Sponsored Links

Was Three my best option.....

Cell mapper speed is probably lying. For the spectrum Three own, even if the mast was maxed out with 256qam and 4*4 mimo the theoretical maximum speed is 587.4Mbps. I guess it might also have B32, but cellmapper doesn't show that it's been detected in the area.

How are you forcing it onto the top left mast? Only enabling B20 (or B1)?
 
So, would it be worth buying/trying a directional antenna on the other side of my house and trying to get the Lte+ speeds on the other mast??? Or, should I take up knitting instead of messing with Broadband?!!

I'd go with knitting Mikey, atleast you'll get a nice cardigan for winter out of it!
 
Cell mapper speed is probably lying. For the spectrum Three own, even if the mast was maxed out with 256qam and 4*4 mimo the theoretical maximum speed is 587.4Mbps. I guess it might also have B32, but cellmapper doesn't show that it's been detected in the area.

How are you forcing it onto the top left mast? Only enabling B20 (or B1)?
Yes, disabling Band 3 at which point it locks on, then reintroduce B1 and B3.
 
Yes it does. So, given the signal numbers which are similar except the SiNR which is much better, I would have thought that I would be getting far better d/l speeds even though it's much further away?
 
The metrics will be for the primary band, which in your case will be B20, since you forced that and then re-added B3/1. You'd expect better metrics on B20 is better going through materials and as there is likely less 800mhz 'noise' (vs 1800, which you have a couple of masts around broadcasting) in the area the SINR would likely be higher

I'd be interested what happens if you do B1 alone, and what their metrics show and what speeds you get with that. Then add just B20, presumably that would then go to 4G+? But as B20 doesn't really give much uplift in speed I'd not expect much speed improvement.
 
B1 fixes to a different Cell on the mast - results are dire! d/l 0.32 Mbps!
SiNR -7, RSRQ -18, RSRP -105.
Adding B20 makes no difference - and not 4g+

It seems that I can only log onto one band at a time - each band has a separate Cell ID. When I thought I was adding in a different band I'm not sure this was the case.

Scrap that. If I start by logging on with B20 I get 4g. Once I add B3 I get 4g+

@Buggerlugz pass the knitting needles please!
 
Yes each band has a different Cell ID, they have to have.
I assume the only way you get 4G+ is B20 and then adding B3 then, which comes from that top left mast. Given the distance and sped you get on B1 from there it's not surprising you don't get much speed from it.
 
I think that I will get a directional antenna in due course. then it's another round of testing!

Thank you for your help as always
 
My concern with a directional pointing North-West would be that it'd hook onto the closer B3 mast (6350?), unless you disabled B3 to get B1+B20 from the further mast.
Though I'm not sure that's likely to give better speed; B1 has less theoretical bandwidth than B3 (10Mhz vs 15Mhz) and it's a further away mast.

With the actions you're doing, enable B20, lock, add B3/B1 effectively you're limiting your upload to B20 speeds (12.5Mbps theoretical) as B20 is the primary band.
I also don't think this would survive a reboot - I think post-reboot you'd be on your local B3 mast again. That might also happen anyway if a network search occurs and it decides to switch.

Personally I don't think I'd go to the trouble.

Remember 4G+ doesn't necessarily mean faster speeds, it's just a signifier that your device is using technological developments made available in higher CAT devices.
There's many variables (distance, capacity, current cell use) but really it boils down to the amount of the frequency band that the provider has available. A provider may have 2x5Mhz slices and allow those to aggregate them, but that'd still only give theoretical 75Mbps, whereas one 20Mhz slice (so regular 4G, no +) would give 150Mbps theoretical.
 
Interesting gavin, as my routers now decided to switch back and forth between bands 1 and 3 as primary even when band 1 is of lower signal strength.

I can tell every time it does it because it drops from solid 5 lights to 4 lights on the router. When I check its on 12dbm SINR rather than 20dbm on band 3.

Is there any way I can get it to lock on band 3?
 
You can disable B1 🤣

But in all seriousness, I don't think there is any way to prefer one band as primary vs another. Disabling the other bands (B1 in your case) and then re-adding the others should put it on B3 as primary, at least for a time, before it (or the network) decides that another band would be preferred.

Do you see much upload speed difference between the two?
 
That's the weird thing, I don't. As either on Primary I get 30Mbs upload, its only download speed and latency that suffer when band 1 is primary. When band 3 is primary everything is snappy, as soon as band 1 is everything seems slower.

It may be beneficial to resort to no + and stay on band 3.

edit: Done some testing....

It appears regardless of using bands 1 or 3 or both i get very similar speeds now. Band 1 has higher latency, than band 3, but testing them together or on each band the download speeds are very close. Using them both with CA (adding the +) does not seem to make any difference anymore in speed.

This makes me think the mast is running out of bandwidth due to the number of customers so regardless of what band or both i'm using it'll report the same speeds. Last week when band 1 appeared I saw a massive improvement in both speed and latency, this week is significantly slower.
 
Last edited:
Members of the forum... please be the first to share my glad tidings!!!

So I took the plunge and bought the Poynting XPOL 0002, and thanks to Amazon, arrived 20 minutes ago. I haven't sorted the pole out yet so I loosely placed it on my windowsill under the router. Although only 3' lower my router speeds in that position were dire..

Plugged it in and I can't remember when I was so apprehensive pressing the "Go" button on speedtest!!

Before, 2 tests at an average of 8mbps

After, 43mbps!! Yay!!

Still lots of playing to do but I'm real impressed so far.

Not sure that I would have gotten this far without the invaluable input of: @GavinAshford @MrDave @Buggerlugz et al. My sincere thanks.
 
