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Crazy low Three 5G Hub upload (8.8kbps) but only on SOME devices...

Borstuk

Member
I am getting great speeds on my new Three 5G Hub - over 300Mbps down and over 100Mbps up - when using my mobile phones or my laptops.

However, when I connect it to my Samsung TV, PS5, PS4 or Google Home devices, it only allows them a pitiful 8.8Kbps up connection. The down speeds are still really good but the up connection is essentially non-existent and too low for any services to even connect. This happens whether I connect to the 2.4 or 5GHz WiFi OR connect (the devices which can) via ethernet.

I've already tried factory resetting the 5G Hub, using the vanilla SSID & password, enabling UPnP and taking to Three. Any ideas here?

Thanks,
 
If you hook up an ethernet cable to one of those devices getting slow upload speed, does it fix it ?
 
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this is 100% an APN issue. I've had this problem myself and changing the APN resolved the problem.
The 2 three APN's are ....

three.co.uk
3internet


Just in case anyone doesn't know what they are. 😊
 
Last edited:
The 2 three APN' are ....

three.co.uk
3internet


Just in case anyone doesn't know what they are. 😊

And to add to Wee Bear's post,

three.co.uk = CGNAT mainly "mobile" APN
3internet = NO CGNAT, port forwarding possible.

People report mixed results with both. If one doesn't work, try the other.
 
And to add to Wee Bear's post,

three.co.uk = CGNAT mainly "mobile" APN
3internet = NO CGNAT, port forwarding possible.

People report mixed results with both. If one doesn't work, try the other.
Sorry to be a bit dim, but im in the router settings, where do i change it please?
 
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Sorry to be a bit dim, but im in the router settings, where do i change it please?

Screenshot_20220208-121027.jpg

Hi Tigerfan, here's a screenshot of my APN section (Network Settings) if it helps you any. (192.168.8.1) in your browser.

Hopefully three haven't hidden this setting. :rolleyes:

Just add a profile for the APN you don't have, then you can swap between them.

No usernames or passwords are required. :)
 
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Its nothing to do with APN. How could it be if fast on some devices, and slow on others? Not logical.

One thing I did have to change on mine, is turn this off:

Wifi basic settings: 5 GHz preferred


The 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz signals are combined and displayed as one. The faster 5 GHz network is preferred when their signal strength is equal. Turn off this switch to use them separately

I had some old devices that wouldn't work with it turned on.
 
Its nothing to do with APN. How could it be if fast on some devices, and slow on others? Not logical.
It's Three's traffic shaping. Three's network looks at what decide is using the internet (not the 4G router, the actual device you're using) and manages the traffic differently.

It's not something you can really do anything about and it's not something Three CS are even knowledgeable about.

If it works for you, then great, if it doesn't you'd be better off switching as it cant really be fixed.
 
Years ago when Three did not allow hotspotting of phones by PC's they interrogated the browser header which contains info on the device being used, if it said the browser was a PC you were locked out. To get round it you added an extension to chrome and the extension changed the header to say it was on a phone. They must still do this in some way hence changing APN will have an effect,
 
It's Three's traffic shaping. Three's network looks at what decide is using the internet (not the 4G router, the actual device you're using) and manages the traffic differently.

It's not something you can really do anything about and it's not something Three CS are even knowledgeable about.

If it works for you, then great, if it doesn't you'd be better off switching as it cant really be fixed.
Why would they traffic shape an unlimited 5G connection on upload to such a tiny figure to make it unusable? And why on PlayStation or a TV but not on a mobile or a laptop? Doesn't seem logical to me. Playstations and TVs are not known for uploading a lot, but a laptop could be seeding a torrent.

I also think they would rapidly find out if they had done that by mistake because people would be cancelling the unusable service.

If I was the op, I would go back to basics, factory restart, and say start with just one device, say the PS4 trying wired and wireless. The PS4 has built in network speed test. System, network, test internet connection.

Another thought. One way around traffic shaping was using a VPN.

Hope the OP can fix this, as this service is the best internet I have ever had.
 
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Why would they traffic shape an unlimited 5G connection on upload to such a tiny figure to make it unusable?
It’s because 5G only exists for downloads in the UK, not for uploads which still use 4G.

Three’s network has long used these kind of shaping techniques to manage the traffic for everyone. Unfortunately it seems their 4G in your area is being heavily utilised and there’s not enough upload bandwidth to go around.

They’ve obviously added capacity to the mast to assist with 5G but this hasn’t done anything to help 4G in the area.
 
I specifically asked Three yesterday if there was any traffic shaping or fair usage restrictions etc on their unlimited 5G SIMs and their answer was no. Although must admit the symptoms do look as though there may be.
 
Got my Three ZTE 801A 5g Hub a few days ago and experiencing the same thing. I have line of sight to the 5g tower, ~300m and can pull over 1.5Gbps down (bursts to 2Gbps!) and ~30Mbps via a wired connection. Both fast.com and speedtest.net do seem to block on upload on some devices, barely scraping a few Kbps.

I've separated the WiFi networks (2.4Ghz and 5Ghz are a combined name/SSID by default), by going to: http://192.168.0.1/index.html#wifi_main for the option "Single SSID", click disable. Then apply the settings at the bottom and it'll then advertise a 2nd network with _5Ghz appended to the name. I've also played with the APN settings changing between three.co.uk and 3Internet, zero difference noticed, you can change under: http://192.168.0.1/index.html#apn_setting (to change it you need to disconnect 5g, on the home page under the center circle hit the 5g toggle to disable, change APN then re-enable)

The biggest thing that helped my upload speed was going to the hidden advanced pages under: http://192.168.0.1/index.html#debug_page and locking to a particular cell id. In my area there is one 5g mast but several 4g masts, I understand 5g here works by using the 4g for upload. I could see it bouncing around different cell ids & PCIs using the page http://192.168.0.1/index.html#network_info - watch that for a bit to see the behaviour. I worked out the cell id & PCI which was the 5g tower and locked it to that.

My upload speed improved but the devices reporting a few Kbps in upload speed are still reporting the same poor speeds - no fix just yet. May try the bridge mode to a small server but not for the faint hearted.
 
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