You are right that it is showing Band 3 here and now, with LTE -103.0dBm. DL 1824.2 MHz, UL 1729.2 MHz.

Figures from Android App "LTE Discovery", in a Huawei P10 Lite. On Friday I will also be getting a Three MiFi, but of course I probably won't get much info out of that. The speeds on its wifi will be interesting compared to my phone either USB-tethered to my ASUS DSL router or purely as a hotspot. I always run it as a hotspot these days but I'm putting security cams in with cloud storage, hence the MiFi router on its way.

I'm sure when I'm out and about I see Band 20, but maybe I am misremembering. I'll check some time .

With those speeds you are close to the maximum of 5mhz of LTE, so you are probably the only person on the cell site!

Some of the time I probably am the only person using Three data on that cell - I do notice periods when the max speed drops, which I assume is contention from a couple of other users.

A couple of neighbours use EE from the same mast for home broadband - that can cope with more users and is faster, but costs significantly more than I pay.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

You are right that it is showing Band 3 here and now, with LTE -103.0dBm. DL 1824.2 MHz, UL 1729.2 MHz.

Yes, Three obtained (due to competition rules) some Band 3 spectrum when Tmobile and Orange merged to form EE.

Figures from Android App "LTE Discovery", in a Huawei P10 Lite. On Friday I will also be getting a Three MiFi, but of course I probably won't get much info out of that. The speeds on its wifi will be interesting compared to my phone either USB-tethered to my ASUS DSL router or purely as a hotspot. I always run it as a hotspot these days but I'm putting security cams in with cloud storage, hence the MiFi router on its way.

I'm sure when I'm out and about I see Band 20, but maybe I am misremembering. I'll check some time .

Many of the Huawei devices can do VoLTE (Voice over LTE) - normally known as 4G voice calling (and marketed as 'SuperVoice' by Three) but it is different per network. Try making a call and see if the logo stays on 4G to test during the call.

Band 20 on EE and Three is only available to telephones that can make VoLTE call - but many networks can detect data devices (such as MiFi or USB dongles) and let them connect.

Several independent calculators confirm my 37mbps maximum usable capacity for 5mhz of LTE spectrum - shared with all users on the cell site sector.

In reply to a post by sheephouse:

Some of the time I probably am the only person using Three data on that cell - I do notice periods when the max speed drops, which I assume is contention from a couple of other users.

That makes sense. Depending on your antenna position and location you might get some Band 3 coverage which if you have a device that can do Carrier Aggregation can make a useful difference (CA means channel bonding, so 5mhz + 15mhz for Three).

A couple of neighbours use EE from the same mast for home broadband - that can cope with more users and is faster, but costs significantly more than I pay.
Yes, EE doesn't do unlimited but they have a lot more radio spectrum capacity, so speeds can be higher in good radio conditions.

The only Three signal available in my locality is band 20 - we only got that less than 2 years ago, before that there was no signal at all. I'm hoping they will add band 3 at some point, but as there aren't many customers here I guess it is unlikely!
There are still significant parts of the Forest of Dean with no signal from any carrier, so we're lucky having the choice of Three and EE both with good strength signals.

The operators are trying to fix black spots but are having problems with planning permission and land owners.

Good to know you have some service!

Three's LTE service, can I ask what is the top speed attainable that they supply if everything was perfect ?.

Just wondering if its my phone or LTE that's limiting my max speed to 118mb exactly.

In reply to a post by toe:

Three's LTE service, can I ask what is the top speed attainable that they supply if everything was perfect ?.

Just wondering if its my phone or LTE that's limiting my max speed to 118mb exactly.

You're not going to get anything more than 120mbps on three, max I got was 114 & 32up in 2017 on a new cell tower.

I'm peaking at 150mbps, especially when downloading from Steam servers,

That's the max the Three router can go at, just wondering if I bought a CAT6 router would I get any more.

Try sticking it in a phone first, and see, the new iphones can get more than that, I had 202Mb in Copenhagen a few weeks back, wish I could get that in the UK here!