Three 5G Home Broadband

I just thought I would detail my experience with Three's new 5g service.

I'm located in Westminster which is covered by all 5g carriers but Three was offering it cheaper than anyone else at £35 a month. The website estimated a download speed of 400mbps which is a massive improvement over the 16mbps I get on my copper line. The router arrived today with a tote bag which had a 5g branded mug, a cookie and a tea bag.

The speeds were bad. I was getting 0.7mbps down and 15mbps up. The 5g LED was on and the routers page showed 5 bars for 5g. I tried all the window sills , moved any objects/curtains out of the way but that never helped. As i understand, you need direct line of site to a 5g node but I cant see any around me.

My phone gets around 200mbps on Vodafone's 4g network so I'll probably end up getting a sim from them and my own 4g router.

Going to return it as soon as I can!

That looks like you may have the same issue as this guy: https://www.raczylo.com/blog/journey-with-three-5g-l...

I've got a 5g router from Three arriving tomorrow. I'm hoping I won't have the same problem!

I've had a read through his post but I never actually tried to download anything or use OpenSpeedTest like he did. I did speak to Three earlier and the representative said that there is a network issue in my area. He said to try again tomorrow. I checked my post code on http://www.three.co.uk/support/network_and_coverage/... which is showing issues in my area.

My area of London NW2 is around 1Mbps on 4G, and a friend got on 5G but was still getting below 10Mbps. I suspect there is backhaul issues to the masts and connections need to be updated. Hard to say, but London for sure is not a fast network 3 experience.

EE now do an unlimited 5G SIM, as do Vodafone.

That issues checker just isn't reliable. It always says there are issues for my postcode, the signal/bandwidth is fine.

I think you're right.

I have just tried OpenSpeedTest and im getting 350mbps and youtube is showing a connection speed of 180mbps. I also installed a vpn on my phone and again getting 100mbps (probably limited by the VPN). I dont really want to pay for another subscription for a VPN to add onto the router.

Im not really sure where to go from here. Would Three be able to do anything ?

Have you read that blog post that Monkey linked ?

Yes, I have which is why I tried Openspeed test and used a VPN. They havent been able to get anywhere with Three but I will give them a call. If they cant resolve it, Ill just return it and go with Vodafone as I can get over 200mbps on their 4g network.