Three 4G in Portsmouth

I'm still awaiting a landline for BB after just moving and I've survived the last 2 weeks tethering my LG G2 on Three. I'm just down the road from Southsea common (I can hear the hovercraft) so I'm in the coverage area for Three's 4G service.

So far, I've found it to be rather disappointing. It really slows down in the evening. Totally useless for gaming and the upload speed is really slow. http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results.html...

Edit: And another test at 21:15 - http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results.html...
Edit2: Around 8am - http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results.html...

Admittedly, the signal strength isn't great but it seems much less congested during the morning. Is this the future of the tech or is Three's implementation of it here just not very good?

Is there anyone in the area using this or other Three 4G users that would like to share their experience? I'm curious.

Edited by deleted (Mon 11-Aug-14 08:03:16)

In reply to a post by Benjanyan:

Is there anyone in the area using this or other Three 4G users that would like to share their experience? I'm curious.

Three 4G in Farnborough is only on one transmitter, and generally its slower than 3G when doing speed tests. In the middle of the day it might be the same speed. It is lower latency and seems more responsive however. I'm using a Moto G 4G with a 3 PAYG SIM.

Compared to EE's 4G its early days, and I suspect Three could get congested quickly on 4G and leave 3G faster for a couple of years as they increase roll out and gain the second block of frequency they've bought from EE (due end of 2014 I think).

If they are only just rolling it out there, give it a while - when they did it in Exeter and Plymouth. the first few weeks it was very patchy, but after a few weeks, it's now very good coverage and speeds are excellent.

Of course performance is very variable - all the networks will and do have this issue, for all kinds of reasons, some perfectly legit, some less so (as in they could fix easily)

Thanks for sharing, James. I too have found 4G more responsive under poor conditions although 3G doesn't even seem to load pages here half the time in the evening.

No idea how many base stations there are here on 4G. Not many, I presume.

I've just spent 9 days at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, London and I was entirely reliant on 3's 4G service for my Internet connectivity. I used 1GB a day and browsing speeds were like home broadband. Speed tests indicated at least 10/10. In comparision, 3's 3G service in Central London is always congested during normal office hours.

If you are seeing congestion in a recently 4G activated area then it is likely 3 have not yet upgraded the backbone connection coming out of your area.

4G signals appear to be weaker than 3G but that does not seem to impact on data throughput on 4G.

Signal (in terms of what you see on-screen) rarely has much accuracy and isn't real time anyhow, but in my experience, you can get poor speeds with "full signal" and amazing speeds with "practically none" in that sense - the signal meter's are a basic guide, but they don't directly correspond to speed/latency etc.

In reply to a post by Yves:

3's 3G service in Central London is always congested during normal office hours.

That's pretty much the case on all networks I find in Central London - it's certainly unlikely you'll see the major headline speeds (and even EE's speed is rapidly falling as the capacity is used up - nobody seriously believes those headline figures are real world long term performance figures).

IME you're lucky in some parts of London to get a call or text through half the time, let alone data.

I'm often in the Portsmouth area and 4G is very much still being rolled out (slowly but surely) so it often can be very slow.

Three have a very ambitious plan to roll out a lot of 4G coverage by the end of 2014 (I can't see them meeting their plan)

I made a may a little while ago that shows how their planed coverage compares to current 4G from EE ad others:- https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zOAnXJFLQ...

The BIG problem Three has is they lack the frequency.

EE is able to use 20MHz channels and therefore offer up-to 60Mbps in double speed areas ~20Mbps average in reality and often falling short of this where the network is busy.

Where as Three don't have enough frequency so their speeds will never match what EE can do, hence why Three were only claiming average of 14Mbps for 4G compared to 12Mbps average for DC-HSPA+.

Three's rollout is some what different to EE's it seems.

Three seem to light up a town / city with one cell and then fill the coverage in, in the coming months.

EE only announced a town or city having 4G after it had 70% 4G coverage. Big difference really.

I must say I tried an EE sim in my iPhone 5s and the coverage is excellent. I'll be more than tempted to jump ship when my 3 sim only ends.

I would switch if EE's 3G coverage matched threes.

The thing is EE needs to get a grip on reality price wise.

In reply to a post by janitor:

The thing is EE needs to get a grip on reality price wise.

Still cheaper than O2 and Voda for 4G. Its only three that is cheap for 4G, and why there is one mast in my town active.

http://shop.ee.co.uk/mobile-tariffs/sim-only-plans

In reply to a post by therioman:

In reply to a post by Yves:

3's 3G service in Central London is always congested during normal office hours.

That's pretty much the case on all networks I find in Central London - it's certainly unlikely you'll see the major headline speeds (and even EE's speed is rapidly falling as the capacity is used up - nobody seriously believes those headline figures are real world long term performance figures).

IME you're lucky in some parts of London to get a call or text through half the time, let alone data.

Definitely true. I can't make calls or texts in Canary Wharf for example. It's a bit of a joke really.

Not sure why your having issues in canary wharf, my friend on three lives there and it works fine.

There is, but the sheer number of users in one place is the problem...

In reply to a post by 5km:

The BIG problem Three has is they lack the frequency.

Aren't they due to get more spectrum shortly?

I'd sooner have a bit slower headline speed and better general speeds (as Three offer) with unlimited use (as I have now) than EE's poor customer service, great headline, incredibly variable real world speeds any day.

Highest amount of data you can get on EE is 4Gb (sim only). Could easily use that in a day.

They should put loads up then.

Does the same thing happen in New York?

