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.

[Chrisrkilv]

Well, I've called it quits.

Today, Nabu Casa URL decided to take a siesta, and that's my line in the sand.

But hey, BRSK dropped by at just the right moment like a guardian angel, announcing full fiber 900mbps up and down coming to our street in July. So, I took the chance to bail on my contract and managed to avoid avoid the £370 cancellation fee due to the (lack of) service.

Now, I'm on a monthly rolling EE 5G Unlimited Data plan for £26.50. Put the sim into the Zyxel NR5103E from Three, and voila! Everything's magically fixed. Nabu Casa is back online, Home Assistant Updates are working, and even git is playing nice with Github & ghcr.io. a proverbial middle finger to the technicians who blamed my modem for the past two months! .. and I can still port forward! yay!

Spoke to Three on the phone who told me they charge £105 for the Zyxel modem if you decide to keep it. Quite a bargain for a clearly functional 5G Modem, i'm going to keep that and use it with EE's sim until BRSK come arround (And for whatever reason they don't, I have a solid connection that i'm no longer tied to for multiple years)

For anyone stumbling upon this post, call them up, bail on your contract siting the issues listed here. Keep the modem (or grab a Huawei 5G Modem), and grab an extra Monthly rolling Unlimited 5G data plan with your phone provider. Liberation from Three is within reach!

Cost to exit Three = £0
Cost of the modem = £105
Cost of a new EE Rolling 5G Contract £26.50 PCM
Cost of a BRSK 900 mbps up down fibre connection with static IP = £37 PCM
Cost to not have to speak to Three's awful, crappy, Indian Outsourced customer, technical and complaints department ever again = PRICELESS!

[bytespider]

This issue is now also affecting DuckDuckGo.com, Xbox / Windows live login for me, can anyone else confirm?

[fashric]

It's been affecting my xbox login since the start of these issues 6 months ago. I have to login multiple times before it works, very annoying.

[bytespider]

I don't normally use Xbox but the kids wanted a game so that's why I noticed. Like you, I had to click the login / retry button many times before it would log in.

[SamWhits96]

I'd like to add to this thread by saying I am also experiencing the same issue on NR5103EV2. Mine also started after a network issue last Thursday (11th April). I've tried everything suggested here, to no avail.

Quite an irritating issue and one which the customer support team seem to be ignoring.

[Chrisrkilv]

Got on the phone with Three again today to bug them some more, I've spent the past two days of speaking to around 4 or 5 "technical teams" and the complaints department. I've been trying to direct every call handler's attention to this forum post with no luck. They are just call handlers at the end of the day and mostly deal with non-technical folk who just need their wifi password changing or modem resetting... They probably don't even have certain access permissions within their IT Systems to fix this issue...

I finally got a nice lady on the phone who was willing to open the link to this forum on her end and have added the link to this forum to my case, she even took a look at the spreadsheet for the technical details of the modem and sites having issues with. Posting here again for visibility (Add your details for it to go to Ofcom as a complaint)....

*Link removed*

She has said that the case will be escalated up the technical chain, whether anything comes from that I have no idea but I'm not letting the complaint be closed without either the issue being resolved or exiting my contract early without any cost occurred.

The absolute best thing we can do as a collective is call Three, complain. Feel free to cite the following complaint ID as a reference and just say your having the same issue - 240228101988498 & 240415102165802. The more we bug them the more eyes we get on this issue.

[JonathanB]

Hi @Chrisrkilv,

I appreciate your intentions are to help by sharing this link, but we can't host a link to a document soliciting information from other community members.

I understand where you're coming from in terms of sharing the complaint references too, but staff won't be able to access your complaint notes on behalf of other customers. That being said, the reference for the overall issue is INC300001557900 so that may be more helpful if you're in contact with staff from other teams who don't seem to be familiar with the issue.

I'm sorry that I haven't received any detailed updates, I'll let everyone know as soon as I have anything useful I can share here.

Thanks,
Jonathan

[Chrisrkilv]

Hi Jonathan

The link has been available on this forum for months, but we’ve received no response or updates from you regarding the issue. It’s strange that as soon as complaints arise and talk of reporting to Ofcom, the link is removed. Could you direct me to the community guidelines that prohibit this? This feels blatantly like censoring your own customers so they can't gather the proper data to report.

I shared my complaint ID for reference, not for additional notes or direct case submissions. My intention was to help others summarize their issues. Thank you for providing the overall case reference.

@JonathanB, you’re active in community.three.co.uk daily but this case is being treated as a very low end issue... clearly, given we STILL don't have any updates? the only response we ever seem to get, why aren’t we hearing from others at Three? Why remove links from those trying to assist?

Ultimately, we pay for a service, that being internet access, and it’s not being properly fulfilled.

[EDIflyer]

Great work @Chrisrkilv - will call in the next day or two to add a complaint and mention those IDs.

@JonathanB - surely this needs to really be escalated to the highest level of technical support now given how many customers are still affected? Can you please let us know what's happening re escalation?

[hughesceri]

The issue seems to have gone away for me (for now at least). I bought a TP-Link mesh network (Deco X50 AX3000) and the issue went away as soon as I connected through that and not directly to the Three router, so I assumed it had something to do with it. There was also a post a while back from someone seeing the same issue go away with a similar setup.

Anyway, I've just reconnected my laptop back to the Three router directly and I'm still not seeing an issue. So either the issue has been fixed for me, or the presence of the TP-Link kit on my network is doing something to mitigate it.