5g Hub started great - now very slow speeds + unreliable connection

[joespa89]

I got a three 5G hub last month after making the switch from regular broadband. Speeds and reliability were great, anywhere between 150-300mbs dl, and no drops. 

Until today when I noticed that my work VPN kept dropping (I WFH). Now I can barely get a stable connection, despite the app saying I have 5/5 strength signal, and nothing changed in terms of setup. I phoned support twice who assured me that them resetting it from their side would fix things, as well as cleaning the sim. I was skeptical given I work in IT, but I gave it a go. No joy, and if anything the performance has got worse. I don't want to phone again to be told to do a factory reset again. Has anyone had any similar issues, and any luck improving the situation? 

I can't even complete a download speed test due to the connection dropping, and a ping test seems to show a fail every 25/30 or so packets. My download speed test on the PS5 has went from 150+mbs to 14.5 mbs. 

I really would like to fix this as I can't get fibre and it was working so well initially, but I might be forced to cancel my contract sooner rather thn later if it doesn't improve quickly.  There just seems no explanation for it. Hub model is NR5103E and firmware version is 1.00(ACBJ.0)b12. 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or help. I really don't want to phone support again to be told to factory reset!

[ShaneWilsonDN]

TLDR: I have the exact same issues since May also. Obviously their is more too it than we think. 

Obviously theirs something else going on here then, since I have the exact same issues down to the last detail. Worked great since I got it in August last year, speeds hitting between 300-700 with 900 on some good days, but never dropped below 300.

Noticed it drop on the 16th May (23 days ago) to under 1mb, we were in the 600-900Kb area..... have had 5 support calls and gotten pretty much nowhere other than "Its been reported as an incident and you need to wait 7 days" which was 2 weeks ago. They lied and said we had issues in the area on 3 of those calls which their were non reported and the lad in the Three store told me they hadn't had any in the area, only the next town over from us had them.

We tested ever aspect (I also work in IT), the 5g tower near me is working fine and I'm under 2 of its cells coverage. the router shows perfect connection with always perfect signal. I have tested it in 5 locations of the house all in windows and even tested it out in the back garden. no improvements anywhere. I even borrowed a mates Huawei router and the issues were the same, A different friend of mine lives a few roads down and uses Three Mobile on his phone, he's not had any issues. In the end I tested the SIM in a phone instead and it was still awful, so figured it had to be the SIM and got a new one from the Three store. 

Nope.... same issues. The new SIM seems to have improved the speeds from the <6Mb we have had for 3 weeks to around 20Mb instead, but now its completely dropping out more often.

So I have boiled it down to NOT being the following:
- The router itself
- The SIM
- The location
- The Cell Towers
- Any other crap they are spewing at us.

Thus we are left with only a couple options. Either there is an issue on three's end that they are refusing to tell us about OR they don't even have a clue what's going on and are just making us wait over and over hoping it will magically fix itself with ye' old off and on strat.

[mhdis]

We've had the same problem since May-ish too. Any updates on this??

[AX]

Same issue for me.  Worked really well for over a year until early May 2023.  Since then everytime I contact customer services its the same script... it will be fixed in a few days.

[RReeson]

I've been having the exact same issues for 2 weeks now. I pay for two hubs too. One which is solely for my PS5 and another for the rest of the house. Both averaged around 100+mbps download and 7+mbps upload. But now i get between 15-40 download and what's causing the biggest speed issue is upload is near on non existent, as sometimes it can't even get an upload speed and when it does i get a max of 0.4! 

[JonathanB]

Hey @joespa89,

Thanks for trying all the suggestions everyone has been giving. I can't help but feel we're possibly missing some sort of network issue here. I'll send you a private message to direct you to some colleagues that can get this looked at in more detail.

To view your private messages on the community, click on your avatar image in the top right of any community page, then "Messages".

JonathanB

[T-Rev]

Hi Jonathon,

I have turned to this three Forum in an attempt at solving the dropped/slow 5G network issues we are facing. Presently we experience a reduction or total drop out especially during times of rain and heavy cloud. Our Netflix/ online TV services fail . The same applies to the iPad . 

Kind Regards

Trev Eden

[Anvil_Iron]

Network Setting > Broadband > Cellular Band > Preferred Access Technology > 4G.

If it does work, put back to 5G to see what happens.

Otherwise try setting the bands. Go back to Home > Cellular Info and note down the bands used in the Cellular Info page. Mine use B1, B3 and n78.

Go to Network Setting > Broadband > Cellular Band > disable Auto Band Selection

Select the bands in the list and Apply. You can also try omitting one of the B bands but n78 remains for 5G.

Another possible problem with the weather getting warmer and the router being by the window is overheating.

I guess the only way to check if it's a router problem is to plug it in another property.  

If router works then as you said, Three are probably doing work to the mast but status not updated.

[joespa89]

Ah, thank you. I did try the bands last night after reading a post on ispreview but it didn't help. 

I live in Scotland so while it may be getting warmer, I don't think that'll be too big an issue here haha! 

[theSalientBook]

Hello - did you resolve this?

i have two 5g hubs runing side by side in Cumbria. They work great for a day then drop off for several days, then on  again. The bill shows they hit about 5Gb in one day then drop off. What is weird is that there are two lines, and both are in sync with the dropping on and off. It feels like tis being throttled but three say its not.

[Anvil_Iron]

Hi, Maybe the router needs to move location. Use the Three 5G broadband app to find this. If it's downstairs, try it upstairs.

What happens with the router SIM in a phone, inside and outside?

Have you tried changing the Preferred Access Technology to just 4G or manually setting the frequency bands in the web configurator?

Do you see a drop in speeds during the day but improve at night?