People who use "Three" network for their internet

[Gadzy]

Hello,

I posted a few threads a month or so ago regarding ping/latency on my three connection with Huawei router. I have found that the ping or latency is a lot lower when I put it on "3G only" instead of auto or 4G and I don't understand why? I've read articles that 4G mobile signals should produce lower latency and when I used my EE SIM card the latency was actually lower on 4G setting with EE but higher with three and this was using the same Huawei router?

I was just wondering what you think this is

 

[lord filbuster]

It could be because the mast you are using is oversubscribed, a lot of devices are connecting by 4g now, so the 3g channels can be less busy. It doesn't help that Three offer some very cheap unlimited data plan, it just means they are even more busy.
EE has a bigger slice of the 4g spectrum, and I think in general their masts are usually better provisioned to handle larger loads as well, so that might be why EE's 4g was better.

I personally found my latency dropped a little, and my speeds went from 10-15Mbps to over 150Mbs when I switched to EE.

 

[gpuerrilla]

Agree with @lord filbuster - I use Three for my BB and on a good day the bitrates are as they should be, but oversubscribed and lockdown burden means most of the time its underperforming. I cant wait for some masts to offer 5G in the area in the hope people flock to it and let the 4G breath some normal speeds.

 

[WJA96]

Agree with @lord filbuster - I use Three for my BB and on a good day the bitrates are as they should be, but oversubscribed and lockdown burden means most of the time its underperforming. I cant wait for some masts to offer 5G in the area in the hope people flock to it and let the 4G breath some normal speeds.

I don't know why but for some reason I thought you were in the countryside? If that's the case then 5G isn't coming any time soon. An unobstructed 4G signal will travel 10-15km. An unobstructed 5G signal will only travel 500m so it's really only suitable for people with external antennae in built-up areas. Sorry to (possibly) disappoint you. I was at a 5G rollout meeting for my local town in Norfolk where I had been invited by Vodafone to give a 5 minute presentation on my experience of 5G in Salford Quays in Manchester. From our office you can almost touch the Vodafone 5G transmitter. And I duly raved about how great it was. And then in the Q&A session I had to challenge a Vodafone rep who was regaling all the farming folk with tales of 5G hyperfast broadband because he was over-selling it by about 5km of range.

 

[gpuerrilla]

I don't know why but for some reason I thought you were in the countryside? If that's the case then 5G isn't coming any time soon. An unobstructed 4G signal will travel 10-15km. An unobstructed 5G signal will only travel 500m so it's really only suitable for people with external antennae in built-up areas. Sorry to (possibly) disappoint you. I was at a 5G rollout meeting for my local town in Norfolk where I had been invited by Vodafone to give a 5 minute presentation on my experience of 5G in Salford Quays in Manchester. From our office you can almost touch the Vodafone 5G transmitter. And I duly raved about how great it was. And then in the Q&A session I had to challenge a Vodafone rep who was regaling all the farming folk with tales of 5G hyperfast broadband because he was over-selling it by about 5km of range.

Yes you are correct. However there are a couple of rural masts that would be 2miles to me yet on the edge of a town. I was more in the hope of the townies all jumped on the 5G as they would be close to the mast (like you say IF it ever happens) but with all these promises of fast broadband for rural areas and millions dished out - its time they spent some of it!

Probably a broken theory for me but 4G would be ample for my needs if I could get the bandwidth. It goes up to 40Mb, but averages out more like 15Mb. Maybe theres more hope if they upgrade a mast or add a new one in?

 

[WJA96]

Probably a broken theory for me but 4G would be ample for my needs if I could get the bandwidth. It goes up to 40Mb, but averages out more like 15Mb. Maybe theres more hope if they upgrade a mast or add a new one in?

I actually found something out recently that might be worth your while investigating. I was trying to track down an issue with a lovely chap who had installed a Mikrotik Chateau LTE12 with a decent pair of outdoor antennae (the ones that look like big triangular kites) but was clearly only getting two aggregated streams. I went back to Mikrotik in Latvia and they said that as correct because the antennae he was using were 2x2 so two transmit and two receive so two streams. So I did a bit of research and they sell 4x4, 6x6 and 9x9 antennae as well. So I ordered up two more antennae connectors (only two are exposed on the back of the Chateau as standard for some reason) and bought two more antennae and all of a sudden he was pulling in some mega speeds (300Mbps+).

