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.

[andym00]

Completely agree over the silence from Three, just some acknolwedgement would have made it a little more bearable, but it is what it is..
That said, I was literally on the Smarty website the other day about to sign up (I know, shares network infrastructure with 3, but I recall reading here that these problems didn't exist there, and figured I'd try a month and see), and I thought I'd re-enable 5G mode on the router and see how bad it still was.. Everyone else is away & out of the house this week, so wouldn't have to answer to non-working banking sites, Netflix not logging in, games erroring out etc..
Anyway, it's been 36hours now, and everything is working as it should be.. Gmail isn't erroring out every time I refresh, various sites & apps that were hit and miss working fine, both on computers over wired & wifi connections, and also iPhone over wifi and directly with 5g.. Everything that was broken, or was intermittent, isn't broken this last 36 hours.. I'm still connected to the same cell-mast radios, same bands (though I've changed it to use Band 1 + n78 instead of Band 1+3 + n78 as just using Band 1 for the 4g uplink reduces the latency to 20ms from 30-35ms or so)..
I'm inevitably going to jinx it by posting here, but so far, so good.. Only downside is I no longer get ~900Mbps down, max is now ~500Mbps, but that's fair enough I guess and fine for now..
I'll update if this stops being the case and things go wrong again..

[Midnight54]

If issue appears to be gone for you, would recommend sharing what town you're from.  As someone if turns out to be local, would be an interesting test if they brought their router to the same mast with laptop to see if issue roams between masts (or even just a test of their sim in phone, as IIRC its not exclusive to just routers?)

[andym00]

It is still working fine, both with & without the auto-bands.. Can't see how to just link to a specific mast on cellmapper, but here's the info.. Provider is Three..

On cellmapper.net it's eNB ID 10728 
MCC/MNC/Region 234/20/7228

Approximate address: Mill Lane, Seaton Valley, Seghill, Northumberland, England, NE23 7QS, United Kingdom

Streetview :
https://www.google.com/maps?layer=c&cbll=55.06347714468171,-1.5746090700585778

Cellmapper link:
https://www.cellmapper.net/map?MCC=234&MNC=20&type=LTE&latitude=55.06423704352147&longitude=-1.57624...

Additonally, this tower has B1, B3, B20, B28 on it, I've tried locking to each band & the various pairs to see if maybe one particular band was responsible previously, but everything works like it should do, I can't get it to break at all, the site @Nameless posted above mynoise.net, I've loaded and reloaded and reloaded, but it just works consistently.. I would be great if someone in the area could verify it..

Previously I also mentioned that bandwidth had dropped, I happened to be out and about last night with a clearer line of sight to the mast, did a speed test, and on my phone it's clocking in at ~1Gbps down & 100Mbps up, kind of the ballpark of what is previously was at home through the router.. I'd tested from the very same spot several times over the years, and it's consistent with the ballpark of what it always was.. So obviously the speed drop is something other than the mast itself, and something at my end, maybe I've moved router a few nano-metres from it's sweet spot or something, or it's orientation got slightly changed..

[Nameless]

I was (un)lucky - After a long time of no errors testing all of the websites mentioned with B3 disabled, https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/ eventually gave me the error once in many hours around 9:40AM today

With that being said, from my recent experience, it seems that B3 causes the problem to become far more frequent compared to B1 however it is still present but much rarer to encounter (Although, before I finished posting this message, I went through all of the websites once again and https://road.cc/ then https://portal-ww.ecouser.net/ gave the error)

I'll make a new post at the end of this topic to alert everyone to test with B3 disabled as it might solve the issue for them

[Nameless]

I am out of your region but almost close (North West) although the closest tower to where I am has the same bands available... I can try testing at another tower nearby as that also has the same bands available to rule out the tower nearest to myself

Maybe there is something in the digital sea in this area?

[Nameless]

When I went through the various Three MVNOs I did experience the same issues on all of them however, as we are all aware, the issues vary significantly in frequency

I am quite interested in your current results that seem to be caused by the manual band selection as I have not fully tested that under the various APNs. I will have to do that as I only touch the band settings when there are random signalling issues but that is fortunately rare and easily fixed

Thank you for your message and update!

[andym00]

Just to add, still working fine as of this morning, and that the band selection makes no difference and don't think that's the cause and didn't mean to imply that.. When I first re-enabled 5g it was running in auto band selection mode for hours and working fine before I changed it to get the reduced latency..

[Nameless]

I have just done a series of checks using some of the usual trigger websites and https://mynoise.net/ gave the usual issue on both iD and Smarty's respective APNs needing two refreshes to actually load the page properly

Unfortunately only Band B3 has been available rather than the usual B1 and B3 with n78 therefore I will need to revisit this at another time

If it is still working for you then it may work for others

[bytespider]

Which are you with and do they offer rolling month? I don't fancy being locked in for 12+ months to this terrible service.

[Nameless]

I am currently with iD Mobile because they were cheaper than Three with no yearly rises but have the same pros and cons included which is to say:

• Fastest broadband speed in my area (Same as Three)
• Cheapest broadband available in my area (Cheaper than Three even when adding the cost of a used 5G router)
  - Technically they offer a SIM only deal, not broadband, so you need a 5G router or tethering device
• Same Three networking issues even with the iD Mobile's APN

There may be some SIM-only deal websites that can also offer you some additional savings that may be of interest and iD Mobile does offer a rolling monthly contract