Slow internet connection/Download speeds with Huawei B535

[danarama]

Three don't own any spectrum on B7 (EE and Vodafone are the only providers with that spectrum) - forcing this will lose connectivity if using a Three SIM.

If you are not getting any signal with B3 either than that would suggest you're only able to receive B20 - if so, the speeds for that are likely to be very low - you don't say what speeds you are able to achieve so can't be certain.
You might might be aggregating B20+B32 which would give a higher download speed.

Fyi I've replied to this with a screenshot but it's awaiting moderation. Please bear with me.

 

[danarama]

The way it works isn't quite like that with Three. All the way back in the days of the One Plan they implemented the DPI system to prevent tethering in a way that wasn't easily bypassed.

If you connect your phone and your laptop tethered to it - the DPI system will run what I assume few checks on some packets and then decide the prioritisation etc. of your 'line'. It'll at some arbitrary point later check it again and possibly make a change then. It's possible because on your phone most of the packets are for your phone itself, I think if you had zero data usage on your phone and just used your laptop continuously you'd eventually see the performance drop.

+ You could bypass this system for quite some time by using your phone for the internet whilst tethering a device and it'd work for a few hours before it'd realise and block your internet entirely on both your phone and tethered devices until you stopped tethering and the system checked it again at some point, or you restarted your device (The One Plan prohibited tethering entirely)

Fair point. Luckily I've a backup ADSL which I'm using for my work laptop and games console. But I do want to get this LTE service working

 

[TTJJ]

Fair point. Luckily I've a backup ADSL which I'm using for my work laptop and games console. But I do want to get this LTE service working

Would highly recommend just switching away from Three if your internet performance isn't good enough. I've been with them for a long time and these issues existed well before the Corona, it's only been exacerbated in recent times with even more demand. They offer unlimited data for less than half the price of other providers - their network gets hammered for data.

 

[danarama]

Would highly recommend just switching away from Three if your internet performance isn't good enough. I've been with them for a long time and these issues existed well before the Corona, it's only been exacerbated in recent times with even more demand. They offer unlimited data for less than half the price of other providers - their network gets hammered for data.

There's nothing to switch to if I want to stream unfortunately. Except maybe EE.

I've been with three for years on my phone and haven't had the issues I have with this new plan / router combo.

I've got ADSL which is FTTC but half the village aren't wired to the cab at the end of my street, but another one that is technically in the next village. I get between 10-14 Mbps on that which is fine for browsing and my remote work duties, and gaming but not all necessarily simultaneously.

We only get three and EE in my village (they share a mast even though I thought that relationship had ended).

Ill be keeping the ADSL as the price of that through Zen and the three package still only equals what I'd pay BT for the ADSL with the same performance. There's no cable here either.

I only need the three for streaming and browsing and generally it's working quite well, except often I'll have to cold boot the router. I can stream 4k usually without issue but browsing itself just really struggles.

 

[TTJJ]

There's nothing to switch to if I want to stream unfortunately. Except maybe EE.

I've been with three for years on my phone and haven't had the issues I have with this new plan / router combo.

I've got ADSL which is FTTC but half the village aren't wired to the cab at the end of my street, but another one that is technically in the next village. I get between 10-14 Mbps on that which is fine for browsing and my remote work duties, and gaming but not all necessarily simultaneously.

We only get three and EE in my village (they share a mast even though I thought that relationship had ended).

Ill be keeping the ADSL as the price of that through Zen and the three package still only equals what I'd pay BT for the ADSL with the same performance. There's no cable here either.

I only need the three for streaming and browsing and generally it's working quite well, except often I'll have to cold boot the router. I can stream 4k usually without issue but browsing itself just really struggles.

Ah, you're in a village. Your experience may well improve once the corona situation improves and people are out and about more again.

In Urban areas this kind of thing has just been a feature of 3's network. Next time you're in London try making phone call or using the internet outside of Kings Cross station for example. Demand in a village location is probably more manageable.

 

[danarama]

Ah, you're in a village. Your experience may well improve once the corona situation improves and people are out and about more again.

In Urban areas this kind of thing has just been a feature of 3's network. Next time you're in London try making phone call or using the internet outside of Kings Cross station for example. Demand in a village location is probably more manageable.

Yeah it's much better. I work in the city centre (pre virus) and I just can't do a thing on my phone. But typically out here the speeds are good.

 

[TTJJ]

Yeah it's much better. I work in the city centre (pre virus) and I just can't do a thing on my phone. But typically out here the speeds are good.

Plus even if you wanted to try EE - the price would be ridiculous compared to Three. I don't often even see cashback deals etc. worth much on EE. It's just a pretty expensive network.

 

[danarama]

Plus even if you wanted to try EE - the price would be ridiculous compared to Three. I don't often even see cashback deals etc. worth much on EE. It's just a pretty expensive network.

I haven't seen anything on EE that hasn't got a fair usage policy. Unfortunately for everyone else, I'm using a lot of data. Streaming hi Res music all day, watching a 4k movie each evening I'm burning through it. Maybe once the 4k novelty wears off I'll be a better user but until then...

 

[TTJJ]

I haven't seen anything on EE that hasn't got a fair usage policy. Unfortunately for everyone else, I'm using a lot of data. Streaming hi Res music all day, watching a 4k movie each evening I'm burning through it. Maybe once the 4k novelty wears off I'll be a better user but until then...

