I�ve just signed up to Three�s SIM only unlimited everything

Black Friday deal, £20. Looks like it isn�t just a Friday. It was advertised in the paper on Saturday and heads the website a Home Page. I signed up on Sat night.

12-month term. Rises in line with inflation every May.

I shall try out how it performs for a few weeks, and perhaps drop the £35. AAISP. Maybe even the landline as well.

Edited by RobertoS (Sat 24-Nov-18 23:40:53)

Sounds like a good plan Bob, but didn't they do this before and then had to stop? Wasen't it the OnePlan? Don't get me wrong I do hope it works out but I am waiting to see real life tests like yours. It's still being offered at that price - so I am sure the take-up will be immense.

I just signed up to the same offering from Virgin - well the 200GB BF deal - upgradable to unlimited data for an extra £5 a month - but again not sure how long that is going to last - even if they decided to drop that and the promo lifetime 100GB extra - 100GB for £20 is still a deal.

I have too! Managed to get it for £13 as i have been with Three a long time. Steady speed of 60mbps down and 15mbps up. Speed is consistent throughout the day. Might invest in a 4g antenna.

Only issue is the poor latency at times. I have heard that a vpn/l2tp might help with that issue, if not, then i will go the outdoor antenna route to see if that sorts the problem out. I will try that in the coming days once the router comes through.

I just hope it's here to stay. It was nice updating everything in a couple of hours compared to the couple of days it took on my sub 5mbps ADSL service.

I hope so too - but people abusing it got it pulled last time I hope three have a better system in place this time.

I am currently giving it a go in north west London. Results so far (only had it since 7pm and tried in the local area):
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/2968400302
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/2968403590
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/2968406858
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/2968493231
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/2968498945
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/2968632269

Definitely not a home broadband replacement for me here but it loads pages fairly snappy despite the slow speed tests.

I do have a message when I check my postcode that the mast I'm connected to has a lot of traffic.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Thu 29-Nov-18 02:04:40)

As do i. I think i won the lottery with 3/4g though. I don't think many people use the same cell (i think that's the right wording) pointed towards me, even the mast in general. Well, not heavy users i mean.

In a very rural area with most of the surrounding villages on fttc. Think it was placed there for folks using the A74. Have always had reliable speeds with Three, don't see that changing anytime soon, unlimited data, however, at those prices, it's a disaster waiting to happen.

Thanks for the replies. Some useful stuff in them for me .

My SIM was estimated arrival 27 November. Still not here, but I did expect huge demand so not surprised. I may give them a ring if it isn't in today's post.

I done a few speed tbb speed tests with a Three 3-2-1 PAYG SIM in a spare 4G phone (Sony Xperia Z3) I have and getting fairly consistently around 27Mbps/9Mbps on my laptop tethered using wifi. The question will be what congestion ends up like on my mast. I'll be putting this SIM in that initially at least.

I shall probably keep my AA 70/13 sync for a couple of weeks (plus a months notice) and see how things go. Then I have a number of options.

Ditch the FTTC would be the main benefit if I find things acceptable. £35pm.

My heaviest download use would be Netflix single user if I ever get round to using it. So far in nearly three months I've watched parts of the Egyptian Pyramids a couple of times but kept falling asleep in front of the tele!

Then only three or four people ever call legitimately on my landline and I almost never ring out on it. Costs me £14pm. Two or three of the callers I can easily get to change method. The difficult one I expect I could solve by getting them to ring my mobile then ring off without me answering, then I could ring back. The old trick to avoid ppl forking out silly money to ring mobiles.

My mobile is with EE at about £10.51pm. Only 1GB but so far I haven't needed more. Out of minimum term. PAC the number across perhaps.

And from woodmass's post I seem to have answer to a question I don't want to ask Three yet. Can I put it in a wifi router? I believe I can. But if I do I rule out cancelling the EE contract and also have to buy the router. I've been keeping an eye on the two current threads about 4G routers.

Re yourself and prince, the thing is that even if I take the risk of congestion and cease the AAISP FTTC, I shouldn't have much problem getting it back, so long as I don't cease the Pulse8 line. I can accept keeping the line for a while and still save money.

If I decide it isn't up to par on 4G then I have spent £240 for the minimum 12 months, but given the unlimited data who knows what else I might do with it on my main phone, not that spare, and ditch EE?

Several interacting variables there!

That's when we start to get in their grey area. I believe it's possible (from what i've read online) i believe it's against their ToS but people have been doing it for years without issue. Is it right? Probably not, especially when you're in a heavy populated area but i'm sure if they didn't want people doing it then they would do something about it. I'm guilt free though 5mbps does that to you. Specially with kids in the house. But i'll be sure to let you know when the router gets here.

I planned to use my old Galaxy note 4 but the max speed i could get via that was 5mbps, but on my s7 edge i get the speeds i stated in my previous post. Definitely something to do with the 4g bands the phone supports. Maybe it's the device you are using, ukhardy07?

I don't see us using more than 150gb a month. I'll still be limiting the quality of the videos that's viewed. All i've ever wanted is a smooth experience using the internet, can't really do that with a kid on youtube and another on Netlfix.

Of course, you could do it that way. Best to keep that failsafe in place should congestion become a problem or you start finding it unreliable. Certainly a handy sim to carry around if you travel a lot or as a backup if your net [censored] up.

But Three are very good when it comes to support, or have been for me at least. If you tell them your not satisfied with the speeds they'll most likely cancel your contract charge free.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Re yourself and prince, the thing is that even if I take the risk of congestion and cease the AAISP FTTC, I shouldn't have much problem getting it back, so long as I don't cease the Pulse8 line. I can accept keeping the line for a while and still save money.

If I decide it isn't up to par on 4G then I have spent £240 for the minimum 12 months, but given the unlimited data who knows what else I might do with it on my main phone, not that spare, and ditch EE?

Several interacting variables there!

Well, you have 14 days to return it - so that should give you a good indication of speeds from your local cell. I agree it would save a fortune, IIRC you pay about £35 to AA for 200 or 300GB ?

At east you have basic def Netflix on Go Binge - kinda pointless with unlimited data but still, it's a nice thing to have anyway if you ask me.

I am going to see how VM goes with the 200GB - and try to get my head around the rollover - if it all goes wrong- or I need more it's £5 extra due to having the cable line. Speed wise around here it's good - getting 69mbps and about 30 up - on the EE phone I am getting just shy of 281mbps down. (screenshot taken also)

But I Just don't see the point anymore of being directly with EE - it's just expensive compared to some of Three and VM's mainstream non special offers. As I think I previously said. I've gone from £85.04 to £20 overnight.

woodmass, agreed re rural masts - the one where I used to live is heavily under-utilised - I used to use it a lot and get max speeds - this was on the OnePlan and vs 21mbps FTTC. Someone has to keep them in use so they stay in commission

Edited by deleted (Thu 29-Nov-18 04:00:57)

In reply to a post by woodmass14:

That's when we start to get in their grey area. I believe it's possible (from what i've read online) i believe it's against their ToS but people have been doing it for years without issue. Is it right? Probably not, especially when you're in a heavy populated area but i'm sure if they didn't want people doing it then they would do something about it. I'm guilt free though 5mbps does that to you. Specially with kids in the house. But i'll be sure to let you know when the router gets here.

I planned to use my old Galaxy note 4 but the max speed i could get via that was 5mbps, but on my s7 edge i get the speeds i stated in my previous post. Definitely something to do with the 4g bands the phone supports. Maybe it's the device you are using, ukhardy07?

I don't see us using more than 150gb a month. I'll still be limiting the quality of the videos that's viewed. All i've ever wanted is a smooth experience using the internet, can't really do that with a kid on youtube and another on Netlfix.

Again you will have basic def Netflix on go binge anyway - as for the rules, I don't think 3 really care - for all the hoo ha about the OnePlan and abuse - they never stopped to even look at the people doing AYCE on the PAYG plans - I am guilty, I was one of them who used the £25 add on but raped it via tethering back in the day.

In reply to a post by woodmass14:

Of course, you could do it that way. Best to keep that failsafe in place should congestion become a problem or you start finding it unreliable. Certainly a handy sim to carry around if you travel a lot or as a backup if your net [censored] up.

But Three are very good when it comes to support, or have been for me at least. If you tell them your not satisfied with the speeds they'll most likely cancel your contract charge free.

No they won't I had this argument with them in the past - best advice is give it a go and use the 14 days if needed.

I must have been lucky then. As long as you're persistent and there is actually a problem then you should be good.

In reply to a post by 23Prince:

Well, you have 14 days to return it

Does that apply to both online and over the phone sales? Because according to a Three sales agent, they only offer the 14 day cooling off period if the sim card is bought via telesales, not for online orders. Quidco & topcashback are offering £70 on this Three plan so it potentially works out at less than £15 p/m for an unlimited calls/texts/data sim only plan. The cheapest EE (my current provider) offered me was £20 p/m for a 100Gig sim only plan. Not bad but obviously not as good as Three's offer. However I imagine all the freeloaders will be licking their lips at Threes offer which increases the risk of network congestion on Three. Decisions, decisions, decisions.....

The SIM arrived today and is working fine in the Sony Z3. Showing only 1 bar on 4G but OK speed tests on my laptop tethered to it in various situations. Generally similar to this one.

I can give some of the others later if anyone's interested, like a freak 48Mbps and a total weirdie.

BBC website responding quickly, and this one. I'm out tonight though.

