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Three 4G Discussion Thread (Part 2)


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Old 24-08-2015, 12:11
Chris1973
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What is the point of 20gb for £20 when you can get the Unlimited data add-on for the same £20?
The data sim is Mobile Broadband and intended to be used in Dongles and Mifi's and as such is Data only with no minutes or texts and is generally used by those who have no / poor ADSL or Travel a lot.
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Old 24-08-2015, 12:33
Mass Corona
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Tethering on a normal tariff now tops out at 8GB, so MBB is the only way you can legitimately top that.

And BT, TPO and others that offer 20-31GB for similar money all restrict tethering too. Irrespective of whether it works or not (it's still a breach of the terms).
Right.... So is this 20gb that is being talked about a MBB tariff that you can tether on up to 20gb unlike the PAYG £20 add-on?
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Old 24-08-2015, 13:07
enapace
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My area mast maintenance has appeared back on the site for the 25th-26th but still shows there is outdoor 4G coverage already in area which I checked with a pay as you go sim and couldn't forced it to find the 4G outdoors on my iPhone even clicking the 4G toggle which usually works for bout 5-10 seconds then goes back to 3G if coverage is bad least that is how it works on EE anyway. Maybe the coverage map is a bit ahead of time lol.
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Old 24-08-2015, 13:30
jonmorris
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Right.... So is this 20gb that is being talked about a MBB tariff that you can tether on up to 20gb unlike the PAYG £20 add-on?
Correct. It's a Mobile Broadband tariff.

The new £20 add-on for PAYG doesn't allow tethering at all, and Three has pretty effective methods to block it now.
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Old 24-08-2015, 19:20
nbrasso
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My areas maintenance has also reappeared on the coverage map, it will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow when the maintenance is scheduled (If anything)
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Old 24-08-2015, 20:06
Denco1
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Pretty sure that Vodafone/O2 are transmitting at higher than 80.
Are you sure about this? I just had a look at some Huawei/Ericsson PDFs and they all suggest a maximum output power of about 2*40 watts for 4G and 60 watts for 3G. This brings them well under the maximum output on the planning applications. I would think it is very unlikely Three are broadcasting 4G @ 1800MHz at much over 2*40 watts.
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Old 24-08-2015, 22:32
Mass Corona
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My "network improvements" was on the 26th, then it disappeared and has now come back as the 27th.

If they keep changing it, we'll never get there!
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Old 24-08-2015, 22:35
Mass Corona
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My areas maintenance has also reappeared on the coverage map, it will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow when the maintenance is scheduled (If anything)
As you're the first, you are hereby elected as the forum guinea pig and if you come out the other side of it alive, you must report back to us what happened.

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Old 24-08-2015, 22:43
jaffboy151
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Are you sure about this? I just had a look at some Huawei/Ericsson PDFs and they all suggest a maximum output power of about 2*40 watts for 4G and 60 watts for 3G. This brings them well under the maximum output on the planning applications. I would think it is very unlikely Three are broadcasting 4G @ 1800MHz at much over 2*40 watts.
No offence intended but I really hope your all wrong with these power predictions,
Three's and ee's 4g signal barly makes it to full signal unless your touching in the mast at present levels, Vodafone is a bit better but not by much, set just above 2100mhz 3g levels but well below 900mhz levels, if three are using the same it won't cover that much more ground then they have a present using 2100mhz 3g
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Old 24-08-2015, 22:48
Denco1
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No offence intended but I really hope your all wrong with these power predictions,
Three's and ee's 4g signal barly makes it to full signal unless your touching in the mast at present levels, Vodafone is a bit better but not by much, set just above 2100mhz 3g levels but well below 900mhz levels, if three are using the same it won't cover that much more ground then they have a present using 2100mhz 3g
No offence taken, I'm here to learn like most on the forum.
For all we know Three and EE are only outputting 2*10 watts at the moment but plan to increase that to 2*40 watts. I'm just saying it is unlikely we will ever see 2*320 watts of 4G output, I don't think that's even possible and I don't think 2G is that powerful on sites let alone 3G. 2*40 watts 4G 800MHz would be very comparable to 3G 900MHz I believe.
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Old 25-08-2015, 01:14
Stereo Steve
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Huge problem with phones at the moment though. Tons of posts on the VOD forum saying they have full 4G but can't make a call and not one of the bods on there tells them that this is to be expected. Probably 3 are having the same issue. It all hinges on VoLTE working and I think there are some serious tin hats being put on in the meantime because your average human does not understand why they can't make a call when they have 4 or 5 bars on their phone and while some cells are working with some phones, there is a huge other mess out there that is not working at all.

