Advice needed re broadband options

[kosymodo]

Hi folks

I'm after some advice re my broadband options...

I have Three 4G mobile broadband, using a Huawei B535 router. This had been performing fine, but recently has become a right PITA. I'm sure it's not a signal issue, as my iPhone and the wife's Android phone are both with Three, and experience no signal issues. It's therefore surely something to do with the router.

I'm at the point where I'm considering ditching the mobile broadband (even though I'm mid-contract) and looking at fixed broadband. I'm lucky in that our new build is fully FTTP-ready, so I have this as an option.

What I'm wondering is whether anyone can recommend a 4G router I might try as a last ditch effort to give Three a chance by slotting my SIM in. It would have to be <£100.

If I do look elsewhere, and go down the FTTP route, I'd probably go BT Full Fibre 100. If anyone has this service, I'd appreciate your views.

 

[kosymodo]

It’s often not about signal strength but the number of users on your cell. If the cell tower has 100 capacity and 50 people use it then each user gets 2. 100 users and everyone gets one, 200 users everyone gets 0.5.

Because of Lockdown you may have been experiencing much higher contention at your cell, plus you may have actually wanted to use it more and just noticed some slowdown more than you otherwise would.

Routers don’t degrade. As far as I’m aware, Three don’t shape traffic for mobile data so you should get as much speed as the cell has available and I very much doubt you’ll see any benefit to swapping routers as ultimately they all suck in the same signal and process what they get.

As for BT, FTTP seems to be their new ‘thing’ and where I am, in semi-rural Scotland at the moment, it’s not delivering the promised 910Mbps because of contention. I think BT have been shocked at the take-up of the top service, and how much people are using it and how closely they are monitoring the delivered speed vs. the promised speed so we currently have Openreach installing extra capacity because, as the Openreach man with a shovel told me “It’s gone mental - EVERYBODY’S getting the 910Mbps service”. It told him that £20/month extra to go from 76/20 to 910/110 was a complete no-brainer.

Thanks for your reply @WJA96 however I feel that it's not quite as you've described...

The telling thing is that when I experience difficulties with the WiFi, I can switch my phone to mobile data (4G) and have no problems at all. Since both the router and my phone are on Three, using 4G, supplied by likely the same mast, I'm sure this isn't an issue of contention.

Swapping routers is an idea I had to determine whether the Three-supplied Hauwei is at fault, or whether this is a network problem (though not contention as per my comment above). I could save myself a lot of money if a router swap is advantageous, rather than taking out a second contract with a different provider, and having to pay both my exisiting Three contract and the new provider's contract. Hence the request for suggestions on what router I might like to try and purchase. I've seen TP-Link Archer MR400 (AC1200) or MR200 (AC750) routers available, but don't know whether they're recommended.

As for BT FTTP, I couldn't stretch to Full Fibre 900 because of the cost constraints mentioned above in having 2 contracts. On the Full Fibre 100 package (150/30) my stay fast guarantee would be 100Mbps, which would be adequate right now.

 

[kosymodo]

Go FTTP and never look back. FTTP is different than all other broadband technologies as in once you have it you never ever have to think about broadband again as it works.

Thanks! I'm leaning towards FTTP now, it's just trying to find the right provider. 1Gbps sounds great, but, as mentioned, I have costs to consider for the remainder of the Three contract

 

[kosymodo]

If I was to go down the FTTP route, I've already seen the headline speeds from BT, but I'm also interested in the offerings from Aquiss. The things that gets to me is the difference in speeds, 150/30 for BT, 76/17 for Aquiss. I know the reasoning behind this - BT Retail at present are the only provider big enough to buy direct from Openreach, whereas other providers, buy via BT Wholesale. At present the wholesale price other providers pay for the higher speed packages is higher than the retail price that BT are selling at, therefore they're all at a disadvantage. My question though is whether the increased CS available through Aquiss is enough to outweigh the cost difference? What are your thoughts?

 

[kosymodo]

You will likely never have to deal with CS with FTTP, except when you switch providers and then some of them seem to mess it up as the processes for moving between FTTP providers isn't defined by the regulator yet just Openreach. That should all change soon though.

Aquiss were the smarter buy for your level btw until Covid hit as they were running an amazing promotion of the first 3 months for £7, meant they were cheaper than BT Retail for the 1st year. They like most companies appear to be not running any aggressive promotions now due to Covid.

AFAIK, Aquiss are still offering that deal, so do you think it's a no-brainer to go with them? I see I'd have to buy myself a router if I go with them

 

[kosymodo]

If it's FTTP then just plug the cable from the ONT into the B535. It will work just fine.

Yeah I could do that, but I'm not at all convinced about the coverage of the B535, even with my Linksys RE6400 extender

 

[kosymodo]

If you want better coverage then add an access point. Either Unifi or maybe one of the TP-Link Omada ones. I've used Unifi extensively but the Omada ones are a bit cheaper and and I've got no reason to believe they won't work just as well.

Would an access point perform better than an extender? I must confess to being a bit in the dark about the difference

 

[kosymodo]

Hi I have the same problems I get 125mb down and 30 up on a good day but still slow page loading and connection issues. Download HUActrl from play store and check Which band your tower is on it has 3 bands, band 1-3-20 set it to band b1-b3. See if this helps if not try a VPN which is what I have to use if it's starts playing up.i have the same router and many others are having the same issues. Don't set it to just one band or you'll lose 4g+.

I've just today moved to using Aquiss FTTP, so no more Three MB for me. Very happy with the Aquiss offering so far, early days though! That's using the B535 as a router until my new one arrives. Now need to convince SWMBO that we need to drop some ethernet cables throughout our new build