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

joespa89
Regular

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!

68 REPLIES 68
Flipper1
Regular

Hi , no I haven’t. Before I came on holiday I was offered the chance to leave contract early without penalty. I said due to holiday I would wait and see if it’s better when I return but I’m not optimistic that it will improve.

RTHKer
Fledgling

Please let me know if you got any solution to fix your problems. Because I am facing the exact same problem as you.
I used the 5G network with the 150 - 300mb dl speed for over 8 months. But 1 day, all change suddenly. Now I can only get 0.2 to 1mb the best (plus keep dropping).
I found that the problem ONLY happening in day time. Feel like someone use a extreme strong radio launcher next to your room to affect your SIM network.

KateS
Community Support Team
Community Support Team

Hey @RTHKer,

I'm sorry to hear you're currently experiencing slower speeds than usual. I appreciate how frustrating this must be.

Have you checked out our Network Status Checker? This will shed light on any congestion in the area, reported issues or planned work taking place that may be impacting you.

If this doesn't provide any further information, I'd recommend reaching out to our Broadband Support team as they'll be able to run some in-depth tests to get to the bottom of the drop in speeds. 

Let me know how you get on.

Thanks,
Kate



Mod tip! The author of a post can hit 'Accept as Solution', to highlight a reply that helped solved their query.


Bazowl
Regular

Absolutely criminal on the last day of my 30 day cool off period, yesterday I went from what was a very impressive speed over 100mbps to between 1-10mbps at best. It was unusable. I spent 2 hours in chat with tech today, then customer service then complaints department when i said i wanted to cancel. I was told my 30 days had run out yesterday so would have to pay an early cancellation fee which I refused, I got it cancelled without a fee which was a result. But saying that I would rather have a reliable internet service

Flipper
Fledgling

Not sure what Three have done, I’m having the same issues. In August I took out x2 contracts, one for home WV12 area and one for holiday home WR11 area.

Around December my home broadband started showing a blue 4G  light, constantly switching where signal coming from, speeds which were 200mbs plus now anything from 5 - 35 mbs. Nothing changed and nothing will get it back to what it was. Our three mobile phones were always picking up 5G now only 4G

We have recently returned to our Caravan and this router is now constantly dropping signal and getting poor speeds as well. Three’s Network checker keeps saying no problem.

what has Three done since December??

Are they oversubscribed or is this something they do once Contract has been running a while ? 

Getting very disappointed and frustrated with Three 😟

1826
Active

Similar recent problems with little expectation of a resolution.  I've just found the Ofcom form to report issues. Its not the start of a complaint but just their way of monitoring issues with providers. Very quick and easy to complete. https://ofcomlive.my.salesforce-sites.com/formentry/SitesFormCCTMonitoring

Brotherkennyh
Regular

I have managed to fix my problem. I am not sure if this will help anyone else, I hope so. I continued to try to bug Three about it, but they weren't helpful. They were just trying to fob me off and hoping the problem would go away on its own.

At the time we had the Three home hub, Huawei H112-370. I have since changed to the Zyxel NR5103. Its also from Three, although I purchased mine from a 3rd party.

There are around 30 connected devices in our home. Including, phones, tablets, smart appliances, smart plugs, powerline access points and baby monitors.

Officially the Huawei supports 64 devices. Although I think its 32 per WiFi radio. Still, I was not exceeding either way. However, you have to consider that marketing and sales people speak complete BS. Someone probably got 64 devices to connect in a lab test once and that's it, it now supports 64 devices officially.

Anyway, I disconnected some devices and the speed/stability problems went away immediately. I am not sure why, we weren't exceeding the bandwidth capabilities of the router. In fact most of the devices didn't have much traffic, they just required a constant connection. However, the device just didn't seem to cope with so many connected. During one such stability problem rather than reboot the router, I turned off other devices and the connection returned to normal. I turned the other devices back on and the problems returned.

In particular removing the baby monitors seemed to fix the problem on its own. Removing one of them helped, but both fixed the problem completely. To be fair these devices do stream video feeds, but again well within the capabilities of the router.

Since changing to the Zyxel NR5103 we have everything connected and working well. Its been connected for 2 months now with no issues, back to high speeds and low latency. We have had 3 people steaming with only an initial and quick buffering happening, thats one 4k steam and two 1080p at once.

The frustrating thing for me is that this clearly has been ongoing for some time and affecting a lot of customers. Three don't seem to have been bothered to figure the problem out for themselves. Either that or they did know but didn't want to admit their routers weren't working as advertised.

Mattyk66
Active

Same here - 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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Mattbasden
Fledgling

Mine is the same! First week was fine and now it buffers constantly. I have walked around and put it in every position I can but its awful for 4g and 5g. Speed test shows 6.mbs! When I use the three 5g app it just says signal strength poor every where, it will go to good for around 1 minjte on 4g but then go back to fair or poor. Usually sitting at around-116 on the strength tester. It is supposed to be excellent signal in my area. I'm now stuck in contract.

CPFC
Fledgling

I have the same issue as everyone else but I think I've worked out what's going on.

I used to get 250Mbps upwards. Since just before Christmas it's dipped to 10Mbps or less all the time.

I've through support several times and done all the troubleshooting and no issues found. 

Someone told me to try it with VPN on and if the speed returns to normal it's likely Three are throttling speeds. 

I whacked a VPN on and amazingly the speed went back to 250Mbps. Turn it off and it drops to less than 10Mbps.

The only explanation is Three are throttling. It's been like this for 3 weeks so I'm giving up and going back to wired broadband which is slower but consistent.