Before, 2 tests at an average of 8mbps

After, 43mbps!! Yay!!

Still lots of playing to do but I'm real impressed so far.

Not sure that I would have gotten this far without the invaluable input of: @GavinAshford @MrDave @Buggerlugz et al. My sincere thanks.

Good to hear Mikey!

I've had a look at whats inside that box and it appears to be a metal backing plate with just 4 bolts with large circular washers with what looks like a slightly larger internal router antenna linking them all together.

Which I presume is why it works so much better than a tv antenna would! :)
 
Good to hear Mikey!

I've had a look at whats inside that box and it appears to be a metal backing plate with just 4 bolts with large circular washers with what looks like a slightly larger internal router antenna linking them all together.

Which I presume is why it works so much better than a tv antenna would! :)
I don't care how it works!! As long as it does.

I will fit it up on Friday then hopefully report back on some good before and after results.
 
Which mast are you connected to now then? Still your closest one? What are the metrics looking like/how do they compare?
 
Finally, I'm done with Antenna!

Yesterday the step son was forced up the ladder to fit the XPOL 0002 and, all-in-all, I'm delighted with the results.

The title of this post is "Was Three my best option". For the benefit of others considering this path the answer to my own question is most definitely "Yes".

Fixed Line Broadband3 HomeFi Router only (in window)Poynting XPOL 0002 v2
RSSI-59-51
RSRQ-11-11
RSRP-90-77
SiNR415
Download speed6.5-7.5 Mbps8-20 Mbps25-45 Mbps

@GavinAshford Yes, I'm connected to my local mast - it was just plain easier!

Whilst Three may not be the fastest or the most reliable (@liveswired) I have gone from paying £33 per month with Sky to £20 per month with Three, with download speeds up by 500%. The cost of the Antenna will have been saved in 10 months.

Sadly, neither Three or Poynting are sponsoring this post, but if Poynting want to sponsor me to test the v5 version.......
 
Finally, I'm done with Antenna!

Yesterday the step son was forced up the ladder to fit the XPOL 0002 and, all-in-all, I'm delighted with the results.

The title of this post is "Was Three my best option". For the benefit of others considering this path the answer to my own question is most definitely "Yes".

Fixed Line Broadband3 HomeFi Router only (in window)Poynting XPOL 0002 v2
RSSI-59-51
RSRQ-11-11
RSRP-90-77
SiNR415
Download speed6.5-7.5 Mbps8-20 Mbps25-45 Mbps

@GavinAshford Yes, I'm connected to my local mast - it was just plain easier!

Whilst Three may not be the fastest or the most reliable (@liveswired) I have gone from paying £33 per month with Sky to £20 per month with Three, with download speeds up by 500%. The cost of the Antenna will have been saved in 10 months.

Sadly, neither Three or Poynting are sponsoring this post, but if Poynting want to sponsor me to test the v5 version.......

Yea, to be fair I'm in the same boat as you. Good to hear you have had success - reliability is my main issue. When it's fast it's insanely fast - likely once there are less users online at the same time your speeds will go up even more.
 
Finally, I'm done with Antenna!

Yesterday the step son was forced up the ladder to fit the XPOL 0002 and, all-in-all, I'm delighted with the results.

The title of this post is "Was Three my best option". For the benefit of others considering this path the answer to my own question is most definitely "Yes".

Fixed Line Broadband3 HomeFi Router only (in window)Poynting XPOL 0002 v2
RSSI-59-51
RSRQ-11-11
RSRP-90-77
SiNR415
Download speed6.5-7.5 Mbps8-20 Mbps25-45 Mbps

@GavinAshford Yes, I'm connected to my local mast - it was just plain easier!

Whilst Three may not be the fastest or the most reliable (@liveswired) I have gone from paying £33 per month with Sky to £20 per month with Three, with download speeds up by 500%. The cost of the Antenna will have been saved in 10 months.

Sadly, neither Three or Poynting are sponsoring this post, but if Poynting want to sponsor me to test the v5 version.......

How has your service been since Mikey? Mine seems to have levelled out to a much more manageable 5-10mbps - a far cry from the dial up speeds I had to tolerate for over a week, but well down from the 60/70+ I had on average.
 
Top
Cheap BIG ISPs for 100Mbps+
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Virgin Media UK ISP Logo
Virgin Media £24.00
132Mbps
Gift: None
Shell Energy UK ISP Logo
Shell Energy £26.99
109Mbps
Gift: None
Plusnet UK ISP Logo
Plusnet £27.99
145Mbps
Gift: None
Zen Internet UK ISP Logo
Zen Internet £28.00 - 35.00
100Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Cheapest ISPs for 100Mbps+
Gigaclear UK ISP Logo
Gigaclear £15.00
150Mbps
Gift: None
YouFibre UK ISP Logo
YouFibre £19.99
150Mbps
Gift: None
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
BeFibre UK ISP Logo
BeFibre £21.00
150Mbps
Gift: £25 Love2Shop Card
Hey! Broadband UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Sponsored Links
The Top 15 Category Tags
  1. FTTP (5472)
  2. BT (3505)
  3. Politics (2524)
  4. Openreach (2291)
  5. Business (2251)
  6. Building Digital UK (2234)
  7. FTTC (2041)
  8. Mobile Broadband (1961)
  9. Statistics (1778)
  10. 4G (1654)
  11. Virgin Media (1608)
  12. Ofcom Regulation (1451)
  13. Fibre Optic (1392)
  14. Wireless Internet (1386)
  15. FTTH (1381)
Sponsored

Copyright © 1999 to Present - ISPreview.co.uk - All Rights Reserved - Terms  ,  Privacy and Cookie Policy  ,  Links  ,  Website Rules