5G Home Broadband Unstable

[cycy]

seem to be only able to do one thing at a time while I'm connected, even checking my email or having multiple devices connected just takes the router down to 3G/4G and renders it essentially unusable. anything i can do to help my broadband not be weaker than a single ply sheet of bog roll?

[sc1999]

Hi, do you get good, stable 5G on your phone and can you use your phone for tethering? If you can how many other devices can you connect? This may be a way to confirm that the router is the fault. If you phone performs like you router then it may be that there is not enough 5G to go around in your area.

[cycy]

I don't get 5G at all on my phone so there's no way to check, the router itself goes back to 5G soon as everything's disconnected then lasts a few minutes before going down to 3G/4G

[sc1999]

If you can't get 5G on your phone then it's no surprise you can't get it on your router as the 5G signal for both comes from the same tower. 3 have been messing around with my local tower for 3 months and, very occasionally,  5G appears on my phone but I get zero data until it drops back to 4G.

If you are within your 30 day return window I would go somewhere else.  I think 3 are struggling to install enough bandwidth to keep up with demand so the contention ratio causing slower rates than they want.

[cycy]

I meant that my phone doesn't even accept 5G signals at all

[ajwid01]

Hi,

I have been with Three since January 2022. First I had a 4G+ router, and it was fine for ONE day only. 40-60 MB/s.

From day 2 onwards it kept dropping down to <1 MB/s, and fluctuating up to 5-6 MB/s. Needless to say - it was unusable for a household of 4. Day 1 was a big hurrah... then misery. After umpteen different phone calls, resets, moving the router - no-one had an answer. Ultimately on Day 13, I was advised to cancel and..... try the 5G Hub offer; which was available in my area!!

Cut a long story short. 30 different phone calls over months. Sometimes 5G was stable for 25 days, with up to 250 MB/s throughput. Sometimes it would drop down to 4G inexplicably (5G signal shows 90. 4G signals shows 75). This could be 3 times a day, or every 20 minutes. I placed the router in the roof of my house for the best signal - and end up having the roof ladder down ALL the time, so as to facilitate messing with the router. How do I resolve it?

I walk around my loft for about 5 minutes, and then it reconnects to 5G (no reset or anything) - and I put the router down in the exact same spot I took it from!  Great again for anywhere from 20 minutes to 25 days! Brilliant!!!

After 5 months; Three admitted to me that:
a) They can only support 100 connections in my locale on 5G at once. So when someone new wants to connect, I can get booted down to 4G. (I guess they pick someone at random. I can be lucky for 25 days.... or not.)
b) 4G is SO over-subscribed in my area, that that's why (when I can't connect at 5G), the speed is shocking - and like being back on a 56K modem!!!

Because the product isn't really fit for purpose - they told me I can now cancel at ANY time, and they will void the contract - but they hope that I will stay with them as they persevere to improve things.

I am now 9 months in with the 5G contract - and the 5G signal has DISAPPEARED for 5 days now. That leaves me with only 4G; which is unusable. Usually I can connect to up to 4-5 different cells - but right now I can only connect to ONE cell - and it's the one that I get the WORST throughput on, from any of the 4G cells.

Support tell me to check the network status for my area. Problem is... the website checker says it's not working... and to just keep trying again... Well, 100-200 clicks later; it can suddenly change the message and tell me that they are working on the masts in my area.... so service may be more contended that normal!! MORE contended? You're joking right?  It didn't work on 4G when all the masts were operational - how is it going to work with some switched OFF???

As per usual: no courteous prior contact to tell me that they were going to be working on these masts.

I get ambiguous explanations:
a) We planned this work, to improve things in your area... because we know it is over-subscribed.
b) Oh sorry - yes - we couldn't warn you beforehand, because it was an EMERGENCY.

So riiiiggghhht: it was emergency planned improvement works...  That's the weirdest project management I ever heard of.

In any technology business: you would normally expect to be able to give some kind of ETA to fix things. Three? Nope. They just randomly choose to do stuff with masts without telling anyone. [ I have their HOME 5G Product... so they know where I am using it - and what masts might affect me... ]  Their planning and customer courtesy is rubbish.

They hide behind these SUPER friendly telephone support people, who it is difficult to get angry with - after all - it's not their fault...  I would write them a scathing letter - but they don't advertise any kind of address for complaints. I guess (if they treat other customers like me - they would have an avalanche of mail).

This isn't my only Three Product either. I have 2x Mobile Wifi devices too. I used to use these when the really poor BT fixed-line internet went down.  Of course - can't really do that now - because when Three 5G is off.. having Mifis on the same network puts me in the same boat.

Three are potentially going to lose me as a customer across all these 3x contracts in the near future...

T.

[sc1999]

From what I  have read, and I have been with the community since it started, bandwidth issues are common. 3 won't admit that they can't install new bandwidth fast enough to support current customers let alone new ones. In saying that EE have similar problems in my area which is why I  moved to 3. I  just wish I had spent a bit more and gone to O2.

[JonathanB]

Hi @cycy,

Welcome to the Three Community.

I'm sorry that the signal is letting you down. Good suggestions from @sc1999 on this, if you had a 5G phone to test with, that would be a good way of narrowing down if it is the router or the signal that seems to be causing the issue. There are a couple of other things that can be checked though.

Is there any info on our Network Status Checker to suggest there is a fault or planned works?

Have you tried placing the router in different locations to see where it gets the strongest signal? Generally this will be somewhere near a window, and it can also help if other electronic devices are at least one metre away.

Have you always experienced this issue since you got the router? And how long has this been going on for?

Let me know and I'll check if there's anything else we can suggest.

Thanks,
JonathanB

[cycy]

I've got a pc that can take 5ghz connections but even when I connect with only that device, it drops to 3G/4G. I've been with Three for maybe two weeks and in the first few days it worked fine but now I can't even use Facebook with the band dropping, according to the status checker Three are supposedly working on improving service around me but who knows how long that'll take.

[Networkchecker]

Just  admit to it, Three signal are very bad. 
It’s nothing wrong with the router or hub , it’s Three network. Customer service always give you the same answer that it will be fixed by End of Tomorrow! But when’s tomorrow?