It looks like this is definitely a runner. It's helpful having decent FTTC and loads of VM cable around of course, despite the mast being some way away. See how it goes for a few days, maybe even over Christmas, before I decide about the FTTC.

In reply to a post by baby_frogmella:

In reply to a post by 23Prince:

Well, you have 14 days to return it

Does that apply to both online and over the phone sales? Because according to a Three sales agent, they only offer the 14 day cooling off period if the sim card is bought via telesales, not for online orders. Quidco & topcashback are offering £70 on this Three plan so it potentially works out at less than £15 p/m for an unlimited calls/texts/data sim only plan. The cheapest EE (my current provider) offered me was £20 p/m for a 100Gig sim only plan. Not bad but obviously not as good as Three's offer. However I imagine all the freeloaders will be licking their lips at Threes offer which increases the risk of network congestion on Three. Decisions, decisions, decisions.....

Hey mate

I have no idea on 3 - I can only go off the stuff that came through on e-mail when I got the Virgin Media offer.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

The SIM arrived today and is working fine in the Sony Z3. Showing only 1 bar on 4G but OK speed tests on my laptop tethered to it in various situations. Generally similar to this one.

I can give some of the others later if anyone's interested, like a freak 48Mbps and a total weirdie.

BBC website responding quickly, and this one. I'm out tonight though.

It looks like this is definitely a runner. It's helpful having decent FTTC and loads of VM cable around of course, despite the mast being some way away. See how it goes for a few days, maybe even over Christmas, before I decide about the FTTC.

Glad to hear it's running well - and long live Three's second attempt at unlimited data. If the mast is not overloaded you could have a decent service for a long time to come - the one I used to live under still gives crazy speeds. people either would prefer to have 15-20mbps FTTC or have forgotten it's there. Either way a win win for the mobile user.

Glad to hear it is working well. I was in Westfield Shopping Center in Shepherds bush today and had 3G most of the shopping centre and no data what-so-ever. In Canary Wharf the data appears to barely load a page also...

I am currently at home, I was getting 4G with the speedtests of sub-1Mbps, now I am stuck on 1 bar 3G with no data throughput what-so-ever.

My key issue with this 3 SIM, it seems to push me over to 3G quite often, and then back to 4G 15 minutes later (despite phone not moving).

My PAC has already started to transfer, so will keep playing as I cannot do anything until Monday anyway.

Overall not terrible, I've had a few 30+Mbps speedtests.

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

Glad to hear it is working well. I was in Westfield Shopping Center in Shepherds bush today and had 3G most of the shopping centre and no data what-so-ever. In Canary Wharf the data appears to barely load a page also...

Some recent London testing from some (very technical) students:
https://twitter.com/PedroClarke1/status/106734999218...

Lots of discussion on Digital Spy's mobile forum too.

I am noticing inside, on EE on 800Mhz you get 5+ Mbps, with 3 it basically does not function. On other bands 3 is not too bad, but I spend most of my indoor time on Band 20.

For example at London Bridge you get 30Mbps outside on Band 3, step into the office building, enter Band 20 and the data stops.

EDIT: I suspect these tests highlighted were outdoors and not indoors on B20. Interestingly if I turn off VOLTE, then I get no service, so clearly the other bands are not able to penetrate the buildings.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Thu 29-Nov-18 22:15:23)

If you're getting nothing except Band 20 then yes on both EE and Three, they only have 5 MHz each. This is quite easily overloaded. Both EE and Three would expect you to use WiFi indoors, and they invested in WiFi calling to offload the macro network in this situation.

I am guessing that your home is relatively modern or refurbished and so has metal foil insulation in the walls. This is common in newer properties, and completely blocks most mobile signals. Not much the mobile networks can do here.

If you want to use cellular as your main broadband, you will need an external antenna in this sort of property.

I understand that 5G is at much higher frequencies, so unlikely to penetrate indoors either.

Here is a 2016 picture of mobile frequency allocations:
http://i.imgur.com/wMggQna.png

Here is whom gained what in the 2018 allocation:
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/wp-content/gallery/2018-...

Cheers interesting as EE works fine everywhere I go on band 20.
Absolutely it was not blowing me away but data was coming through.

My unit is old but recently refurbed. In terms of Wi-fi calling I stopped using that due to dropped calls. At my home I actually only get band 20 outdoors too.

Anyway I have no intention to replace my home Wi-Fi, I have BT infinity 55mbps and that works well.

I will likely keep the network 3 as the unlimited data aspect is nice.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Thu 29-Nov-18 23:06:17)

Oh WOW!

Just after midnight I had a brainwave from nowhere.

I've just spent an hour working out how to use the phone as a USB modem into my ASUS RT-N66U upstairs, using the powered USB slot on it. In the end, trial and error worked quicker than trying to work it out from googling. Or even the downloaded ASUS manual I have upstairs.

The phone is happily "slow charging" it says but the battery reading does go up 1% now and then . Wired speedtest on the monitoring laptop next to the router.

If that sort of speed anywhere near holds up, that will be hunky-dory! Nothing to buy and no T & Cs quibbles as it is simple USB tethering which Three definitely allow.

Not sure if I can get the BQM working though. I've got one set up but have a feeling pings aren't getting to the phone.

Bed-time, wiv a smile!

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 30-Nov-18 01:48:48)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Not sure if I can get the BQM working though. I've got one set up but have a feeling pings aren't getting to the phone.

All the mobile networks use CGNAT. There was a long thread on here recently about using AAISP's L2TP tunnel service to get around this (for certain games).

In reply to a post by jchamier:

If you're getting nothing except Band 20 then yes on both EE and Three, they only have 5 MHz each. This is quite easily overloaded....

Here is a 2016 picture of mobile frequency allocations:
http://i.imgur.com/wMggQna.png

That isnt correct nor is the image, EE have 2x5MHz blocks at 800Mhz from 2013 Auction and Three have 1x 5MHz @ 800MHz, Vodafone have 1x10Mhz @ 800MHz

EE and Three primarily use 800MHz for VoLTE not MBB as there isn't capacity, but it will depend on the UE device. On Three it is more likely to hit the threshold and switch to 3G rather than stay on 800MHz Band 20, while on EE it will be seamlessly moving from Band 20 to Band 3 if the signal is above the threshold and less likely to drop to 3G as they have more spectrum in both B20 and B3

There are specific signal thresholds which determine which band is used at any given time.

Yes, thanks. I did follow that thread right through at the time. A neat trick .

No point really for my purposes which is BQM as indicator of WAN problems of some kind. I don�t game. Plus even using that AAISP it would be defeated by the mast <> phone link if worrying about latency. And defeat the object of saving money!

I�d just like it because of curiosity to see how the ping varies. I suppose I could set up a routine to ping out regularly.

Just done a ping and tracert to bbc.co.uk on the monitoring m/c. Pings 30; 31;36; 59, tracert 37-59 over 14 hops, with the first two being the router and phone, then a timeout, three on a subnet I shall check the zip range later, another timeout, four that are threembb, two weirdos to identify later, then the target IP address.

I�m really pleased with thinking of plugging the phone into the router powered USB! How healthy that will be for the phone I neither know nor really care for now.

I�m sorely tempted to drop the FTTC PDQ. Even on AA to get it back is free connection on a 6-month term. Then up my EE from 1GB to say 25GB on my main mobile rather than cancel it. That would double as standby WiFi tether and holiday/casual use for me. Monthly use on AA is under 50GB.

That EE upgrade would be less than £9 extra I think. I need to login later and check precisely. Killing the landline starts to look even more tempting as well if I do that. Save AA £35, landline £14. Add this Three and say £9. Total saving £20pm. Worth having.

Of course, if I just move the Three SIM into my main mobile and WiFi tether to that I have a total saving of £40pm.

Hmmm. Even more worth having!

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 30-Nov-18 11:15:40)

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

Glad to hear it is working well. I was in Westfield Shopping Center in Shepherds bush today and had 3G most of the shopping centre and no data what-so-ever. In Canary Wharf the data appears to barely load a page also...

Some recent London testing from some (very technical) students:
https://twitter.com/PedroClarke1/status/106734999218...

Lots of discussion on Digital Spy's mobile forum too.

My Brother in Law is one of the top field techs at RootMetrics. I'll see if he can give me some insight on why these areas are so bad.

In reply to a post by TechServ:

That isnt correct nor is the image, EE have 2x5MHz blocks at 800Mhz from 2013 Auction and Three have 1x 5MHz @ 800MHz, Vodafone have 1x10Mhz @ 800MHz

I believe the diagram was showing 5mhz paired, you're describing unpaired. Since its FDD spectrum, then 5mhz transmit, and 5mhz receive is 5mhz usable. So the diagram is correct, just how you read it.

EE and Three primarily use 800MHz for VoLTE not MBB as there isn't capacity, but it will depend on the UE device. On Three it is more likely to hit the threshold and switch to 3G rather than stay on 800MHz Band 20, while on EE it will be seamlessly moving from Band 20 to Band 3 if the signal is above the threshold and less likely to drop to 3G as they have more spectrum in both B20 and B3

EE use VoLTE on ALL their frequencies. Three for some reason have only been allowing VoLTE on 800 and using 3G on 2100 fallback instead of VoLTE on 1800. However things change daily.

There are specific signal thresholds which determine which band is used at any given time.

Agreed, which can be seen with some diagnostic tools, but change and are optimised and configured by the network.

Great news for me, I was on the HomeFi product so moved on to this now.

My ADSL speeds were 2Mbps but with Three I am getting 105Mbps down and 30Mbps up.

