers and i do not think your connection will improve especially if the other building is blocking path to mast.

Have you tried the sim in your phone to test the 5G connection? Put your phone near the Outdoor hub and see if it locks 5G signal and test speed.

Re: Issues getting Outdoor hub to connect to 5G and stay connected to it.

Xandros — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 17:02:17 GMT

I'll try it with my phone. In the meantime since I factory reset the hub I was able to use 5G all day today. It dropped to 4G this morning but restarted got it back on 5G. It dropped to 4G again just now, again a restart got it back on 5G. I'm not happy with that outcome of course, I shouldn't need to restart the hub at all.

If my phone does have trouble connecting, what exactly are my options? When it works it works fine. But I have only been going off of that signal strength bar and the display on the actual hub. I hadn't taken much notice of the other info on the web page.

But now I've looked up SINR and RSRP, I can see how god awful the signal actually is. Let's assume here that the hub isn't faulty and there's no way of improving the signal even if I do find somewhere else to move the hub. What would be my options?

If I can't get any improvement I'm obviously not going to stick with it because it's too flaky. I'd rather have slower but stable landline broadband like I used to. However I'm already 2 months into my 24 month contract and it looks like cancelling it early will result in a hefty cancellation fee.

Re: Issues getting Outdoor hub to connect to 5G and stay connected to it.

MymsMan — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 19:51:12 GMT

While, touch wood, I haven't suffered from this issue I know others have and one user has written a script to automatically restart the hub
https://community.three.co.uk/t5/Broadband/5G-Outdoor-hub-Y5-210MU-connection-Issue/m-p/41156

Re: Issues getting Outdoor hub to connect to 5G and stay connected to it.

Sal09 — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 20:19:11 GMT

You should be able to get out of contract under Consumer Rights Act 2015 service not fit for purpose. Open a complaint and state the above. Explain the issues having and all the troubleshooting you have already done. You need to give Three opportunity to fix the issue and if they cannot fix it. You should be able to leave with out any cost.

Re: Issues getting Outdoor hub to connect to 5G and stay connected to it.

Sal09 — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 22:10:28 GMT

Have you tried both APNs?

three.co.uk

3internet

Re: Issues getting Outdoor hub to connect to 5G and stay connected to it.

Xandros — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 18:28:49 GMT

That's good to know.

Although at the risk of jinxing it, since I last reset the hub shortly after doing a factory reset on it, it hasn't dropped to 4G since and has stayed on 5G. Signal quality might not be great but it does seem to stick with fairly consistent speeds now too.

I'll keep an eye on it for now. If it starts becoming flaky again I'll start with the other troubleshooting suggestions here and may even look at ditching it but if it continues to work as it currently is, no it might not be perfect but as long as it remains consistent like it has been I'll be fine with that.

Re: Issues getting Outdoor hub to connect to 5G and stay connected to it.

JonathanB — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 14:36:01 GMT

Hi @Xandros,

I hope you're well. I've been looking into similar posts, and was wondering if the service has remained stable since this last update? Please let me know either way.

Thanks,
Jonathan

Re: Issues getting Outdoor hub to connect to 5G and stay connected to it.

Xandros — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 14:43:34 GMT

Hi. Yes for the most part it has for me. I generally get decent speeds and it seems to stay on 5G all the time now. I have absolutely no idea why it was being so stubborn before.

My guess is when moving it around and also fixing it to the wall I power cycled it too many times and it corrupted the configuration which a factory reset fixed. Either that or the mast was having issues which got fixed and me factory resetting the hub was a coincidence.

Re: Issues getting Outdoor hub to connect to 5G and stay connected to it.

JonathanB — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 15:15:48 GMT

Thanks @Xandros, I'll pass on the feedback in case it helps with the other issues we're looking into. Very much appreciate this and hopefully it's useful info we can use to improve the service.

Re: Issues getting Outdoor hub to connect to 5G and stay connected to it.

Xandros — Sun, 20 Jul 2025 21:34:31 GMT

I kind of wish you hadn't asked me now, as if you believe in jinxs or not, since you asked snd I responded saying it was fine, it's gone back to switching to 4g and staying on it frequently. I'm having to reset the hub to get it to go back to 5g.

It isn't doing it as regularly as it was before, but it is doing it. Two things have happened since I last replied tho; 1. We had a brief power cut here that lasted all of three minutes but I did suspect maybe me power cycling the hub while I was moving it and fitting it to the outer wall caused the issue originally.

2. The weather's been sporadically rainy. I did wonder if rain affected the signal before but it didn't seem to have much of a patten to it.

I'll factory reset the hub again anyway and see if that fixes it again.

Re: Issues getting Outdoor hub to connect to 5G and stay connected to it.