So if you do decide to invest in a CAT12 (4 combined streams) or CAT18 (6 combined streams) 4G system then make sure you get the right antenna to go with it.

 

[Bug One]

I've been in the same scenario and have just ordered a Cat19 4g router (yet to arrive), which should provide 4x4 combined streams with a theoretical data speed of 1600mbps.

I think the category refers to the router, not the antennae. I don't think any category of LTE gives more than 4x4 currently. The fastest I know of is the Cat22 Nighthawk M5. Aint cheap though.

 

[WJA96]

The category refers to the number of aggregated streams the modem can process together. So if you have CAT18/19 then you will have a maximum of 8 aggregated streams for a theoretical maximum throughput of 1200Mbps/1600Mbps downstream and you need enough antennae to pull in those streams. So for a 2x2 modem a 2x2 antenna will do. For a 4x4 modem you need a 4x4 antenna.

Is it the Huawei one you’re getting?

 

[Bug One]

Yes, the B818. Just looking at the description, it says I can add two LTE external antennas. So I take it what they're suggesting using two 2x2 antennas.

Decent antenna look almost as expensive as the damn router. At this rate it would have been cheaper to have bought a flagship phone and use the mobile hotspot.

 

[gpuerrilla]

I actually found something out recently that might be worth your while investigating. I was trying to track down an issue with a lovely chap who had installed a Mikrotik Chateau LTE12 with a decent pair of outdoor antennae (the ones that look like big triangular kites) but was clearly only getting two aggregated streams. I went back to Mikrotik in Latvia and they said that as correct because the antennae he was using were 2x2 so two transmit and two receive so two streams. So I did a bit of research and they sell 4x4, 6x6 and 9x9 antennae as well. So I ordered up two more antennae connectors (only two are exposed on the back of the Chateau as standard for some reason) and bought two more antennae and all of a sudden he was pulling in some mega speeds (300Mbps+).

So if you do decide to invest in a CAT12 (4 combined streams) or CAT18 (6 combined streams) 4G system then make sure you get the right antenna to go with it.

I got the SXT LTE6 so not sure what I can do to squeeze more performance out of it?

 

[WJA96]

Probably not much. There is an LTE12 modem card available as a separate part so you can upgrade the SXT or LHG units but most folks stop at LTE6 because of the 100Mbps network port. There is a very good resale on SXTs so you could possibly sell that and upgrade to the LHGG LTE6?

 

[gpuerrilla]

Probably not much. There is an LTE12 modem card available as a separate part so you can upgrade the SXT or LHG units but most folks stop at LTE6 because of the 100Mbps network port. There is a very good resale on SXTs so you could possibly sell that and upgrade to the LHGG LTE6?

Thanks that's worth a thought!

I would also entertain another unit and run them in parallel. If another SIM deal was not expensive on unlimited data if I could use two networks and blast them and the routers did all the complicated balancing etc that would be a possibility if I wanted a faster connection?

 

[WJA96]

Thanks that's worth a thought!

I would also entertain another unit and run them in parallel. If another SIM deal was not expensive on unlimited data if I could use two networks and blast them and the routers did all the complicated balancing etc that would be a possibility if I wanted a faster connection?

I'll need to check but I think you could plug the SXT into the LHGG for PoE power as well as data and have the LHGG do the load balancing or failing that something like a Mikrotik hAP would easily take the two inputs and combine them.

 

[gpuerrilla]

I'll need to check but I think you could plug the SXT into the LHGG for PoE power as well as data and have the LHGG do the load balancing or failing that something like a Mikrotik hAP would easily take the two inputs and combine them.

Really would be nice especially if I used a competing network alongside 3 so it would offer redundancy and better overall speeds.

 

[Bug One]

I combine a BT copper (FTTC) and Three 4G connection using a TP Link load balancer.

