throttling on 3 payg

[Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,889
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I have just looked at my phone settings & weirdly my connection is UMTS & not HSDPA is this my proof that I am being throttled? I am a very heavy data user last month used 18gb but still topped up another £15 & turned it into a data bundle as per usual . When will my speed speed up again? As 3 are saying NOWT! I am prepared to top up 1 more time at thees slow speed's but not again after that as it is "claimed " unlimited for £15.

Any/all help gratefully received

Speed test

1.64mbps down
0.72 up
87 Ms Ping
Just incase it helps

Comments

  • Step666Step666 Posts: 1,284
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    I have just looked at my phone settings & weirdly my connection is UMTS & not HSDPA is this my proof that I am being throttled?
    No.
    If you were being throttled, you'd appear to be connected to the network same as normal, you'd just not get the full speed.
  • Thine WonkThine Wonk Posts: 17,190
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    I have just looked at my phone settings & weirdly my connection is UMTS & not HSDPA is this my proof that I am being throttled? I am a very heavy data user last month used 18gb but still topped up another £15 & turned it into a data bundle as per usual . When will my speed speed up again? As 3 are saying NOWT! I am prepared to top up 1 more time at thees slow speed's but not again after that as it is "claimed " unlimited for £15.

    Any/all help gratefully received

    Speed test

    1.64mbps down
    0.72 up
    87 Ms Ping
    Just incase it helps

    UMTS and HSDPA are the same thing. UMTS means Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, and it effectively means Third Generation technology.

    Three doesn't have anything non HSPA+ or HSDPA. Have you checked the coverage map to see if you're in an ultrafast area?

    1.64 isn't that bad, have you tried other speed test servers as they vary.

    You don't even say what handset you have, the handset might not even support 3's ultrafast dual carrier technology, which means you will get slower speeds.

    By all means see if you can get unlimited PAYG from anybody else that's faster, you won't but you can try! There's a slim possibility that Giffgaff might be faster, worth a try.

    Finally, they aren't throttling you. However when a lot of users are using the cell site speed varies. You'll never get maximum speed due to the nature of radio technology and the fact you're sharing the capacity with loads of other people.

    There is going to 100's of users on your cell site sharing computing and bandwidth resources, as PAYG you may well get a lower traffic priority as most networks do this. Then your data hops over to a regional aggregation point which is shared by millions of users, from there it's fed back to the core network which is shared by millions of users, then it breaks out onto the internet . There can be congestion points at any part of that depending on the time of day and customer usage, which will vary.

    If you're doing P2P then they throttle, but otherwise it's just whatever the best speed is that you can get.
  • WelshBluebirdWelshBluebird Posts: 740
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    Thine Wonk wrote: »
    Three doesn't have anything non HSPA+ or HSDPA. Have you checked the coverage map to see if you're in an ultrafast area?

    Not sure if that is true.
    I sometimes see my Galaxy S4 display "3G" rather than H (for HSDPA) or H+ (for HSPA+). It doesn't happen often, or in many places, but it certainly does happen.
  • Thine WonkThine Wonk Posts: 17,190
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    Not sure if that is true.
    I sometimes see my Galaxy S4 display "3G" rather than H (for HSDPA) or H+ (for HSPA+). It doesn't happen often, or in many places, but it certainly does happen.

    That is true, it's just that 3G is the symbol shown when no data is passing through the connection and the channel is not active. When you're using the connection it should display H or H+.

    Three doesn't have any plain old 3G cells any more, they are all HSDPA at the very least, but mostly dual carrier HSPA+

    In any case if they were throttling they don't have any ability to push you back to older technology, throttling would be done by trafficsense, which simply uses TCP throttling techniques to slow your connection down. It doesn't push you back to an older gen 3G technology.
  • WelshBluebirdWelshBluebird Posts: 740
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    Thine Wonk wrote: »
    That is true, it's just that 3G is the symbol shown when no data is passing through the connection and the channel is not active. When you're using the connection it should display H or H+.

    Three doesn't have any plain old 3G cells any more, they are all HSDPA at the very least, but mostly dual carrier HSPA+

    In any case if they were throttling they don't have any ability to push you back to older technology, throttling would be done by trafficsense, which simply uses TCP throttling techniques to slow your connection down. It doesn't push you back to an older gen 3G technology.

    Ahh that makes sense.
    In a similar vain does that also apply to H and H+? As quite often when I am not doing anything it will show H, but once I start using data it switches to H+.
  • Thine WonkThine Wonk Posts: 17,190
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    Ahh that makes sense.
    In a similar vain does that also apply to H and H+? As quite often when I am not doing anything it will show H, but once I start using data it switches to H+.

    Exactly, UMTS is the whole system and spec for 3G technology. Within UMTS there are various technologies like HSDPA, HSPA+ etc but it's not one or the other, all the connection technologies and enhancements sit within the UMTS framework, which is the whole design of the system.

    If you have HSPA+ you'll normally see just H until you're actually using the connection. I guess you might see a 3G if you're connected to a cell that doesn't have HSDPA support, but I don't think Three have any of those. I'm not an expert, but that's how I understand it. Certainly any throttling wouldn't involve changing the 3G connection technology.

