'3' mobile internet suddenly gone all slow?

MarkDavis · 28 May 2012 at 19:35

Been using the hotspot function on my Galaxy S2 (The One Plan) for my laptop, desktop etc, for the last few months and its been faultless.

Over the last few days, I've noticed that the speed is abysmal - torrents feel like they're being throttled, and even normal web pages are sluggish to load.

I've pulled down about 90gb of data in the last month, and wonder whether this could be the cause, or are 3 just having problems at the moment?

osc89er · 28 May 2012 at 19:40

There are reports in other threads that 3 are starting a throttling scheme.

thep02 · 28 May 2012 at 19:42

osc89er said:
There are reports in other threads that 3 are starting a throttling scheme.

This is the 1st report from a one plan customer though, is that proper contract phone one plan or sim only because they don't allow tether.

Attu90 · 28 May 2012 at 19:45

MarkDavis said:
I've pulled down about 90gb of data in the last month, and wonder whether this could be the cause, or are 3 just having problems at the moment?

90gb

, i wouldnt be surprised that they have put a cap on you.

If your doing that much downloading dont you think you should really get a "proper" internet connection ?

That said my connection on my phone is also very slow tonight so maybe they are having problems.

MarkDavis · 28 May 2012 at 19:57

Attu90 said:
90gb , i wouldnt be surprised that they have put a cap on you.

It was an exceptional month. I clean installed everything on a laptop and desktop which included some of my Steam library. Some of these games are 8-9gb each, so its not difficult to hit 90gb as a one off. I've also Spotify'd the entire house through a network, but I can't imagine that that would tip me over the edge.

I could understand if it was month after month, but they've nuked me after 1 month of high usage!

MarkDavis · 28 May 2012 at 20:01

osc89er said:
There are reports in other threads that 3 are starting a throttling scheme.

I just spoke to 3 customer services.

They have 100% confirmed that they have implemented a policy of traffic management between 3pm and 12 midnight for ALL customers who use a certain amount of bandwidth (they didn't say how much). Interestingly, they've said they've had quite a few complaints about this.....

Even basic internet browsing speeds are abysmal. It's like back to the days of dialup where text on a web page loads first, with the graphics / pictures lagging about 2 seconds behind.

YouTube is unusable. Even streaming podcasts via Samsung KiesCast are unplayable.

Thieving *******s!

Supposed 'All You Can Eat' data plans are useless if you can only download at 5kbps. They sold this on the basis that there was NO fair usage policy, so as far as I'm concerned, if they throttle me on the basis of my usage, then they're breaching the terms of the contract and misleading everyone who has signed up to the One Plan on this basis.

There is NO WAY, I'm renewing my contract.

Found a couple of threads from people with similar issues:

0.02mbps!!!!
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.u...-Internet-quot-all-you-can-eat-quot-contracts
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=26601614

bigtoygun · 28 May 2012 at 20:07

MarkDavis said:
I just spoke to 3 customer services.

They have 100% confirmed that they have implemented a policy of traffic management between 3pm and 12 midnight for ALL customers who use a certain amount of bandwidth (they didn't say how much). Interestingly, they've said they've had quite a few complaints about this.....

Even basic internet browsing speeds are abysmal. It's like back to the days of dialup where text on a web page loads first, with the graphics / pictures lagging about 2 seconds behind.

Thieving *******s!

Unless they sort this out, there's no way I'm renewing my contract.

Same slow speed here 20Kbs Glad still on PAYANDGO off to T mobile.

gizmoy2k · 28 May 2012 at 20:12

Take it you have no option for a landline solution or you would be using it?

Im not surprised this has stared to come to excessive users, 90GB is a large amount

I dont think 3 would ever have envisaged this as being used for you entire house internet provision 24/7

Dont renew but you know you wont find anyone who would give you anywhere 9gb nevermind 90gb for the same kinda price,

muon · 28 May 2012 at 20:15

MarkDavis said:
...

Thieving *******s!

Supposed 'All You Can Eat' data plans are useless if you can only download at 5kbps.

There is NO WAY, I'm renewing my contract.

..

Enjoy finding someone else who will allow you to use a mobile data connection at such high levels.

Mobile data is exactly where high usage users have an obviously severe effect on others who use that mobile cell tower.

Emlyn_Dewar · 28 May 2012 at 20:16

90gb... Jesus.

pezlet · 28 May 2012 at 21:34

I'm having the same problem, got "the one plan" and connection has gone mega slow.. dial up slow... Will give 3 a call tomorrow..

JAMAL · 28 May 2012 at 22:18

To be fair 90gb is taking the ****!

megakid · 29 May 2012 at 08:55

JAMAL said:
To be fair 90gb is taking the ****!

I agree it is a quite a lot but if they say unlimited, no fair usage policy then they're asking for it. But I thought you weren't allowed to tether with the All You Can Eat data plans?

wellibob · 29 May 2012 at 09:14

90 gb. My lord your lucky they let you still live in this country. Glad I'm not on 3 with you on there....

matthab · 29 May 2012 at 13:01

Im not to fussed. My connection has been stable and fast all the times. My peak usage is about 2gb a month.

But 90gb, why are you moaning? Many ISP's wont even let you do that.

maun · 29 May 2012 at 15:04

And to top of them now putting in Traffic shaping, ive just had a text off them saying my Contract is going up by £1.25 a month

smit101 · 29 May 2012 at 15:20

I haven't noticed any throttling myself yet, I'm also on The One Plan which allows unlimited Tethering, I've probably downloaded well over 10GB this month as I've been catching up with some Steam downloads. I'm not on a particularly busy cell site though, and I tend to keep any large downloads outside of peak hours.

It's all very well people saying you shouldn't be using that much data via the Tethering of a mobile phone, but if you live in a non fixed line broadband area like I do, then what choice do we have? I've also got a 15GB per/month MBB contract with 3 but 15GB doesn't go that far these days, especially if you are a Steam/origin user, many game downloads are 8GB+, also game patches can be huge in size, BF3 for instance prompted me to download a 4GB patch recently and The Witcher 2 Enhanced Edition patch is over 10GB! :eek:

not to mention youtube, iplayer and various other streaming media services which all use up lots of bandwidth.

Three offered a solution with The One Plan Tethering for people in my position, but it now looks like they're going back on their word. Admittedly, 90GB in the op is extreme, especially at peak hours so maybe they haven't much choice but to implement this throttling. I'll carry on doing any major downloads outside of peak hours and hope they leave me alone, will let you know if I notice any throttling.

413x · 29 May 2012 at 17:11

I'm using 3 for the same thing as you, nearly signed up to a 24 month contract, Luckily I didn't, I'm on PAYG

I used 20gb last 30 days

I would like to hear how much you can use before throttle kicks in, I don't mind too much as it's my only option, but just want details

Skully · 29 May 2012 at 17:34

Lots of people on Twitter unhappy with three. I might dig my contract out later and try to cancel.

muon · 29 May 2012 at 17:37

Lot's of people unhappy, but unless they want to go to T-Mobile and pay £36 a month, they have no where to go.

In the long run this will benefit three, their data speeds to the majority of customers will improve loads.