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]

Hello and thank you for your update

I can help with tests and would recommend sending a similar message to the MVNOs that also share Three's underlying network as this issue affects them as well

Additionally it may be ideal to send a message to all Three members so that they can also contribute if they are experiencing these issues - This thread may have many posts however it is not displayed in a prominent fashion when viewing the forums...

[torz77]

Yes. No change here.

Happy to help out, if it is likely to lead to a resolution. I'm going to be honest with you though, I struggle to see how it is going to turn up anything that hasn't been discovered already.

[EDIflyer]

Thanks for the update @JonathanB . No change from my experience - I think most of us have just given up reporting the status quo of errors and have been getting used to recurrently using VPNs to deal with it.  I'll drop you a DM with a potential slot or two I can do.

[EDIflyer]

Hopefully you got my DM @JonathanB - I messaged you yesterday but haven't heard back yet - one of the potential slots was tomorrow but guessing that might be too soon!

[JonathanB]

Hi @EDIflyer,

Yes message received thanks. I'm just waiting on feedback on which is most suitable to pull together the supporting teams, will let you know ASAP!

Thanks,
Jonathan

[Midnight54]

Or in my case, left for another ISP 🙂 However, I'm still following closely, as family are still affected, and remains to be seen what happens when my next contract is up to if ever resolved

[Nameless]

Another check-in with no changes

The incidence of the error is still highly variable but it is still there

Have there been any changes for yourselves?

[JonathanB]

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick update to confirm we're still investigating. I hope to have some more substantial news for you soon. I've also passed on the info provided here about manual band selection in case it helps point to the cause or solution of these issues.

Thanks,
Jonathan

[Nameless]

Just a delayed check-in due to a busy weekend

There have been no changes from my tests - Having Band B3 disabled does still lead to reduced instances of the usual error message in my tests

Have there been any changes for yourselves?

[torz77]

Ok, I ran 100 requests to https://docs.pi-hole.net on bands B1, B3, B20 and B28 (the bands I can find listed for my cell tower). I looped through these bands twice. I cannot see anywhere that N78 is an option I can change, or is listed for my cell tower, but it is very possible this is just down to me not understanding how 5G infrastructure works.

The number of failures per 100 requests are as follows:

+-----------------+-------+-------+---------+
|      Band       | Run 1 | Run 2 | Average |
+-----------------+-------+-------+---------+
| Auto (Main: B3) |    24 |     9 |    16.5 |
| B1              |    26 |    35 |    30.5 |
| B3              |    28 |    14 |      21 |
| B20             |    37 |    10 |    23.5 |
| B28             |    32 |     9 |    20.5 |
+-----------------+-------+-------+---------+

The tower details are:

• ENB ID: 13310
• CELL ID: 3407453

For me at least, and accepting that this is a very small sample size, I would say that these results fall well within the range of natural variance, and changing bands has zero impact on my issues. Note that I ran the tests in the following order:

• Run 1: Auto, B1, B3, B20, B28
• Run 2: B1, B3, B20, B28, Auto

which suggests that the fluctuations are down to other external factors rather than the selected band.