Combining the two connections doesn't give Connection speed 1 + Connection speed 2 = My new connection speed. What I do get is better capacity for carrying multiple connections. So, my kids can now be watching their tablets or playing games and the wife and I can work using TeamViewer, skype, etc while doing teams calls, whilst the ring cameras are running etc, all without the connection locking up.

 

[tsinc80697]

Yes, the B818. Just looking at the description, it says I can add two LTE external antennas. So I take it what they're suggesting using two 2x2 antennas.

Decent antenna look almost as expensive as the damn router. At this rate it would have been cheaper to have bought a flagship phone and use the mobile hotspot.

I've tested a B535, B818, CPE Pro V1 & CPE Pro V2 over the last few weeks as I've had enough of my BT Infinity topping out at 15mb.

I 100% can't get 5G so the CPE Pro V2 went back as it was near £400. I've tested the B535 & B818 with and without an external antenna (Poynting XPOL-2). Statistically it made a difference but actual download/uplaod speeds were negligible so it will be going back.

I've actually found the CPE Pro V1 to be the best, even using it's internal antenna against the B535/B818 with the external connected.

Seem to average between 60-120mb down and 20-30mb up. Much better than my ADSL but the latency is terrible for gaming. Not too noticable in some games but others I can't use 4G for them. I'm going to move down to a cheaper £20 a month ADSL package and keep my Smarty 4G £20 a month as well. The ADSL for gaming and 4G for everything else.

Only issue with any of the Hauwei routers is that they have terrible wifi signal and the powerlines I've tried don't seem to like the wiring in this house. Going to go for a mesh of some sort.

 

[Bug One]

Only issue with any of the Hauwei routers is that they have terrible wifi signal and the powerlines I've tried don't seem to like the wiring in this house. Going to go for a mesh of some sort.

I use a TPLink load balancer to combine the signals from the 4G modem and BT ADSL (4G via ethernet to the WAN and BT via a wifi bridge then into the WAN), then that goes into a Deco M5 mesh via LAN, and to some outlying areas via powerline. I don't need the wifi connection from the Huawei, just 4G to LAN.

When I get a chance, I'm going to run some network cables between floors, will help no end.

 

[tsinc80697]

I use a TPLink load balancer to combine the signals from the 4G modem and BT ADSL (4G via ethernet to the WAN and BT via a wifi bridge then into the WAN), then that goes into a Deco M5 mesh via LAN, and to some outlying areas via powerline. I don't need the wifi connection from the Huawei, just 4G to LAN.

When I get a chance, I'm going to run some network cables between floors, will help no end.

I’ve not looked in to load balancing before so these may be very nooby questions but;

I assume the max speed is whichever is the quickest of the two. How/what decides between using which connection?

If you want to force the ADSL connection for a specific IP or port, can you?

Does the load balancer automatically switch between connections if one drops out during a request. Or if it takes X milliseconds to get a response?

Annoying where the 4G router needs to go for the best speeds is the other end of the house from where the ADSL router/media cupboard live.

I tried powerlines but for some reason they struggle to get more than 10mb down but manage to get the full 30mb up.

 

[Bug One]

I’ve not looked in to load balancing before so these may be very nooby questions but;

I assume the max speed is whichever is the quickest of the two. How/what decides between using which connection?

If you want to force the ADSL connection for a specific IP or port, can you?

Does the load balancer automatically switch between connections if one drops out during a request. Or if it takes X milliseconds to get a response?

Annoying where the 4G router needs to go for the best speeds is the other end of the house from where the ADSL router/media cupboard live.

I tried powerlines but for some reason they struggle to get more than 10mb down but manage to get the full 30mb up.

Max speed doesn't seem to improve much. The reason I use two connections is the number of simulatneous connections my home broadband is having to cater for - which is now much improved.

I'm the same - I have the 4G connection on the top floor, in the window and it gets much better speed, but my copper connection comes in on a different floor. Hance why I use a wireless bridge for the BT connection into the load balancer.

Because I'm using deco to manage all of the connections, it can be a bit hit and miss. Many of the options in the load balancer are redundant, because it's only passing the connection to one client (the deco M5).

 

[thewanted]

Is anyone using Three's 5G Hub as a fixed-line broadband replacement? If so, how does it perform for you?