Three MIFI data has again slowed to a crawl in a section of Wilmslow (SK9), since last Thursday.

[Anon101]

Unfortunately, as of around 3.00pm on Thurs 26th Sept, and continuing through to right now (Monday) - the problem I reported on here 2 weeks ago has resurged and consistently remains, day or night. Even the Three website's Network Status webpage was not recognising the entered post-code (for the identical currently-affected area of 2 weeks ago) before 8am this morning; so - it seems whatever's again going on only gave a few days of respite before starting up again late last week.

Addendum: I have just been informed by Technical at Three (via phone call) that, for some reason, due to a local Three 3G mast being now fully switched off, that all the traffic it was handling has now been re-routed permanently through the local 4G/5G mast - and thus, that the current dismal data speeds (meaning Zoom cannot be used/videos, etc. not watched/connections continually dropping out/webpages loading at a crawl speed, etc.) in a certain area in Wilmslow SK9  is going to last for at least 28 days, possibly many months - until another mast project can be carried out.

I've consequently just been told that I can cancel my Three contract for free over the never 7 days - and seek another provider. However, as this traffic issue/reduced data speeds - and the length of time to resolve the newly created issue for customers - could have been foreseen by Three, it is unacceptable that 4G data SIM users in this locale were not pre-warned of the created situation in good time. It is also disconcerting that, only last week, the messages on the Network status webpage listed a fault for this related post code; but - just now, after 9am today, this has since been changed to simply mentioning heavy traffic instead - which to me is an unacceptable excuse.

I have been a loyal customer of Three for many years. However, to now be subjected to this present situation and to now have to seek another provider as a consequence, defies further comment.

If Technical have made an error in what they have just informed me of/their post on the Network status webpage, clarification would be gratefully appreciated.

[Anon101]

Further Addendum:

The Three Network Status webpage is currently still saying:

'There is, at times, heavy usage in this local area. As a result, you may experience varying data speeds depending on how many customers are connecting to our network via your closest mast. We’re always working to improve our network and aim to provide the best experience possible.'

When one bears in mind that the data speeds in my present region of SK9 (and yes, speeds which had existed for a very long time - and which had been stable) have been forced to now drop from what they originally were - i.e.

From:

56.0Mbps - Download

10.9Mbps - Upload

To a mere:

0.528Mbps - Download

0.160Mbps - Upload

... morning, daytime, evening, and night...

... the reader will likely appreciate why Three's inducing of customers to now consider maybe going with Vodafone instead in this SK9 region - and thus a customer having to pay £33.00 per month for the same data SIM service instead of £20.00 per month (this difference totting up to an extra £156.00 per year) - and, also bearing in mind that Three is merging with Vodafone, and, thus the UK's Financial Times newspaper reported the following info' on 13th Sept 2024: UK regulator demands changes to £16.5bn Vodafone-Three merger Competition and Markets Authority says deal could lead to higher bills for tens of millions of customers) - the current, massive alteration to data speeds where I am, is thus - and quite obviously - wholly unacceptable.