JonathanB — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 13:08:19 GMT

Hey @Xandros,

Sorry to hear it. Yeah both are certainly possible explanations. Please let me knoe how you get on with the reset and if you notice any particular pattern emerging in terms of weather.

Thanks,
Jonathan

Re: Issues getting Outdoor hub to connect to 5G and stay connected to it.

Xandros — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 14:14:43 GMT

Just to quickly update, I probably restarted the hub once or twice after I posted before, as I haven't had the time to actually dedicate to doing a factory reset then setting it up again.

But since then it's been on 5G and stayed on it. Hopefully I won't jinx myself this time by writing this but it's been a week so fingers crossed.

No idea what caused it as the weather's been changeable here since and hasn't really affected it apparently so best guess, the local 5G mast was having issues again and got fixed somehow or there was some sort of local interference which went away.

Re: Issues getting Outdoor hub to connect to 5G and stay connected to it.

JonathanB — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 14:13:13 GMT

Hi @Xandros,

Yeah I think you're on the right track here. I've discussed these types of issues with our Broadband device specialists, and in at least some cases signal fluctuation can be causing these behaviours.

So this could be weather related, electrical interference, or an intermittent power issue with the local mast.

Thanks,
Jonathan

Re: Issues getting Outdoor hub to connect to 5G and stay connected to it.

Xandros — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 14:47:47 GMT

It's started doing it again yesterday intermittently and today it doesn't seem to want to stay connected to 5G for more than half an hour I've found. Every time I restart it it goes back to 5G but it's saying signal strength is a bit less than normal.

However according to the Three Network Status postcode checker there's an issue that's being worked on so that's probably the reason, the mast is having a moment, again.

Yesterday it was windy and rainy but today is it's a bit windy but generally nice and sunny, so can't imagine it's weather related, just a fault in the mast.

As such I'm starting to think whenever I have issues most of the time it's just the mast in need of repair somehow or other.

I don't know if Three has any sway with Greenpacket but I would make the suggestion that there should be an option in the hub NOT to switch down to 4G at all if we choose, regardless of it loses 5G signal or if it drops below a stable threshold. This might result in complete loss of connection sometimes but I'd rather it do that and then go back to 5G when it can rather than what it does now which seems to be if it feels a need to drop to 4G it really doesn't seem to like going back to 5G any time soon.

I mean sure, if it dropped to 4G but then went back to 5G as soon as it saw there was a signal this behaviour would be acceptable but it clearly doesn't do that in my case at least.

Whenever I log in it pretends there is no 5G signal according the stats on the hub home page but as soon as I restart it suddenly it sees 5G signal again and connects to it, so the 5G signal IS there even if it momentarily disappeared causing it to drop to 4G, but the hub seems to ignore it once its switched, and stays on 4G for an extended period of time if not indefinitely until it gets restarted. This is not ideal operation.

Re: Issues getting Outdoor hub to connect to 5G and stay connected to it.

MymsMan — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 15:02:10 GMT

@Xandros wrote:
I don't know if Three has any sway with Greenpacket but I would make the suggestion that there should be an option in the hub NOT to switch down to 4G at all if we choose, regardless of it loses 5G signal or if it drops below a stable threshold. This might result in complete loss of connection sometimes but I'd rather it do that and then go back to 5G when it can rather than what it does now which seems to be if it feels a need to drop to 4G it really doesn't seem to like going back to 5G any time soon.
That option may already exist, log on to hub using admin userid, Adanced->Network->Lock Band,
Never tried myself

Re: Issues getting Outdoor hub to connect to 5G and stay connected to it.

Xandros — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 15:44:50 GMT

I had no idea you could do that! Although I'd completely forgotten there even was an admin login for the hub, but I never used it. Thanks! I've set it to be locked to 5G and, altho I was vaguely sure what band ID to use I just set it to all of them. Saved, hub automatically rebooted. Let's see if this works.

Re: Issues getting Outdoor hub to connect to 5G and stay connected to it.

JonathanB — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 16:09:09 GMT

That's a really interesting idea @MymsMan, I have seen a few people mention experimenting with band locking to help keep locked onto one mast with prior indoor routers, but I don't think we've had any feedback on using this with the Outdoor hub.

I'm not sure if it will sort this or not @Xandros but no harm in trying, please let us know how you get on? I should mention that Three Broadband is currently NSA (Non Stand Alone), so this means you do need a combination of 4G and 5G to use the service.

With that in mind, I'm not sure that staying completely locked to 5G only will actually work.

In terms of what you've reported so far, it does seem like the issues could be relating to fluctuating 5G signal anyway. Hopefully the Network engineers get it sorted for you soon.

Thanks,
Jonathan