Three 5G Home Broadband

[welshname]

As above, anyone got this? What’s it like reliability wise?

I know of 1 person with it but they don’t work from home so can’t really vouch for constant use and it’s availability. In terms of latency for gaming it’s been rock solid though he said.

Currently with Sky and the best I can get in this area is 80/20. With Three 5G I can get around 200Mbps.

 

[Rojer]

Me and my friend both have it in different towns, he has been perfect, we were perfect until the storm a few weeks back and now it's s**t. Thinking about cancelling tbh.

 

[seb]

Me and my friend both have it in different towns, he has been perfect, we were perfect until the storm a few weeks back and now it's s**t. Thinking about cancelling tbh.

how s**t?

 

[Rojer]

Keep getting drops during the day, you run a speed test and the ping is crazy and the download is terrible, or it won't even load a web page. It's funny because my phone is also on 3 5G and tends to work better. I can see the 5G tower from my window and the router is in the best place. Have already replaced the SIM card and done all the usual stuff so not sure what's going on, if it's because of the storm or an actual issue. When it does work it's good, the speed is around 7/800 on cable and 2/300 on WiFi device dependent.

 

[Gavin.]

Keep getting drops during the day, you run a speed test and the ping is crazy and the download is terrible, or it won't even load a web page. It's funny because my phone is also on 3 5G and tends to work better. I can see the 5G tower from my window and the router is in the best place. Have already replaced the SIM card and done all the usual stuff so not sure what's going on, if it's because of the storm or an actual issue. When it does work it's good, the speed is around 7/800 on cable and 2/300 on WiFi device dependent.

Not in a Huawei 5G router is it? One of these: https://consumer.huawei.com/en/routers/5g-cpe-pro/

I had loads of issues with the thing on Vodafone.

 

[Rojer]

It is indeed yes. Not sure if other modems are available?

 

[Gavin.]

I don’t think there are any othered yet no. I’d read a few report of issues with them, i binned it off in the end and went with a 4G TP-Link one but that’s as there was no 5G in its location anyway.

I wouldn’t rule out the mobile router being the issue.

 

[koi]

With landline I was only getting 17mb so got Three mobile broadband. Could only get 4G even though I get 5G signal on mobile.

Download speeds 90mb dropping to 30mb at peak times. Also working from home and it's been pretty reliable and only went down completely 2 times over the year.

 

[welshname]

Not in a Huawei 5G router is it? One of these: https://consumer.huawei.com/en/routers/5g-cpe-pro/

I had loads of issues with the thing on Vodafone.

Issues with the router or it’s signal quality?

Router comes with 2 expansion ports for external antennas. As my network cabinet is in my loft and I use my own WiFi APs I would be mounting an external antenna, and having the router in the loft. Anyone know if the router will run in bridge mode?

 

[DrR]

I’m with three mobile, my phone barely works, wouldn’t trust them to by my sole broadband provider, no chance.

 

[welshname]

I’m with three mobile, my phone barely works, wouldn’t trust them to by my sole broadband provider, no chance.

I was with them for several years on a SIM only plan before I moved to a company phone. Zero problems during that time.

Also a mobile phone is inherently mobile and would have a vastly different experience than a static router would.

However none of the above is relevant to the thread…cheers though.

 

[Rojer]

Yes you can run it in bridge mode, mine has the option to enable it.

 

[welshname]

Yes you can run it in bridge mode, mine has the option to enable it.

View attachment 1573992

Well that’s good. Can use my own kit for everything else

 

[Rojer]

The signal quality is fine with my router so I would imagine the problem is with the router itself.

If I get another router would bridge mode work as a pass through like a modem only mode, so it just provides the data and the other router can handle the rest?

 

[Gavin.]

Issues with the router or it’s signal quality?

Router comes with 2 expansion ports for external antennas. As my network cabinet is in my loft and I use my own WiFi APs I would be mounting an external antenna, and having the router in the loft. Anyone know if the router will run in bridge mode?

it appeared signal, slow speeds basically and used to stop all together, reboot the device and speed went back up to full speed for a while then eventually dies off again. I found a forum post with loads having the same issue. Seemed much better when I swapped to another router.

 

[welshname]

The signal quality is fine with my router so I would imagine the problem is with the router itself.

If I get another router would bridge mode work as a pass through like a modem only mode, so it just provides the data and the other router can handle the rest?

That’s exactly what bridge mode is.

 

[Rojer]

Welcome to 3... Turn my phone off WiFi and use the same 5G tower as the router and it works perfectly...

 

[Rojer]

On my phone data.

 

[dangerous dave]

I have it running at the moment.

the standard router aerial is poopers so I run a ponyting one or whatever it’s called, about £70 on Amazon.
I can get speeds from 10-50mbps and it’s good enough to game on.

you do find that your speeds yoyo, but I read that the towers switch bands or reset each day or night.

a quick reboot or 3 in the app and it latches on to the fast band again.

I point my aerial towards a worse tower, but it’s a faster connection.
I also have an android app that allows me to pick the bands but I don’t mess with it very often.
Get a aerial, it’s decent enough

 

[welshname]

I have it running at the moment.

the standard router aerial is poopers so I run a ponyting one or whatever it’s called, about £70 on Amazon.
I can get speeds from 10-50mbps and it’s good enough to game on.

you do find that your speeds yoyo, but I read that the towers switch bands or reset each day or night.

a quick reboot or 3 in the app and it latches on to the fast band again.

I point my aerial towards a worse tower, but it’s a faster connection.
I also have an android app that allows me to pick the bands but I don’t mess with it very often.
Get a aerial, it’s decent enough

On 5G that’s all you’re getting?

 

[dangerous dave]

I’m not lucky enough for 5g where I am and live next to a wood making signal a little interesting..

The high winds have blown my little mast about and my signals dropped lately ranging from 1-3 bars out of 12 or whatever is on the app. That still returns me 30-50 when it’s running well..

I’ve seen as high as 70 with a relatively poor signal but it’s way more than I need..

My Vodafone at home is 5mbps inside, a bit faster outside.. when I get to the other side of the woods my phones 4g his 100mbps.. when my phone hits 5g it’s over 250mbps, but like I say, I live in the middle of nowhere near woods.
When I ran the three broadband at first it was useless, the aerial has made me forget about getting a line fitted. I just need to get it fitted better.

 

[GrahamS]

Had their 4g product at the start of lockdown. Had to cancel it and replace with virgin media as it persistently went down with no explanation, no time for resolution and a complete absence of customer service. Speed was good when it worked. Colleague had it too and also had terrible outages.

 

[antnee]

I am considering Three's 4G version to replace my Virgin Media connection. Has anyone moved recently?

 

[dangerous dave]

I am considering Three's 4G version to replace my Virgin Media connection. Has anyone moved recently?

Is your virgin media on 4g?

i have it and it’s fine but signal is everything, a router sat on a window sill won’t be enough.

In my post above I was using a Poynting omni antenna on the roof with the Three router.

I’ve added a shield to my antenna to reduce noise and interference which has made it extremely stable.

im gonna swap out to full directional antenna when I can be bothered to climb on the garage.

if you want the best connection, you might have to chase it.. 4g broadband isn’t always plug and play.

you can have a super strong signal on a busy mast and get poor speed.. you can end up needing to use Cell and tower locking to select the fastest mast.. which your router may or may not allow.

I got a 4g Mikrotik router to do this costing £200, there’s a 5g version but that’ll be £500…

It’ll go 2 ways for you… you’ll plug in the gear and get great speeds, or welcome to my world and make it work for you.