Poor Netflix Speed on 3 Home Broadband

Hi all.

Took delivery of a Huawei B535 router from Three earlier today. I had no problems setting it all up and the handful of speed tests I've done both via ethernet and WiFi have showed speeds of 35-40mbps down and 28mbps up.

However, I've just sat down to watch Netflix and got lots of buffering and low-quality video, the likes of which I've never experiences with Virgin Media. I've just done a couple of speed tests within the Netflix app on the Nvidia Shield TV (via ethernet/homeplug) and it's showing my connection speed as a mere 2-3Mbps!!

Presumably this must be some sort of network issue but does anyone have any experience of this?

You should try a speed test on this site as well. Your speeds on mobile can change a lot as time goes on as load changes as people use their devices.

I have done and they're basically the same as speedtest.net. Don't seem to have any problems with YouTube or Amazon Prime on the same device.

Edit: if I ping Netflix, I get 100% packet loss. Some problem between me and Netflix, evidently..

Edited by deleted (Fri 10-Jan-20 20:20:20)

Have you tried fast.com which is provided by Netflix and see if it's same story?

Yeah, earlier that was giving me garbage speeds too. I've subsequently rebooted the router and the speeds are far more respectable albeit not quite on a par with the speeds I've had from the tester on this site and speedtest.net etc.

My Nvidia Shield TV is connected by a cable albeit via Homeplug. Previously that would top out at about 50Mbps (ancient DEVOLO units) but now seems to be topping out under 20Mbps. Can't see why it would have dropped so much by virtue of switching between the ancient VM Superhub and this new Huawei B535?

As an aside, I've noticed that the IP addresses I'm now getting identify me being in various places in the South East of England (and now Leeds) but I'm in Cardiff. I suppose that's just the way it works with 3?

Have you tried netflix on another device? If so, is the in app tester similar to the Shield tv device. I believe you can test it on the android/IOS Netflix app if not already.

Yep test the netflix speed on another device connected to the b535 to prove whether it might be the shield or the devolo. And try the shield on wifi and see what speed that gets, again to prove whether it might be the devolo or not. process of elimination. It sounds like it is probably related to the devolo that the shield is plugged into.

Edited by Ewok (Sat 11-Jan-20 10:39:07)

I'd also recommend changing your DNS settings as the THREE DNS is really limiting. I've found using 1.1.1.1 as primary and 208.67.222,220 as secondary works wonders for finding websites far quicker.

I would get out while you can. Three's network has been in a steady state of decline since at least April 2019. Just see the proof on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/three_is_broken

I haven't time to spend on a twitter thread, but I doubt if it will in any way present a balanced view. Meaning "proof" is rather over-stating its position.

I have been entirely on Three since the end of 2018 and haven't noticed any decline at all.

I assume you didn't find that thread until after 2 July 2019 :-

In reply to a post by mb1:

I've been reading this thread with interest since purchasing a Three SIM and a Huawei B525 router.