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Plusnet Fixed Line upto 38Mbps to Three Home-Fi Unlimited

uknowiama

Top Member
After opinions advice. I am currently coming to end of contract with Plusnet. The connection for me is stable and the downloads have been 36Mbps and 9Mbps upload. I pay £24.98 incl line rental at mo and the best price to renew I got was £28.48.

Want to look at Home-Fi Plus from 3. Or a 3 sim and a 4G+ capable router. £22 a month for Home-Fi or £10 a month for 1st 6 months and 20 a month for remaining 18 months for unlimited data sim. Then the cost of the router.

Anyone else made the switch how they find it? From fixed line to cellular.

I am getting rid of Sky and be streaming more stuff. Just me in the house. Occasionally my girlfriend and 2 young children 4 and 7 in house as well.

Coverage is very good. Got a three SIM put some data on it. Downloads at 6pm on Thurs evening - typically 35 to 39Mbps and upload max of 15 Mbps using an iPhone 6 plus.

Would consider in investing in an external antenna to improve signal and throughput.

Or best staying on fixed line?

For 12 months plus, I have had 100GB Virgin Mobile 4G SIM in a Wingle at £20 a month in car and take out and use when stay away. Been very impressed with that, but can't get unlimited data contract.

There are 3 EE mast very close to me and speeds fly on that network typically 50Mbps+ download and 40Mbps+ upload.

Thanks in advance
 
In my opinion, the main two potential downsides of a 4G home internet connection are 1) increased latency/ping, which affects online gaming for games that require low latency and 2) potential fluctuating speeds during 'peak-times' or when there is abnormal demand during an event (e.g. near a football stadium that gets over capacity during a game when the local population using the masts in the vicinity increases temporarily).
With 4G connections you may find 'peak times' differ to traditional fixed line connections, e.g. if you're near a college/university then peak times may be during the day when the local population is higher.

If neither of those potential downsides really apply for you, and you don't need a landline for a specific reason (e.g. a connected alarm system) then personally I don't see any reason not to consider using 4G instead of a fixed line.

I made the switch in September last year and overall its been great. Speeds are way higher than what the fixed line can deliver and costs less too. The only issue was one period of outage when the nationwide Three network went down for 6 hours or so, which while annoying, just meant we had to use our (EE) phone data instead of the wifi/Three 4G. After complaining, Three compensated for this by applying a discount to our bill for the inconvenience.
The in-laws did complain that they couldn't phone our landline anymore, but I didn't consider that to be a downside!

With the speeds you've given, it suggests the area you live in is somewhat urban as you would more than likely see somewhere between 60-70Mbps download speeds from a Three mast with low usage and their most 'basic' configuration.
Either that or the location in your house where you did the speed test wasn't ideal and so speeds were impacted (i.e. not at a window facing the direction of the mast).

If you are considering it, I would say just get it setup with just the router first and see if that works well-enough for you, before considering adding the expense of additional antennas - personally I feel they're only necessary for those living on the edge of signal areas.

FYI, as you are already an 'existing customer' of Three (you have a Three sim), you can create/login to your My3 account and in the customer offers get the B535 on a 24month contract with unlimited data for just £17 a month.
 
I am rural so no speed reductions at peak times for me, 50mb down and 20mb up with 3, BT would never maintain the line and guarenteed only 2mb when I actually got 10mb. Dropping BT was the best decision I made but in your case its not the same, they are much closer. Phones are much better speced than routers connection wise so you may get less than a phone even with a dedicated antenna.
 
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In my opinion, the main two potential downsides of a 4G home internet connection are 1) increased latency/ping, which affects online gaming for games that require low latency and 2) potential fluctuating speeds during 'peak-times' or when there is abnormal demand during an event (e.g. near a football stadium that gets over capacity during a game when the local population using the masts in the vicinity increases temporarily).
With 4G connections you may find 'peak times' differ to traditional fixed line connections, e.g. if you're near a college/university then peak times may be during the day when the local population is higher.

If neither of those potential downsides really apply for you, and you don't need a landline for a specific reason (e.g. a connected alarm system) then personally I don't see any reason not to consider using 4G instead of a fixed line.

I made the switch in September last year and overall its been great. Speeds are way higher than what the fixed line can deliver and costs less too. The only issue was one period of outage when the nationwide Three network went down for 6 hours or so, which while annoying, just meant we had to use our (EE) phone data instead of the wifi/Three 4G. After complaining, Three compensated for this by applying a discount to our bill for the inconvenience.
The in-laws did complain that they couldn't phone our landline anymore, but I didn't consider that to be a downside!

With the speeds you've given, it suggests the area you live in is somewhat urban as you would more than likely see somewhere between 60-70Mbps download speeds from a Three mast with low usage and their most 'basic' configuration.
Either that or the location in your house where you did the speed test wasn't ideal and so speeds were impacted (i.e. not at a window facing the direction of the mast).

If you are considering it, I would say just get it setup with just the router first and see if that works well-enough for you, before considering adding the expense of additional antennas - personally I feel they're only necessary for those living on the edge of signal areas.

FYI, as you are already an 'existing customer' of Three (you have a Three sim), you can create/login to your My3 account and in the customer offers get the B535 on a 24month contract with unlimited data for just £17 a month.

I've logged in, I can't see the offer though.
 
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I switched to Three broadband about three years ago, and got rid of the landline and never have any issues, my home broadband was 1.5Mbps and now always around 100Mbps.. :)

I have an external Aerial, although in the roof space, it didn't really help my speeds, it just meant I could have the router in the main house.

I'm using one of the old B310s that came with the Home broadband then, the advantage of this is you can just plug a Dect phone into the back and use it as a main house phone. When using the phone the connection drops to 3G and then back to 4G when you have finished.
 
Did this myself , The BT line goes off in 5 days.

Been using 3 broadband and the B535 router for £17 a month for the last 3 weeks, the best place for it is in the loft in a corner, the best speed i have got with it with some Bunny Ears off ali express for £3 , better than the internal aerial, is 52 down and 25-30 up, which is a lot better than the 15 down and 1 up i was getting from FTTC on BT.

I never expected above 20mb, mobile phone coverage is sketchy at best on 4G where we live, so was surprised with decent 4G the speed in the loft. Next step is a decent external aerial.

Not bothered about PING, dont game, its great for streaming, 4K netflix no problem.
 

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Router arrived yesterday. Promising to far, will updates with thoughts and speed test results in a bit.
 
Here are my results from my iPhone 7 connected via wifi to B535 Router. Delivered by DPD at 15:30.

Impressions. Ping response does not bother me too much, not an online gamer. RDP over VPN back to work seems to work fine. More contention on a mobile setup than a fixed line. Speeds get quicker as the evening wears on.
 

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