No chance of Fibre in the near future either but even if it came it probably wouldn't be as fast as this.

Speed Test Result at the moment

In reply to a post by onthenet:

Great news for me, I was on the HomeFi product so moved on to this now.

My ADSL speeds were 2Mbps but with Three I am getting 105Mbps down and 30Mbps up.

No chance of Fibre in the near future either but even if it came it probably wouldn't be as fast as this.

Speed Test Result at the moment

Crikey you must have the mast in your back garden to get that speed, best I get out of three was about 25Mbps, and this week things have gone down hill to hardly 5Mbps, im trying to fgure out why its dropped so much this week.

Quick question though, my Mifi 3 sim does allow unlimited netflix and it also allows me on a good day to a UHD stream on Netflix. These mobile unlimited sims with 3 are they traffic managed to a basic stream or does it allow more throughput for Netflix?

No problem with Netflix UHD streams on this.
However I find that the UHD streams are that compressed by Netflix that the standard HD stream looks better and I tend to watch those.

In reply to a post by Rolandrat:

Quick question though, my Mifi 3 sim does allow unlimited netflix and it also allows me on a good day to a UHD stream on Netflix. These mobile unlimited sims with 3 are they traffic managed to a basic stream or does it allow more throughput for Netflix?

This Black Friday deal I have is a standard phone SIM, just a special price for the unlimited data. It is not a "Data SIM".

When what is basically the same product does have an allowance cap then Netflix is not counted against that allowance. Tethering is specifically allowed. No mention of using in a router. I gather they would allow it but don't say so, but I have it in a phone that is now USB-tethered to an ASUS VDSL2 router that has two USB slots and a setting to use USB tethering to, amongst other things, an Android phone.

When you configure USB to tether, it gives you a drop-down to specify the type of device you are connecting.

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 30-Nov-18 17:53:43)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

No mention of using in a router. I gather they would allow it but don't say so

Three now allow phone sims in a router after Ofcom told them to remove the previous restrictions which contravened EU law. Confirmation here:

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/bulletin...

Yea, should be no problem as it was the manager of the Three shop that recommended I switch to this SIM from, the HomeFi SIM and just put it in the HomeFi router.

Edited by onthenet (Fri 30-Nov-18 19:22:18)

Thanks CJ8. I remember reading that a while back. It must have been lurking in my subconscious completely unconscious.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Not sure if I can get the BQM working though. I've got one set up but have a feeling pings aren't getting to the phone.

All the mobile networks use CGNAT. There was a long thread on here recently about using AAISP's L2TP tunnel service to get around this (for certain games).

That's the good thing about Three, they don't use CGNAT so port forwarding works a treat.

Always did on mobile SIMs. Perhaps they don�t on data SIMs ?

I'v been with Three for years and my phone has always had a unique public IP address.
That's why I went with them for home broadband as I needed port forwarding to work.
EE certainly use CGNAT but I don't think Three ever have.

Interesting. I was with three a few years ago and given a private IP. My friends have three data stick usb that has a public IP. Wonder what�s going on there. Could be down to the APN you use.

Unless it is related to area and number of users, I'm in NI.

I notice that in 2017 Three Ireland rolled out CGNAT but it didn't come up North,

Could be easily something like that.

Given ipv4 depleated it�s odd for anyone not to use CGNAT.

Forgive the question but how does one figure out if they have a public ip instead of CGNAT? I'm checking using my data connection in device settings, about device and is showing an ip but is there a telling factor?

In reply to a post by Rolandrat:

In reply to a post by onthenet:

Great news for me, I was on the HomeFi product so moved on to this now.

My ADSL speeds were 2Mbps but with Three I am getting 105Mbps down and 30Mbps up.

No chance of Fibre in the near future either but even if it came it probably wouldn't be as fast as this.

Speed Test Result at the moment

Crikey you must have the mast in your back garden to get that speed, best I get out of three was about 25Mbps, and this week things have gone down hill to hardly 5Mbps, im trying to fgure out why its dropped so much this week.

Quick question though, my Mifi 3 sim does allow unlimited netflix and it also allows me on a good day to a UHD stream on Netflix. These mobile unlimited sims with 3 are they traffic managed to a basic stream or does it allow more throughput for Netflix?

Three started to do Unlimited again - everyone jumped on it again, speeds dropped for all - again

In reply to a post by 23Prince:

Three started to do Unlimited again - everyone jumped on it again, speeds dropped for all - again

Three have always done unlimited, it never went away. I've had an unlimited phone contract for years @£19/mnt and there is a PayAndGo Sim @£35/mnth with no tethering limit.

I was on the Three Home broadband product so this is just the same except I don't have to worry about going over the 100GB limit for normal data, Netflix was unlimited.
I don't think I will be downloading terabytes of data suddenly.

In reply to a post by woodmass14:

Forgive the question but how does one figure out if they have a public ip instead of CGNAT? I'm checking using my data connection in device settings, about device and is showing an ip but is there a telling factor?

Just do an IPLOOKUP of your ip number shown in the router, mine is currently in the range 92.41.79.xx which is owned by Three.

inetnum: 92.41.0.0 - 92.41.251.255
netname: H3GUK
descr: Mobile Broadband Service
country: GB

Thanks for that. According to whatismyipaddress.com i have a static ip address. Must be an error. Though good to know it's not CGNAT

How does that detect CGNat? Even with CGNat the user's IP address is still Three-owned. Just shared with other users.

I've been with Three for years, used to have the one plan unlimited but eventually got turfed off it about a year after they did away with it. Now on a 4GB contract for £9 a month. Only time i use pretty much all data is on holiday or when I have WiFi turned off as my phone seems have taken a dislike to my home WiFi.

This is my speed test sat in bed https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/15436528244...

You might want to experiment with a longer usb cable to allow trying different positions for your phone, or even a different phone.

This one is looking at the mast on top of a water tower out my window https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/15436541845...

Edited by R0NSKI (Sat 01-Dec-18 08:52:19)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

How does that detect CGNat? Even with CGNat the user's IP address is still Three-owned. Just shared with other users.

Its really the WAN IP on the router you need to check, which is what the OP had said he was looking at, not the public IP.

If you go to google and type in whatsmyip and compare that with the WAN IP setting in the router, if they are both the same then you are not on CGNAT. If they are different then you probably are.

Edited by onthenet (Sat 01-Dec-18 09:14:37)

In reply to a post by onthenet:

If you go to google and type in whatsmyip and compare that with the WAN IP setting in the router, if they are both the same then you are not on CGNAT. If they are different then you probably are.

That's what I would do. There are lots of places that will show the IP you are coming from, including the hilariously named IP Chicken or IP Qail sites. - https://ipchicken.com/ - http://ipquail.com/

I've been trying to find on the web the different APNs, but Three used to use three.co.uk for mobile phones, and a different APN for mobile data (e.g. data dongles). The first was CGNAT and the second was routable IPv4.

This can of course change at any time due to IPv4 exhaustion. See the thread on here from the user wanting to game over an EE mobile connection. They had to use an L2TP tunnel from AAISP to get a public IP that inbound traffic could reach.

Edited by jchamier (Sat 01-Dec-18 10:39:03)

My router APN with this SIM in is just 3internet, CGNAT off.

My phone is three.co.uk, CGNAT on !! What was that I said earlier

In reply to a post by onthenet:

My router APN with this SIM in is just 3internet, CGNAT off.
My phone is three.co.uk, CGNAT on !! What was that I said earlier

That is what I remembered! Thanks. Not sure if phone contracts are allowed to use the 3internet APN it may be only available to data contracts. So when using a phone SIM in a router (or a phone tethered to a router) is going to give CGNAT....which will make some online gaming impossible.

Not a problem for everyone, but one to be aware of if switching from traditional broadband.

There just won't be enough IPv4 addresses left for everyone with a 3 phone to have a public IP. I suspect a lot less data contracts.

Edited by jchamier (Sat 01-Dec-18 10:38:01)

At the moment I have the £20/mnth phone SIM in my three router, the APN is 3internet and CGNAT off.

I'll keep an eye on it to see if it changes.

In reply to a post by onthenet:

In reply to a post by 23Prince:

Three started to do Unlimited again - everyone jumped on it again, speeds dropped for all - again

Three have always done unlimited, it never went away. I've had an unlimited phone contract for years @£19/mnt and there is a PayAndGo Sim @£35/mnth with no tethering limit.

I was on the Three Home broadband product so this is just the same except I don't have to worry about going over the 100GB limit for normal data, Netflix was unlimited.
I don't think I will be downloading terabytes of data suddenly.

The max you could get until 2 weeks ago was 100GB - maybe you were lucky to have a contract unlimited sim - but everyone else was turfed off theirs - PAYG has always been known to have unlimited tethering, but this is on another APN and was not monitored due to low user numbers

And i know all to well about CGNAT But solved by Frogmila.

In reply to a post by 23Prince:

The max you could get until 2 weeks ago was 100GB - maybe you were lucky to have a contract unlimited sim - but everyone else was turfed off theirs - PAYG has always been known to have unlimited tethering, but this is on another APN and was not monitored due to low user numbers

Three in Ireland have been offering unlimited Home broadband via 4G HERE, for a few years now for 30Euro/mnt with no issues.
I'm sure the UK will cope as well.

