Just transferred my ISP to Mobile Data 4g

[SpyderTracks]

Just sharing my findings on this as I've been wanting to try it for years, but never got around to it.

With the imminent roll out of 5G, I've been seriously considering my Broadband connection at home.

We've been on BT for years, but getting absolutely ripped off in my mind as the max speeds they provide in my area are 36Mb down and about 9 up, which in this day and age is just incredibly poor.

BUT, BT are the only true supplier in the area, there are others like Sky or TalkTalk, but they all run off the back of BT, so there's literally no competition.

So I contacted 3, my mobile provider as we get full 4G signal from them as we're right near a mast. They provided me with some bonkers 4G router made by Huawei (And no, I don't subscribe to the fantasies that the American Government have tried to lie to the rest of the world about them selling data to the Chinese government.... where's the evidence???)

Huawei AI Cube, 3 in 1 - Alexa enabled, Smart Speaker and High Speed 4G router, Unlocked- White/Grey fabric: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Buy

www.amazon.co.uk

And they provided me, for £20 a month, a fully uncapped SIM with unlimited downloads. That's less than I'm paying BT in the first place for vastly superior hardware and the same connection package. AND I don't have to have a landline fitted, or any disconnection issues or engineer callouts as were happening every month or so with BT!

So I swapped my network over yesterday afternoon and BAM, in peak hours we're getting around 60Mb downloads and 30Mb uploads.... AND THAT's IN PEAK TIMES, the rest of the time it's nearer 80Mb down and about the same up.

I run a Plex media server from home which I access whilst out and about over the internet. This was the one service I really didn't think would be supported by a 4G ISP, but, I have to say, I needn't have been worried, streams are crystal without a hiccup, no buffering at all.

The other area I thought would be a letdown is latency, not that I do any online gaming or anything, but it's just something I watch out for, but so far in all tests the ping rate has been under 50ms, usually around 40ms.

Have to say, I'm seriously impressed. And this is just 4G! Three have stated that my package will be automatically bumped up to 5G when it's available in my area which is why I took out the contract in the first place as I believe 5G is going to leave landline ISP's in the dirt.

 

[astiak]

I've been tempted to try this myself. I'm also with BT, however with better speeds and after much haggling I feel I have a decent deal with them.

How are you finding the Huawei router in terms of WiFi coverage? Even my BT router struggles in terms of range across 3 floors, so I've set up a second linksys router to act as a repeater but this of course increases latency and reduces speed greatly for me. I think I need to invest in a better router at some point!

Would be nice to have an update 6 months or so down the line to see whether the performance you are getting continues. I had a mobile device with 3 many years ago (2005 I think?) and back then their customer service was terrible and I swore I'd never use them again. What has been your experience of their customer service?

Is it truly unlimited? I use roughly 700GB to 1TB a month according to BT. No traffic shaping?

 

[SpyderTracks]

I've been tempted to try this myself. I'm also with BT, however with better speeds and after much haggling I feel I have a decent deal with them.

How are you finding the Huawei router in terms of WiFi coverage? Even my BT router struggles in terms of range across 3 floors, so I've set up a second linksys router to act as a repeater but this of course increases latency and reduces speed greatly for me. I think I need to invest in a better router at some point!

Would be nice to have an update 6 months or so down the line to see whether the performance you are getting continues. I had a mobile device with 3 many years ago (2005 I think?) and back then their customer service was terrible and I swore I'd never use them again. What has been your experience of their customer service?

Is it truly unlimited? I use roughly 700GB to 1TB a month according to BT. No traffic shaping?

I don't actually use the wifi on the router, have it passing straight through to a Google Wifi setup with 3 nodes. We're in quite a big house and routers wifi never managed to cover much of the house, so gave a mesh setup a try after floundering with repeaters and powerline adapters etc, mesh setup is bulletproof.

So really, regarding the router, I'm just using it as a simple modem, it's got far more features that I just don't use atm. I am looking to move in a few years and would use the Alexa speaker on it in the future, but currently it's disabled.

With regards to truly unlimited??? Only time will tell. I don't use anywhere as much as you, but do use a fair amount streaming from my Plex server, so we'll see about that. BUT, I've been a 3 mobile customer for some time now and use an awful lot of data on my mobile and tablet, and have never had any issues with caps. When it comes to data, 3 tend to be extremely generous.

Regarding their customer service, I call them probably about 2 or 3 times a year with queries and been with them now for about 5 years minus a couple of months hiatus. I buy my tablets off them as well as phones, so have a fair amount of business with them. They use Indian call centers, but in the main, I've found their customer service to be excellent. The only negative experience I've had with them is when I ended my contract a couple of years ago to try out another provider (didn't last long), and their cancellations department put the hard sell on to try to keep me tied in, and it was really really hard sell, they just wouldn't allow me to end the contract. In the end I had to put in a formal complaint against the guy. I'm not sure if that was an isolated incident, but it did sour my experience by some margin. But since I rejoined, I've found them excellent.

