Three 4G hopelessly congested: use 3G instead

Just a hint for anyone that works/travels through high demand levels.

I work in central london and getting any sort of data at rush hour is impossible when near the train station, etc. Was getting quite annoying especially wnen trying to check timetables or maps if there was disruption to the train.

Solution: turn off 4G completely on three [at least until they get their 800MHz properly sorted].

Speeds go from 0.1mbit/sec to 10mbit/sec+ at rush hour. Three's 4G is very patchy anyway and isn't that fast normally. Obviously everyone is on 4G now and is saturated while 3G is comparatively empty.

In reply to a post by mr_mojo:

Obviously everyone is on 4G now and is saturated while 3G is comparatively empty.

Sounds as if Three either has not provisioned enough bandwidth at the cell sites, or not enough cell sites upgraded to 4G or they didn't buy enough spectrum from Ofcom. They have 2x15mhz @ 1800 and 2x5mhz @ 800. The 800 is really only for voice.

Or switch to a network who paid for more capacity. Vodafone or EE have a lot more spectrum capacity from the Ofcom auction.

I'm not switching; the feel at home is really good [I travel to the USA a lot] and I have the old one plan, which gives me 2000mins, 5000txts and unlimited data + personal hotspot for £15/month.

In reply to a post by mr_mojo:

I'm not switching; the feel at home is really good [I travel to the USA a lot] and I have the old one plan, which gives me 2000mins, 5000txts and unlimited data + personal hotspot for £15/month.

You can get Feel Like Home on a PAYG sim (just buy a £20 AYCE add-on before you leave) on the same basis as contract and unfortunately for you you price plan is on the endangered list, sooner rather than later you are going to get a letter or phone call from Three and they are going to give 30 days to choose a current price plan. Their original plan was all one plan customers to be migrated by March 2016 (but like everything to do with Three it looks like their target has started to slip and might be slightly delayed).

Probably worth starting to look at the competition.

I get the same thing near Liverpool Street station, it slows to a crawl. Switching between 3G and 4G sometimes helps.

Other locations it is absolutely fine so would point to a bandwidth issue.

Can't complain though, always had great service from them and the "Feel at Home" is a real benefit if my wife or I are travelling for work.

Nobody comes close to that offer from what I can see and they are generous with their data allowances, even on the new tariffs!

Three's network in near useless at most times of the day now it seems,

My father uses 3 with an iPhone 6, and has been a customer for quiet a few years now and he has seen the decline in service all over the UK...

It is particularly bad here in Crawley as their has been a sharp rise in employee's working for airlines moving to 3 for the Home from Home features...

People also like the Unlimited data, lets them upload as many pictures of themselves looking silly as possible.

Recently (few months) the network seems to have struggled with calls too, this week has been particularly bad...

Being on the phone to my father whilst he's travelling is also a no go, it just can't keep the call up for longer than 2 minutes at a time, this has been put down to the lack of 2G to fill in weak or blank patches.

In reply to a post by Dave_:

In reply to a post by mr_mojo:

I'm not switching; the feel at home is really good [I travel to the USA a lot] and I have the old one plan, which gives me 2000mins, 5000txts and unlimited data + personal hotspot for £15/month.

You can get Feel Like Home on a PAYG sim (just buy a £20 AYCE add-on before you leave) on the same basis as contract and unfortunately for you you price plan is on the endangered list, sooner rather than later you are going to get a letter or phone call from Three and they are going to give 30 days to choose a current price plan. Their original plan was all one plan customers to be migrated by March 2016 (but like everything to do with Three it looks like their target has started to slip and might be slightly delayed).

Probably worth starting to look at the competition.

does not seem to of happened yet, if 3 did it a lot more people would leave but then again the people who are abusing the high amount of data might be a good thing any way if they left or forced onto none tethering plans

until they remove my "the One Plan" off me i wont leave as well (my phone does not report tethering any way so the 4-8-12GB tethering limit is not applicable to me any way just speed will rubush as the DPI will detect the tethering) i should of lost my plan long time ago

Three still don't have 4G where I live, They suggested we'd have it by December 2014 but then we vanished from their roll out list altogether and here we are in late 2015 still without 4G. EE, Vodafone and O2 have it (though even these were quite late with their roll out compared to elsewhere) so it seems Three doesn't even want to compete, I tried EE's out and got 60Mb/s, Three's 3G you're lucky to get 3Mb/s on a good day.

In reply to a post by iliekcaek:

Three still don't have 4G where I live, They suggested we'd have it by December 2014 but then we vanished from their roll out list altogether and here we are in late 2015 still without 4G. EE, Vodafone and O2 have it (though even these were quite late with their roll out compared to elsewhere) so it seems Three doesn't even want to compete, I tried EE's out and got 60Mb/s, Three's 3G you're lucky to get 3Mb/s on a good day.

just depends where you are i guess really 3mb/s is fine though (better then 0.3mb/s or lower on giffgaff)

I'm on 3 and all I've seen is improvement in Central London, it got bad for a while where speeds were pretty poor but usable for my needs, but now I've got speeds of 54mb/s download and 14 mb/s upload. 3G also fares very well and I've been hitting it hard at most times of day.

