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Issues with Three & 3rd party modems

Zalz

Member
I've recently picked up a ZTE MC7010 as there is a new 5G mast about 30-40 metres away from my flat which is now online. According to Three's website I should have very strong indoor and outdoor 5G signal at my address and they are accepting 5G home broadband orders for my postcode, so I went out and bought a broadband SIM only deal from Three.

In the past I have used Three at this address but my devices stopped connecting to the 4G network overnight. I've also used EE and voda with no technical issues here (too expensive or slightly too slow though).

I've tried the SIM in both my MC7010 (CN V2.0 B10 firmware) and my Netgear M1 (latest EU firmware), both are stuck on 3G and when I force them into either 4G or 5G they just won't connect to anything. When I put the SIM into a 5G phone it happily connects and I get 1Gbps (nice) but this obviously isn't ideal for the long term! I've tried the different APNs for Three, factory resets, cell locking, etc. nothing worked so far.

Three didn't really provide a satisfactory reason for this issue and said all the towers are serviceable in this area and there might be an "unseen" obstruction. Has anyone had similar issues and would it be worth trying a plan with their included ZTE 5G modem?
 
@Zalz the MC7010, MC801a, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini all use the Snapdragon X55 modem.

If you picked up the ZTE three sell as it uses the same modem as your MC7010 there should be no difference.

What phone did you test with?
 
@Zalz the MC7010, MC801a, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini all use the Snapdragon X55 modem.

If you picked up the ZTE three sell as it uses the same modem as your MC7010 there should be no difference.

What phone did you test with?
Hi @meritez, I tried it with a Samsung A32 5G.

I've seen that three's hub uses the same chipset as the MC7010 which is why I'm really wanting to rule out the hardware itself.

Attached is what my Netgear M1 displays when I force it into 4G only, it just will not connect to the network though. When I drive down towards the town centre it will eventually move over to 4G+.
 

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A32 is a mediatek dimensity 720.

So completely different, your Netgear has a Qualcomm mdm9x50 which is similar to the ZTE mf286d.

If you run cellmapper on your a32, what masts are you connecting to?
 
A32 is a mediatek dimensity 720.

So completely different, your Netgear has a Qualcomm mdm9x50 which is similar to the ZTE mf286d.

If you run cellmapper on your a32, what masts are you connecting to?
2 different apps but should hopefully piece together.

Three reps did say they do split down their network access between phones and broadband devices
 

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  • WhatsApp Image 2022-07-14 at 7.09.30 PM.webp
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