In reply to a post by onthenet:

In reply to a post by 23Prince:

The max you could get until 2 weeks ago was 100GB - maybe you were lucky to have a contract unlimited sim - but everyone else was turfed off theirs - PAYG has always been known to have unlimited tethering, but this is on another APN and was not monitored due to low user numbers

Three in Ireland have been offering unlimited Home broadband via 4G HERE, for a few years now for 30Euro/mnt with no issues.
I'm sure the UK will cope as well.

Ireland has more capacity and a better way of using it. same with their internet.
The UK didn't cope - that's why the OnePlan and all unlimited was pulled in 2015 with everyone being shifted onto another tariff. How long it last for this time - is anyones guess

That deal is still being advertised on their website

Edited by deleted (Sat 01-Dec-18 21:40:16)

In reply to a post by 23Prince:

That deal is still being advertised on their website

That/This deal is one of the loads of "extended" Black Friday deals from myriad suppliers of many different things. IIRC this one ends on 4 December. Otherwise, 3 December. I am assuming, with near certainty in my mind, that they have learned from the OnePlan failure. They will have addressed the problems I expect, otherwise they would be being remarkedly stupid. They also are no doubt aware of the effect of Black Friday takeup, for better for worse, and have calculated accordingly.

I'm almost certainly going to take a punt on it. I have been using the service since Wednesday, and so far it works perfectly.

I shall probably decide on Sunday what to do. Over the days since receiving the SIM I have done multiple speed tests upstairs and downstairs, with it as a WiFi hotspot in my phone and with the phone containing it plugged into my bog standard ASUS RT-N66U router's powered USB slot as a "modem". I have at very close times done EE 4G speed test from my Huawei P10 Lite from both upstairs and downstairs.

Which phone, as opposed to connection provider, is better re antennae etc. I have no idea over the long-term. There's only one way to find out.

Umm, not sure I used it tethered to the laptop or as a modem to the ASUS. I don't care , as there is no way any EE tariff other than as an internet-connected phone on a retention deal works for me. I have done sufficient testing to convince me.

I have also obtained a PAC for my main phone/number to move the number to Three if the almost certain decision is to dive right in, as I have found the performance with the containing phone downstairs (worst mast connection) is perfectly adequate for normal use whether as a WiFi hotspot with my laptop and iPad connected or USB-tethered to the laptop as a USB modem or as a simply USB-charging WiFi hotspot.

Whether or not to use the PAC is what will be decided on Sunday. FTTC is definitely on the skids, decision taken.

The final decision, whether or not to ditch the landline, I shall still need to ponder. The inclination is to "Yes". As things are, if keeping it, I can reverse everything except the retention-deal good EE SIM-only contract with no penalty other than the remaining months on the Three contract.

A new AAISP FTTC Home::1 requires no setup fee if for six months+. A new line with Pulse8 would cost a bit but at this time on a Saturday night I shan't look. In any scenario, if the full-blooded change doesn't work I would have £40pm saved towards the reinstatement of almost exactly the status quo ante.

I expect you can see my thinking process.

I have other related contingency thoughts about other scenarios I haven't mentioned, but believe me they are there. Tomorrow, (it's now 23.35), I shall decide and action whatever that decision is.

Edited by RobertoS (Sat 01-Dec-18 23:42:40)

That's all fair comment. I do sincerely hope Three have upgraded their system to allow for this - otherwise they rick problems and fines, money much better spent on actual improvements.

Sounds like you have a good system there - as for AA yes I agree, I had 6 months service with a free landline install - but yours is likely to be the start of a stopped line unless your area is really busy and your line gets nicked at the DP for someone else. Either way it's free reconnection.

I would have dropped cable in a shot if EE could have maintained the speeds I used to get - my last speed test was 220mbps and then now I am lucky to get over 90 - that's fine as Virgin Media is capped to 70/30 on limited packages and 50/50 on the unlimited sim. I tried a friends three sim last night - and it's still sub 10Mbps round here - so not worth the switch for me.

My only concern would be wearing out the phone quicker if it's tethered all the time - but if it's a reasonably cheap phone who cares?

SIMs swapped over, so the Three one is now in the Huawei phone. The mast signal is far better, showing three-four bars like it did on EE, and the Sony is only showing 1, occasionally 2, with the EE SIM. So as I hoped the Huawei has better antennae. Speed tests aren't much different, but the connection stability will be dramatically better than it might have been.

At some stage I'll see what speeds I get on the ethernet-wired monitoring laptop with the Huawei plugged into the ASUS USB slot, as the signal up there is stronger than downstairs.

I obtained a PAC for my EE (O2-issued) number yesterday and submitted it an hour or so ago. With luck it will transfer tomorrow.

I shall try some Netflix streaming in a bit just to make sure that works OK, but don't anticipate any trouble.

Those are similar speeds I got when testing with the USB tethering on my Asus RT-AC87U router

Last year I then signed up to the HomeFi product.
I am now using the Three supplied Huawei B310 router and a Poynting 4G-XPOL-A0001 external Antennae, which is in the roof space and I am getting a pretty solid 100Mbps down.

I have the Huawei router, with DMZ set, connected to the WAN port of the Asus, VPN, and port forwarding are working with no issues..

Edited by onthenet (Sun 02-Dec-18 15:25:33)

Netflix cast to my non-smart TV, (Chromecast 1 HDMI dongle), perfectly well for ten minutes of The Queen's Speech, using the Huawei/Three as a WiFi hotspot,

I've now just done three speed tests Nice results in my opinion.


Phone <> ASUS powered USB port <> ethernet to Laptop running the tests. Phone on the desk.

The same setup but with the phone on the window ledge.

Completely different - Downstairs, phone set as a WiFi hotspot, in my trouser pocket where it normally lives.

I'm impressed and happy.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Netflix cast to my non-smart TV, (Chromecast 1 HDMI dongle), perfectly well for ten minutes of The Queen's Speech, using the Huawei/Three as a WiFi hotspot,

I've now just done three speed tests Nice results in my opinion.


Phone <> ASUS powered USB port <> ethernet to Laptop running the tests. Phone on the desk.

The same setup but with the phone on the window ledge.

Completely different - Downstairs, phone set as a WiFi hotspot, in my trouser pocket where it normally lives.

I'm impressed and happy.

I agree all looks good - I am not sure why they even bother to include any of the Go Binge in an unlimited data sim - I guess they have no way to separate them. But if it means the traffic gets sent down it's own little way - then I am all for it.

I hooked my Sky box up to my friends Three phone and used the Netflix that's included with the Ultimate on demand package - no problems so I can't see three having any problems with NF at all.

I dunno, three dont seem to learn, they attracting all the data hoarders and last time I tried their service it made ntl docsis1 look godly.

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

I dunno, three dont seem to learn, they attracting all the data hoarders and last time I tried their service it made ntl docsis1 look godly.

My point exactly - there are plenty of reddits about this

That would suggest to me you aren't hitting the top bitrate streams, as I have never seen that when UHD is streaming optimally.

Maybe it has changed, that was a year ago and the max bitrate I ever saw for UHD was 15Mbps whereas the originals on my Sony UHD player would usually be 50~75Mbps.

Maybe I'll give it another go with another free trial

As I've said a few times, probably at least once in this thread, I'm taking a punt on this.

Tomorrow my mobile number port should take place. If that goes well, as most do, I shall pack in my FTTC. With no Cease charge.

If the Three service proves to become congested, I can restart AAISP with no connection charge. But I believe that having had their fingers burnt once Three have learned that lesson.

I'm also almost certain to ditch my Pulse8 landline once the FTTC has ceased, as it's basically only used for the broadband and four incoming callers who only use it through habit.

If I do need a line in future I can simply ask AAISP to connect their £10 line-only service along with their FTTC . With what will be a £40pm saving once these changes are complete I don't need it to succeed for long to have saved enough to pay for a new PSTN line.

In any case, my normal use of streaming services is restricted to F1 races when they are not on Channel 4, (though IIRC they won't be there next year), and maybe now that I have a basic Netflix service I might occasionally want to use that.

As I've had two or three months subscription to Netflix now, and only watched the series about Egyptian pyramids I doubt if I would be bothered if I found it unusable for a period when both Manchester football clubs were playing matches that were being streamed over the net at the same time as a Wimbledon final or another royal wedding or funeral �.

Signed up to this to yesterday to replace my virgin media broadband they are charging me £35 for 70mb + line
still have 2 months contract remaining my bills went from £24/£30/£35 not even a single phone call made with my virgin media phone line.

This deal works out around £14.33 after the £70 quidco cashback after your 11 months bill go to three chat ask to be downgraded on your unlimited minutes to 600/200 for a cheaper monthly price plan.


Speeds I'm getting now is 70mb - 80mb even at peak time getting 50mb


Already on two AYCE plans one paying £13 unlimited data/hotspot/200 minutes on my iPhone X
The other plan paying £14 Unlimited data/hotspot/600 minutes on my iPhone XS Max
both sim plan using around 130gb-300gb each month since Jan 2017.

and I am glad you are the guinea pig

I think three wasnt really bad everywhere to be fair, it seemed to be mainly inner city areas, and whilst I Am not living in a city centre, I am not too far from it.

e.g. people would report their speeds were fine in their home in a village, then goto work in a city and it be super congested.

I shan't be moving, at least intentionally, for several years. When all will be different in me and the technology. Of course, if we leave the EU next year none of us will be able to afford broadband by then anyway, or so we are told, and the country won't be able to afford the French electricity coming under the channel that we have now relied on for several years. (But that's a discussion for a different forum).



