Sponsored Links

Huawei B535-232 4g/LTE Router Issue

Almost SIX months after I raised a complaint with the Ombudsman with regard to the page-load-stall issue on Three's network, I have received their adjudication (below).

I filed two complaints: the specific page-load-stall issue largely discussed in this forum & Threes refusal to acknowledge that there was a technical issue requiring referral to their Network Services team.

Summary of the Ombudsmans decision:

Issue 1 (the page-load-stall issue)

Based on the evidence available to me, I acknowledge that you are dissatisfied with the broadband speeds you are receiving from Three.

Three’s terms and conditions:
We'll always try to make Three Services available to you. However, there may be areas where you don't have access to all Three Services or where coverage is otherwise limited or unavailable or network speeds are slower than expected.

Our advertised and estimated maximum upload and download speeds for our broadband internet services, provided as part of Three Services, are set out in our estimated broadband speeds table. We do not guarantee that our broadband service will achieve any specific speeds.

Due to the nature of mobile technology, there may be situations when Three Services aren't always available, or the quality or network speeds are affected and so we cannot guarantee continuous fault-free service.

In the event that you experience continuous or regularly recurring disruption to Three Services...you may be entitled to a price reduction based upon the period of the disruption.

To receive a credit or refund you’ll need to report to us a disruption on the Three Network in order that we may investigate your concerns.



Decision: In my view, Three does have a responsibility to assist you with troubleshooting if issues are reported. However, Ombudsman Services is unable to request that a communications company invest in its masts or propose any corrective actions for repairs undertaken due to signal issues.

I am satisfied that Three did assist you...I require no further action from Three with regards to this complaint point.

Complaint not upheld.


Issue 2 (Three's refusal to refer the above technical issue to their Network Services team for investigation).

You explained that you reported this issue to Three and it refused to accept that there was any kind of issue and declined to refer the issue to its Network Services team.

Based on the evidence available to me...It is my view that you have experienced customer service shortfalls and that Three could have assisted you with your complaint in a more efficient manner.

I do acknowledge that you are dissatisfied with the customer service you have received from Three.

I acknowledge how frustrating intermittent issues can be and in my view Three could have assisted you with your
complaint in a more efficient manner as it could have explained that it is in its terms and conditions that it does not guarantee a fault free service and could have also discussed alternative trouble shooting.

Decision: In conclusion, I have not identified that you have had a considerable drop in usage. However, it is my opinion that Three could have assisted you with your complaint in a more efficient manner.

As I have not identified a total loss of service then it is my view that it would not be fair or reasonable to ask that Three allow you to cancel your contract without having to pay early termination fees as it is in Three’s terms and conditions [that they] cannot guarantee a fault free service.

To resolve your complaint as previously mentioned, I will propose that Three credit your account as a gesture of goodwill and send you a letter of apology

Complaint upheld.
 
So, obviously it seems complaining to the Ombudsman is largely pointless because Three simply quote their T&C's to evade any judgement against them.

The fact that my complaint was specific to the stalling of web pages on initial load and NOT with regard to "download speed", has been ignored.

It doesn't really do anything for my faith in the Government appointed Ombudsman having the technical depth of knowledge required to handle such complaints or to his ability to hold large organisations like Three to account in spite of T&C's that they use to shield themselves from their customers.
 
I'm honestly not surprised. Ofcom, the ombudsman and various other watchdog services I have zero faith. I've had experience with the telco ombudsman in the past years ago with Vodafone because I ended up refusing to pay Vodafone because I the service quality (back when their 4G coverage was rubbish) dropped significantly and they refused to acknowledge it. Demonstrable evidence and they didn't uphold it. Much different picture now as Vodafone have built a clearly dependable network.

After Three let me cancel the one of 2 B535 contracts I have - I kept pushing them to stop selling it in oversubscribed areas and they did say they would pass it on. Today I just checked Three's website for that postcode and it now says they can't offer broadband to this postcode (despite good coverage) so I'm really glad that they're seemingly taking notice and doing something.
 
So, obviously it seems complaining to the Ombudsman is largely pointless because Three simply quote their T&C's to evade any judgement against them.

The fact that my complaint was specific to the stalling of web pages on initial load and NOT with regard to "download speed", has been ignored.

It doesn't really do anything for my faith in the Government appointed Ombudsman having the technical depth of knowledge required to handle such complaints or to his ability to hold large organisations like Three to account in spite of T&C's that they use to shield themselves from their customers.

Thank you for sharing that Bill. I honestly expected Karen (OFCOM) to be have some technical knowhow and awareness, but sadly that isn't shown period in your response from her. The fact they didn't understand point 1 at all, does not fill me with confidence.

Talk about being palmed off! I guess at least they replied, its more than you get from Three themselves.