Roll on 2016.
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Old 25-08-2015, 08:03
GavinAshford
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I found this planning application (if my gdrive link works) for a MBNL site that's near me for 3's 4G-ing of the site last year.
Page 2 details the Watts for each band (1800/2100), but unfortunately that is not split per technology (2/3/4G).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz0...p=docslist_api
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Old 25-08-2015, 09:31
jaffboy151
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Huge problem with phones at the moment though. Tons of posts on the VOD forum saying they have full 4G but can't make a call and not one of the bods on there tells them that this is to be expected. Probably 3 are having the same issue. It all hinges on VoLTE working and I think there are some serious tin hats being put on in the meantime because your average human does not understand why they can't make a call when they have 4 or 5 bars on their phone and while some cells are working with some phones, there is a huge other mess out there that is not working at all.

Roll on 2016.
It's quite shocking how ignorant the average user is to what's been displayed on there phones, most have no idea what 2g,3g or 4g are and what symbols like G (or gprs),E,H,H+ or 4g or even 4g+ Mean terms of coverage speeds, it's not a criticism as why would you want to if your not interested in phone tech. Mobile phone companies really should have tried to educate customers in adverts over the past few years, maybe if they had, they wouldn't get so much complaints.
That said I know someone who works for a well known retail store and regularly gets routers brought back because they thought wireless ment they didnt have to plug them in to the mains to work..
So for some there really is no hope!
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Old 25-08-2015, 10:23
Pedro_C
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3's first 4G cell went live in Hull three weeks ago, yet still no coverage in Hull on their map.

I'm actually surprised how much my college friends knew about the letters; they knew that GPRS meant internet was unlikely, EDGE was OK for simple web messaging and H+/4G was
what you wanted.
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Old 25-08-2015, 11:46
squawkBOX
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ISP Review reporting that Three have launched a 40GB mobile broadband plan:

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php...band-plan.html

Mobile operator Three UK has added a new option to their Mobile Broadband plans, which gives you 40GB (GigaBytes) of data to use for the not insignificant price of £45 per month, although this is still double the previous top allowance of 20GB (from £21-23 per month).


The 40GB option is currently only available to those who take a Huawei E5573 4G Mobile Wi-Fi (MiFi) or the lower spec E5330 device on a 12 month contract. The E5573 bundle comes in at £45 per month and then £19 (one-off) for the hardware, while the E5330 costs £45 per month and £9 for the hardware.

Curiously the new option is quite difficult to find on their website and for some reason we couldn’t locate the E5573 bundle, although the quickest way to find the E5330 one is by typing “E5330 40GB” into their website search system. It’s worth nothing that this plan also includes 600 minutes of UK calls and all-you-can-eat texts, while usage beyond the 40GB allowance will cost 1p per MB.

Three UK currently claims that customers on their network (8.4 million in total) gobble 45% of the UK’s mobile data traffic and that their average data usage per customer reached 4.65GB in June 2015, with over 50% of them making use of the new 4G network that is offered at no extra cost.

Admittedly 40GB might still be someway off Ofcom’s last estimate of 58GB for the average monthly data consumption of a fixed line home broadband consumer, although it’s getting a lot closer and for some this tariff could thus be quite an exciting prospect. It’s certainly easier than buying two 20GB plans.

On the other hand EE are doing a summer special offer that gives you 100GB of monthly 4G usage, but this is only “free” for two months and after that it runs out (customers must top up £10 within 14 days of getting it to buy the Data Pack and then text SUMMER100 to 150 in order to activate the 200GB free UK data).
Nice to see the higher data allowance available from Three. Although I do wonder why a mobile broadband product has voice allowance?!

