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.

[Nameless]

By any chance, did you check your average broadband speeds when you were not experiencing errors and before your local mast went offline? I am led to believe that 4G (LTE) has a maximum download speed of 150Mbps but I have not tested Three's standalone 4G network

It may be possible that your lack of errors might have been a silent fallback use of the 4G network on your local mast until it went offline

How many Three staff are supposed to be watching these forums? Hopefully it is more than the company's namesake

[Midnight54]

yeah, speeds were fine, in the usual expected highly variable 400-800mbps range - so not that.

The other 4g tower must be far as basically doesnt work in house(as does my work vodaphone signal) - shows single bar sometimes, most things drop connections, speed test if attempted more dialup levels etc - but thats a distance and router wrong side of house issue, but yeah def above 4g speeds while things were working (but still had the realdebrid file download corruption issue)

[Nameless]

Thank you for confirming the speeds and further confirming that the temporary fix was not a silent fallback to 4G - I was able to do a brief test whilst being close to a tower and confirmed that 4G would not go anywhere near 400Mbps yet alone reach 200Mbps with 150Mbps being the effective ceiling

By any chance, would a download manager be able to help mitigate your current downloading issues? It would be an extra step but if the download client has no issues under Three's 5G network then having that as an intermediate step could help especially if it comes as a browser extension. I should have thought about this earlier but I have not used one in a while since internet speeds increased...

The mystery and issues continue into yet another day...

[Midnight54]

Actually yes, Jdownloader downloads fine, whether it auto retries the very end a bit like having to manually hit retry several times on firefox I'm not sure.  I did out of curiousity now just test with a zipped file to make sure zips weren't being corrupted at the end of the file (they weren't), as video streams would be less noticable likely only at the end frames.  Luckily I can still stream video fine using RD, as you dont need a complete file for that, but bizarre that Chrome downloads from it just look from restarting the whole download over and over again vs Firefox giving error at the end but allowing to retry the end bit til complete.  A bit rubbish that it corrupts the downloads on a phone though to be unusable as they didnt retry.  To be honest i've not tried regular file downloads to my phone, so may give that a shot

I'm still getting mostly the same culprit websites such as banking, reddit, RD, HUKD referral links etc giving me SSL errors probably matching with the worst they've been since they restored the local service, so its a shame they've undone whatever it was over the weekend that seemed to have been working for me albeit a minor inconvenience with certain downloads

I think browser used too may make some people not notice and report these issues, eg testing with Opera, if SSL errors, the page auto loads itself a second or 2 later, seemingly retrying, and as mentioned a lot of non nerds would just think its the visiting website being flakey or their phone etc

[Nameless]

A download manager is more likely to retry on your behalf otherwise it should throw up an error of sorts admitting that something it did went wrong - If it does not do that, rename it ThreeDownloader...

For Chrome against Firefox in terms of continuing from the point of failure:

• Chrome is probably trying to download the file in one attempt to minimise potential malicious injections during the download in the name of security during the era of faster internet speeds - Great for safety but bad for time and data limits but it's unlikely that anyone would need to redownload a file Three times, right?
  
  
• Firefox is assuming that there have been no malicious injections during the download and is trying to save data and time by continuing from the last part it has - Great for time and data limits but arguably not as safe but it's unlikely that anyone would need to maliciously inject part of a file being downloaded Three times, right?
  
  (Personally I would still take the Firefox approach and compare checksums instead but that is one observation on two web browsers under Three's network)

There is the chance that Three sent two workers or one contractor to return your local mast to state Three of the power switch binary ("Working") but surely they are not reading any of these posts to determine where they need to go to "fix" things? Just one idea that came to mind

Disclaimer: Yes there are number jokes but there are not Three of them - I do not work for Three after all

[bytespider]

    "Hopefully it is more than the company's namesake" 😆

[Nameless]

I could not resist any longer as the whole thing has already become a joke for many of us 🙃

[wgen]

I have since moved on from using Three as my primary connection and acquired fibre instead. On a whim, I ran some tests on the Three connection today and still see the issue. As one has mentioned recently, this is most likely to be related to DPI / HTTPS inspection. I did send Jonathan a message about this in April, but received no response. Due to the random nature of the issue occuring on a line, a less technically savvy person will simply refresh a page and disregard the issue, which is why we haven't seen more people complaining and getting Three to act.

[bytespider]

Would be nice to get fibre, but 70Mb is as fast as I can get. Virgin Media is the only other option but they are expensive and have lost my business in the past. I can attest to the less savvy thinking as my family have complained "the internet is not working" thinking it's just a connection glitch.

[Nameless]

It is nice to have options - Coincidentally, Three is the fastest and cheapest ISP for myself which is why I persisted with them despite the issues and found this very thread and a solution that works for myself

It would be a very different world if we all were to complain to the highest point of contact for any issues encountered no matter what they are...