So far, I've not experienced any traffic shaping of any kind, but again, it's very early days and I really haven't put my internet usage to the test yet. I'll definitely post back with further updates though, as I think more and more people are going to start shifting to Mobile Data ISP's with 5G.

Additional: I was pleasantly surprised with the Huawei router how configurable it is. I was worried it would be really tied down like a BT or other ISP supplied router, but it's not at all. 3 haven't done any customisations. You can use a mobile app to do some configuration (I'm not sure how much) but as I'm old school and have wifi disabled, I used the browser config. Was able to set custom dns, port forwarding, all the good stuff you'd hope for. It's even got entries for VPN and dynamic dns.

 

[astiak]

Thanks for the feedback.

I'll definitely be considering it when my current BT contract is up. Along with some sort of mesh system.

 

[Imogen]

Woah, that’s defiantly interesting! I’m with Virgin Media.

 

[Scott]

I've been with VM since 1997, wouldn't go with anyone else where possible. Cable only though, their ADSL service is absolutely deplorable. I just wish they would set up their default config a little better. I've not received a router/modem yet that I didn't have to tweak to get running well.

I'm spoiled with 150mb (Hit's 160mb even at peak times) but my Dad has the 300mb line, it's ridiculous

I would seriously consider 4G if I didn't have the option with VM. Quite the jump you have manage to gain

 

[moosEh]

I guess the main issue for a wide adoption would be latency? What are you sat on Spyder?

 

[SpyderTracks]

I guess the main issue for a wide adoption would be latency? What are you sat on Spyder?

Agreed, and that's the definite drawback of 4G, mine being around 40 - 50ms. For my uses it's absolutely fine. I will stress though that I'm literally next door to a mast, it's probably 500 meters away which is why we get such a good signal.

The proposed latency for 5G is peaking at 1ms, although that does sound too good to be true. If it is that good, then wow!

 

[SpyderTracks]

Well, some sad news. I find it sad anyway.

The router lost connection yesterday. When I remoted on to the config, it stated nothing was wrong. A reboot reconnected fine, but I wasn't happy that there was no decent logging of the outage. I can't have the network going down at any point unless it's a power outage or something, but I expect it to fully recover off it's own back if there is a problem like that.

Then this morning we had a power cut for a second. Router came back online but would only connect to 3g. Rebooted it and it came back with 4g, but with downloads topping out at 20Mb. My phone was getting normal 60Mb

I called up 3 support and went through 1st line, 2nd line and then their technical team only to be told that mobile broadband and phone were not on the same network (which is just wrong, I'm sorry), and that they couldn't tell me why it was only reaching those speeds but that I couldn't expect the phone downloads and router downloads to be the same. I argued that in my frequent speed tests over the last 4 days it has consistently been the same and the issue only started after the power outage, but they stuck to their guns and said the speed would fluctuate and this was normal.

So if that's the case, then that's not going to be good enough for my needs. If it's not the case, then their support are terrible and can't adequately support their mobile broadband customers. Either way, I got angry and cancelled the contract, so it's all being returned.

It's a real shame. I'm almost certain it's a hardware issue, but I'm not going to teach them how to do their jobs, I just don't have the patience.

 

[astiak]

Sorry to hear that experience. This reminds me of when I had to call their support all those years ago, pre-smartphone, pre 4g days. I was getting 0 coverage in my area and being 3 they didn't have any 2g to fall back on. Trying to cancel was a nightmare, I was told it was my device, my house had walls that were too thick, despite replicating the issues on a different device! From what I hear though, their mobile support has improved.

Hopefully as the service matures, knowledge and training will be better disseminated to the support staff.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Final update on this.

After returning the router on the 6th of September, and the tracking confirming it had been delivered on the 7th, I then got a letter about a week later saying they couldn't cancel my order because they hadn't received the router. So... the process began.

You call 300 for mobile queries, but it's 500 for mobile data contracts. Now, I must have called 6 or 7 times in the run between receiving the letter on the 17th to finally getting confirmation the account was closed this evening. Every single one of those times, I was on hold for over 30 minutes, and 2 of those times the call was cut off dead whilst holding. Unacceptable.

BUT, after being cut off whilst on hold, I went onto my computer to see if there was a webchat which there was. Interestingly it said it was 24/7 support but at this particular time it just stated "please come back later". At this point I was pretty fed up.