More sensibly than that last joking remark, as I said earlier I don't have a Smart TV. I rarely watch the one I have, and the streaming I do is very limited. My usage on AA, even with the amount of time I spend here, rarely exceeds 50GB in a month and is normally far less.

I doubt if my guinea pig status and results will be of much use to anyone other than as a proof of concept. Unless of course it proves to be a disaster!

On my mobile I have never reached 1GB, and only got anywhere near that since I saw the Three advert, through doing tbb speed tests on my phone (EE "up to 40Mbps") to compare with what the new Three SIM was giving in its predecessor at the same time of day. (Not running simultaneously).

It will probably be useful as well when on holiday of course, as I frequently go to places where FTTPx is not supplied and the ADSL2+ is a couple of Mbps. How good the mobile signal is for data would be the question, but I've already checked my phone can supply a good signal as a WiFi hotspot throughout my metal-framed house.

Sounds like it's all working out good. For anyone else seeing this - that deal runs out tonight at 11PM

Offer is still going I suspect to the end of the 4th in line with VM and others - I tell you something, a Lenovo P2 hooked up with a sim would be a good hotspot - capable of 150mbps and with a 5500 battery if there is a power cut nice UPS lol

Well sort of - it's my backup anyway

Hmmm... I'd *love* to sign up with this deal - if only I could get a 4G signal from Three, argh! I did try again yesterday, even with my outdoor 4G antenna, as a last-ditch attempt before the deal runs out. I can only get a weak 3G signal, and it can be slower than my 2Mbps ADSL. That's often the problem in rural areas, not much (or no!) choice of mobile providers.

My only current option for speeding up my connection (no FTTx here) is expensive EE or Vodafone 4G (and Vodafone 4G speeds here are under 10Mbps downstream, although EE is anything from 10 - 30Mbps downstream, using a 4G router at least).

I thought it already finished, when I googled it I couldnt find any such offer so assumed it ended.

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

I thought it already finished, when I googled it I couldnt find any such offer so assumed it ended.

It went about 11am today - the £32 deal replaces it now.

In reply to a post by AdamInTheSticks:

Hmmm... I'd *love* to sign up with this deal - if only I could get a 4G signal from Three, argh! I did try again yesterday, even with my outdoor 4G antenna, as a last-ditch attempt before the deal runs out. I can only get a weak 3G signal, and it can be slower than my 2Mbps ADSL. That's often the problem in rural areas, not much (or no!) choice of mobile providers.

My only current option for speeding up my connection (no FTTx here) is expensive EE or Vodafone 4G (and Vodafone 4G speeds here are under 10Mbps downstream, although EE is anything from 10 - 30Mbps downstream, using a 4G router at least).

I am on Virgin - and I think it's better than the unlimited is limited to cable customers only - less chance of a data meltdown - but it will be interesting to see over the coming weeks and months what happens with this deal. I hope it lasts but I just get a niggle that at some point it's going to be 2015 all over again at three.

The number port completed this evening. Some time between 16:30 when the EE connection went off and 17:30 when I discovered that even though my phone was showing the phone no. of the 3 Sim it rang when I called my EE (originally O2) number from my landline and also rang my landline when I called that from it.

Can't be bothered Ceasing AAISP tonight.

Speed test USB tethered, downstairs.

Edited by RobertoS (Tue 04-Dec-18 18:17:47)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

The number port completed this evening. Some time between 16:30 when the EE connection went off and 17:30 when I discovered that even though my phone was showing the phone no. of the 3 Sim it rang when I called my EE (originally O2) number from my landline and also rang my landline when I called that from it.

Can't be bothered Ceasing AAISP tonight.

Speed test USB tethered, downstairs.

That's a nice speed - and I liked the fact ceasing AAISP was a simple affair with Chaos.

You could get one of the Three HomeFi routers, seen them go on Ebay for £20-£30.

This is my speed tonight, seems to be pretty consistent.

I didn't know that - but I don't need it - I am on Virgin Media with a limited allowance - but others might benefit from your post so cheers

That's pretty schweet!

Broadband cease to take place tomorrow.

Good luck! For some reason, I find a physical connection more comforting than a wireless/4G one, especially for home use.

Funny, I feel the other way, I had so many problems with my wired broadband I was happy the day it was disconnected and the line removed.

I have been on 4G for 18 months and couldn't be happier, never had any issues or loss of service.

Fair enough, but would you feel different if you hadn�t of had any problems with your fixed line service?

Unfortunately, where I live, the wired broadband can only deliver 2Mbps even if it had worked whereas I have been getting 100Mbps on 4G.

Looking forward to the 5G upgrades over the next few years.

Makes total sense to be on 4G then. Did you manage to find a provider that offered unlimited data?

It used to be 100GB per month plus unlimited Netflix/deezer but as advised, when in the Three shop, I have now gone for the same deal as RobertoS, ie unlimited data for £20/mnth with the black Friday deal.

Pretty good value!

In reply to a post by WilliamGrimsley:

Pretty good value!

Until they can't do it anymore - but time will tell.

What do you mean by �can�t do it any more though�. The deal ceased about 11am Tuesday. It�s not a product on ongoing sale.

I think it was in regards to overuse of their network and Three having to stop their unlimited tariff. Though, it has been going through my head as well. Can't help but feel it's some sort of ploy on their part to get as many customers as possible to then change the contract in the coming months to a capped amount of data (100gb for example). Some may cancel their contract, but lazy people like myself would deal with it if it meant not having to call them.

That's my crazy conspiracy out the way for this year

Highly doubt it though.

What did they do about the previous Unlimited one?

Did they cap it or what? Did it have an FUP/AUP that they invoked? As far as I can see this one hasn�t

Anyway, as I�ve said a few times, either here or elsewhere, this is a calculated risk by me. Partly based on the fact it was a limited time offer so the take up, though no doubt high, was still not going to build and build and build.

It will no doubt have attracted some guzzlers, but possibly thousands of non-guzzlers such as myself. Even if the find a legal way to restrict some people, I won�t be one. Don�t forget that these days Ofcom has banned FUPs and FUPs that limit �unlimited� within the UK. Not just for landline broadband.

Have a look at Ofcom�s investigation into Three that CJ8 linked to earlier. Also:-

Unlimited data gives you worry free internet use. Even if you used your phone for every minute of every day you could only use, subject to TrafficSense�, around 1000GB each month. We may use this cap to identify inappropriate use of the service, such as commercial use, which isn't permitted under our terms and conditions.

There�s a quote somewhere from the CEO about this, I�ll post it later if I remember and find it .

And of course this sort of thing could happen:- Oh-�eck!

But it can also happen on xDSL.

Yes the 1000GB cap is something three have always had in their gumph - and many like me struggled to use fraction of that - but as I said I wait and see what happens, in the hope nothing does.

Interesting read! Pretty much what Prince said. Three has done it in the past, nothing stopping them doing it again. I choose to believe they have learned their lesson, but you never know with these things. Even if they should put a cap or scrap unlimited data, with your minimal data usage, should not be a problem for you. It's the heavy hitters that need to be on their toes.

Quite, but don't forget that Ofcom have stamped hard on all providers re the meaning of unlimited, and Three in particular on mobiles.

Three seem to have understood. I expect most people who joined on this short-lived offer will have gone for it for the unlimited mins and price, and not having to watch their data usage even though they don't use a lot.

There's no way they could have this as a permanent offering at this point in time.

I'm happily reading, posting and web browsing in a central Manchester Pizza Express without even needing to think about WiFi passwords, security or whatever.

Though of course any unencrypted stuff is insecure. I reckon I 'm less likely to be spied on than a PE wifi .

(Now someone will explain how wrong I am.)

Lol, sounds about right to me. Can never trust public wi-fi so you won't have any resistance from me. Though, i do agree with all your points. I've had to sort out a few families and friends phones and apps as they had no idea what was guzzling up all their data, whether it be apps uploading photos and videos to cloud storage from auto updates in google play store. I see a lot of people jumping to the way you described in your post. Not having to worry about data usage.

Lol,Took this deal out on Sunday night got my price down to £10 a month AYCE 200 minutes and unlimited text I don't use any minutes only for home broadband it can be done.

Anyone still looking for a unlimited deal for £19 go to three.co.uk shop-Exclusive customer offers purchase the £16 30gb deal once your sim card arrives download the MY3 app click on change price plan unlimited everything for £19 a month.
Remember quidco cashback to £60

Edited by deleted (Thu 06-Dec-18 18:19:07)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Quite, but don't forget that Ofcom have stamped hard on all providers re the meaning of unlimited, and Three in particular on mobiles.

Three seem to have understood. I expect most people who joined on this short-lived offer will have gone for it for the unlimited mins and price, and not having to watch their data usage even though they don't use a lot.

There's no way they could have this as a permanent offering at this point in time.

I'm happily reading, posting and web browsing in a central Manchester Pizza Express without even needing to think about WiFi passwords, security or whatever.

Though of course any unencrypted stuff is insecure. I reckon I 'm less likely to be spied on than a PE wifi .

(Now someone will explain how wrong I am.)

No i totally agree - I use a VPN for extra security - only because of the value of privacy. It's nice not having to count your data, I was shocked when VM told me my average is 4TB a month - I mainly watch a lot of UHD stuff on Sky!

I am 80Gb through my 200 on VM and if I need more I will go to unlimited but I don't think I will. I am likely to have a significant chunk rolling over every month. It's just a real shame it can only be saved up for 2 months max.

