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Are 3 throttling now? |
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#1 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Glasgow
Posts: 10,276
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Are 3 throttling now?
Some feedback needed after a friend had some difficulties this weekend.
He has iPhone 4S on the One Plan and usually achieves around 2.5 - 4Mbps at his home address which is good enough for his needs. Two days ago he got a new computer and needed to download some updates and programs and he noticed after an hour or so his speed had reduced to 0.12Mbps. It improved thereafter to around 0.4Mbps but did not increase the rest of the day. I suggested he call 3 customer service and they said he should be back to normal after 3PM the following day. They did not give a reason for the problem. He still only has around 0.5Mbps today at home and has escalated the issue to 3's technical support team. He visited me this afternoon at my home and checked his speed again using his iPhone and got 0.4Mbps then 0.6Mbps in a second test. I then connected my 3 PAYG Huawei HSPA+ 21 dongle and tried it in exactly the same location and got 3.3Mbps! Another test on his iPhone seconds later produced 0.4Mbps using Edinburgh as the test centre. I duplicated the same test using the dongle and got 2.8Mbps! So I have suggested he have a chat to 3's CS in the morning about the results we discovered. To ensure the phone is not at fault we tested it using Wi-Fi and it managed 9.8Mbps from my Access point and also a Vodafone SIM which produced 3.4Mbps in the same location as the 3 tests. The question is, has anyone else been experiencing similar performance issues and what have 3 said about it? |
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#2 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London, UK
Posts: 8,759
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No idea unless someone uses another 3 sim inside his iphone.
That is the only way to confirm throttling. |
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#3 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Glasgow
Posts: 10,276
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Quote:
No idea unless someone uses another 3 sim inside his iphone.
That is the only way to confirm throttling. I am interested to find out what 3 will respond with tomorrow when asked why two devices on the same network next to each other have such different results. |
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#4 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London, UK
Posts: 8,759
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Quote:
Why would two 3 devices side by side not be a reasonable way to test?
I am interested to find out what 3 will respond with tomorrow when asked why two devices on the same network next to each other have such different results. The throttling would be tied to the sim. Three CS won't be able to answer your questions tbh. |
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#5 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Scotland
Posts: 4,967
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It's the weekend when
1 upgrades/maintenance usually happen. 2 data traffic usage is spread out and less 'peaky' so less likely to be saturating a site. P2P and Software updates via Tethering IS what Three manage at peak times (18:00 – 00:00 daily) or if the site is totally saturated when ever is needed. Ordinary traffic should be unaffected. However if the site has not been upgraded to the new Backhaul and is particularly busy it could just be that is the current Best Effort performance.... Best tested with two phones back to back (even then thats not totally accurate as they could be connecting to different sites) Try it on Tuesday. Don't use the Edinburgh speed test it's crap. London (Namesco, Structured Comms) or Preston are the best for Three & EE. |
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#6 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Glasgow
Posts: 10,276
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Some good points, thank you.
I suggested maintenance might be the cause hence the calls to 3 CS to check but they offered no explanation. I don't think the two devices were connecting to different sites as I have one 3 site close by and both had similar signal strength when we double checked them. Quite a strange situation. My friend only has the 3 broadband via tethering and has been using it for a while without problems but he is a bit lost with no useable speed at his home address. The 0.5Mbps he got at my place was OK for browsing but the 0.12mbps at home made even that a chore. Agree Edinburgh is not the best test site but with GPS it is the default as its closest to Glasgow. I get my best results from Maidenhead but to make a direct comparison I selected Edinburgh when using my 3 Dongle. |
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#7 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 900
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At the risk of asking the dumb/obvious question... He is on a contract that allows tethering?
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#8 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 14,577
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There's loads of maintenance going on this weekend with Three, 2 separate locationa on the status checker / coverage site I happened to check said there was maintenance going on. Have you checked that?
The APN makes a difference too, thee.co.uk / 3broadband etc... speedtest.net gives wildly different results sometimes, the Vodafone server is good, can't remember which one, that usually performs well. |
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#9 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London, UK
Posts: 8,759
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Quote:
There's loads of maintenance going on this weekend with Three, 2 separate location on the status checker / coverage site said there was maintenance going on. Have you checked that?
The APN makes a difference too, thee.co.uk / 3broadband etc... |
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#10 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Newcastle
Posts: 904
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Three radiate their 3G on two, or mainly three different frequencies within the 2100 range. As far as I know, each type of connection; voice, data via browsing, tethering, dongle would be allocated to a particular frequency. It may be that one of those frequencies may be at capacity or may be faulty in some way. This is one reason why your tests weren't conclusive, you were using deferent tykes of devices to test.
It could of course, as already said be SIM specific, |
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#11 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Glasgow
Posts: 10,276
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Quote:
At the risk of asking the dumb/obvious question... He is on a contract that allows tethering?
As for the dongle and phone being allocated different allowances generally.... I doubt it.... A device is simply a device that can connect so all valid paying users should be able to access the same quality of service. Pleased to note nobody else has had a similar experience so maybe it is a local issue? |
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#12 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 289
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My speed took a massive drop for the last few hours but all working fine now with great speeds!
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#13 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 4,249
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Quote:
Yes The One Plan allows tethering.
