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Inconsistent Download Speeds - Three & EE, more capacity please!
Steve™
10-12-2014
Is it just me or does everything seem very low of late?

I have sim only with Three and EE and both have been struggling to deliver consistent speeds lately. Sometimes 4G is faster than 3G, sometimes 3G is faster than 4G...sometimes both are very slow.

Today at lunch time I decided to for once have a lunch break and sat in my van trying to watch a Youtube video on my iPad (via tethering) and the best it could do was like 360p, hardly what you would expect from a modern network.

I came out of the Youtube app and did a SpeedTest and was getting approx 2Mbps. Tested on EE and not much better at all.

I wish the networks would focus on consistent speeds and specifically capacity and stop pushing tech like 4G that the infrastructure doesn't seem ready for.

These networks are selling the idea that you can watch all these videos and do all these things and yet the actual experience isn't always great.
Thine Wonk
10-12-2014
That's what Three are trying to do by kicking people off the unlimited tethering deals, starting with the people that used huge volumes of data.

If you're on a fixed 4GB cap for tethering then you can only use that much data, that will increase the amount of capacity. All networks are continuing to update, even 3G is still being upgraded with new sites being added to MBNL and new backhaul. The issue is that data usage is doubling each year as more and more people find new services like Netflix and mainstream users not just nerds begin to do more cloud stuff on their smartphones. .
Steve™
10-12-2014
Originally Posted by Thine Wonk:
“That's what Three are trying to do by kicking people off the unlimited tethering deals, starting with the people that used huge volumes of data.

If you're on a fixed 4GB cap for tethering then you can only use that much data, that will increase the amount of capacity. All networks are continuing to update, even 3G is still being upgraded with new sites being added to MBNL and new backhaul. The issue is that data usage is doubling each year as more and more people find new services like Netflix and mainstream users not just nerds begin to do more cloud stuff on their smartphones. .”


That might be true, but in the meantime and by meantime I mean while I am paying for a service, I am experiencing a very poor data speed.

I don't think I have ever used a large volume of data, even using my phone at home for tethering.

The fact remains that the networks are massively behind in terms of understanding data usage, either deliberately or just due to incompetence. If I was a very reasonable user and watched an average HD iPlayer video 5 days a week in my lunch hour I would soon use about 8Gb a month and that doesn't even begin to cover usage outside of that time or with other types of media.

I just think the whole thing is a complete con and very soon they are going to have to accept that most people need more than 4Gb a month and do require a decent speed, and start investing some more money in their infrastructure.
mupet0000
10-12-2014
In a perfect world all the networks would have every mast on a 100gig fibre link blasting out all sorts of frequencies of 4G. Unfortunately it all costs money, and networks are big business, go figure.

Take a look at EE's tariffs and pricing, they start at £9.99 for 250mb of data (sim only). It's insane that 250mb is even being offered. A lot of people would be happy with 1GB of data for a fair price, so EE decided not to offer that, instead offering too little data for too much, or too much data for even more.

Tariffs work on a "what can we get away with" basis, and the network, "it's good enough" basis.
The Lord Lucan
11-12-2014
Pretty consistent with EE here and speeds are faster than ever before, which a few others seem to confirm. Three not so much, 3G is suffering at peak and 4G is O K when i do get it.
Synthetic42
11-12-2014
Been using my ltd edition EE sim for the past few days and the increase in speed is noticable just browsing the web etc everything is snappier than it was with Three, I also get 4G a lot more places (like when I'm waiting in line at the sandwich shop )
The Lord Lucan
11-12-2014
Originally Posted by Synthetic42:
“ I also get 4G a lot more places (like when I'm waiting in line at the sandwich shop )”

It's the small things in life..
Synthetic42
11-12-2014
Originally Posted by The Lord Lucan:
“It's the small things in life..”

Exactly
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