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.

[bytespider]

Someone on this thread used one such virtual operator, IDNet, and said the issue did not show up.

This kind of makes sense if the network routing is the responsibility of the MVNO but I don't know anything about that.

It also doesn't seem to affect regular mobile users, at least doesn't for me, only those on Three's Mobile Broadband plans.

Some of the MVNO's I found from a search

• Smarty (Three sister company)
• Superdrug
• iD Mobile
• Honest mobile
• IDNet

[Nameless]

With Three's broadband, I know that there can be an issue when using the APN 3internet (Broadband default) instead of three.co.uk (Mobile default) so if they are not using 3internet then that might be the reason

I did switch to three.co.uk because it had less issues overall and was ultimately more stable but the same end of file issue still happened which is how I ended up finding Cloudflare's WARP

I guess we could technically try out all of the APNs from these providers although I am not expecting miracles as the underlying network is the same
With that being said, if I do end up transferring to one of these related networks (Deals are tempting), I will still read this thread hoping for a solution

[EDIflyer]

Yep I used iD Mobile and haven't experienced the same issues there as I do with my Three Home BB where I consistently have to use a VPN to avoid issues.

[Nameless]

I will try their APN settings then - It will be strange being WARP-less for a while

I would imagine that the SIM card is also compatible with Three devices

[Nameless]

All seemed eerily fine for a while but https://groceries.morrisons.com/webshop/startWebshop.do eventually gave the same PR_END_OF_FILE_ERROR message

Since WARP works and they are cheaper than Three for myself, I guess I will save some money by switching

I have not checked the forums for iD Mobile but I wonder if it would be ideal to start a thread there to inform users about this problem and linking here?

[BrAinZ]

Other than the general connection issues, I had a more annoying issue where Three seemed to be blocking TLS connections to an FTP server that I needed to use.

I didn’t have much hope that their tech people would understand or be able to resolve the issue, but amazingly the lady on the phone actually made some quick changes and after rebooting the router it works perfectly.

so my learning from that is that it IS worth joining them as they may be able to help.

definitely a different experience to a few years ago when their tech people weren’t very techie at all.

i still can’t successfully connect to Screwfix though, but I can live with that.

[Nameless]

Just another weekly check-in to see how things are for you all

I have not noticed any major changes

[munk]

Intermittently (ie at present) it seems to be OK for me.  I'm loathed to say it's fixed because I'm sure in another day or two the problem will probably be back again.  Really seems to me like it's some kind of intermittent issue to do with which of their servers does your packet inspection and if you get a dodgy one then the dropped packet issue (if that's what it is, seems that way?) starts kicking in.

Sometimes when I get reassigned a different IP address after being reconnected for whatever reason the problem just magically disappears.  Then I'll get reconnected again later and the problem comes back.  Presuming you're assigned a certain 'route' through the Three network (ie for packet inspection) at the point that you reconnect to the service (ie get a new IP address etc) then you're stuck with the problem until you reconnect again.

Lot of presumption...

Maybe with that Cloudstrike issue last week some of their boxen went down and they had to reboot and it's magically fixed the issue though eh?!

EDIT: having said above it was OK at the moment, I've now had the PR end of file SSL thing pop again on Morrisons grrr

[Midnight54]

Yep no change for me at all, some days far worse than others - and the same typical thing on trying to run games own updates (that dont use Steam)

Where I have to launch the website, get it eventually working then quickly run the updater as fast as possible.......realdebrid downloads still very much broken outside of using download managers......out of curiosity I tried to download a 5mb file using Chrome on Real-Debrid (where Chrome just looks) - 50gb later it was still going on repeat back to the start again every time! (vs Firefox which can hit retry a couple of times at the end of file and it will complete without restarting

[AkiTaiyo]

Same.  Still seeing regular SSL errors.

Also had issues with downloading packages using PIP and APT since I've been setting up some new systems.  Often see them either quit out dues to failed SSL or occasionally the download just gets cut off partway and fails.  Doesn't happen when using a VPN..

Come on Three, fix your broken network!  Or at least give us a $10 uber eats voucher 🤣