In reply to a post by longer:

Anyone still looking for a unlimited deal for £19 go to three.co.uk shop-Exclusive customer offers purchase the £16 30gb deal once your sim card arrives download the MY3 app click on change price plan unlimited everything for £19 a month.
Remember quidco cashback to £60

Seems that deal has been kicking around since 2016 - according to UKHD anyway

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/15441795792...

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/15352139203...

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 07-Dec-18 14:44:37)

That's sweet = around the same I get on Virgin Mobile. If it keeps like that I am sure you will remain happy

Post deleted by onthenet

It was a freak result, but I've had one other like it during the period I was testing all sorts of thigs before ceasing my broadband. But note it is about the same as my AAISP FTTC, (the second link, from a bit back). The normal range is as per my sig, but is more than adequate.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

It was a freak result, but I've had one other like it during the period I was testing all sorts of thigs before ceasing my broadband. But note it is about the same as my AAISP FTTC, (the second link, from a bit back). The normal range is as per my sig, but is more than adequate.

It's working for you - that's all that matter - and I hope this is the start of Three getting back on their game - considering I was with 3 from the 4th of March 2003 until 2017. I would like to think if ever there was a champion for them, I could be one of them.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by onthenet:

My router APN with this SIM in is just 3internet, CGNAT off.
My phone is three.co.uk, CGNAT on !! What was that I said earlier

That is what I remembered! Thanks. Not sure if phone contracts are allowed to use the 3internet APN it may be only available to data contracts. So when using a phone SIM in a router (or a phone tethered to a router) is going to give CGNAT....which will make some online gaming impossible.

Not a problem for everyone, but one to be aware of if switching from traditional broadband.

There just won't be enough IPv4 addresses left for everyone with a 3 phone to have a public IP. I suspect a lot less data contracts.

OK, I'm now thoroughly confused about this CGNAT question in respect of my own connection .

Using the tbb IP Address checker the phone has one address. With wifi tethering it keeps that but three devices connected have identical IP addresses to each other but different from the phone.

If I USB-tether the phone to the ASUS router the same applies, with two of them wireless and one ethernet.

I do not see anywhere a WAN IP Address for the router in that setup.

So is my connection on CGNAT or not?

What IP address does the router say the phone is giving it (WAN IP) ?
The ASUS UI for this is probably not great, you will have to dig through menus for the USB connection

What IP address does the tbb website report it is receiving? (check this is the same on other services)

The IP the TBB site shows CAN change each time you look. The IP the router reports (WAN IP) will probably stay the same.

Which APN are you using?

Edited by jchamier (Sun 09-Dec-18 13:03:38)

As I said, there is no WAN IP address available in the router admin pages when USB tethered to the phone.

I've also said that the phone IP address reported by tbb, which is dynamic, is not the same as the IP address reported by all the other three devices. Laptop and iPad by wifi, second laptop by ethernet, all to the tethered router or all connected by wifi to the phone in stand-alone wifi hotspot mode.

The phone does not support being simultaneously tethered and a hotspot.

The actual values of the two IP addresses tbb sees is surely irrelevant? Both are Three-owned.

Edit: Also the common IP address of the attached devices is dynamic. Their LAN address are 120.168.1.nnn subnet and the router when in use is their gateway on 192.168.1.254.

Edited by RobertoS (Sun 09-Dec-18 13:17:09)

Okay so there is a limitation in the ASUS router, or in the tethering phone that it can't report the IP the phone is providing, annoying for diagnostics.

Let me see if I can restate what you are asking. You're using three devices, some on WiFi some on Ethernet, connected through an ASUS router which is using the tethered phone as its internet connection. When you visit TBB's show IP page (or alternatives) the IP displayed when using the three devices is different, and you are asking why.

If this is what you are asking, then I would say this is a good indication of CGNAT in use.

Each of your devices is causing another "session" through Three to the internet, which is being allocated a public IPv4 for the session. (ie, that use of a browser).

Not quite.

The three devices simultaneously have the same IP address, but that is different from the phone's IP address. I can still use the phone when it is either tethered or a hotspot. Hence I can use tbb's "What is my IP" tool for that as well.

However the router is normally not used. I have only been using it to test for the purposes of establishing this. Normally the phone is either in my pocket or on the table being charged up.

There are only ever two IP addresses in total. The phone's, and any attached devices'.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

There are only ever two IP addresses in total. The phone's, and any attached devices'.

Ok that's easy to explain.

The phone makes two separate connections to Three, over the cellular network. One is used for all data access originating from the phone itself, the other is used for data access from connected devices.

You may find this is configurable in the phone settings, there may be a setting or a field for an APN for "tethering", if its blank that just means the same one is used twice.

This would easily allow for three to have unlimited on handset, and 30gb for 'tethering' for example.

There is no limit on tethering. And I still don't know the answer to the question.

The phone is showing two APN's at the moment, as a wifi hotspot. One is three.co.uk, the other - which is selected on a radio button - is 3ireland.ie .

Edit: Turning off Hotspot does not alter that.

Edited by RobertoS (Sun 09-Dec-18 15:28:59)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

There is no limit on tethering. And I still don't know the answer to the question.

I thought I answered your question? The phone is making TWO connections to the Three cellular network:

1) For use by the phone itself for data services, notifications, Google Play, the phone browser.
2) For use by anything tethered (this includes hotspot OR the USB connection)

Each of these is being allocated a public IP which may or may not be CGNAT'd.

The phone is showing two APN's at the moment, as a wifi hotspot.

I think what you have found is the option to switch APN, not the diagnostics that shows what is currently in use. This requires an "engineering screen" and is not part of standard Android. That is quite specific to the handset.

As you've found doing IP network diagnostics on a cellular device is almost impossible. There is no standard Android way of doing this. You might find if you install the Terminal from the Play store, you can do "ifconfig" but this depends on the vendor.

Edited by jchamier (Sun 09-Dec-18 15:39:12)

In reply to a post by jchamier:

I think what you have found is the option to switch APN, not the diagnostics that shows what is currently in use. This requires an "engineering screen" and is not part of standard Android. That is quite specific to the handset.

Link?

My two are definitely selectable by the radio button. The ie one is selected and the contents editable. The other, when I select it, basically has all settings "Not set" and is not editable.

In fact below them is another for MMS, also on 3ireland.ie and editable. Slightly different current settings of course.

Edited by RobertoS (Sun 09-Dec-18 16:24:52)

Your link is how to change the setting for an APN, not to show what is being used as there are ways for the network to override what is set in the OS.

Even if only one APN is configured for data, does not preclude it being used twice. Giving two sessions and two IP addresses.

Many Android devices come with databases of APNs, that look at the network code of the SIM and set the right APN automatically. This works 99% of the time. However when it fails you need to have a user interface to change which is what you have found. It is quite possible that Three Ireland (being also owned by CK Hutchison Holdings)'s settings work on Three UK, which would make it easier for travel between Eire & NI.

That makes sense.

Thanks.

No worries, cellular is a bit easier to see what is going on with a PCI card in a laptop/desktop than on a phone or dongle!

Let's hope three have a better service than VM eh lol - typically on my 15th day with Virgin Mobile and there is a [censored] outage! - wouldn't use this as my main internet now.

Just upgraded my handset and taken this deal on a 2nd sim for work

used 250gb so far and with full 4G+ coverage the speeds are fantastic

but the only odd thing, on the speed test it shows about 25-30mbps but when i download i get roughly 90mbps


pic related

http://epvpimg.com/z9jReab

Edited by epyon (Mon 10-Dec-18 20:38:59)

Which speed test are you running?

Just my two cents, I have spent the best part of two weeks using the 3 unlimited SIM and I cancelled for the following reasons:

1. In London speeds are erratic with many areas no data throughput what-so-ever even on bands that are not 20.
2. Busy areas have had no data throughput at rush hour several times - Canary Wharf, London Bridge, Victoria Train station.
3. Shopping centres including Westfield Shepherds Bush, when busy network 3 kept kicking me onto 3G, despite 4G on band 1, 3 and 20 available.
4. Band 20 gets swamped indoors. With EE and O2 when you land on Band 20 you get 3+Mbps... Whenever I had it on 3, data almost stopped or did entirely.
5. I hate the preference where 3G is set over Band 20 LTE... Despite having 4 bars of LTE on band 20 in my office, the phone kept dropping to 1 bar 3G and calls would cut in and out, and drop.
6. No visual voicemail - it was news to me that only o2 and EE offer that.
7. Calls often make this weird sort of robotic, mashed up jumble, almost alien sound and I had to redial... Not sure if this is common but my colleague mentioned they experience it also on 3:
Found the noise on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5jxG0NTfnE
8. Customer service was absolutely awful, it took 9 days to get my PAC code. I had to quote Ofcom and write to CEO office.
9. Whilst driving around London, I would often have 1 bar of 4G and 1 bar of 3G, calls would struggle as I drove around.

My main issue for leaving however was the data being virtually unusable and being on 3G for long periods of time.

Back to EE for me!

For the record, I am very heavy use - 15GB+ often as much as 30GB. I will often tether to my phone in and around London also. I take WebEx, Skype, Zoom calls on my data for hours on end (both in office, driving, and at home), I use whatsapp / facetime audio often on the go. I will often stream the radio via my phone to the car as it gets better reception. For my use case Network 3 is practically impossible, I couldn't get through a single call on webex etc.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Tue 11-Dec-18 00:34:55)

That sounds like a nightmare alright. I don't think i would pick Three as a carrier if i was to ever move to a populated area, especially London. When i do travel, i will do the odd speed test, you'd expect decent speeds in cities, large towns or even large villages to be good but i have not had that experience with Three. I only ever get good speeds in rural settings, country side, small villages, towns etc.. That shouldn't be the case, but with their unlimited data for a cheap price their network is hit hard in the city. You made the right choice though. EE sounds like your best bet in London. And i'd put my money on EE having unlimited data within the next couple of years.

