Well I signed up for the 3 pay as you go 'all you can eat data' setup a month ago. It was my first smartphone (Samsung S4) so it was all new to me.

I was initially impressed with the download speeds. Everything was very responsive. I was trying to send an international sms message and it wouldn't send so I sent them an email and they replied back with a phone call quickly saying I needed to add credit in order to do that. So I added some credit on and it worked.

Since I've had the phone I've installed Yahoo messenger, viber (another IM type of app), the 3 account application, and just the phone's OS software updates. I mainly used the phone for sms'ing.

Then 3 weeks in I started to noticed the internet speed slowing down. I thought it might be a blip. So waited it out. At week 4 its down to a snail's pace with the google play app struggling to load things up and sometimes webpages either timing out or loading up very slow. I managed to update viber yesterday and it was going at 40kb per second. It felt like I was on dialup when trying to download a 12mb update.

I sent them an email by their website, as I'd done with the sms credit thing. But this time no reply. I asked them why is the internet on my phone going so slow? They say to give them 5 days to reply. Today its day 4.

It's going from a dream start and turning in to a nightmare. I'll call them up tomorrow if they don't get in contact and see what is happenign. Very disappointed now though.

Anyone else had similar problems? And how did you fix them?

is this just in your area or everywhere. if it is everywhere the likely suspect is the phone

When I joined Three I had very low speeds at home for weeks (everywhere else was fine). It didn't bother me too much as I use wifi at home. For my liking it took them far too long to fix the problem. But it has been fine for quite a while now.

Just done a speed test

1.04 down
0.18 up
Ping 98

Topped up 6 days ago used 5.8gb so far.

All those who get 3+ are extremely lucky

Mines been pretty slow today. On a contract with an Xperia Z so that shouldn't be the problem. Heres my speeds this afternoon.

http://s23.postimg.org/8vdui0j6z/Scr...0_17_40_15.png

Slow for me at the moment too. Normally I get 10mbps+ speeds routinely, at the moment its struggling to get above 2mbps.

Mines been fast for years consistently until the last two weeks, when I rang them they said there's maintenance ongoing in my area and it would be at least 2 weeks.

At least Texts and calls have always worked and the net, all be it alot slower. If its not back by the end of next week ill be ringing again

I must be lucky as i'm getting slightly above the usual speed of around 15MB down. (16.66 )

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/1954/naur.png

I switched to 3 last month and one of the things I've noticed is that the signal strength and download speeds vary wildly. The signal can drop from 5 bars to 1 in an instant. I was previously with o2 who only had 2G coverage of my area but the signal seemed to be more robust.

Yes I see this signal fluctuation with three as well.

I don't loose signal but it can go from 4 bars to 1 bar quite easily and my location in the house also has the same effect.

I can put th variance in the house down to only having a mediocre signal and 2100mhz.

O2 did occasionally serve 900mhz but this variance in the same place is a little odd.

Dat cell breathing in action

I got 1 down 3 up tonight just uploaded a 1.7 gig video to youtube and its took about three hours which is good on my broadband it would have taken around 9 to upload.
Its a big file because its HD.
I uploading this on my SGS2.
I cannot have fiber so cannot have the faster uploads on my home connection.

all fine here

http://www.speedtest.net/result/2893289192.png

Ash

I tried a speedtest again today

Even if my local mast is load balancing with cell breathing it's giving good speeds

http://www.speedtest.net/iphone/609184726.png

It's probably one of the higher readings I've had at home as they are normally around 20Mbps

I think they have recently upgraded the mast in my area, I now get 5 bars up from 3 and speeds of 14mb up from 7/8mb. I wonder if this means it will be ready for 4G when they start turning it on.

I was curious about power output

When I looked at the out of date site finder tool on ofcoms website it seems most masts don't run at full power output.

Why don't they run at full power, wouldn't this improve the signal?

I would call that awfully poor. I get over 9mb. It is faster than my home broadband.

My speeds are poor too and have been since day one. I'm currently working in a high speed covered area and not getting more than 2-3mb.

I have also wondered this.

My speeds today have been pretty bad too. In places where I'd normally manage 20mbps I'm struggling to get above 2mbps. Am travelling from north west Wales to Birmingham. Around Wolverhampton at the moment and speeds are still terrible.

It has been the same for a week in Belfast.

fine here in liverpool

17.62 Down, 3.34 Up, 74 Ping

I ended up calling 3 up and complaining about the slow speeds. They were blaming it on other apps, the browsers cache. Then in the end they said I needed to go and visit another area to see if the speed returned.

I'd already said that at the start of my pay as you go time the speeds were great. Then gradually got slower and slower i.e. so I was recieving good speeds at the start. I'd only put 2 apps on, yahoo messenger and viber. So I didnt fill it up with a ton of apps.

They said I either had to call back while I was in another area or they would call me at a set time. This was all after being on the phone for nearly an hour.

I went to another area a few days after and the speed was amazing again. I couldnt be bothered with calling them back and just setup my wifi so my phone connects to that now and gets my full isp speed.

Why dont these companies start asking a few questions to determine a customers level of knowledge instead of not believing them and going over every little thing. It's annoying.

I've not tested mine before, but it's always seemed fine. My readings today are Download: 9.34 Mbps, Upload 2.30 Mbps, and Ping:150 ms.

I'm using the android version of speedtest, but had to keep manually setting it to my nearest server, as kept defaulting to ones miles away for some reason.

count yourself lucky! 2mbps would be a treat for me on 3!

I think three are in danger of oversubscription of the one plan
...it will kill their service.

they will be adding hundreds of new masts next year and also introduce 4G which will take some of the load of 3G so I think it'll be OK until the next auction for 700MHz