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EE Capping Speeds on Uncapped Contract

Fr-ChewyLewy

Casual Member
Hi folks,

In recent months, I've noticed that my EE speeds are being capped. I suspected this was the case because I've never gotten a speed test to go over 200Mbps for months. It's hardly unusable, but still somewhat annoying.

Today, I activated a Lyca SIM card on my phone which also uses EE as I'm sure most of you know. It is clear from the results that my EE SIM card is being capped.

The below tests were carried out using eSIM on a Galaxy S23 Ultra from the exact same location:

EE - 140Mbps / 60.2 Mbps
Lyca - 629 Mbps / 60 Mbps

EE - 199 Mbps / 60.2 Mbps
Lyca - 672 Mbps / 52.8 Mbps

I thought Lyca was supposed to be inferior, but speeds are considerably faster when compared to my unlimited, uncapped EE SIM which certainly isn't cheap. I've ran speed tests using Fast.com as well incase it was just an issue with Speedtest.net being capped but it's a similar story there.

Apologies if this has been brought up before. Appreciate any help. Thanks!
 
It is possible the mast is busy with EE customers backhaul and there is less Lyca using it?
I dont know how they segment backhaul out of the masts to the various networks on the same primary network so it just a theory.

Maybe try a different location using a different mast and see if its repeatable?
 
It is possible the mast is busy with EE customers backhaul and there is less Lyca using it?
I dont know how they segment backhaul out of the masts to the various networks on the same primary network so it just a theory.

Maybe try a different location using a different mast and see if its repeatable?
I should add that this is the same in every location I have tried. I very rarely get beyond 150 Mbps from any location whereas before, there are some locations I can get over 800 Mbps. I'm going to contact their support about it. Like I say, it's not like it's unusable. It's just somewhat annoying when you're on an expensive contract, yet I can buy a SIM for 99p which uses the same network and is substantially faster. Doesn't make sense.
 
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I spoke to EE support and they basically told me tough luck. I am getting above average speed. It makes absolutely no sense that I can get more than 3 times the speed using Lyca from exactly the same location at almost the exact same time. Is there any way I can test this further from my end?
 
You could do a bunch of traceroutes.
I think in recent threads on a similar subject we established Lyca is using their own network behind EE's radio infra which is faster or less congested. This could partly explain the speed differences you are seeing.
 
You could do a bunch of traceroutes.
I think in recent threads on a similar subject we established Lyca is using their own network behind EE's radio infra which is faster or less congested. This could partly explain the speed differences you are seeing.
The trouble I have is that no matter where I am and what mast I'm connected to, 4G or 5G, it is no longer possible to get more than 150 Mbps or so. Several months ago, I was easily getting 709-800 Mbps consistently. I could totally understand the occasional drops but it happens on every single test now. Whatever backend Lyca are using, there is no way it should be more than 3 times faster on EE's own network. Especially when they don't have access to all bands.

More testing is needed but I'm almost convinced there's some sort of limitation in place. It feels silly moaning that I'm only getting 150 Mbps and I probably wouldn't have cared if my significantly cheaper Lyco MVNO SIM wasn't so much faster.
 
After further testing, it looks as though the speed limitation only applied to Speedtest.net and the Speedtest app. This is even more baffling considering EE use this in their marketing when quoting fastest mobile speeds etc. Using an all like Meteor, or downloading a few Linux ISO images does not show any such speed limitations. Very strange how/why they would do this. I've got at least 4 other people to try this and they are all showing the same behaviour.
 
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After further testing, it looks as though the speed limitation only applied to Speedtest.net and the Speedtest app. This is even more baffling considering EE use this in their marketing when quoting fastest mobile speeds etc. Using an all like Meteor, or downloading a few Linux ISO images does not show any such speed limitations. Very strange how/why they would do this. I've got at least 4 other people to try this and they are all showing the same behaviour.
Some nice troubleshooting. Is this for all speedtest servers tried, and even the ones known-good for other networks?
 
Some nice troubleshooting. Is this for all speedtest servers tried, and even the ones known-good for other networks?
I tried many servers on Speedtest.net, all with similar results. It's funny that if I go across the border to Ireland which is technically roaming, no such speed limitations are in place. It is bizarre that EE would throttle Speedtest.net considering they use this in their marketing material to boast about fastest network etc. It is also unclear if this is only for certain customers or certain regions. What is clear though, is that some sort of speed throttling is going on between EE and Speedest.net.
 
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I think Fast is fine but I tend not to use it because the results are always on the ambitious side and don't seem to be that accurate.
fast.com defaults to a test of about 10 seconds which can be lengthened to about 60 seconds to nearer what speedtest.net uses. Otherwise one is comparing transient apples with sustained oranges.
 
I have got a lend of an EE sim and I am actually seeing something similar.
A vpn actually helped tests a bit.

Also which plan are you on?
 
Also noticed EE being slower on Speedtest.net specifically on my friend's EE SIM, can't give more specifics as I don't have a native EE SIM.
 
I've just upgraded my contract today and having the same on uncapped unlimited sim on EE (direct) of about 100mbps and when I tried the lyca sim I'm pulling down nearly 500mbps. I think I'm gonna speak to EE about this.
 
I've just upgraded my contract today and having the same on uncapped unlimited sim on EE (direct) of about 100mbps and when I tried the lyca sim I'm pulling down nearly 500mbps. I think I'm gonna speak to EE about this.
I spoke to them and they were of no help. Just said there's no cap on my account. Use Meteor or Fast.com. Your speeds should be fine. It's just Speedtest.net for some strange reason.
 
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I spoke to them and they were of no help. Just said there's no cap on my account. Use Meteor or Fast.com. Your speeds should be fine. It's just Speedtest.net for some strange reason.
If the issue only shows with https://speedtest.net and does not show with https://nperf.com or https://fast.com I would suspect the ISP is being bothered for an issue that's not their problem.

One can test this by running simultaneously with https://speedtest.net and https://fast.com so that if one shows the same cap as running alone yet the other gives additional throughput, the cap would be indicative of an artificial bottleneck somewhere on the data path and likely related to the destination endpoint rather than the ISP.
 
If the issue only shows with https://speedtest.net and does not show with https://nperf.com or https://fast.com I would suspect the ISP is being bothered for an issue that's not their problem.

One can test this by running simultaneously with https://speedtest.net and https://fast.com so that if one shows the same cap as running alone yet the other gives additional throughput, the cap would be indicative of an artificial bottleneck somewhere on the data path and likely related to the destination endpoint rather than the ISP.
How can you be sure that this isn't an issue on the ISP side? The same issue applies regardless what Speedtest.net server is selected, so I'm assuming that means different endpoints. Either way, how can uou say with certainty that it isn't EE?
 
How can you be sure that this isn't an issue on the ISP side? The same issue applies regardless what Speedtest.net server is selected, so I'm assuming that means different endpoints. Either way, how can uou say with certainty that it isn't EE?
No such claim was made.
 
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