    It would be interesting to see what phone the OP has, and whether it supports "ultrafast" (DC-HSPA), or even the slower HSPA+. If it doesn't support either, and is a HSDPA device then that would explain why the OP is getting much slower speeds.

    In the real world you only get a fraction of the maximum theoretical speeds that the technology supports. The maximum would only be achievable on a very quiet cell, with zero backhaul congestion and when you are right next to the cell. Anything 'real world' begins to spoil the perfection, such as interference, congestion, walls, trees etc.

    If the OP's phone is HSDPA the maximum possible speed is 14.4 Mbps but in the real world you only get a fraction of that.

    If the OP's phone is HSPA+ up to 21Mbps then you might get twice that speed as long as the backhaul is there.

    If the OP had a DC-HSPA 42Mbps capable device they could potentially double it again. I typically get about 10-20Mbps on a contract phone on Three with Dual Carrier and I live close to the cell and it's generally not that congested.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,889
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    Holly shoot, I appear to have opened a can of worms... sorry for that but the incoming info is way more plain & simple than I could get from my google search .

    Phone is a galaxy ace2 & does state on box hsdpa 14.4mbps but I assume this is Max. & I do get the H logo when transferring data

    But THANKYOU for all the input, you all have been grrreat.
  • Thine WonkThine Wonk Posts: 17,190
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    Holly shoot, I appear to have opened a can of worms... sorry for that but the incoming info is way more plain & simple than I could get from my google search .

    Phone is a galaxy ace2 & does state on box hsdpa 14.4mbps but I assume this is Max. & I do get the H logo when transferring data

    But THANKYOU for all the input, you all have been grrreat.

    Haha sorry:o

    So yes it only supports a possible maximum of 14.4 in the best of conditions. So you'd have to be right next to the cell site and have perfect everything to get that. Typically you'll get less than 3 Mbps on any network with the Ace2.

    If you had a HSPA+ device it should be faster, and if you were in an 'Ultrafast' area and had a Dual Carrier device like the HTC One, iPhone 5 or Samsung S4 then you'd get even faster speeds.

    Networks sometimes give priority to contract customers too. So your speeds probably are typical for PAYG on a HSDPA device, and you'll probably find about the same on all networks. You might get more on some networks than others, worth trying a Giffgaff sim or a T-mobile sim, but remember to check and see if they are unlimited or 'limited unlimited'.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,889
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    Thine Wonk wrote: »
    Haha sorry:o

    So yes it only supports a possible maximum of 14.4 in the best of conditions. So you'd have to be right next to the cell site and have perfect everything to get that. Typically you'll get less than 3 Mbps on any network with the Ace2.

    If you had a HSPA+ device it should be faster, and if you were in an 'Ultrafast' area and had a Dual Carrier device like the HTC One, iPhone 5 or Samsung S4 then you'd get even faster speeds.

    Networks sometimes give priority to contract customers too. So your speeds probably are typical for PAYG on a HSDPA device, and you'll probably find about the same on all networks. You might get more on some networks than others, worth trying a Giffgaff sim or a T-mobile sim, but remember to check and see if they are unlimited or 'limited unlimited'.

    THANKYOU so much your info has been invaluable, taking all the silly little things they do re:priorotising heavy use and the fact I'm probably just getting too used to everything being done now now now then I suppose a bit is my fault but I do like 3 so will stick with them & hold out for a fab new phone when there 4g comes out.

    Many thanks for the brain picking. :D
  • Prof-xProf-x Posts: 297
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    Just like to add

    Recently signed up to one plan. I had tested three with a Payg sim beforehand.

    On the day my contract sim arrived I did a speed test on Payg then immediately after in the same phone and location did a speedtest with the contract one plan sim.

    Payg was 1.4Mbps
    Contract was 7Mbps

    Both in an iPhone 4S

    Since getting my iphone5 this increased to around 18Mbps - so the mast clearly has capacity but seemed to heavily throttle the Payg speed.
  • Thine WonkThine Wonk Posts: 17,190
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    All operators prioritise, usually MVNO's (virtual networks) get lower priority than direct network customers, PAYG often get lower priority too. This happens on most networks, if usage is light though your PAYG will get better speeds, it's not a throttle it's just traffic priority.

    Prof, now you're getting ultrafast. If you had a PAYG iPhone 5 you'd get much faster than that 1.4 you got before.
  • lee18xxlee18xx Posts: 2,971
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    Sorry to play devils advocate but I used to get 19/20mbps on three pay as you go in the tkwn i worked. And practically The same on contract depending on time of day/network congestion.

    When I worked for them a few years ago we were told that prepay customers are treated equally with regards to network access.... No priority system ;-)
  • Zee_BukhariZee_Bukhari Posts: 1,335
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    could it be that if a cell site is experiencing high usage or congestion is a problem, contract customers get priority over PAYG?
  • Thine WonkThine Wonk Posts: 17,190
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    could it be that if a cell site is experiencing high usage or congestion is a problem, contract customers get priority over PAYG?

    That can be the way it works, but it depends on the network how they want to do that. I don't know if Three do give priority to contract over PAYG when the cell site is congested, all I know is some networks do.
  • Prof-xProf-x Posts: 297
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    I will do another test, this time with Payg in the iPhone 5.

    I know my local mast does get congested. The results I listed above were at around 4pm. At 9pm the speed slows to between 3Mbps and 7Mbps
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