In reply to a post by wolvesmad:

Does the same thing happen in New York?

Yes, people blamed the iPhone originally, but it turned out it was the network not having enough spectrum. (AT&T).

In reply to a post by wolvesmad:

Highest amount of data you can get on EE is 4Gb (sim only). Could easily use that in a day.

Guess you're watching video? If tethering, all my friends on 3 have a 2Gb a month limit for tethering now they're on new handsets.

I'm on 3Gb and only used it up once, probably using speedtest.net, and I bought a 2 day add on to keep me going.

There are limits, a 3G cell can only have 32 neighbour relationships for handover...
Lose 2 for it's other sectors on 3G (assumed 3 x 120 degree sectors on 3G and 2G and 4G)
Lose 3 more for 2G
Lose 3 more for 4G
Now down to 24 slots for neighbours, tall building? (like most in Docklands...)
you might have in-building solutions on various floors who need a handover to the external macro network pointing at it for people who work near windows / exit the building (ground floor only!)
Take One Canada Square in Canary Wharf, 50 floors with metalised windows so some move RF is reflected back so in-building systems required.

But around One Canada Square there are 10 buildings above 30 floors each with the same problem, your remaining 24 neighbour options ran out on the first building, what do you do for the other buildings in the area?!

The you have a problem of frequency reuse, each operator only had X amount of 2G/3G/4G spectrum, EE has a lot of the above but its still not enough, another 100Mhz 4G suitable spectrum from Ofcom would be handy....

So dropping in more cell sites can often make things worse, its a very difficult task to design a mobile network that serves the usage generated in such a tight location as Canary Wharf, 'The City of London' is easier because of smaller buildings and spread over the square mile.

And as James said, yes all major cities with very dense business districts have this problem.

http://shop.ee.co.uk/mobile-tariffs/pay-monthly

20GB for £38.99 Per month.

In reply to a post by therioman:

In reply to a post by 5km:

The BIG problem Three has is they lack the frequency.

Aren't they due to get more spectrum shortly?

I'd sooner have a bit slower headline speed and better general speeds (as Three offer) with unlimited use (as I have now) than EE's poor customer service, great headline, incredibly variable real world speeds any day.

EE have divested 18.5Mhz of 1800Mhz spectrum to '3', as far as I know '3' have only deployed 800Mhz for LTE this far, they will be using the 18.5Mhz of 1800Mhz for extra capacity in hand usage locations

Three has a small chunk of 800Mhz and 1800Mhz, but no 2600Mhz for use in the dense urban / airport locations.
O2 are even worse off as they only have 800Mhz for LTE no 1800Mhz no 2600Mhz.
They can use the 900Mhz off 2G for LTE as they have already re-farmed that for use on 3G (UMTS) @ 900Mhz, as have Vodafone on the 3G stack.

In reply to a post by brandscill:

I would switch if EE's 3G coverage matched threes.

IT does, EE actually have more... Three and EE have a RAN sharing agreement for 3G services, google MBNL.

15 Miles or Meters?

Edited by deleted (Tue 19-Aug-14 23:14:52)

In reply to a post by pcoventry76:

HI Paul

LOL - based on the fact I can get it from the end of my garden i'd say the latter?

And on the coverage maps it shows 4G as being about 3 doors up which is correct.

I don't have a 4G handset as of yet. I am about to buy a business contract with you or Virgin and they use your 4G

I had a 6GB data sim but it was cut off for no reason and without notice with 4.6GB on it and it was in use daily but that was before I moved here.

I'd go with 15 meters too, though you might have a rather large garden! my excuse is it's late!

Three have deployed on the 1800Mhz frequency as iphone 5 users can use 4g on their network

In reply to a post by bookey:

EE have divested 18.5Mhz of 1800Mhz spectrum to '3', as far as I know '3' have only deployed 800Mhz for LTE this far, they will be using the 18.5Mhz of 1800Mhz for extra capacity in hand usage locations

Three has a small chunk of 800Mhz and 1800Mhz, but no 2600Mhz for use in the dense urban / airport locations.
O2 are even worse off as they only have 800Mhz for LTE no 1800Mhz no 2600Mhz.
They can use the 900Mhz off 2G for LTE as they have already re-farmed that for use on 3G (UMTS) @ 900Mhz, as have Vodafone on the 3G stack.

O2 will be interesting to watch, as they seem to have the lowest percentage of customers with smartphones, it makes me wonder how many will have new-enough devices to support LTE at 800.

I don't see either O2 or Voda re-farming their 900mhz away from 3G use, until a significant propotion of customers are on 4G compatible devices AND on 4G capable contracts.

With people still buying new phones (e.g. iPhone 5s) on a non 4G contract (for money reasons), then this is going to take a while to convert over

In reply to a post by brandscill:

Three have deployed on the 1800Mhz frequency as iphone 5 users can use 4g on their network.

concur, band 3 LTE here for Three (1800mhz) only - no sign of 800.

That's a pay monthly plan. I said SIM ONLY.

4gb is pathetic. I generally use 15-20gb a month.

I had the 'pleasure' of doing a speedtest on O2's 4G...

http://t.co/nLv50xtFHL

... Can't say I was impressed.

Edited by deleted (Thu 21-Aug-14 00:28:30)

Ok, cool. I wasn't aware of their lack of spectrum. I guess it's either that or their backhaul which is struggling here or even both.

Those in Portsmouth will be glad to know that my DSL connection is now active and there's one less heavy 4G user in the area!

Almost as slow as their 3G.