Wifiman
Speed.net
TBB
DSLreports

all give about 20-30mbps.

That�s weird then.

AIUI tbb test now has more than the stated 6 streams, Andrew told us the number a week or so ago. But perhaps your download server is supplying a huge number.

Or you had a mast to yourself when it happened .

In reply to a post by epyon:

Wifiman
Speed.net
TBB
DSLreports

all give about 20-30mbps.

Many of those (apart from tbb) are US hosted, and its unclear if they have UK mirrors.

If in a browser, try them in Private Browsing / Igcognito mode.

Also try http://fast.com and the old Speedtest.net app !

Still a little bit generous.

https://i.postimg.cc/xTgLHNZZ/Screenshot-2018-12-11-...

So might give better than actual like it is there

I was doing some basic testing last night as I am just not getting good speed from the router with the 3 data sim in it, thats sat in my study.
I shoved the sim in my phone and started walking around the house testing various areas, I then moved outside - wow what a difference just going outside made, I was getting 75+ Mbps just stepping outside my back door, step back inside and it dropped to about 10Mbps, its amazing what a few bricks will do in the way of the signal - I 100% need to organise an external ariel, trouble is best place outside through testing was the otherside of the house.
Well thats my Xmas project sorted out!!

Have you tried the phone, or router, on the window ledge? That is the best place.

Oh yes, tried everything in the study to improve things.
Now that I see what speed i can get, I have no option but to run a cable.
Im going to try one of the MikroTik SXT LTE kits as that houses the modem/router itself, so there wont be any signal loss over a long cable, its poe also so I just need to run a external grade lan cable, which ive done before around the back of the house - this one will have to go along the front.

They do have uk mirrors

they work fine for my home connection also

its just three

not like it matters i see what my real speed is when i download.

In reply to a post by epyon:

not like it matters i see what my real speed is when i download.

Could easily be TrafficSense noticing it is a speed test site and slowing it down, to ensure performance is there for real use, such as downloads.

They won't do that for speedtest.net or dsl reports so maybe try that too?

In reply to a post by Rolandrat:

I was doing some basic testing last night as I am just not getting good speed from the router with the 3 data sim in it, thats sat in my study.
I shoved the sim in my phone and started walking around the house testing various areas, I then moved outside - wow what a difference just going outside made, I was getting 75+ Mbps just stepping outside my back door, step back inside and it dropped to about 10Mbps, its amazing what a few bricks will do in the way of the signal - I 100% need to organise an external ariel, trouble is best place outside through testing was the otherside of the house.
Well thats my Xmas project sorted out!!

I wonder if you are dropping to another band by going inside e.g. with 3 I was dropping to band 20 in most large buildings, or 3G.

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

I wonder if you are dropping to another band by going inside e.g. with 3 I was dropping to band 20 in most large buildings, or 3G.

A lot of newer build properties have extensive foil backed insulation in the wall cavity space. This blocks cellular signals very well.

An option is to try is the phone in a window.

Thanks for this I have adsl at 3mb, I also use three 100gig a month mifi. I only use the adsl for the kids mainly as 100gig is not enough. I�m just out of my mifi contract, so this will save me about £35 pound a month.

3 Mb ADSL with kids! Bet that's interesting!

In reply to a post by WilliamGrimsley:

3 Mb ADSL with kids! Bet that's interesting!

Your not kidding lol, I moved into a brand new house last year I did some local post code searches and thought I could get virgin and fibre.
Moved in the house then realised I had no virgin and the green cab wasn�t fibre inabled and there�s no sign in the future as the site used to be a school.
I went from 90 down to 3 omg it�s like watching paint dry, A long time ago I had Isdn installed and thought 128k was fast how times change.

Edited by deleted (Wed 12-Dec-18 21:26:10)

But what speed do you get on mobile broadband please? You didn't say.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

But what speed do you get on mobile broadband please? You didn't say.

I get around 40 down and 30 up, it�s been a life saver to be honest.

In reply to a post by Biglee5555:

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

But what speed do you get on mobile broadband please? You didn't say.

I get around 40 down and 30 up, it�s been a life saver to be honest.

70mb here @ peak time keeping this a secret not telling my next door neighbours I let them carry on paying BT and Virgin rip off prices.

Well my Mikrotik SXT LTE turned up and must say very impressive, just using it internal in same place as a Huawei e5186s-22, fixing it to band 3 (1800Mhz) I have gone from between 5-10Mbps to a rock steady 23Mbps, and peaking at times 30+, I guess to the 9dBi hi gain antenna.
Once I get my 10M external network cable that should boost a fair bit more as I can mount it outside and higher on house, just leaning out of a upstairs window with phone gets 45-50 Mbps. SXT has a advantage over an external antenna in that there is no signal loss over the cable run as it POE network.

In reply to a post by longer:

In reply to a post by Biglee5555:

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

But what speed do you get on mobile broadband please? You didn't say.

I get around 40 down and 30 up, it�s been a life saver to be honest.

70mb here @ peak time keeping this a secret not telling my next door neighbours I let them carry on paying BT and Virgin rip off prices.

If you consider £35 a month for 350mbps cable and phone line a rip off.. I personally don't and I pay nearly £50

I found the phone and connecting via WiFi did seem to limit the speed to about 60Mbps.

Once I got the external antennae and hard wired Ethernet things have stabilised to the below speed



So once you have the Mikrotik SXT LTE mounted outside I would say you should see a good increase.

I have been looking at those products as well, as it's a great all in one solution and as you have said a simple POE connection is all you need. I'll be interested to see how you get on.

Edited by onthenet (Sat 15-Dec-18 12:00:25)

Sorry you sent this to the wrong person - but I hope they recognise this and pick up on it

Well I purchased a Poynting 4G-XPOL-A0001, it was delivered today and made no difference to the speed so it will be going back. I�ll get a mikrotek and see if that�s any better.

If you do get a SXT LTE, you really want to set the band to 3, its the 1800Mhz, this band has so much more throughput, especially where I am and I can only get the good speeds on that band, if its on the other band Three have (band 20 800Mhz), I get quarter of the speed with the thing in exactly the same place, even though the signal is better.
It was trying to do this that I found the web interface for the SXT, the band selection didnt work, what you need is the Mikrotik "Winbox" software (from their website), connect to the SXT default 192.168.88.1, no password (this can be set to something a bit more secure!)
On the left of the app window click Interfaces, then double click the lte1 interface (in the now open new window), and this opens a new window which will does allow you to change band and network mode etc, and with this it does work. Oh and before all this you need to enter the apn "3internet", that does work from the web interface or quick set screen.

Edited by Rolandrat (Sat 15-Dec-18 14:48:30)

In reply to a post by Rolandrat:

If you do get a SXT LTE, you really want to set the band to 3, its the 1800Mhz, this band has so much more throughput, especially where I am and I can only get the good speeds on that band, if its on the other band Three have (band 20 800Mhz), I get quarter of the speed with the thing in exactly the same place, even though the signal is better.
It was trying to do this that I found the web interface for the SXT, the band selection didnt work, what you need is the Mikrotik "Winbox" software (from their website), connect to the SXT default 192.168.88.1, no password (this can be set to something a bit more secure!)
On the left of the app window click Interfaces, then double click the lte1 interface (in the now open new window), and this opens a new window which will does allow you to change band and network mode etc, and with this it does work. Oh and before all this you need to enter the apn "3internet", that does work from the web interface or quick set screen.

Thanks for that much appreciated I�ve just purchased one. Hopefully I should see a speed increase.

The Poynting is really only to allow you to get the antennae outside and hopefully a better signal. I had to go round the house a bit to find the best place outside, even though I have line of sight of the tower.

The drop in the cable, due to it's length, just about balances out the gain of the antennae so if the antennae is in a similar position to the router you will end up with about the same speed but the connection should be more stable.

That's where the Microtek solution should be good although it seems to be limited to 100Mbps download and as I am at that speed already probably no advantage in my case.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Broadband cease to take place tomorrow.

Wow, I've just caught up with this having seen some of your recent posts. I am shocked! But then I've just done a speed test on my phone using Three 4G in my house and it came out at 49.7/14.7. Hmm...

Edit: just tested again and got 60.5/21.9! Ping 39ms though, not quite the 10ms I get on FTTC.
Further edit: Also, much faster than I get through wi-fi on my phone. You are tempting me...

Edited by kasg (Mon 17-Dec-18 20:32:22)

Old fogeys/silver surfers aren't always behind the curve .

I'm convinced I did the right thing, but I'm also prepared for major slowdowns at obvious times like iOS releases and major events that will be streamed by lots of people. The money saved is worth it. I'm running currently on £25 savings per month, and when I drop the landline it will go up to £39pm.

Increased latency can be seen occasionally in real use, showing as around 57ms during tbb speed tests, but even on AAISP FTTC my connection would swap at intervals of a month or two between a base of 15Ms and 22ms.

These forums were tending to hang recently on FTTC anyway. Now a little worse but nothing particularly annoying.

It wouldn't be any good for gaming I suppose, but I don't do that.