I'll try and screenshot some speed tests, I've been impressed with increased 3G coverage and 4G is in most places I visit, yep I accept the coverage checker is bit off on the website.

There's been the very odd blackspot, just off Liverpool Street down a small very alley but these are becoming less and less.

I hope it improves for you soon.

If the merger with O2 goes ahead, then I should imagine it will improve. But how long that will take, and how long it will take to start sharing the infrastructure, is anyone's guess.

I've mixed feelings on that... O2's network performs like [censored] now...

I ran intensive testing on a route from the South East to the South West Of the country and all the way the speeds and reliability where shocking, however EE averaged around 15meg with 4G always being above 30Mbps.

Regardless of that merging to networks full of data hungry money saving customers is not going to go down well at all.

Three turned the 4G on in Belfast a month or 2 ago, best speedtest ive had is 56mb/24mb with 3 bars.

Seems to be perfect here, their 3G always gave speeds of around 20Mb with a half decent signal.

No complaints here in Brighton, 4G normally tops out around 50Mb. No 4G down on the seafront though!

one other issue as well is PAYG 3 AYCE plan there is a massive difference in speed between PAYG and contract

i got a PAYG sim here right now and i cant even view the My3account page on the phone as the loca mast is under a bit of load, as its a repeater mast no hardline so probery microwave dish might be overloaded, no 4G on that mast at all as not sure if you can do 4G over a microwave link,
before that repeater T-Mobile/(EE) mast was not even sharing with 3 until last year, so it was a massive black hole before for 3

but on contract it works ok enough (under 1-0.5mb/s, move 200 meters away i get connected to the primarily 3/T-Mobile(EE) MBNL mast which is hardline (but no 4G yet) 8-20mb/s on 3G ,the cells are in a awkward location on a high building so req more then just a hang a man over the edge of the building to replace the cells and wiring as they run all the way up the outside of the building tad amount of work i guess

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

Three's network in near useless at most times of the day now it seems,

That's certainly not a "general" thing. My three service continues to be excellent in all areas I visit.

I'd expect if anything available bandwidth to be improving as the OnePlan customers are being binned off.

Being on the phone to my father whilst he's travelling is also a no go, it just can't keep the call up for longer than 2 minutes at a time, this has been put down to the lack of 2G to fill in weak or blank patches.

Not my experience either - I can happily make a call from Exeter to Truro (don't lose call at all) - and have done on more than one occasion for reasons I shant bore you with. Equally to London and maybe lose it once or twice in a couple of hours. Phones vary, performance varies, weather conditions will vary, but I can't agree that 3 is falling apart generally and certainly it's miles better than Vodafone.

One thing I do strongly recommend is disable 2G entirely on 3 - that'll stop the phone even trying to roam down to Orange/EE, and certainly helps it hold onto a signal.

I left because I got kicked off the one plan.

Went to EE and haven't looked back. Great 4G coverage, plus the bonus of 2G if you need it.

Couldn't believe how poor 3 were in London compared to EE. My mates S6 was on 3G most of the time. Don't remember my phone dropping off 4G at ground level.

People rave about Vodafone in the capital too.

4G could be pretty slow in the evenings in Portsmouth on Three (around 1mbps). 3G just didn't work at all though. Switched to EE in the end as it was significantly faster in the same areas.

In reply to a post by Benjanyan:

4G could be pretty slow in the evenings in Portsmouth on Three (around 1mbps). 3G just didn't work at all though. Switched to EE in the end as it was significantly faster in the same areas.

EE has more radio level capacity (spectrum) - and by not selling 'use as much as you like' it doesn't get people forgetting to use WiFi when at home. This makes a bit difference to the average speeds. Three has approx 10million customers. EE has approx 24million customers.

In reply to a post by therioman:

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

Three's network in near useless at most times of the day now it seems,

That's certainly not a "general" thing. My three service continues to be excellent in all areas I visit.

True. Three seems as good as any; and we've used all the networks now. Me thinks mlmclaren is just trolling. Little use to his misleading anecdote on a tiny segment of Three's network?

Would love to study this "intensive" testing regimen; the one mlmclaren claims he used to reach his broad-brush conclusion that Three is "near useless".

mlmclaren, give us the low-down; explain the methodology for your "intensive" tests.
What exactly were you testing?
The connectivity and/or the throughput?
What tools did you use to perform these tests?
What testing apparatus did you use? A single phone?
Over what size of an area did you test "between SE and SW England"?
This was testing limited to a narrow corridor of a road or rail journey?
A test performed during a single journey?
Over what period and conditions were these tests performed?
Did you actually identify and test each cell individually, en route?
And you presumably tested all the other networks at the same time, right?
Comparing their availability and throughput, right?
Where can we read the raw results of your intensive study?

three use DPI to detect tethering?

