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Why is 3 mobile broadband so slow?

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I'm sick and tired of 3 and their mobile broadband.  I began using the service a couple of years ago when it first started and it was pretty good, but when I did have issues I found them difficult to resolve with customer services.

I then had a break from it and started using it again at the beginning of last year.  It was much worse than when I had previously used it and things progressively got worse.  Customer services were just as difficult to deal with as they had been before.

Then it got to the point where I could only stay online for around 30 seconds before it disconnected.  3 informed me that my dongle was incompatible following a recent upgrade.  I bought a new dongle and the service was better, much better than it had been.  After a couple of months I decided to take out a contract.

The first 10 days were fine, then the problems started - heavy throttling which a software app called netmeter picks up.  Because of my previous experiences with 3, plus the hundreds and hundreds of other dissatisfied 3 customers who have made their thoughts known online, I couldn't help but think that 3 deliberately boost a new customer's speed, in order to lessen the chances of them cancelling.  Maybe that's not the case but subsequent research online has discovered that many other customers have witnessed this pattern too so it's all very strange.  Anyway, the service was terrible and once again, customer services too difficult to deal with.  It's a call centre in India and the staff are poorly trained and scripted so I now always deal with the Executive Office if possible.

customer services are so difficult to deal with they should come with a health warning

3 mobile broadband Service continued to be bad despite repeated assurances that it would improve.  I was given several dates from which I should have seen an improvement but never did.  Apart from the first month, August 2010, I haven't paid any monthly payments because it's been so bad, but when I have been speaking to 3 and been informed of a credit, nobody has seen to it that the billing department or system is made aware of this - 3 times I have been cut off because of unpaid bills, which should never have been billed.  In total, I had to call them 16 times - 7 the first time, 5 the second time and 4 the third time - to get these unnecessary issues resolved.

The Executive Office told me that 2 local masts would be upgraded in December.  They gave me a start date and said it would take a maximum of 2 weeks.  Service was appalling after customer services had confirmed that both were completed.  When I complain to 3, they seemed to boost my speed for anything between a few hours and a few days.  It becomes how it should be.  What nobody at 3 seems to comprehend is that I don't want it for a few hours here and a few days there.  I want it as much as possible and I don't want to have to keep asking for it.  Now, yet again it's playing up because it's being throttled so hard that too many people are chasing too little resources.  I have to constantly connect and disconnect, which means pulling the dongle out, plugging back in, waiting an age for it to scan and pick up a signal, then go again.  Each time I do this, I presumably push out someone else and when they reconnect, someone else loses out - all because our ISP has systematically failed to improve and cannot service its customers. 

The internet is rife with horror stories regarding mobile broadband and it is my feeling that the ISPs use a business model of low price and high volume - stack 'em high and flog 'em cheap.  This business model is not conducive to good service; quite the opposite.  Oh, and when customer services are so difficult to deal with they should come with a health warning.

By: Sick and tired of 3


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First Prev 1/6 Next Last

Chris

Chris

@sheny - don't move to EE from 3, just as bad. I've got both, both are honking!
03/05 Chris
-1
Sheny

Sheny

I've been with 3 fifteen years, for the last two years its got slower and slower, now I barely get 4/5 mbs and sometimes only 1, regardless of time of day. Changing to EE tomorrow, they have become a total joke recently.
01/04 Sheny
1
Dizzle dazzle

Dizzle dazzle

Don't do it smarty owned by 3
11/02 Dizzle dazzle
0
Fedupwiththree

Fedupwiththree

Since upgrade three is rubbish
16/01 Fedupwiththree
1
Sandy A

Sandy A

So it is not just us. Broadband speed plummeted at start of November and has not recovered. They are very keen to sell Home/Mobile Broadband as an effective alternative while at the same time closing down their 2G/3G service pushing everyone on to 4G. Needless to say more people using 4G means slower service for everyone and they are not providing 5G in this area. What the Three - Vodaphone merger will accomplish, if anything, is anyone's guess.
16/11 Sandy A
0
JackTar

JackTar

Oh God,I hear you!! Same here!!
08/08/23 JackTar
1
Robert

Robert

Ranger, we heard you the first time mate.
05/04/23 Robert
3
Ranger1221regnaR

Ranger1221regnaR

3 UK Mobile Broadband is most definately messing with customers speeds! I too have been a long time customer, and have noticed that whenever 3 do work in my area, the rssulting speeds are slower than previously, or are boosted for a few days to a week, then return to dialup speeds on 4G. When I switched routers to test this (I use a Netgear Nighthawk 2 normally, but bought a cheap Chinese router to test a theory), I found that I had good and stable speeds for a week(ish) just after putting my sim into the new cheap router, but then dropped off to even worse than dialup. When I returned my sim to my Netgear router, I got to see some very high speeds, again for a week, then 3 sent a message to my router to say they were doing work in the area, and again my speeds plummetted and have not recovered. This has been going on for over 3 years, and no matter where I have moved, the same happens all the time - conclusion - 3 practice speed capping, and speed throttling, and almost certainly are over-subscribed - seems every business jumped on the over-subscription band-waggon in the UK - stack 'em high, get them in, lie to them about the network! 3 UK does not deliver reliable connections or speed, so switching to SMARTY (yes another 3 network using product) for half the price. If I can't get the speeds with my 4GX Router (2Gbps) I paid a lot of money for, I might as well save on the bills.
05/04/23 Ranger1221regnaR
2
Ranger1221regnaR

