5G Broadband dropouts

[MacDavidson]

Hi folks,

So I got Three’s 5G broadband and get great speeds, with great coverage around the house. But at various times each day (for no apparent reason), it just disappears from being available as a wifi device for around 10 minutes, or until reset. The Mac connected by CAT7 cable is unaffected, and all lights remain as they should.

I’ve positioned the router in various places, tried changing the APN from 3internet to three.co.uk, and reset several times. 

Am I doing something wrong? Should I have 2.4 and 5 GHz on at the same time? 2.4 GHz is slower, but I need that for the smart gadgets in the house, but speed is what it’s all about…

Thanks in advance for your time

[Masasamoht]

The Zyxel appears to be in stock on this page - I could get quite a bit of the way through ordering it. It's how I ordered mine last week.

[grabo1530]

I am waiting for a call from complaints ,

Does the bridge mode work ok on the zyxel ?

[techsavvy]

Hi @grabo1530 ,
Yes, bridge mode works absolutely fine.
I swapped my ZTE for the Zyxel approx 2 months ago. Not a single dropout since receiving it.
Personally, I think the way Three have dealt with this obvious problem is disgusting.
They have let numerous customers go through the same painful process of being bounced around different departments (as I did) when the answer was patently obvious nearly 3 months ago.
Never mind proactive customer service, they aren't even reactive.
I sympathise with any customer who visits this forum with the same problem.

[grabo1530]

Hi @techsavvy 

What setting do you use for bride mode .is it Broadband -> Broadband -> modify ETHWAN -> set mode: bridge.

Or is it the passthrough option .

Also how do you find the reception and placement of the zyxel compared to the zte ?

[Winter-Fresh]

B15 Update on Friday morning (10th March). Issue still exists, if anything it actually seems worse now - 2 restarts this morning during work, before even lunch time!

[TC64]

Same here. Firmware updated to b15 early Saturday morning. Still looses internet use. May be slightly better. Shame because it is fantastic when it works. I think really they should have rolled back the firmware to the version before b12 to test it is a firmware issue 100%. 

[grabo1530]

B15 here and same crap as B12 Three have made this unit almost useless to use with their sim cards .I'm saying three because the drop outs don't occur with a virgin sim .

[TC64]

Hello,

If it's on three's ZTE MC801A router it may be an interesting breakthrough. Some issue with three's  tower Comms.

[HereWeGoAgain]

Not too sure how seriously Three are taking this community. We, like a lot of people here, recently decided to swap from ADSL Broadband to 5G. Unfortunately, our location does not permit the luxury of fibre. However, we ‘were’ lucky to fall within the reach of 5G with Three.

Setting up of the Three provided ZTE MC801A router was a breeze and provided speeds that were far in excess of what we traditionally would receive. However, after some time it became apparent that the internet access would drop. Thinking it might be just a ‘one-off’ or anomaly, we checked the router and noted that all the lights were lit and the device itself reported no issue. In fact using the iOS phone application it suggested the location was perfect, with 4 out of 5 bars consistently being shown. After resetting the device, normal function resumed. This has been the case for the past few weeks with both constant and random dropouts with download functionality. We have even been provided a new router (same model and firmware BC12) and like another contributor, have noticed that the issue remains.

Three have also suggested that we cancel our contract due to being in a poor signal area! I’m sure I am missing something here, as the device consistently shows a good signal and following a reset will always (100% of the time) return to normal service. The issue is that during online meetings this is not always a good thing, especially due to the random nature of the issue. It always takes a couple of minutes to manually reset the device.

Just really fed up with this now, as Three do not accept that there is an issue with the device and for the life of me, I really don’t understand how a device reset will compensate for a poor reception area. Out of interest, are other people holding out for some sort of firmware update, different device (Zyxel), or just cancelling contracts due to lack of service? Surely, someone at Three must have concerns regarding the loss of business or is the general consensus here, that this is only affecting a small number of customers?

We also fall in an area with strong EE 5G coverage, although slightly more expensive, I wonder if an improved service would be worth the price increase and small hassle of cancelling with Three?

[TC64]

I'm hoping they fix it or replace the router for a different brand. They sent a same model and brand replacement, but same issues. It's great when it works, but causes me issues as my blink CCTV goes offline and misses recordings.

Of course the reliability of using it for streaming TV is annoying. Much cheaper than the competition for unlimited broadband on 5G, unless you can manage with a 200GB limit.

You could use a three network unlimited SIM with your own 5g router, but not the ZTE MC801A,  Second hand on Amazon. But stuck in a 2 year contract, expensive overall.