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5g Home Broadband after 6months suddenly super low speeds

goncalosalgado3
Fledgling

I live in the London, E15 4EH.

I have three home broadband for 6 months and it as always been good. Always a little bit unstable but always fast speeds.

All of the sudden, for the past week it has been dreadful. From 250 mb/s to 5 download speeds.

Impossible to upload or download files or play online. Even stream with decent quality.

Network status checker says some work is being carried out in my area BUT it doesn't say what type of work, doesn't give any updates or any deadlines. My partner and I both work from home and both have to go to cafes to get work done. 

Call broadband support and Jesus Christ I have never seen such useless costumer support. 1:30h on the phone just so in the end they tell me "there is work being carried out in your area, we unfortunately don't know when it will end" so literally 1:30 on the phone so someone can tell me what I already seen in three website. Thanks!

Can someone for the love of god help me on this issue?

Thank you.
@PeteG @sc1999 

 

 

7 REPLIES 7
XLBully
Active

Similar problems in EC1. Really similar time period, starting having issues in maybe Sep/Oct-23. Before that was perfectly fine for more than 1 year. 

Mattyk66
Active

I am having similar issues but it is definitely not to do with a mast being switched off but Three making changes on my account their end.

I have posted multiple times about this and Three are refusing to admit they are throttling connections yet multiple users have posted on the community site about this and stating they can not only hit 120mbps download when they used to hit much higher, these are different people in different parts of the country, being impacted exactly the same.  My response I posted was this -

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!

A further update to this - I made three send me out a brand new replacement router, so I could rule out that being an issue. I have a new router, new sim card, and nothing changed. exactly the same stuck at 120mbps. You can clearly see in the screenshot below of my speed tests, the moment they made the changes at their end on the 14/11/23, and from this point on my speed has been throttled to 120mbps. I have also added a screenshot of speed tests from Feb 2023, compared to speed tests from Feb 2024 and the differences are striking. My speed used to vary, as non throttled speeds should between 400mbps up to 900mbps depending on the time of day as you would expect. Now, my download speeds have no variation at all, 7pm on Saturday evening at peak times, 120mpbs, 3am on a Sunday at the quietest time, 120mbps. 

I would like someone from Three to respond and admit that they are throttling speeds on the home broadband now.

 

 

 

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sc1999
Local celebrity

Thank you for the mention but I do not work for 3. Like you, I am a customer whose contract ends in 25 days when I shall be off to O2.

metoo6000
Regular

My router is also NR5103E. The problem has nothing to do with the router, though. I've gone through all the testing processes for the router and the SIM, but it's caused by simply the closest mast that has been off, and the closest one (around 4 miles away). When the mast near my house was live, I had a superb speed (DN: 400~500Mbps, UP: 80~90 Mbps). 

goncalosalgado3
Fledgling

Hey Metoo,

Thanks for your reply! Yes, just as I thought. I also have a three on my phone and same thing, super slow 5g so I was already pretty sure it's something to do with whatever they are doing in the mast or in the area.

It would have been great if they could actually give some information about it as their own costumer support is completely clueless. Unreal.

Can I ask on how did you get the confirmation of your Mast being off? And did they gave you a time frame to when they would eventually turn it on or fix it?

metoo6000
Regular

I had to (i) check the cell ID number to which my router is connected, (ii) find out the mast by using the Cell ID calculated (https://www.cellmapper.net/enbid), and (iii) find out when the specific mast near my home was last seen from this site (https://www.cellmapper.net/). Then, I realised the specific mast and the specific cell, which is 5G capable, were not seen for long. 

Then I contacted the Three Technical Team so many times without any luck. It's simply like talking to a wall. Fortunately, JonathanB in this forum (he is a moderator) listened to my agony, contacted Three technical teams, and found out that the mast has a prolonged problem. So, they fixed the mast around the end of last November "temporarily", so I had a brilliant time for about a month. But now, the agony came back again.  

 

 

goncalosalgado3
Fledgling

If it helps my device is NR5103E

And yes I have reseted the device multiple times. I have logged out all devices from internet.