If Karen is not going to police the shortcoming of ISP's (regardless of how they deliver their service) maybe the government would be better to shut down the toothless quango we have for the regulator today? I suggest they start fresh, hire knowledgeable people, (who actually understand the technical shortcomings of what they are trying to regulate and face it head on), maybe working with the very people they are there to protect (consumers and business users), not the ISP's and Telco's (they seem to be there just to protect currently) and develop a viable framework which carries out its remit with half a chance of success.

Please Bill, post the letter of apology when you receive it!
 
You were not complaining about lack of signal but slow or stalled page loading, you had a good signal but could not use it for what is was designed to provide. Ofcom are plainly useless, yet another expensive pointless quango.
 
You were not complaining about lack of signal but slow or stalled page loading, you had a good signal but could not use it for what is was designed to provide. Ofcom are plainly useless, yet another expensive pointless quango.
Indeed, I even provided screenshots & videos showing the effect of the page-load-stall as well a detailed description & even a link to this forum thread. It's clear from the timeline that they did nothing for over 5months and only in the last week (after I badgered them) assigned an Investigative Officer who gave her adjudication 3days after being assigned my case. So, in other words, they weren't interested in the detail and simply awarded a credit to my account to get rid of me.
 
From what I can now understand is the page stall issue may not be something under Three's control. The backbone from a mast to where it terminates (where it actually provides connectivity to the internet) is not actually provided by three, its their supplier that provides the connectivity to three from the masts. So if anything you'd think three would be badgering their supplier to resolve a problem out of their hands. Or maybe finding a different supplier altogether.
 
Can also confirm i am having the same issue, absolutely annoying!

I recently stopped my sky adsl broadband as they just kept upping the prices, 3 times in a year. As i was moving i told them i wanted to cancel, they then offered me the same service for half price. So i figured if they can do it for that they have just been ripping me off, so binned them.

But back to the 3, I find the B535 Great, although annoyingly picky about location. But this 3 stalling thing is just a joke, luckily im on the superdrug 1 month rolling sim.

Strange thing about it is i also have the same sim in my phone, and never get such issues?
 
So, I have tried the 3 SIM on 3 different routers now and have the same stalling issue on all of them. I have tried various settings and even load balanced across 3 LTE and BT VDSL on a Draytek router and it seems that 3 just simply doesn't work properly. When I run a speed test from fast.com it's great, shows as 100 down and 30 up and I can get great general speeds but it simply intermittently hangs on a loading page.

Like the post above, thankfully I am on a monthly contract so will bin it if it continues but it is soooooo frustrating to be so close to getting a great speed (load balance between 3 and BT was super), only to be let down by this hanging website issue :-(
 
Have others seen the stalling issue dissappear?

Maybe it's mast dependent then. I've tried many things on the router side. Not sure what's fixed it but I hardly notice any stalling recently.
 
I think its a mix of faults, its worse if you're only on one band. Since getting 4G+ with Bands 1 and 3 I've seen it far less. However it still does it if my Xbox is maxing out the connection downstairs while I'm surfing upstairs, which makes me think its a contention related issue.
 
After having the Vodafone SIM in a Three B535 I’m very impressed. There’s zero issue with the router and it’s all set to Auto - no tweaking required. It’s definitely not the router and Three that have the issue.
 
It’s definitely not the router and Three that have the issue.
Definitely agree. I swapped a week ago from a Smarty sim to an EE one and haven’t had a single page loading issue since despite both networks sharing the same mast in my semi-rural location.
 
three.png
 
Oh my, such a heartfelt response! You can almost feel how sorry they are Bill.

What did she explain exactly?
 
Top
Cheap BIG ISPs for 100Mbps+
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Virgin Media UK ISP Logo
Virgin Media £24.00
132Mbps
Gift: None
Shell Energy UK ISP Logo
Shell Energy £26.99
109Mbps
Gift: None
Plusnet UK ISP Logo
Plusnet £27.99
145Mbps
Gift: None
Zen Internet UK ISP Logo
Zen Internet £28.00 - 35.00
100Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Cheapest ISPs for 100Mbps+
Gigaclear UK ISP Logo
Gigaclear £15.00
150Mbps
Gift: None
YouFibre UK ISP Logo
YouFibre £19.99
150Mbps
Gift: None
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
BeFibre UK ISP Logo
BeFibre £21.00
150Mbps
Gift: £25 Love2Shop Card
Hey! Broadband UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Sponsored Links
The Top 15 Category Tags
  1. FTTP (5472)
  2. BT (3505)
  3. Politics (2524)
  4. Openreach (2291)
  5. Business (2251)
  6. Building Digital UK (2234)
  7. FTTC (2041)
  8. Mobile Broadband (1961)
  9. Statistics (1778)
  10. 4G (1654)
  11. Virgin Media (1608)
  12. Ofcom Regulation (1451)
  13. Fibre Optic (1392)
  14. Wireless Internet (1386)
  15. FTTH (1381)
Sponsored

Copyright © 1999 to Present - ISPreview.co.uk - All Rights Reserved - Terms  ,  Privacy and Cookie Policy  ,  Links  ,  Website Rules