Have you checked what the MTU is on Smarty and the other networks you are comparing it to? Keep the router the same and swap the SIMs and see what the largest packet size you can send without it fragmenting is. I suspect the Three MTU is lower and it's causing issues.
****The Official 5G Home Broadband Thread**** (Three/EE/Vodafone/etc)
- Thread starter TallPaul_S
- Start date
Soldato
Ah I didn't mate that's a good idea. Next time I get a spare hour up the ladder I will
Thanks all - sorry my posts are a bit all over the place so apologies for any confusion. Just wanted to conclude this little saga with a final update from Smarty complaints, this is in response to my findings/testing. They now seem to have gone back on their previous word saying VPN usage is allowed to now they can't assure compatibility.
"Regrettably, we cannot assure the compatibility of SMARTY SIMs with VPN usage, as they are not intended for such purposes. I apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. If you intend to persist in using your SIM in this manner, you might consider exploring alternative service providers."
Basically, go somewhere else is how I read that.
Cheers.
Honestly! Customer support nowadays is all like this it seems, they CBA to take on anything that doesn't have a directly obvious fault or solution.
"Our internet service is not intended for being used as the internet."
Soldato
Pretty much yep!!
Hey all,
We are moving house soon and Virgin have said we will be without internet for just over a week as they need to come and cable us up etc.
My partner works from home, so I’ve been looking into a mobile solution. I’m currently with IDMobile on my phone (which I think is Network Three?) and it has good 5G reception at the new property.
What do I need? From a bit of research I’ll need to buy a MiFi device and then stick a rolling monthly data SIM in it?
Any recommendations? It’s only going to be for a week or so, so I want to try and do this as affordable as possible!
We are moving house soon and Virgin have said we will be without internet for just over a week as they need to come and cable us up etc.
My partner works from home, so I’ve been looking into a mobile solution. I’m currently with IDMobile on my phone (which I think is Network Three?) and it has good 5G reception at the new property.
What do I need? From a bit of research I’ll need to buy a MiFi device and then stick a rolling monthly data SIM in it?
Any recommendations? It’s only going to be for a week or so, so I want to try and do this as affordable as possible!
Don
Lowest cost solution is just to use your mobile as a wireless hotspot. Don't need to buy anything then
Unfortunately, my partner is with O2 and their signal is effectively useless (it barely has Edge at the new property). I’m alright
but I don’t work from home…
Soldato
If you can get away without 5g for the week or so, the Huawei E5785-320a can be had for just over £100. It's a portable cat6 4g+ mifi device.
Soldato
Unfortunately, my partner is with O2 and their signal is effectively useless (it barely has Edge at the new property). I’m alright
What device/handset is it? Most modern device support two SIMS one physical and one ESIM. You could get a months worth of Unlimited Lyca (EE) for £20 and they do ESIMs for immediate delivery via email. You just tell the device/handset to use the second SIM for data, and off you go.
They have an iPhone 13 Pro - Would that work? I’ve not looked into that actually, but if you can have it hotspot the data from the other SIM, whilst the other SIM also works that would be great!What device/handset is it? Most modern device support two SIMS one physical and one ESIM. You could get a months worth of Unlimited Lyca (EE) for £20 and they do ESIMs for immediate delivery via email. You just tell the device/handset to use the second SIM for data, and off you go.
Soldato
Yes that would be perfect, just set the ESIM as the data connection once you've downloaded it, and then turn on the hotspot, job done.
Check coverage in the area for EE obviously first.
Last edited:
Wow that’s incredible!! Thanks so much for the suggestion - it looks like this would work great!Yes that would be perfect, just set the ESIM as the data connection once you've downloaded it, and then turn on the hotspot, job done.
Check coverage in the area for EE obviously first.
When you have dual SIM, when you go to setup the hotspot, does it ask which SIM you want to use for the hotspot?
My usage of dual sim in the past (on android) is that the phone has 1 sim for voice and text and 1 sim for data. The wifi hotspot its self isn't tied to a sim card, it's just a wireless access point which can use whatever sim you've set the phone's data to. Might be different on iPhone though.
Last edited:
Soldato
Once you've told the iPhone the preferred SIM for data it will use that when you turn on the hotspot. You can set it up in a more granular fashion, but for the use case involved no need to do that.
