Anybody on Three?

jpaul · 4 Sep 2018 at 21:15

doodah said:
and streaming the most basic YouTube content can be a struggle.

yes - you say maps are bad too,
But do three throttle utube content ? below is a 2016 comment

We use video optimisation to change the way video content is streamed to your device to make it play better. We use it to improve your streaming experience if our network is busy where you are.

youtube uses adaptive dash - so perhaps three have additional controls to drop it back to lower resolution and poorer framerates

is there any data on total bandwidth capacity each provider has for London ... is three immediately down. ?

jpaul · 5 Sep 2018 at 20:23

new sim arrived from three - no signal at home - so I'll have to try wifi calling.

Nonetheless Vodaphone looks like it would have better coverage, speaking to my neighbour,
but unlike all the other service providers do not have a PAYG product at a reasonable price
... Vodaphone want 20p/min versus three/ee/o2 c. 3p/min ... so a premium product ?

neil_g · 5 Sep 2018 at 22:36

I'd avoid voda on their cs (or extremely lack of) alone.

doodah · 5 Sep 2018 at 23:17

Vodafone seem to be fine providing you don't need to deal with their CS

.

jpaul · 6 Sep 2018 at 07:51

OK .. contacted customer service in giffgaff once in 10 years (softphone access to voice mails failing) so has never been a big issue,
complaining about coverage would, I guess, fall on deaf ears .
.... but why the government show now awareness of that issue, unlike broadband hysteria

Shocky-FM · 6 Sep 2018 at 10:38

I'll be sticking with vodafone, they threw in Sky Sports for 12 months on Now TV for the £20 I'm currently paying.

Can't really say no to that.

EDIT: Changed my mind, that Sky Sports Mobile app is horrible, if it was through Now Tv it would have been useful. Oh well.

jpaul · 10 Sep 2018 at 15:18

following earlier comments about poor phone reception, found a a 2018 ranking of phones receptions

was not aware that the iphone6 death grip persists, it is 4db down on 900 band ... so could be 30% less range than samsung s8?
(6db is theoretically 50% down on distance .. logarithmic curve?)
now need to find someone with a galaxy to see if it is good in nomo land.

huawei p10 / pixel are low too, not to mention iphone7 .... do they really compromise the antenna design for the packaging/form-factor ?

Dirk · 18 Nov 2018 at 10:26

So been scratching my head about the utterly pitiful performance of the Three network recently. This in Guildford this morning:

Gave them a ring. They "identified an issue that they were previously unaware of and it will be fixed by Friday"

Bear in mind that speeds have declined since the first 4G antennae were activated some two and a half years ago anyway and have always been slow!

Still no VoLTE for phones that don't begin with an 'i' or weren't brought on contract. And yet in India VoLTE is as common as SMS. Go figure!

MrRockliffe · 18 Nov 2018 at 10:33

I always mocked Vodafone, but after getting a workphone that uses their network, I'm genuinely shocked how good the signal is by me. I consistently have signal when my personal phone (EE) doesn't. Not only that, EE is highly congested, so when internet is slow around London with EE, I just grab my work phone and happy days, speedy internet with great coverage.

My girlfriend uses Three, and has the same thing - often has signal when I don't

Dirk · 22 Nov 2018 at 14:12

I think i broke Speed Test:

Can't be right, surely?

Pyr0m@nI@]{ · 22 Nov 2018 at 14:34

Dirk said:
So been scratching my head about the utterly pitiful performance of the Three network recently. This in Guildford this morning:

Gave them a ring. They "identified an issue that they were previously unaware of and it will be fixed by Friday"

Bear in mind that speeds have declined since the first 4G antennae were activated some two and a half years ago anyway and have always been slow!

Still no VoLTE for phones that don't begin with an 'i' or weren't brought on contract. And yet in India VoLTE is as common as SMS. Go figure!

Mine is pretty bad while I'm at work

I've no idea why it picked Amsterdam and I had to try running it 3 or 4 times as the latency test kept throwing up errors

Dirk · 24 Nov 2018 at 06:49

Pyr0m@nI@]{ said:
Mine is pretty bad while I'm at work

I've no idea why it picked Amsterdam and I had to try running it 3 or 4 times as the latency test kept throwing up errors

I've given up hope of ever getting a reliable or consistent reading from any speed tester on a mobile connection. I don't think it's possible for anything other than a fixed line. Fast.com seems to be better but results still vary wildly.

Since complaining to Three they've had a service notification up on their website for this area. Originally it said 'known issues', which has now changed to 'improvements to the service in this area coming soon'.

Pays to complain!

Pyr0m@nI@]{ · 24 Nov 2018 at 09:45

Dirk said:
I've given up hope of ever getting a reliable or consistent reading from any speed tester on a mobile connection. I don't think it's possible for anything other than a fixed line. Fast.com seems to be better but results still vary wildly.

Since complaining to Three they've had a service notification up on their website for this area. Originally it said 'known issues', which has now changed to 'improvements to the service in this area coming soon'.

Pays to complain!

I complained shortly after receiving my sim.
They reduced my monthly to £7.

Dirk · 16 Dec 2018 at 09:02

Can everyone put down their mobile devices, get out of bed and go shopping, or whatever it is people do on a Sunday? Every week at this time the contention is so bad that i can't get any data speed at work.

You can watch Netflix on your fixed line. I'm just trying to Reddit. Please and thank you.

hux · 16 Dec 2018 at 14:38

Dirk said:
I think i broke Speed Test:

Can't be right, surely?

Perfectly fine, best I've had was 104 down 44 up 32ms ping.

Dirk · 27 Mar 2019 at 12:24

I saw 4G+ for the first time yesterday. Not in the area i need it the most unfortunately, but hopefully the coverage will improve. Did manage to run a speedtest which was fluctuating, but always 40Mbps+.

dymetrie · 29 Mar 2019 at 20:50

As someone that works with mobile network operators on a site management basis then I'd not recommend 3.

They share sites and infrastructure with EE, but are much less proactive (EE pursue individual sites as well as shared sites quite heavily) and whilst they have a big chunk of spectrum, bolstered by their takeover of UK Broadband a few years ago, they don't have the same spread that EE have.

EE also have the advantage that they are now part of BT so have priroity bandwidth on their fibre backbone (through Openreach) whereas all the other operators are essentially renting bachaul bandwidth from either BT or Virgin (Vodafone being the exception as they have their own fibre network but it's moderatley limited).

Slam62 · 29 Mar 2019 at 20:57

Three have been fine for me, switched from ee who were also good.

Clarkey · 30 Mar 2019 at 09:54

Been on three for a while, probably move away when out of contract. 4g is great at home get about 70/40. But whenever I go to a busy densely populated area 4g more often than not just doesn't work at all despite strong signal and you have to go to 3g if you want any data. Not really good enough.

Kainz · 30 Mar 2019 at 12:03

Been with 3 for many years and haven't really had issues with them, just fast speeds. The only real issue I did have was when I went to Rome last year and their 'Going abroad' system never kicked in so directions wise my wife and I were 'lost' in a big city until finally rescging our hotel and using their WiFi. Turned out my old account was so old that it was broken and 3 sorted it after 12hrs.