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Author Topic: What's so special about Three Mobile Broadband?  (Read 4784 times)

cancunia

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What's so special about Three Mobile Broadband?
« on: December 06, 2022, 10:20:17 AM »

Just wondered if anyone knows why Three only support & sell their Mobile Broadband product in certain areas? From what I've read , even some areas with good 4G can't order Three broadband.
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HPsauce

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Re: What's so special about Three Mobile Broadband?
« Reply #1 on: December 06, 2022, 10:47:54 AM »

Not available in my good 4G area, but where my daughter lives (about 2 miles away as the crow flies) they have 5G and it's available there.
So maybe (probably) it's backbone/local bandwidth related?
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cancunia

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Re: What's so special about Three Mobile Broadband?
« Reply #2 on: December 06, 2022, 10:56:03 AM »

So maybe (probably) it's backbone/local bandwidth related?

Could be, but that would mean they are putting service level before revenue...
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j0hn

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Re: What's so special about Three Mobile Broadband?
« Reply #3 on: December 06, 2022, 11:48:57 AM »

Probably a couple reasons.

It might be partly because it's so cheap which causes considerable oversubscription in some areas.

It comes and goes from sale here. Three have great coverage around me but the speeds are shocking, particularly at peak times.

It will be partly coverage also.
It doesn't make any sense selling home broadband in areas where you don't get a strong indoor signal.
Your personal signal is irrelevant. It's what Three think their indoor signal in the general area is like.
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celso

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Re: What's so special about Three Mobile Broadband?
« Reply #4 on: December 08, 2022, 10:02:11 PM »

They have 2 different products: Mobile Broadband and Home Broadband.

Mobile broadband is available everywhere, like a normal mobile data plan. I guess the level of service that is acceptable for them is lower here?

Home broadband only seems to be available in areas with very good coverage and capacity, e.g.: where they deploy the "Phase 8" masts (see
this video). These sites provide 4G + 5G, fast speeds (+1Gbps), and better indoors coverage (B20 and B28). Their product page mentions "150Mbps" average download speeds for this product. I've seen +800Mbps in London with my phone.

Their deployment of these masts is being delayed or stopped in some areas. Too many nimbys out there complaining about the looks of the mast, that "5G spreads covid" (lol), etc, and councils reject their applications...

I doubt they'll install these in places without a large density of people, so I don't know how this "home broadband" would work in rural areas. They are upgrading existing sites, but I don't think they have the capacity to provide +100Mbps reliably to many customers in places where each tower covers large areas and rely on long range, but slower bands like B20 and B28.

Anyway, I've read that there's a trick to order "home broadband" even where it's not available (use the post code of a place where it's available, then add your address when ordering?). I doubt they'll care if performance isn't what you expect though, so do this at your own risk.
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cancunia

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Re: What's so special about Three Mobile Broadband?
« Reply #5 on: December 09, 2022, 08:57:23 AM »

Your info about the new Phase 8 masts makes sense and ties in with the other comments about capacity, so that's probably it. I was thinking about taking a subscription as the price seemed good, working out at £17.50 over the 24 months, but that's a long commitment for something that may not actually work, so I'll pass for now.
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Alex Atkin UK

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Re: What's so special about Three Mobile Broadband?
« Reply #6 on: December 09, 2022, 08:21:29 PM »

Its certainly a lot easier if you can get hold of a 5G device temporarily and just get a PAYG SIM to test reception.

I bought a 5G router outright so I could at least use it on another network for 4G if it didn't pan out with Three.
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gt94sss2

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Re: What's so special about Three Mobile Broadband?
« Reply #7 on: December 09, 2022, 09:38:28 PM »

Is not the Home Broadband product not the Fixed Wireless product that was Relish Broadband before 3 took it over?
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Chrysalis

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Re: What's so special about Three Mobile Broadband?
« Reply #8 on: December 09, 2022, 11:15:25 PM »

Just wondered if anyone knows why Three only support & sell their Mobile Broadband product in certain areas? From what I've read , even some areas with good 4G can't order Three broadband.

Historically they have had congestion issues.  When I used to use them back in 3G days they were horrific, the mobile version of over subscribed NTL docsis.  I believe they also had some congestion issue on 4G in cities as well, it only seems to be since their 5G rollout they have started to look rosy.  However 5G has its own issue with spotty coverage.  So it might be capacity issues.

If i was using mobile broadband, EE 4G would be my hands down choice.
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meritez

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Re: What's so special about Three Mobile Broadband?
« Reply #9 on: December 10, 2022, 03:38:45 PM »

Is not the Home Broadband product not the Fixed Wireless product that was Relish Broadband before 3 took it over?

In London yes, elsewhere not really, relish has a very interesting history.
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bogof

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Re: What's so special about Three Mobile Broadband?
« Reply #10 on: December 11, 2022, 09:55:13 PM »

Cracking deals; Unlimited 5G £10/m for 6 months, £20/m for the following 18, with £80 cashback from Quidco and a ZTE MC801 5G router.  With 30 day money back I've just signed up for it to use as backup to my FTTP.   £14.16/m with the router for free averaged over the 2 years...
 
There are ways you can use to get past the 5G availability checker.  My house goes to 4G otherwise, but my office (literally 50m down the road) gets 5G offered.
I just visited 3 via Quidco to get my visit tracked for cashback, and then when I was on the availability checker page I used a link I created for the 5G offer from another site by stripping the affiliate info out of the link (phonesltd.co.uk was where I found the deal):
https://store.three.co.uk/view/content/mbasket?link_ref=PL1-Mobile%25252BBroadband-Home%25252BRouter-Three%25252BOffer%25252B5G%25252BUnlimited%25252BData%25252Bat%25252B%252525A320%25252B24
It tracked in quidco a couple of minutes later for the £80 cashback.

We'll see how it works...
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celso

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Re: What's so special about Three Mobile Broadband?
« Reply #11 on: December 14, 2022, 09:00:21 PM »

Your info about the new Phase 8 masts makes sense and ties in with the other comments about capacity, so that's probably it.
I don't think every mast has the same capacity, but here's an example of what those masts can do:

https://twitter.com/PedroClarke1/status/1602975218842173441

1978 Mbps down / 150 Mbps up with a phone. Crazy performance.
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aesmith

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Re: What's so special about Three Mobile Broadband?
« Reply #12 on: December 26, 2022, 05:36:43 PM »

Just wondered if anyone knows why Three only support & sell their Mobile Broadband product in certain areas? From what I've read , even some areas with good 4G can't order Three broadband.
There's nothing stopping you getting a phone SIM and using it in a router. That's what I have, £16/m originally on 12m contract.
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adslmax

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Re: What's so special about Three Mobile Broadband?
« Reply #13 on: March 13, 2023, 12:10:19 AM »

Three website computer system say NO to 5G home broadband, I bite the bull and order Three 5G Hub (NR5103E) unlocked from trusted seller for £185. And 5G does work in the loft. Getting 600/13 from Doseley 5G mast.
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tubaman

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Re: What's so special about Three Mobile Broadband?
« Reply #14 on: March 13, 2023, 09:26:00 AM »

Three website computer system say NO to 5G home broadband, I bite the bull and order Three 5G Hub (NR5103E) unlocked from trusted seller for £185. And 5G does work in the loft. Getting 600/13 from Doseley 5G mast.

Max, whey are you wasting money like this when you have a perfectly decent home broadband connection?
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