Hi All - I have been with Three 5G since October 2022 and I am trying to get to the bottom of why my speeds have changed so dramatically. I have posted the below on Three community site and thought I would post in some dedicated 5G forums to see if anyone else is experiencing the same, I know they are as the Three community site is getting new posts weekly about this -
Three are refusing to admit they are throttling connections yet multiple users have posted on the community site about this and stating they can not only hit 120mbps download when they used to hit much higher, these are different people in different parts of the country, being impacted exactly the same. My response I posted was this -
Hi All, just to say I am in exactly the position. I live right next to the 5G mast in my area, literally 30meters away. When I first went with three 5G broadband in October 2022, up until November 2023, I was hitting anything from 600 to 900mbps download, all the time, even peak hours, I still have all the results recorded on my ookla speed test app/account.
In November, Disney plus stopped loading on my TV stating I was out of region, nothing I did/changed could get it to load so contacted three, who advised they had made some changes to my account and restart my router and try again. Sure enough disney loaded, but from that point on my download speed is stuck at 120mbps, won't go any higher. It jumps to 400mbps when the speed test starts and then quickly drops down to 120mbps and stays there, clearly they are throttling and limiting the download speed.
I contacted them on multiple occasions over the next few months and they were giving me all sorts of excuses and said they had changed settings and to try again, and another said they were working in the area but it would be back to normal in a month. I speed test every week and nothing has changed, stuck on 120. I have had a month refunded and a month half price but all this time they are still claiming they do not limit the download speeds which is obviously absolute rubbish.
As someone else has mentioned, when I do a speed test on my phone, and I'm also with three, I still hit the usual 500mbps, nothing has changed with my phone, just my broadband from November onwards.
At the time I googled and couldn't find any posts on this so thought it was just an issue in my area, but after a speed test earlier, stuck on my 120, I googled and found this. Now I know this is happening to others I am going to contact them again and keep up the fight!
For those that want to leave three, due to the speed decreases, who are stuck in contract, they agreed with me that I could leave with no charges due to the change in service. When you first sign up, you get 30days no quibble trial to see how it works and what speeds you get and you can send back if you not happy. So, if the speeds you are getting now, do not match the ones when you first got it, you can argue this and say you want to leave without a charge!
A further update to this - I made three send me out a brand new replacement router, so I could rule out that being an issue. I have a new router, new sim card, and nothing changed. exactly the same stuck at 120mbps. You can clearly see in the screenshot below of my speed tests, the moment they made the changes at their end on the 14/11/23, and from this point on my speed has been throttled to 120mbps. I have also added a screenshot of speed tests from Feb 2023, compared to speed tests from Feb 2024 and the differences are striking. My speed used to vary, as non throttled speeds should between 400mbps up to 900mbps depending on the time of day as you would expect. Now, my download speeds have no variation at all, 7pm on Saturday evening at peak times, 120mpbs, 3am on a Sunday at the quietest time, 120mbps.
I would like someone from Three to respond and admit that they are throttling speeds on the home broadband now.
Speed Tests showing the dramatic drop in speeds the day Three changed the settings on my account at their end, and from this day forward (14/11/23), I am now stuck on 120mbps.
Speed Tests from Feb 2023 when my download speeds were not being limited and extremely impressive!
Speed tests from Jan/Feb 24 showing download speeds limited to 120mbps, up to 6 times slower than they were 1 year ago!
Does anyone have any comments of thoughts on this?
this is what has happened to me also, im now limited to 120 down and 50 up there reply (which was after a 3 week investigation) was to much traffic and everyone is switching to three, been told there is nothing they can do
Soldato
Three £5 business sim (thanks for the heads up btw folks ) new modem in a m2 to eth case.
I'm just about connected to all the available bands in my area - depending on the time of day I see north of 200 on the download but the upload is generally quite poor <20.
Until three upgrade to 5GSA, I guess this the best I'm going to get.
) new modem in a m2 to eth case.I'm just about connected to all the available bands in my area - depending on the time of day I see north of 200 on the download but the upload is generally quite poor <20.
Until three upgrade to 5GSA, I guess this the best I'm going to get.
Soldato
You know that sometimes connecting to all the bands can decrease your speeds, especially upload with NSA. Have you done an isolation test on each band then, checked the three pairs?
Soldato
I haven't tried isolating the individual bands yet. Tried temporarily disabling NSA with same bands connected as the image above, download/upload drops 50%.
Soldato
Disabling NSA isn't going to improve anything with Three, try the band isolation and paring and see which one yields the best/most consistent results for you.
Three £5 business sim (thanks for the heads up btw folks
Is that deal still on the go or am I being blind? They ended it recently right? It's like a tenner + vat now?