Mobile 4G home broadbands speeds decreased

[Bodger123]

Hi

I'm a long-term three customer, and with my 4G SIM in my phone, I got good up and down speeds (125Mbps), so I decided to ditch BT and move to home broadband over 4G.

All was well for the first 6 months, and speeds of 125Mbps continued, but in early December, I noticed things like Netflix were buffering, and after doing speed tests on home broadband and iPhone connected to 4G (not the home broadband WiFi) speeds were about 25Mbps. I obviously got onto Three, and they told me they'd look into it and get back to them in a week, which I did to find no record of my contact. I was told an issue was raised, and I waited another week and nothing. Put in a complaint on the 20th of December as nothing was done.  I've just been told it was closed Christmas day because I didn't answer the phone!!

Speeds today are 13.4Mbps and just unusable (I work from home). 

What can I do!?!?

Thanks!

[djs88 · Accepted solution]

Your connection is being throttled, I have the same issue. With a VPN connected I reliably get speeds of 100-120Mbps, without the VPN I get anything between 5-15Mbps. I raised a support query 7 days ago and have still not heard back.

[Bodger123]

OMG you are right! Just connected to my work VPN and get speeds of about 85Mbps, turned off the VPN on same laptop and back to 13Mbps.... I will get onto them now!

[clivejo]

When you are next in touch with the Network Team ask them to see if your router has been connecting to the mast you historically got a good connection to and also ask them to check for congestion on the mast that you are currently connected on.

[PeteG]

Hello there.

I generally wouldn't have expected the 4G broadband to regularly reach 125mbps. Somewhere between 20 and 40 is what I've generally seen in my own 4G Broadband tests. 

If you're seeing a big reduction in your speeds, it might be worth checking if there's a known issue in the area. You can do that on the service status page. 

There's also the possibility that it's simply a limitation of what 4G can currently offer in your local area. It might be worth looking at a 5G Hub instead, assuming 5G is available locally. 

Pete. 

[Bodger123]

Reading other posts, coverage checker reports no issues (never has since I started). The router is in the window, and I can even see the 4G mast about 300 metres away.