Screenshot: http://imgur.com/3fO4h91
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Old 25-08-2015, 13:21
enapace
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It seems they are trying to compete with EE who do 50GB for £50. Nothing to special but nice to see Mobile Operators are starting to do bigger plans.
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Old 25-08-2015, 16:13
jaffboy151
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If there was a way of using that call allowance via connecting a phone to the router I'd be very interested, we only have BT in my area and I'm paying over that most months even with using my mobile for calls. Broadband is really p*ss poor.
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Old 25-08-2015, 22:23
moox
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If there was a way of using that call allowance via connecting a phone to the router I'd be very interested, we only have BT in my area and I'm paying over that most months even with using my mobile for calls. Broadband is really p*ss poor.
Could you not use the SIM in a 4G router with phone ports? I assume 3 doesn't actually care which device you use it in as it's a mobile broadband tariff

e.g. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Huawei-B593s.../dp/B009QW3ZG4

I think the DS member for South Devon has this model and may be able to comment
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Old 26-08-2015, 00:39
Informationwar
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Three 4G is so frustrating. At home in Paignton I just miss it by a road or 2. At work in Newton Abbot it's the same situation, it was also the same at my ex girlfriends in Torquay. If they just had about 10% extra reach I would have got it everywhere. I have no confidence in it improving in the next 12 months either. I'm sure they think it's adequate what's already in place ie 3 towns covered for the map. 3g is fine most of the time and I do think it's a better service than the other networks offer but it does stall occasionally where 4G shouldn't.
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Old 26-08-2015, 08:57
Chris1973
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The 40GB option is currently only available to those who take a Huawei E5573 4G Mobile Wi-Fi (MiFi) or the lower spec E5330 device on a 12 month contract. The E5573 bundle comes in at £45 per month and then £19 (one-off) for the hardware, while the E5330 costs £45 per month and £9 for the hardware.
If my usage does ever creep over 20GB / Month, I think I'll just take my chances with 2x 20GB Sims from ID Mobile on 30 day rolling contracts in Two Mifis, and save £5 a month plus the hardware fees. I don't need the calls and texts, nor another mifi.

Perhaps this will spur EE into rolling out something better on its Mobile Broadband or 4Gee home tariffs. Although by that time Pigs will probably be landing at Heathrow
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Old 26-08-2015, 09:31
packages
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Three 4G is so frustrating. At home in Paignton I just miss it by a road or 2. At work in Newton Abbot it's the same situation, it was also the same at my ex girlfriends in Torquay. If they just had about 10% extra reach I would have got it everywhere. I have no confidence in it improving in the next 12 months either. I'm sure they think it's adequate what's already in place ie 3 towns covered for the map. 3g is fine most of the time and I do think it's a better service than the other networks offer but it does stall occasionally where 4G shouldn't.
Aren't all the networks transmitting 4g on low power as VoLTE hasn't been started on them yet?
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Old 26-08-2015, 11:01
Mass Corona
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Right! So is anyone having "network improvements" done today and if so what is happening?

My "network improvements" are on for tomorrow. (Subject to Three changing or removing that at any time)
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Old 26-08-2015, 11:19
Chris1973
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Right! So is anyone having "network improvements" done today and if so what is happening?
Day Two of these so called network improvements where I work - CW12 area

We're planning some network improvements in your area on 25 August 2015 to 26 August 2015. We're really sorry if this affects your services. It's crucial, work that will improve your network experience.
And YES!, it has improved. I'm getting 0.5mbps down, instead of the usual 0.3mbps

We don't even have 4G from EE in this Postcode, so my hopes aren't high for 4G on any frequency from '3' from this work, plus this is the third month running we have had work indicated for a day or two on the postcode checker, and the speed hasn't improved.
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Old 26-08-2015, 13:09
Mass Corona
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Day Two of these so called network improvements where I work - CW12 area



And YES!, it has improved. I'm getting 0.5mbps down, instead of the usual 0.3mbps

We don't even have 4G from EE in this Postcode, so my hopes aren't high for 4G on any frequency from '3' from this work, plus this is the third month running we have had work indicated for a day or two on the postcode checker, and the speed hasn't improved.
Glad to hear that they are "Making it better!"

/sarcasm
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Old 26-08-2015, 13:11
packages
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Day Two of these so called network improvements where I work - CW12 area



And YES!, it has improved. I'm getting 0.5mbps down, instead of the usual 0.3mbps

We don't even have 4G from EE in this Postcode, so my hopes aren't high for 4G on any frequency from '3' from this work, plus this is the third month running we have had work indicated for a day or two on the postcode checker, and the speed hasn't improved.
Could be installing 4G 800mhz?
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