As for the dongle and phone being allocated different allowances generally.... I doubt it.... A device is simply a device that can connect so all valid paying users should be able to access the same quality of service. Pleased to note nobody else has had a similar experience so maybe it is a local issue? |
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#14 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: the wild world web
Posts: 28,132
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Did you test the same SIM in a different device?
I'm saying that as reports already had 3G strangely being artificially or maybe accidentally restricted on at least one network at the last IOS update. |
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#15 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Weston-super-Mare
Posts: 9,167
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I think there are certainly some unexplained things going on with Three at the moment. I noticed things seemed slow. Ran speedtest and got about 1mps download and 2mps upload? Testing over the last few days and I'm getting similar results. Swapped the SIM to another handset and the same effect.
Yesterday, went to some friends and the issue disappeared. I don't know if it's congestion or the site is mis-configured? I do live in a place that can see an influx of visitors,so it may well be congestion.However, my T-mobile and O2 accounts don't seeme affected. |
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#16 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: the wild world web
Posts: 28,132
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With big spending business users a lifeblood , it is obvious that both the early hours and weekends are when upgrades and repairs are more likely to take place.
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#17 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 14,577
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Quote:
I think there are certainly some unexplained things going on with Three at the moment. I noticed things seemed slow. Ran speedtest and got about 1mps download and 2mps upload? Testing over the last few days and I'm getting similar results. Swapped the SIM to another handset and the same effect.
Yesterday, went to some friends and the issue disappeared. I don't know if it's congestion or the site is mis-configured? I do live in a place that can see an influx of visitors,so it may well be congestion.However, my T-mobile and O2 accounts don't seeme affected. |
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#18 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Weston-super-Mare
Posts: 9,167
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Quote:
That's just heavy use at that point in time on your local cell. It will vary, Three always give you what's available, rather than throttling.
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#19 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 14,577
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Quote:
I know what you mean, but it's been several days now. I suppose that it's just possible that the congestion may be longer term, but I don't understand why the upload is faster than the download.
Maybe other nearby cells are having work done, so yours it being used more. |
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#20 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Newtown, Powys
Posts: 111
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I find that in the area I live in. The mast gives off a very slow download but very good upload. Also I notice as soon as it hits midnight speeds go back to being really good. Then slow again in the day. This as been going on since I joined Three in March (Not sure beforehand).
Since this time I have rung Three and posted on the ThreeUKSupport twitter account multiple times. Last time I phoned them was on April 6th when they told me that according to there system the mast in the area was running just fine. Eventually after many calls over 2 days they eventually said they would send someone to the mast. 7 days later they called me to let me know that the engineer has checked the mast and it appears to be congested, they are working on a fix and unfortunately there is no time frame. Almost 2 months later and its still slow. So posting on there twitter on the 15th May they said that there was a fault with the mast in the area and they were working on a fix with no timeframe. Surely they would have fixed it by now after 2 months? So i've rung them again and just waiting to be called back within 48 hours. Unfortunately I live in a rural area. So there are only 2 Masts in immediate area. This is what I was told when I spoke to the technical team on April 6th. The guy I spoke to gave me postcodes for both. Went to both locations to confirm. Indeed there are towers at each location. Even took photos
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#21 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 14,577
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If it's a rural area it's not always worth putting up new masts, think yourself lucky you probably wouldn't even get 3G on some other networks. At least you're getting basic speeds, you'll find variable speeds on all networks depending on current usage.
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#22 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Scotland
Posts: 4,967
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If it is congested the issue is backhaul.. unless they can microwave it to a a recently upgraded mast (even the dish needs planning permission, which takes around 6 months) the issue is getting fibre to the masts.. it will come (either microwave backhaul or fibre) but they can't just make it faster over night in rural locations. As stated be glad you have basic 3G...
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#23 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: moon
Posts: 12,983
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Quote:
Yes The One Plan allows tethering.
As for the dongle and phone being allocated different allowances generally.... I doubt it.... A device is simply a device that can connect so all valid paying users should be able to access the same quality of service. Pleased to note nobody else has had a similar experience so maybe it is a local issue? That's partly why one pays a premium for mobile broadband over just tethering via a phone. |
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#24 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Glasgow
Posts: 10,276
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Quote:
If it is congested the issue is backhaul.. unless they can microwave it to a a recently upgraded mast (even the dish needs planning permission, which takes around 6 months) the issue is getting fibre to the masts.. it will come (either microwave backhaul or fibre) but they can't just make it faster over night in rural locations. As stated be glad you have basic 3G...
Far more likely to be the capacity of the cell site. The area where my friend is having the issue is one which has a high penetration of people who use mobile broadband as an alternative to fixed line services for a number of reasons. Backhaul in Glasgow for all the networks should be pretty decent with lots of fibre around. The CS have not come up with an answer as yet and have stated that it could take up to 7 days to investigate the issue. Menawhile its 12Kbps on an iPhone 4S on 3 ..... not good! |
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#25 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 14,577
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Quote:
Are you sure?
Far more likely to be the capacity of the cell site. The area where my friend is having the issue is one which has a high penetration of people who use mobile broadband as an alternative to fixed line services for a number of reasons. Backhaul in Glasgow for all the networks should be pretty decent with lots of fibre around. The CS have not come up with an answer as yet and have stated that it could take up to 7 days to investigate the issue. Menawhile its 12Kbps on an iPhone 4S on 3 ..... not good! |
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