Ranger1221regnaR

3 UK Mobile Broadband is most definately messing with customers speeds! I too have been a long time customer, and have noticed that whenever 3 do work in my area, the rssulting speeds are slower than previously, or are boosted for a few days to a week, then return to dialup speeds on 4G. When I switched routers to test this (I use a Netgear Nighthawk 2 normally, but bought a cheap Chinese router to test a theory), I found that I had good and stable speeds for a week(ish) just after putting my sim into the new cheap router, but then dropped off to even worse than dialup. When I returned my sim to my Netgear router, I got to see some very high speeds, again for a week, then 3 sent a message to my router to say they were doing work in the area, and again my speeds plummetted and have not recovered. This has been going on for over 3 years, and no matter where I have moved, the same happens all the time - conclusion - 3 practice speed capping, and speed throttling, and almost certainly are over-subscribed - seems every business jumped on the over-subscription band-waggon in the UK - stack 'em high, get them in, lie to them about the network! 3 UK does not deliver reliable connections or speed, so switching to SMARTY (yes another 3 network using product) for half the price. If I can't get the speeds with my 4GX Router (2Gbps) I paid a lot of money for, I might as well save on the bills.
05/04/23 Ranger1221regnaR
2
Ranger1221regnaR

Ranger1221regnaR

3 UK Mobile Broadband is most definately messing with customers speeds! I too have been a long time customer, and have noticed that whenever 3 do work in my area, the rssulting speeds are slower than previously, or are boosted for a few days to a week, then return to dialup speeds on 4G. When I switched routers to test this (I use a Netgear Nighthawk 2 normally, but bought a cheap Chinese router to test a theory), I found that I had good and stable speeds for a week(ish) just after putting my sim into the new cheap router, but then dropped off to even worse than dialup. When I returned my sim to my Netgear router, I got to see some very high speeds, again for a week, then 3 sent a message to my router to say they were doing work in the area, and again my speeds plummetted and have not recovered. This has been going on for over 3 years, and no matter where I have moved, the same happens all the time - conclusion - 3 practice speed capping, and speed throttling, and almost certainly are over-subscribed - seems every business jumped on the over-subscription band-waggon in the UK - stack 'em high, get them in, lie to them about the network! 3 UK does not deliver reliable connections or speed, so switching to SMARTY (yes another 3 network using product) for half the price. If I can't get the speeds with my 4GX Router (2Gbps) I paid a lot of money for, I might as well save on the bills.
05/04/23 Ranger1221regnaR
0
Ranger1221regnaR

Ranger1221regnaR

3 UK Mobile Broadband is most definately messing with customers speeds! I too have been a long time customer, and have noticed that whenever 3 do work in my area, the rssulting speeds are slower than previously, or are boosted for a few days to a week, then return to dialup speeds on 4G. When I switched routers to test this (I use a Netgear Nighthawk 2 normally, but bought a cheap Chinese router to test a theory), I found that I had good and stable speeds for a week(ish) just after putting my sim into the new cheap router, but then dropped off to even worse than dialup. When I returned my sim to my Netgear router, I got to see some very high speeds, again for a week, then 3 sent a message to my router to say they were doing work in the area, and again my speeds plummetted and have not recovered. This has been going on for over 3 years, and no matter where I have moved, the same happens all the time - conclusion - 3 practice speed capping, and speed throttling, and almost certainly are over-subscribed - seems every business jumped on the over-subscription band-waggon in the UK - stack 'em high, get them in, lie to them about the network! 3 UK does not deliver reliable connections or speed, so switching to SMARTY (yes another 3 network using product) for half the price. If I can't get the speeds with my 4GX Router (2Gbps) I paid a lot of money for, I might as well save on the bills.
05/04/23 Ranger1221regnaR
-2
pissed off

pissed off

3 mobile what a load of slow shite
16/02/23 pissed off
2
conned by Three

conned by Three

I have the latest Zylex NR5 103E home broadband with a good signal (blue not green) but speeds are usually 10mb/s at best but now are only 2.5mb/s. Three promise the world with the hope of 5G but throtttle speeds on 4G. Can't wait for the contract to end.
21/01/23 conned by Three
2
Sebastian

Sebastian

I have been with 3 mobile data for years. Every year it is getting worse. A couple of days ago in the middle of Edinburgh I could not even connect to pay for my car's parking online let alone getting g 5g! At home today I can hardly connect. The speed is so slow that it takes ages to even search for some simple matter. The company 3 must really reexamine their whole service infrastructure to find out why they cannot provide a reliable modern high quality Internet connection. I am now changing to gifgaf because my son is very pleased with the service with much much better connection than 3.
23/07/22 Sebastian
4
bob west

bob west

yep it seems most businesses have decided screw the customer and just give us the money. 3 is definately one of them. I live in Birmingham and the 4g mi-fi service across the city is getting slower almost daily. July 2022
10/07/22 bob west
3

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