Intermittent connection issues loading/changing site- secure connection failed/site can't be reached

[EDIflyer]

Is anyone else occasionally getting a 'connection down' error from Chrome (or 'Secure Connection Failed' from Firefox) when changing page - if I hit refresh it works fine. At first I wondered if it was the site I was using but have noticed it on multiple different major websites over the past couple of months and not noticed it from other locations where I don't use Three Broadband so does seem to be related to the router/connection (this is via wired Ethernet too, so not a WiFi problem).  I've tried changing DNS server in case that helps but no difference.

It mainly seems to happen when trying to first load a site or (annoyingly) at checkout when a different site is being loaded as part of the checkout process.  It certainly doesn't happen everytime but does happen with reasonable frequency.  I've also noticed I often get it when trying to pull/push from/to Github too and have to do so a number of times for it to work (browsing the Github website works fine).

I'm using a NR5103E with Firmware Version V1.00(ACBJ.0)b14 - I tried rebooting it but to no effect.

[S4M]

I am not sure if this is going to help anybody, but I managed to find a temporary workaround, until I wait for an acceptable answer from three, which is currently performing an investigation.

I have a Zyxel NR5103E and, at the cost of my network speed (4 times slower), I have ZERO SSL/TLS issues when forcing the 4G network instead of the 5G.

You can find those settings under Menu > Network Setting > Broadband > Cellular Band > Preferred Access Technology > 4G > Apply

You should observe the improvement within just few seconds.

Good luck!

[AlSeek]

For what it's worth I have also posted about 4G in the history of this thread, my own experience was that it doesn't totally eliminate the issue but it does see a substantial reduction in occurrence.

Although since then based on posts by @Nameless  I played around with band manual selection and in my case having B1 as the only B band enabled, all other B bands disabled, plus keeping N bands enabled also sees a similarly reduced (but not zero) occurrence, whilst keeping 5G speeds.

[torz77]

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I am not sure if this is going to help anybody, but I managed to find a temporary workaround, until I wait for an acceptable answer from three, which is currently performing an investigation.

Thanks for the message. Welcome the the hell hole. I hate to be the one to burst your bubble, but I wouldn't hold your breath for either an acceptable answer, or that any kind of investigation is being performed.

We have been waiting for 2 years for both of the above and none have been forthcoming.

Using 4G has been a "solution" for quite some time, but absolutely killing your internet speed whilst paying for 5G is not really a solution, sadly.

If you missed it earlier, using a VPN is also a 'solution'. Sadly it is a solution that hits your wallet (so also isn't any solution at all, but at least you get to keep the speeds you are paying for)

[S4M]

Yeah, I agree, all workarounds come with a price.

Even WARP (sort of VPN by Cloudflare), which is free, actually slows a little the connection down, but at least I get no errors even on 5G. Unfortunately not all devices can run on WARP, e.g. TVs, and I am too lazy to setup a local gateway at home, so all devices go through it via WARP.

[torz77]

To think, I almost forgot to mark this momentous occasion.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY THREE!!!!

2 whole years of failing to even getting close to addressing this issue.

It is a hell of an achievement. An achievement in displays of complete ineptitude, lack of openness and treating your customers with utter disdain.

I have no doubt we will all be able to raise another glass in another year.

With any luck, by then I'll be long gone from your thoroughly broken service. And "thoroughly broken" is being generous.

[Nameless]

How soon is now for a fix?

The error remains

Surely there are more than Three staff available since the merger with Vodafone?

[torz77]

Day: 706
Status: Service still broken
Three update: Non-forthcoming

[andym00]

Ditto, had an SMS from Three the other day saying the network in my area has been upgraded and I can now access the Vodaphone network, so configured router to use Vodaphone APN (wap.vodaphone.co.uk) and figured I'd see if it makes any difference... And, not surprisngly, not one bit of difference at all 😞

[bytespider]

For me it's always reliably Docker. Over 300 times I had a script retry pulling an images from lscr.io before eventually it succeeded.

delay=3; count=0; while ! docker compose pull; do count=$((count + 1)); echo "Retry #$count failed, retrying in $delay seconds... (Ctrl+C to abort)"; sleep $delay; done