Traffic management on Three

Does anyone know what traffic management is done on Three's 15GB mobile broadband package.

Was trying to do a whole bunch of updates on my brothers computer using his Three broadband. Speed test showed 1.2Mbps but Windows updates and Open Office wouldn't download at more then ~50kbps.

Windows downloads always seem a little unpredictable speed wise, especially if a series of critical patches has just come out. It's as if differing files that Windows downloads come from different servers/routes so some come down quicker than others. I'm not convinced it's traffic managed though.

The only thing that is consistently slow is iTunes, downloading a movie (1.2GB) takes forever as it never seems to hit much more than 1.5Mbps to 2Mbps leaving bandwidth free for other stuff, again not sure if traffic managed but the "cap" in speed is consistent, not that I use it often.

Depends who you believe...

There are various (and somewhat shrill) conspiracy theories going around the internet that Three give new customers full bandwidth, wait for the cooling off period to expire then throttle them right down...

I'm a Three customer (15GB/mo dongle) and from my own experience I'd have to say that if they are doing anything like that then it must at least be adaptive because at off peak times I get very good download speeds.

In fact I suspect it is much more to do with simple overloading of local mobile base stations at busy times. Also, distance from base would have a lot to do with it. I get about 2.5meg down and 1.2 up off peak at home on a good day. I go to a friend's house about a mile away and I was quite surprised to get 4.5 down (which is the highest I've ever seen it).

It's all anecdotal I know, but as I say my 'feeling' is that there isn't really anything sinister going on, just simple overloading at peak times.

Anyway, if you think Three is bad, you should try Orange (or whatever daft name they're using now)...

Maybe your cell is 3.6meg like ours, but your friend lives nearer to a 7.2meg cell

I've always assumed that slowdowns and variability in speed is pretty well exclusively down to the fact that there's not a lot of bandwidth to go around and that I'm "lucky" to be one of only a few people using it.

Hi,

Download speed is governed by many variables from your bandwidth to the load on the servers you're pulling material from.

I Tunes and the like are busy sites with finite amounts of bandwidth and will slow down dependent upon the number of users accessing their servers at any given time.

In respect to 3 network speed, your using a dongle and speed is dependent upon receiving a strong and consistent signal across a radio link. Many things impact on signal strength, including location, height, other buildings or even trees in the line of sight between your dongle and the mast itself.

I use the 3 network to run all broadband connectivity in an area that 3 says there's no connectivity and I get a consistent 6.2 - 6.9 Mbps downstream and 1.5 Mbps upstream irrespective of time of day,

This compares very favourably with the max 1.2 Mbps achievable on BT's clapped out overhead copper wire circuits.

The installation comprises a 15dB 3G antenna, E122 dongle and D100 router in the loft, connected to an Ethernet cable feeding the computer network and gives wireless connectivity throughout the house and office space for laptops and iPhones.

The trick to getting this sort of connectivity is knowing how to manipulate available kit to best advantage.

Be Well,

CHRIS

I've just started with 3 mobile recently, I get 5 solid bars of reception on the ZTE MF 112 all the time, however speed is very sensitive to dongle location. A slight twist to the vertical axis or slight lean can make a huge difference to speed.
I recently got my highest speedtest @ 6.98 down and 1.61 up with a 75 ms ping.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1235463678.png
I'm going to get the Huawei E367 very soon and hope the multiple antenna and new chipset provide a more stable speed due to the HSPA+ technology.

I'm definitely replacing my land line with 3g mobile when my line contract expires. I'll be working towards a 3g router set up with additional antenna if needed.

I'm also presuming that 3 are going to update their network this year to HSPA+ because they've just released the new dongle and the forthcoming Samsung Galaxy S2 also supports HSPA+.