Need Help: No 5G Connectivity with Three Home Broadband

sin18r5x · ‎06-20-2023

Hi everyone,

I recently subscribed to Three Home 5G Broadband, but I'm not getting the promised 5G connectivity. Despite spending an hour on the phone with support and receiving a new SIM card, the issue remains unresolved. When I contacted support again, they claimed they were upgrading the 5G in my area, but I'm skeptical since my Three network-compatible phone receives 5G just fine. I have a direct line of sight to a phone mast located approximately 300 yards away. Any advice or similar experiences from fellow users would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

sin18r5x · ‎06-26-2023

Update on this.

I lost my patience with support. One guy asked me to download an android app so that I can change the settings on the router. I told them to send me another router or I cancel my contract.

The new router arrived today, connected to 5g with

DOWNLOAD Mbps
666.69
UPLOAD Mbps
150.27

Moral of the story. If you have this problem don't waste your time with Three support, they are worse than useless. There is clearly a bad batch of routers going around that Three are resending to unsuspecting customers, hoping that people who don't know any better will just accept the low speeds.
Make them send you a new router. Especially if it looks like the router was a used item, like mine was.

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Blaineyboy88 · ‎06-21-2023

Had the same issue, spent 30 mins with the support team. They’re sending out a new router for me to swap it over. I was also told there was issues with the mast, but my phone on the same network connects fine.

SP70 · ‎06-21-2023

If you log into the router admin panel, go onto the cellular stats page. Have a look at what CELL ID and Bands is your NR5103E connecting to. If your familiar with cellmapper, check the cell ID with mast your connected to. You can see what other bands it provides. The NR5103E supports band locking via the router admin portal. Try locking against N78 (5G) or N77(5G) with some specific band combinations to see if there is any improvement.

sin18r5x · ‎06-21-2023

Struggling with cellmapper. But I did use this...
https://lookerstudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/590b5915-ea24-422d-bee1-300fec75b248/page/VAXQC?s=tLwU...
Which shows an approved mast I have a direct line of sight with at about 300 yards.

I'm not sure what you mean by Band locking. In band managment I turn off auto and try to set to n77 and n78 but I get the error

"In NR5G-NSA mode, please at least
checking one box of LTE Band Selection!"

Prefered access technology is currently NR5G-SA/NR5G-NSÆ4G (Auto Switch)

If I set Prefered access technology to NR5G-SA I lose internet.

paulchambers061 · ‎06-22-2023

SA (Stand Alone) won't work. you need NSA (Non Stand Alone). Try a combination like B1, B 20, N78. I only have the 4G+ router, so I'm only referring to the advice on another forum. Im further away than you are to my local 4G/5G mast (1/2 mile) but can get download of 600 mbps on my 5G phone and 200 mbps on the 4G+ router

SP70 · ‎06-21-2023

The tower your connected to is 5G enabled, located at B34 6QB

Stay on NR5G-SA/NR5G-NSA/4G (Auto Switch), disable "Band Auto Selection", and manually try these combinations and hit 'Apply'. If these don't work you may have a router hardware fault. If 3 support are telling you there is a 5g upgrade in the area, take it with a pinch of salt. 99% of the time they don't know what they are talking about.

B1+N78

B3+B20+N78

B1+B20+N78

B1+B3+B20 +N78

SP70 · ‎06-21-2023

I forgot to mention, the mast has the following bands: 1,3,20,28. Include band B28 in your combinations when band locking

SP70 · ‎06-21-2023

I assume you was provided the Zyxel NR5103E. Is it running on firmware b12? Have you checked the router cellular stats page what CELL ID and Bands is your NR5103E connecting to?

sin18r5x · ‎06-21-2023

Hi guys thanks for the responses.

That is the correct model and firmware

Cell ID 12734216
Physical Cell ID 158
Band B20,B32,B3,B1
Preferred Access Technology NR5G-SA/NR5G-NSA/4G (Auto Switch)

Anvil_Iron · ‎06-23-2023

The bands you provided indicates the cell serving you only provides B1(3G) and B3, B20 & B32 (4G) and therefore you won't get 5G until it's available.

It's possible that Three are prioritising 5G to phones rather than broadband due to the lack of capacity in your area.

What speeds are you getting with 4G?

sin18r5x · ‎06-21-2023

Hi guys thanks for the responses.

Cell ID 12734216
Physical Cell ID 158
Band B20,B32,B3,B1
Preferred Access Technology NR5G-SA/NR5G-NSA/4G (Auto Switch)