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Is 3 UK blocking internet access for all non-3 phones?

I have been a 3 user for the last 2 years and a half. Originally I used the N95 that came with the 3 contract, but lately I've been using two android phones, a G1 first and a Nexus one later.

Everything worked as expected until approximately one month ago, when I started noticing that in some specific areas in London I couldn't get almost any data. I downloaded a network monitor and verified that the connection works, it's just incredibly slow (4-500bit/s max). So, for example, if I try to get to http://bbc.co.uk my browser (slowly) receives the data for various HTTP redirects which point me to http://www.bbc.co.uk/mobile but then the page loading fails because the connection is too slow and it times out.

The strange things are:
- this happens when I'm in the Victoria area and in other zones in London (Chiswick, parts of Islington, etc.), but not for example in Oxford Circus or Covent Garden. If I'm on a taxi from Oxford Circus to Victoria the connection initially works and then starts crawling approximately halfway through the road.
- it happens all the time, that is there's no way to get decent data speeds in the Victoria area (web pages don't load, map tiles do not get shown, etc.)
- it's not related to 3G bars (it's happening regardless of me having 0 or 4 bars, and in the areas where it doesn't happen I get data even with weak 3G connection)
- when it's happening, if I switch to 2G the connection works at a reasonable pace (for a GPRS connection)
- the problem happens on *both* my Nexus one and my G1, but NOT if I put the SIM into the N95 that I originally had bought from three
- if I try to access directly the 3 support site using the same url I have on the N95, it works even on the Nexus one or the G1, so there clearly is some throttling happening after that.

Now, given that
- three keeps calling me asking me to upgrade and sign up for a new 18 months contract (which I don't want to do)
- the customer care refuses to give *any kind of support* for problems on the Nexus one (or any phone not issued by 3)
I'm starting to think that 3 boycotts the Nexus one (or at least all non-3 phones).

Is anyone else experiencing this?

And also: is there any way to have support? How can they have SIM-only contracts and PAYG cards, if they refuse to give support to non 3 phones?
 
sounds like congestion to me.. if it worked before then it should work now, what times are you browsing with your phones? as l found at peak times on mobile internet (between 4pm and 12am) the net was unusable, so l ended up only being able to do anything at night, ld assume that all internet traffic would go through different from the voice side of things and since mobiles can be used as modems ld expect the same problems to occur, as such ld expect your issue to be congestion as different areas likely have different takeup and the more users on one mast/receiver fighting for bandwidth the less it has to give out which is why l assume in places that your having problems browsing.
 
sounds like congestion to me.. if it worked before then it should work now, what times are you browsing with your phones?

Nope, it can't be congestion: it's not working regardless of the time I try (I also tried very late at night).

Moreover, if I use my 3-branded N95 the connection works normally at pretty much every hour. Also, if I get the tube and go to Oxford Circus or Covent Garden it starts working normally!

And I'm in Central-Central-London, if the network were congested for 1m 3 would be dead!
 
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my opinion still stands, my experiences of what you mentioned were limited to peak times.. peak times are generally when everyone hopes onto the internet and bandwidth is spread too thin for everyone to be able to access the net.

however l dont live near a large city, never have... towns are all lve lived near or in, london however is huge in comparison to what lm used to so with many more ppl accessing lm sure it easier for the access points (masts or whatever) to get bulked down under the load, so again going by what you said (it works in some areas and not in others) it sounds like your going in and out of areas where there is little bandwidth to spare for your access, because from the sounds of it, the problem isnt that it doest connect and allow you to browse but that when you try browsing everything times out because your request for whatever data your browsing for takes too long to load and hence fails, and there are only two reasons for that.

1. server problem (if only one site is affected its easy to tell)
2. something between you and the internet is affecting the connection, basically loosing your request in limbo
 
lm sure it easier for the access points (masts or whatever) to get bulked down under the load, so again going by what you said (it works in some areas and not in others) [...] your browsing for takes too long to load and hence fails, and there are only two reasons for that.

1. server problem (if only one site is affected its easy to tell)
2. something between you and the internet is affecting the connection, basically loosing your request in limbo

So, if I try to load a web page now on the N1, it fails.
I then get the SIM card out and into the N95, I get to load it almost instantly (probably at around 1Mbps).

Simple http requests succeed from the N1 as well, that is when they involve just a few KB I can get data fast enough for the communication to succeed. But apparently big web pages hit some kind of limit that lets them die.

I think the "something between you and the internet" is the right option, and that something is likely some kind of filter on three systems against non 3-branded phones (I'm going to try with other android phones soon and see what happens).
 
It could be a setting issue on the phone, though in any case Three 3 sell sim-only contracts too and they use the same details so it would not make sense to block non-3 phones. I'm currently using an O2 sim but I do have one from 3 around that I use for Internet access and that works fine in my sim-free HTC Diamond 2.

Try the live-chat system of Three 3's website and ask them about it.
 
It could be a setting issue on the phone, though in any case Three 3 sell sim-only contracts too and they use the same details so it would not make sense to block non-3 phones. I'm currently using an O2 sim but I do have one from 3 around that I use for Internet access and that works fine in my sim-free HTC Diamond 2.

Try the live-chat system of Three 3's website and ask them about it.

Will do, but it's not a phone issue. I've now tried on 3 other phones, another nexus one, another G1 and a Nokia N900. Results:

- all nexus ones and G1s get abysmal data rates (regardless good 3G connectivity) here in the London Victoria area (at least that's what happens with my SIM).
- the connection works normally with the N900.

I think three is doing area-based traffic shaping based on the phone.
 
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I don't know if you have solved this yet, But if you have a rooted phone, It may be worth changing the build.prop of the mod that you are on to include the following.

Code:
ro.ril.hsxpa=2

That little snipit added to the end of the file should increase your speeds drastically, also make sure that your APN's are set correctly.
 
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