So I found a webchat specifically for complaints and logged one.... interestingly that was picked up immediately:

17:48
Krishna
Hello welcome to Three, You are chatting Krishna from Customer relations team and I will be helping you with your query now.
17:49
Customer
I'm trying to find out what's going on with the closure of my account, but the phoneline cut me off after queueing for 30 minutes, then the web chat said come back later
17:50
Krishna
We're sorry to hear about the trouble you had so far.
17:50
Krishna
Is it regarding this number xxxx ?
17:50
Customer
yes
17:50
Krishna
Thank you for confirming it.
17:51
Krishna
We apologies for the delay in response due to chats in queue today. Thanks for your time, Much appreciated.
17:51
Krishna
Thank you for your patience, I really appreciate it.
17:52
Krishna
I have done the check and we have successfully received the device and the account is also being canceled.
17:52
Customer
can I have that in writing please?
17:52
Customer
and can you confirm when it was received?
17:52
Krishna
Here is the reference number : xxxx
17:53
Krishna
Sure
17:55
Krishna
I have checked and the device was been received to us on 16th of September 2019 and the account successfully cancelled on 18th of September 2019.
17:56
Customer
Ok, thank you
17:56
Krishna
You're welcome
17:57
Krishna
Rest assured, your faith in Three is not misguided, we won't let you down.
17:57
Krishna
Can I assume that you are completely satisfied with the service?
17:57
Customer
Unfortunately 3 have let me down multiple times already in the last couple of months. I'm fed up and thinking of transferring to EE.
17:59
Krishna
Can you explain your answer as it is confusing to hear?
18:00
Customer
I was sold a router with home broadband package, when I needed support on the device, 3 didn't even ask what the issue was, they just gave excuses never looking to resolve it. POINT 1.
Then I tried to return the device in the bag that you provided and faced the issues we're going through now. POINT 2.
Every time I had to contact support, I was on hold for at least 30 minutes and twice was disconnected whilst on hold. POINT 3.
Your new stance not to transfer people to equivalent SIM only plans at the end of their contract as every other network has agreed to do. POINT4.
I'm afraid it's just unacceptable.

The agent, give him his credit then asked for my number and called me direct. He was a geniune guy, he listened intently, allowed me to rant, completely understood my issues and then offered to put me back through to sales to see if there was a more suitable contract whilst offering a discount.

I was fairly optimistic by now.

Then he put me through to a sales guy and I stated my needs. Firstly the sales guy didn't understand the difference between mobile data and mobile broadband and kept trying to sell me a phone contract. Then once he understood what I was talking about he kept referencing these little pocket MiFi devices... not at all compatible with home broadband requirements. Then he said there wasn't anything like that they offered. I actually had to point him to the page on the 3 website, and explain how a router worked before he finally said that wasn't something they offered and I'd have to go to a store.

Sorry for the length of this, but I'm offloading.

So basically, whilst I don't doubt that the 3 data platform is likely the best on offer in the UK, their customer service and support is woefully lacking in this regard.

1/. They don't understand the hardware for home broadband IN ANY WAY, like literally no understanding at all. Because of this, none of their sales team actually know what they have on offer.
2/. Because of the above, they aren't able to support the hardware IN ANY WAY.
3/. Their 500 Mobile Data line is totally useless. Even if you do get through to someone they aren't able to help.

It fills me with great sadness to strongly advise anyone considering 3 for their mobile data requirements to just avoid at all costs.

The complaints line guy is actually calling me back at the end of the week to see how I'm getting on, so I will offload all this to him also.

 

[Scott]

Wow that's an experience right enough. A real shame considering how things looked to begin with.

 

[turbocool]

You need to switch every 12 months. Trust me, if you switch enough and get cashback deals from quidco or topcashback. You'll make money. ISPs give massive cashbacks upo to £150, typically £90 each time. I have been on the ISP carosel loads of times - moving my services between plusnet, BT, EE, plusnet and now Nowtv broadband. It's the only way you cvan guarantee low prices for yourself. As they can go for £30pm to £45-£50pm off contract.

5G is tempting but I wouldn't want it. You have no control over your IP (I'd want fixed IP). You wont have good ping for gaming as it's wireless. Unlimited data will be difficult to get with tethering option. I don't know if 5G will change anything, but on 4G plan you get unlimited data on your handset with no tethering. Or you get capped data with tethering. You can't get both.

I know internet prices are annoying, I considered just getting some really good Wifi station put up at the bottom of my garden and give everyone near me free wifi, set up a network login page, and get them to donate £2 a month to charity and they get free wifi access. But it comes with too much responsibility. You'd need to keep logs of peoples use and if they do anything illegal you need to have the logs to hand over to authorties, if they're pedos or doing other illegal stuff it can be a lot of issues for you.