5G speed drop, never returned to to decent speeds, yet mobile provider that uses 3 networks is fine!

[tigan]

Currently a year + few months into my 5G broadband contract, was getting download speed of up to 500 (usually 300-400), then after exactly 1 year was up, instantly went to around 80-100 (max) - like something was switched overnight, and has been like that since.

Tried going through everything with the "tech guy", which made no difference. A month later another "tech guy" said we couldn't even get 5G here (in which case why were we sold a 5G broadband package).

Now iv'e currently moved my mobile phone provider to ID Mobile, this uses the same network as 3, yet my download speeds are 300+ on this device. So what gives, i just don't understand. The router is the ZTE one, and can only be the problem as my phone gets a 5G signal fine.

Iv'e now come to the conclusion that they ARE throttling connections, there's no other explanation for it.

Was happy with the 300-500 download speed, but ill be ending the contract once its up.

[Bazowl]

I'm 100m direct line of sight from the 5G tower when I enquired about trying the 5G network they said I would get an average 150mbps. Which was great compared to the 30-40 I was getting gia vodafone. First 29 days was fine not 150 but better than I'd had previously, until yesterday the last day of my 30 day cool off when it suddenly went down to 1mb , 10mb was the maximum recorded over the last 24 hours. Today I spoke with tech guy who just said my 5G tower across the road wasn't connected? And that my router must have been accessing another tower? I've no idea where that would be, but ignoring the fact I'd had nearly 4 weeks of good speeds. They lie through their teeth, I got it cancelled as I have no faith in what they say anymore 

[Mattyk66]

Hi All, just to say I am in exactly the position. I live right next to the 5G mast in my area, literally 30meters away. When I first went with three 5G broadband in October 2022, up until November 2023, I was hitting anything from 600 to 900mbps download, all the time, even peak hours, I still have all the results recorded on my ookla speed test app/account.

In November, disney plus stopped loading on my TV stating I was out of region, nothing I did/changed could get it to load so contacted three, who advised they had made some changes to my account and restart my router and try again. Sure enough disney loaded, but from that point on my download speed is stuck at 120mbps, won't go any higher. It jumps to 400mbps when the speed test starts and then quickly drops down to 120mbps and stays there, clearly they are throttling and limiting the download speed. 

I contacted them on multiple occasions over the next few months and they were giving me all sorts of excuses and said they had changed settings and to try again, and another said they were working in the area but it would be back to normal in a month. I speed test every week and nothing has changed, stuck on 120. I have had a month refunded and a month half price but all this time they are still claiming they do not limit the download speeds which is obviously absolute rubbish.

As someone else has mentioned, when I do a speedtest on my phone, and I'm also with three, I still hit the usual 500mbps, nothing has changed with my phone, just my broadband from November onwards. 

At the time I googled and couldn't find any posts on this so thought it was just an issue in my area, but after a speed test earlier, stuck on my 120, I googled and found this. Now I know this is happening to others I am going to contact them again and keep up the fight!

For those that want to leave three, due to the speed decreases, who are stuck in contract, they agreed with me that I could leave with no charges due to the change in service. When you first sign up, you get 30days no quibble trial to see how it works and what speeds you get and you can send back if you not happy. So, if the speeds you are getting now, do not match the ones when you first got it, you can argue this and say you want to leave without a charge!

[wonkydonkey]

This is exactly what I've experience since August after they allocated an IPv6 address to my router (ZTE MC801A). I am currently limited to 120Mb/s max that drops to ~30Mb/s during peak-hours. I think this directly contradicts the 'truly unlimited data' wording in the contract (which makes no promise of data rate) as it does limit the amount of data that can be exchanged.

As my contract expires in May next year, and I was planning on getting a new phone w/ 5G around new year sales. I am going to see if tethering off it will get me back to ~400Mb/s that I was getting pre-throttling. If it does, I will probably just sell the ZTE and go back to a cheap android phone + access point tethering setup that I used to have when my area only had 4G (and I was too cheap too buy a cellular router).

[tigan]

There seems to be too many cases of "it was 400+, now its 80 odd" posts. If i was getting 100 download from the off, i wouldn't have thought twice about it, as i was getting 80 from talktalk, but when you've had 300+ for a year, and then slower by at least 60%, its annoying. Somethings been altered/switched/capped. You know what speeds are possible, there's no excuses.

The speeds on 4G are the same as when 5G is active, even one of the tech guys said i wont be on 5G. So was miss-sold a 5G package, as it WAS using 5G when i started. Ill be pursuing this though seperatly

All the replies say are "use the network problem checker" where obviously it shows there is no problems, and you have to accept this answer.

As i said there's too many of the same issue. I know they aren't going to change, so ill be changing to cable when my contract is up. 

Wish i had chosen the monthly contract rather than the longer one. Maybe a lesson for other that read these type of posts before pulling the trigger and signing up for the longer contract.

"THREE - The UKs fastest 5G network ...... but we`ll only let you use 1/3 of that speed."

"Truly Unlimited Data - No speed limits. No data caps. Just endless streaming (forget about UHD streaming), browsing, and sharing in the UK."

I'm glad that your getting a lot better than your previous provider. Every cloud and all that. 🙂

[Officina-red]

I have a similar story, when I first had Three 5g home broadband it was 400-500 Mbps, but I had to phone tech support for a problem, they said they had adjusted something (don’t remember what), since that day it’s been a constant 80-120 Mbps, the Three sim in my phone still gets 400-500 Mbps, luckily that’s fine for me my old fttc broadband was only 32Mbps. The only annoying thing I have is every 20-30 days every device in the house stops working and just says connected but no internet, a turn off/on of the router starts it working again, but it’s annoying when you are streaming something. 

[Mattyk66]

I've posted about my experience below but identical to yours, I was having some issues loading disney and contacted three who made some changes and from that point I am stuck on 120mbps down from 600-900 ( I live right next to thr 5G mast)

[sc1999]

You can put a phone sim in a router but if you have a home broadband deal the sim knows and tells the tower. The big potential problem would be if everyone who can get 5g on their phones, but not allowed 5g broadband, bought unlimited phone sims and put them in routers as the tower would run out of bandwidth.

Generally speaking phones use less data than home broadband so more phone can connect to a tower than broadband users. Networks limit the number of possible 5g connections to a tower to try and prevent contention otherwise you may end up better off with dial up.

[sc1999]

Phone and broadband speeds are not related, they are down to the bandwidth available from the cell tower. However, there have been many posts about changing settings to get better performance. 3 seem not be able to either perform timely fixes to faults or, like other networks, instal enough broadband capacity to match their sales success. Ever wondered why EE now offer different speed options on their contracts? It's because they feel it's another way to increase capacity and margins.

If you have not already searched the community posts for this then please do. Also, check the 3 network status checker: Network Status Checker - check your signal and get support | Support | Three

[tigan]

How does the tower know if im using a phone or router to access 5G? i put the ID mobile sim in the router and get 80 download, in the phone its 300+.

Doesnt make sense to me, to many half baked excuses of why the speed drop occurs. 

There must be a router setting for the decrease in speed. Theres no other explination.

The Network Status Checker, just seems to serve as a diversion, If theres no issues with one device, why is there issues with other. Its all very fishy if you ask me.