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Three UK Network Updates

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18% of calls are over 3G in 2024 - that’s high!?
It's a comparatively small network so it may not be as bad as it sounds - that's a smidge under 1/5th of all calls.
 
18% of calls are over 3G in 2024 - that’s high!?
that was in 2022. since 2022 they have:
-upgraded some 3G only sites to 4G/5G
-built new 4G/5G sites
-higher VoLTE penetration
-started 3G shutdown

i think their time on 4G settings are better now too. so it's likely less than 18% of calls now.

in the future, 3G will be shut down, which will reduce it to 0% of calls.
 
i think their time on 4G settings are better now too. so it's likely less than 18% of calls now
My phone never drops to 3G as much as it used to anymore which is nice. Used to force 20+32 at work as that's all that would get me a decent reception as it kept trying 3G - this was 2022. Don't have to do that anymore, it just clings onto 4G.
 
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The Three coverage map has been updated in Telford now. A few more 3G masts have been turned off.
 
The Three coverage map has been updated in Telford now. A few more 3G masts have been turned off.
The more wide-spread midlands/Wales area switch off was on 1st May with the map being imagery only getting updated last week on night of 14th/morning of 15th - Three do say checker map may have 2 week delay to being updated
 
Has anyone seen a boost in 4G performance yet in their areas after the 3G was switched off?

Thats what I have seen generally in my area. The TLDR being:
New sites and max config :love:
Older sites with 3, 20 :confused:
Band 20 only 4G with 2100 3G that no one is now pushed onto :sick:

No widening of Band 1 to 15mhz yet either, but its early days.
 
They have been working in East Sussex over last week and the weekend. 5G speeds were terrible at times but now back to normal...so I expect they were switching off 3G and upgrading 4 and 5G in some areas.
 
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The Three coverage map has been updated in Telford now. A few more 3G masts have been turned off.

From what I can see locally in Telford/north-mid shropshire. They're leaving on 3G only sites (the one by Telford College for example) and then also appear to be leaving on sites for now which are 3G/B20 4G only.

As i reported last week, the problem is there appears to be no 4G->3G handover, so if you wonder onto a 3G only mast or any 3G for that fact, you get disconnected as soon as the mast goes out of range.

For this reason I'm porting my main number to EE, but still having a secondary SIM for iD/Three data, as around Telford / Shrewsbury area it is decent, plus I need EU roaming.
 
This feels like Three is looking to completely transform its network and make it fit for the future. Three has done far more work in transforming its network in the last 2 years than it has in the last 10. They have always had a reputation as being a network slouch which they very clearly want to shake off.

Three needs to follow through with this if it wants to position itself as one of the big four operators. Falling behind is not an option as the U.K. market is notoriously difficult to do business in.

Transforming its RAN during 3G shutdown is challenging but not impossible. Adding 700mhz to all of its sites is a good strategy and I think the implementation should depend on location. Rural areas where the masts are more spread out I think there should be a huge focus on B28/20/3 with a B32 SDL add, this would give fantastic reach and decent capacity providing rural masts have decent backhaul.

In urban areas there should be a focus on their current LTE configurations with some small adjustments perhaps to help improve indoor coverage and speeds. With 5G hopefully they’ll implement N28 to help with indoor coverage and N78 with the full available spectrum to help further increase speeds in busy locations.

On paper Three has the spectrum to pull off a very good network and it has been proven, what they currently lack is the implementation and willing to do anything to amaze.

Definitely agree. I’ve seen Three has quietly been transforming their wider network with B28 rollout. There is a lot of talk on these forums about the PoWs, because they’re the most visible upgrade but of course there is much more to the Three network than the PoWs, as you point out.

I’ve seen Three deploy B28 on the majority of rural sites (mostly towers) across the Home Counties and Northants, and it’s quite transformative to the overall network experience often surpassing the other networks.

It is costing Three a lot but then again they delayed spend during the 2012->2019 4G era and their EBITDA figures aren’t so bad as thought, once they have completed this Capex intensive network transformation Three could be in a good position to rise prices.
 

Thats what I have seen generally in my area. The TLDR being:
New sites and max config :love:
Older sites with 3, 20 :confused:
Band 20 only 4G with 2100 3G that no one is now pushed onto :sick:

No widening of Band 1 to 15mhz yet either, but its early days.

Thanks, hmm a mixed bag, my nearest mast is band 20 only. Next ones are 3 and 20 only. Fingers crossed for updates but it doesn’t look too good.
 
Thanks, hmm a mixed bag, my nearest mast is band 20 only. Next ones are 3 and 20 only. Fingers crossed for updates but it doesn’t look too good.
Yeah, I think some of it may be merger related too.

The 3G only site around here is not rural, its in an 80k+ town. It is MBNL and has EE 1, 3, 7, 20 on it. There is however a VF/O2 mast across the road so perhapse they aren't bothered because they will utilise that instead.

A bit further down the road, there was another 3G only site which again carried 4G on EE. This one has been upgraded to carry n1 + L18, L32, L800 and L700 but there is no VF (or O2) signal there. That site should also be carrying N78 on Three but it doesn't currently. This is probably backhaul related as the max I've ever pulled off it is about 25Mb which doesn't seem right given the spectrum.
 
Yeah, I think some of it may be merger related too.

The 3G only site around here is not rural, its in an 80k+ town. It is MBNL and has EE 1, 3, 7, 20 on it. There is however a VF/O2 mast across the road so perhapse they aren't bothered because they will utilise that instead.

A bit further down the road, there was another 3G only site which again carried 4G on EE. This one has been upgraded to carry n1 + L18, L32, L800 and L700 but there is no VF (or O2) signal there. That site should also be carrying N78 on Three but it doesn't currently. This is probably backhaul related as the max I've ever pulled off it is about 25Mb which doesn't seem right given the spectrum.

My main provider is 1P as EE has very good coverage in my area. My nearest two masts are shared by EE and Three, on one EE has band 3, the other band 3 and 20, Three only has band 20 on them all.
I get 5G on EE which can hit over 100mbps, Three just about manages 4G sort off and usually hits speeds around 4 to 6mbps and sometimes 2mbps. They could massively improve the signal. I have fingers crossed they will with the 3G switch off.
 
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