Please tell us all how you managed to obtain this information. A link would also be useful.

In reply to a post by andaroo79:

three use DPI to detect tethering?

Please tell us all how you managed to obtain this information. A link would also be useful.

i have no link and there never will be, this is what i have observed

below is still DPI any way

its that or using TTL (very easy on iphone to detect as its always TTL of 64 when tethering is used)

not sure how it works on android but TTL will drop by one number if tethering is used (unless you edit the settings when rooted to prevent that)

but unless the phone reports it (3 branded phone or unlocked 3 banded phone) or uses the tethering APN settings three prefer to let you tether and just slow you down then accidentally block you or use up the tethering allowance up

Edited by leexgx (Sat 28-Nov-15 10:36:44)

Strange your father has it so bad in Crawley, this is where I work and get good speeds, often around 12mb down.

could be that he does not have a 3G 42mb phone (DC-HSPA+) as well as no 4G (4G on 3 is bit rare at the moment on 3)

3 they need to pay MBNL to upgrade there masts already, there is a Big MBNL mast near me that they need to be upgraded to 4G (but they need a crane to do the work as its on top of a 4-5 storey industrial building to replace the cells that are on the side of it, No roof access as its an asbestos roof its not a flat roof)

Um, Three own 50% of MBNL - and a lot of the masts will already have the transmission panels for 4G @ 1800 and probably 2600 for EE, and maybe even tri-band for 800/1800/2600

So its a case of moving the equipment cabinets in, which depending on location they could be on the roof, or on the ground somewhere with long cables.

the none enclosed racks (weather proofed) are at the base of the building near the main entrance (not sure when the cells was last replaced to support a wider range of Frequencies as 4G on 3 has not been enabled on the mast yet)

as O2 mast had all its cells replaced and next day 4G was available at another location, as its a mast that runs EE, 3 and Vodafone i assume there is a Power limit on how much each cell can handle) but the cells on this building look new at each end of the building but the inner ones in the middle look older (they are all pointing in a direction away from each other)

i dunno as if it was a mater of just slapping in some new equipment at the base they would of done it already (sure they was getting permission to bring a crane in for it) other issue the building is in a bit of limbo at the moment if its going to be staying open or not (they been closing down advertising for last 5 years so dont think its closing)

Edited by leexgx (Sun 29-Nov-15 22:50:56)

is anyone surprised?

Three has always been congested for me in city areas.

i find 40mb/s very usable (but even at 2-5mb/s i am fine as long as tis working)

agree with this post...this worked for me in Nottingham City Centre and I'm on o2! I was getting 0.2mb/s on speedtest.net with 4g I switched to 3g and got 3.5mb/s.

Edited by j112 (Fri 18-Dec-15 12:19:02)

I never know what to expect with Three no matter where I am, I have a contract one I never really use mostly as tethering wears down battery so fast and I dont want to have it plugged in when in use so have PAYG pre paid 1 month sims with unlimited data to tether with.

Sometimes it can work fine other times even with a strong signal I cant get any internet despite having a strong 3 or 4G signal.

In reply to a post by mittenkrust:

I never know what to expect with Three no matter where I am, I have a contract one I never really use mostly as tethering wears down battery so fast and I dont want to have it plugged in when in use so have PAYG pre paid 1 month sims with unlimited data to tether with.

Sometimes it can work fine other times even with a strong signal I cant get any internet despite having a strong 3 or 4G signal.

very likely your been traffic shaped (traffic sense thing giving you lowest QOS priority as its been Detected by the DPI when tethering but your phone is not reporting it to 3 to block you from tethering) as your tethering on a PAYG sim and PAYG sims under normal use have Slightly lower data priority then contract sims as well

i guess it depends where you are overall i find 3 data works fine(on contract), not really abused it enough to get slowed down(did do 90GB once as internet was not working, did not notice any slow downs in day time), there is one local mast near me as it has limited capacity due to it been repeater mast, so speeds of under 1mb tends to happen around 4-11pm and data nearly unusable on PAYG sim in them times (topup page takes about 1-2 minutes to load)

battery wise maybe a bigger battery or a different phone, just got the cubot H1 and getting 2 days easy out of it (no chinese rubbish on it, but uses iphone home screen layout so got the google now home screen on it now) as it has a 5200 battery but lower CPU and 720p screen which gives it 2-4 days battery use or over 8-15 hours constant screen on time (does not get hot when using google navigation or hotspot), but its big phone 5.5 inch so samsung Note 2-3 size, going from a HTC one M7 bit of a jump in size, but i love having a phone again that does not require an extra battery to last that day and its very cheap as well (wish they make a 4.9 inch phone with big battery)

Edited by leexgx (Sun 03-Jan-16 07:19:15)