Edited by RobertoS (Tue 18-Dec-18 00:49:13)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

I'm convinced I did the right thing, but I'm also prepared for major slowdowns at obvious times like iOS releases and major events that will be streamed by lots of people. The money saved is worth it. I'm running currently on £25 savings per month, and when I drop the landline it will go up to £39pm.

Increased latency can be seen occasionally in real use, showing as around 57ms during tbb speed tests, but even on AAISP FTTC my connection would swap at intervals of a month or two between a base of 15Ms and 22ms.

These forums were tending to hang recently on FTTC anyway. Now a little worse but nothing particularly annoying.

It wouldn't be any good for gaming I suppose, but I don't do that.

Agreed it is tempting I am also considering going mobile only - but wouldn't be with Virgin as I would be chopping the cable too so wouldn't be eligible for unlimited. - so It would be Three and even at £27 that's still a big saving over £70 paid now.

There was a post in this thread I think that said you could go for a £16nn one the upgrade very soon after to the £27 ul/ul/ul at £19 as a current customer. (Retention deal?). I can't verify that, but it would be worth your while to check through the T & Cs, particularly wrt how long you have to change your mind on any Three mobile contract.

IIRC it's fine as long as the goods are still saleable, but in the case of a SIM costing them pennies, if that, that has to mean you can just walk away. They'd never want a SIM back to clear it of any info of yours and assign a new number.

Thanks for the tip - I had a look an a thread on UKHD says the same - If I could't get it I would be happy to pay the £27 - I know the cell where I am moving to is under used - yesterday I was hitting over 100 on 4G when visiting my folks

The mikrotik come today I dont see any speed increase from the mifi modem, I�m already on band 3 even though it shows this as being at 15mhz in winbox.
I need to have a play with it to be honest none of the signal bars on the back light up either, but I�m not sure if they are supposed to yet.

Quick update I can�t get it to go above three bars no matter where I place it in my house or outside, I�ve had it on a line prop above the house still doesn�t make a difference in speed. I�ll try again tomorrow before I send it back. Shame really but I can�t complain going from 3mb ish to 30-40.
The sad things is I live next to a field I can see the mast there�s only one house on the next estate in the way, I�m probably 500 yards away.

Edited by deleted (Tue 18-Dec-18 18:39:52)

Hi,

Are you sure it's a 3 mast you're seeing? Could be any other company.....Just my 2 cents worth.....

Yours,

Yes according to the internet it�s shared with EE but might not be the correct information, I�m going to get a mast tomorrow and do a proper job see what happens.

For me I went from roughly
RSRP: -112
RSRQ: -12
SINR: 2

to

RSRP: -96
RSRQ: -12
SINR: 16

which was good enough to increase from about 20Mbps to max peak so far of 51Mbps, this was sticking the SXE LTE Kit outside. Im about 1 mile from tower, but in a slight dip with taller houses (albeit detached, so plenty of gaps in air space) in the way.
What was really weird is I first installed it roughly where I got the best signal the other day leaning out of a bedroom window, but I just couldnt't repeat this in a fixed position, turns out I literally moved it 3" left a bit and signal improves, I guess it found a slither of better signal though the houses!!

I'd be intrigued what RSRP and SINR figures people get who are getting north of 60+Mbps. I guess my speed is signal related not congestion, although with a lack of anything but ADSL round here, theres hundreds of houses who may be giving up like me and choosing the mobile option.

Well getting 40 meg my RSRP -99 and SINR is 9 and that�s inside the house, I will update tomorrow after I install it outside. It�s strange as there�s probably one roof in my line of site at the end of the field.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to squeeze a bit more, I have a detached garage and on top of that it still doesn�t improve, I�m half the distance away than you are so expect more.

Maybe hanging a line prop out the window isn�t the best test I will update tomorrow.

Im going the same route as you

since i've not gamed in a long time now i've just gotten rid of my FTTC package and will use my hotspot while im at home

getting 60mbps down and 25mbps up currently in my new property

i am tempted by vodafone gigafast being available here but for now i'll hold off and see what others say about the service.

Post deleted by onthenet

I'm getting 100Mbps + and my stats are as below.

RSRQ -3dB
RSRP -89dB
SINR 22dB
RSSI -67dB

Must be a lot closer to the mast than me for those figures, either that the mast is on overdrive!!

I'm exactly a mile from the mast but there is only fields and a couple of houses between it and me.

I think I ought to contact Three and demand some reference fees! LOL

There's a few in here gone for it now.

Well I have been moving the sxt lte round the outside today, it�s work in progress but my best point so far I get 70 Down and 30 up massive improvement over my original download speed of 40 down.
Once again thanks for this thread I�m now on unlimited data and at least 30 meg more in speed and I got £60 cash back from Quidco thanks all.

Edited by deleted (Wed 19-Dec-18 19:10:55)

In reply to a post by Rolandrat:

Must be a lot closer to the mast than me for those figures, either that the mast is on overdrive!!

Or everyone has land based services and dosen't use it much

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

I think I ought to contact Three and demand some reference fees! LOL

There's a few in here gone for it now.

BT Plus as advertised is a 4g router sent to you FOC if your Broadband goes down so seems BT has had the idea as a backup for faults.

SO what's everyones usage so far? and any problems?

Usage, not-a-lot.
Problems, not-a-lot.

Battery usage is the main thing I have to watch, that's all.

I've been running 4G for 18 Months now and this SIM is just behaving the same as the HomeFi SIM, so all good.

Running at about 75GB for the month so far, Windows October update just downloaded @ 3.4GB and Steam updated, mostly Elite, @ 11GB

In reply to a post by 23Prince:

SO what's everyones usage so far? and any problems?

Averaging 10Mbps symmetrical at the moment, which is streets ahead of the 1.6Mbps I get on ADSL
Usage over the last 14 days is ~55GB

Using a Huawei E5577Cs connected to a Draytek 2860 over wifi for WAN2
Planning to get an external antenna for it in the new year and hopefully eke out a bit more performance.

The biggest problem has been shaping my network to keep the kids on the ADSL connection with 4G serving mine and SWMBO's devices plus the TV/Chromecast etc for catchup.

Do you notice significant issues with everyone using the 10Mbps?
With that you should be able to do a couple of Netflix streams at once...

In reply to a post by mooret1972:

In reply to a post by 23Prince:

SO what's everyones usage so far? and any problems?

Averaging 10Mbps symmetrical at the moment, which is streets ahead of the 1.6Mbps I get on ADSL
Usage over the last 14 days is ~55GB

Using a Huawei E5577Cs connected to a Draytek 2860 over wifi for WAN2
Planning to get an external antenna for it in the new year and hopefully eke out a bit more performance.

The biggest problem has been shaping my network to keep the kids on the ADSL connection with 4G serving mine and SWMBO's devices plus the TV/Chromecast etc for catchup.

I know you've spent loads of money on your kit there, but if in the future you are flush and bored and fancy a change I recommend building a Untangle box with multiple WAN connections, Ive used Drayteks for years, ive had about 6 or so over the years but I must say the way Untangle works especially the WAN balancer with my 3 WAN connections is superb. The main thing I like about Untangle is that it doesnt care what IP address devices have, so no need to worry about fixed IP's, and the best bit is you can "Tag" devices with....er... tags, so you could tag all kids devices and then use those tags in the wan balancer to send them all to the adsl connection. You could also then use the tags in the Bandwidth Control, to slow down their youtube, but not yours or indeed block any app. It has the full arsenal of protection systems also. The home license costs about the same as the Draytek Globalview license but you get more protection. If you are used to setting up Drayteks, you will have no problem with Untangle.

Edited by Rolandrat (Fri 21-Dec-18 08:12:14)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Usage, not-a-lot.
Problems, not-a-lot.

Battery usage is the main thing I have to watch, that's all.

So it all sounds like it's working out for everyone - thanks it's worth considering. Do you have your phone plugged in all the time? Or if it's in a dongle or router is that on 24/7?

Normally when I'm at the computer for a while I put the phone on the table near it. (Not for the wifi but for a better mast signal).

I've just been out so the phone is in my trouser pocket. Still gives well over 25Mbps speed from there. /me does speed tests:-

Laptop, phone in pocket
Laptop, phone on table, wifi
Laptop, phone on window ledge, wifi
Phone in hand, me standing near the window
Phone on desk upstairs by the router but not tethered
Laptop, phone on table, USB tethered

Oh I see you use your main phone, Sorry Bob I thought you used another phone or a dongle/router combo. my bad

Looks good all round - I see the desk is the best place

Yep, it's my main phone. I'm not sure in retrospect that was the best thing to do, but it will work fine. I did do the initial tests in a Sony Z3 but then I'd be ~£11 worse off keeping the EE contract going.

Each individual saving I'm making isn't necessary once the FTTC went, but when you add them up it gets meaningful.

Ditch FTTC, £35. Ditch landline £14. Ditch EE £10.51.Total £59.51. 3 Sim, £20. £40 in pocket near as dammit. If necessary for Chromecast to the TV I can simply USB tether the phone to the router upstairs.

When current expenditure, which can only increase, exceeds income as a pensioner, it's worth a try. Worst I have to do is buy a lower allowance Sim from somewhere for such occasions, maybe a PAYG that can lapse between such "emergency use".

I tested Chromecast for a while with this sim in the Z3 in the room and it was fine. In the Huawei there shouldn't be a problem.

I know Virgin Mobile do a PAYG sim where they give you so much data a month and the credit does not lapse. Worth suggesting. Not sure if it's ask good as the 321 on Three.

There is always unknowns like 1pmobile.