EE and Three both have 1TB fair use limits on their unlimited plans.

Best SIM Only Deals and Pay Monthly SIM Contracts | EE Shop

Pay monthly phone SIM only plans

shop.ee.co.uk

EE's unlimited SIM is 35 quid a month. It says it's for phones but you're allowed to use it in whatever device you want, no matter if they persuade you otherwise. They just dont market it to broadband customers for obvious reasons.

 

[danarama]

EE and Three both have 1TB fair use limits on their unlimited plans.

Best SIM Only Deals and Pay Monthly SIM Contracts | EE Shop

Pay monthly phone SIM only plans

shop.ee.co.uk

EE's unlimited SIM is 35 quid a month. It says it's for phones but you're allowed to use it in whatever device you want, no matter if they persuade you otherwise. They just dont market it to broadband customers for obvious reasons.

Oh, I thought it was only 30 GB... Hmmm

1TB on three. Eek, my router says I'm nearly there after 3 weeks. Shameful

 

[TTJJ]

Oh, I thought it was only 30 GB... Hmmm

1TB on three. Eek, my router says I'm nearly there after 3 weeks. Shameful

I'm not entirely sure what happens on Three after you use 1TB, it may just be a soft limit or you get enhanced traffic management. Could also be nothing.

Edit: I may be out of date. Seems Three have removed all reference to the 1TB fair use policy now. They do say now though (new) " In times of high congestion or network issues, we might reroute bandwidth from quieter places to places with higher demand. This should never affect you, and it’s only to make sure things are running smoothly across our network. ". This could be the reason that things slow down to a halt though if your traffic is being sent to other data centres because yours is congested.

 

[danarama]

I'm not entirely sure what happens on Three after you use 1TB, it may just be a soft limit or you get enhanced traffic management. Could also be nothing.

Edit: I may be out of date. Seems Three have removed all reference to the 1TB fair use policy now.

Yes, I've just remembered I asked that before I bought it. I had the chat emailed to me just in case

You [13:56 16-06-20] Thank you. One more question. Is it truly unlimted data? Or is there a fair usage policy? Does the line throttle?

You [13:56 16-06-20] Thats 3 questions I know. I use my boradband a lot for streaming and gaming

Giulia [13:59 16-06-20] It is unlimited yes and you can You can check coverage in your area through this link

 

[GavinAshford]

EE's unlimited SIM is 35 quid a month. It says it's for phones but you're allowed to use it in whatever device you want, no matter if they persuade you otherwise. They just dont market it to broadband customers for obvious reasons.

I've heard this is going to be clamped down on by EE.

 

[TTJJ]

I've heard this is going to be clamped down on by EE.

They can’t do that though - there was an EU law about it. Until there’s a new law, even after Brexit, they can’t tell customers what device they can and can’t use a SIM in.

 

[lola50]

hi

I have just got and installed the B535 & im having so many issues with it...
got 4 lights on for signal but im getting download speeds of 7.5mbps and upload of 3.5mbps...
the signal is excellent apparently so why are my speeds so poor??

 

[TTJJ]

hi

I have just got and installed the B535 & im having so many issues with it...
got 4 lights on for signal but im getting download speeds of 7.5mbps and upload of 3.5mbps...
the signal is excellent apparently so why are my speeds so poor??

Have a read through the other threads. It’s just Three’s network it’s too busy, nothing to do with the signal strength.

 

[danarama]

Agreed, this sounds like a congestion issue. When I'm in Leeds City train station, my phone has full signal strength, yet my download speed is measured in kbps, not even mbps

 

[GavinAshford]

Ah that may explain it then. It was just something I read in another thread which I believed pertained to three.

I'm not using B20. I can lock it to B20 via the app I mentioned, but it gets about 2mbps.

Typically I get between 40mbps to 120ish if speedtest.net is to be believed. Streaming seems to work ok most of the time, but only after a lot of dilly dallying.

I've (hopefully) attached the screenshot of the app I mentioned. I'm not sure exactly what that string means in the FDD field

OK, it appears the moderation process perhaps removed the screenshot.

The app says the router is on band B3-1800Mhz and the F/TDD (presumably F in our scenario) value is "80800C5"

Then I'm confused that you said you locked to B3 but you said you didn't get any connection - that's why I thought you were only getting B20

 

[GavinAshford]

They can’t do that though - there was an EU law about it. Until there’s a new law, even after Brexit, they can’t tell customers what device they can and can’t use a SIM in.

I don;t think it's not so much what device it's used in, but rather enabling/enforcing checks for what they deem 'commercial' use (>1000GB/12 devices)

 

[TTJJ]

I don;t think it's not so much what device it's used in, but rather enabling/enforcing checks for what they deem 'commercial' use (>1000GB/12 devices)

But they can’t define what commercial use is - as if you’re not using it for commercial purposes they can’t pluck up an arbitrary number and say if you’re using more than that then you are in fact a commercial business now. They can check it all they want but if you’re using your SIM in a router for non-commercial purposes and have 50 devices they’d be contravening the law by preventing access if you say it’s personal/non-commercial use.

That being said - EE’s put these limits in place and I doubt they’d take much interest to a customer complaining about it once they’re cut off even if it is the law.