4G broadband (Three network)

Has anyone used the 4G/5G broadband service? On three they offer Huawei HomeFi plus for £29 a month with speeds of 150mpg.

I’m looking at alternatives to Virgin who can offer similar or better speeds.

I’d be wary personally. I have bought one and used it for a consultant staying in a premise with no landline. Great if you are in a pinch - no setup and mobile as well.

Firstly there is no 5G coverage round here commercially. Three’s own mapping tools shows nothing at all but of course that will change and when it does it will be worth looking.

Speeds on 4G in the real world are nothing like 150 mb/s.

According to OpenSignal it offers average 4G download speeds of 21.6Mbps, beaten by EE and Vodafone. Its average 4G upload speed of 7.4Mbps is also third, and its average latency of 46.3ms meanwhile is worse than all its main rivals.

Signal strength can vary too especially indoors.

If you want speed like that offered by virgin you are going to have to wait for 5G or get FTTP…

Thanks this is helpful, I thought this would be the case with 4g network and you’ve confirmed my doubts.

But EE do have 5G coverage around here:

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The contacts and devices aren’t very cheap though.

I need to get my EE SIM re-enabled to actually see if my phone spots it and to make a speed test, but I can confirm EE LTE cells are advertising 5G NSA from my house.

Not on Three but have recently got a 4G hub with Vodafone- initially set up in Oxford (ground floor) where signal strength is patchy and averages 2 bars on a phone. Speeds started at 10mb/s on the first day but settled between 20 and 60 mp/s. We’ve since moved to Forest Hill (2nd floor) where signal strength is full on phones- initial speeds around 30mp/s but max so far 117! We would agree that the speed does vary much more than with traditional broadband but the average speed is certainly fast enough, if the coverage is there for 4G. Even at slowest speeds so far, fine for multiple streaming and video calls. Just also make sure it’s a higher spec router (most suppliers offer a cheaper ‘portable’ 4G wifi hub- these are lower LTE so won’t be as good for home wifi) and get a cooling off period!

I had to Google fttp. Fibre over power lines? That sounds a good idea, but would the phone lines still work in a power cut? I ask because long term we might move to Hampshire DV. So no cable tv/broadband for us then.

My late mum who lived there used to get lots of power cuts.

Sorry - Fiber To The Premises meaning that you have a fiber optic cable direct to you house from the exchange or local break out box. It isn’t available in most areas but it is as fast as you want to pay for!
I use it…

My telephone line has worked during several power cuts. That is the only way I had to report the power cuts. I have a battery powered device from EE for my internet connection via radio waves. It works during power cuts. but I cannot recharge the batteries until the power comes back. It costs £22.91 per month. I originally got it for mobility.

Like Virgin cable then? That’s what we have now, but can’t in the New Forest, where it’s hard enough to find a house with mains drainage or gas.

Virgin are slightly different I think in that they run a coax cable from the street box (where the fiber is terminated) to your house although they do fiber optics to the premises for the commercial world…
We have a 1gb Virgin Fiber at work…

My experience with Three 4G broadband is that it’s very sensitive to where in your house you put the box (B535) they give you. I had it at the back of the house and was getting 3Mbps, then moved to front room and got 18Mb.

And then further, as with any wifi, you will get higher speeds if you use your devices close to the router. Or better yet, plug in with ethernet.

I am planning to complain and hopefully cancel as, even at 18Mbps, my smart telly buffers for ages and sometimes won’t even load the streaming services home page. I’m also having issues using MS Teams chats on wifi.

As an aside I think the whole world is using Teams right now and is having issues with it from time to time. I was speaking to a MS support guy from Teams (yes MS do actually have support!) and he was telling me that literally millions of teams were being created every day… He sounded a bit frazzled!

Three,s internet speed on phones are trash so there broadband on on phone signal will be aswell ,I know your pain but I’d wait VM once 1g service is out in area superhub 4 should follow ,the hub is there main problem, also the copper cables but we’re stuck with them .I’d your in a city better looking at a full fiber connection

Hi I have broadband with 3 it’s great I can get 100Mb. Its much faster than my last provider… I use a signal booster aireal that I have on my outside wall that connects to the router… I would definitely recommend it

I’ve been using it for months with zero problems… I’ve got 4 kids who all use it for gaming and it works a treat… Plus you can unplug it and move it around for better signal, and I bought a mobile dongle that we chuck the sim card in when we go anywhere…

I have had mine for a month or so. I get minimum 50mb/s. I regularly get greater than 70mb/s and a few times I have had 120mb/s.

It is not perfect but it is much better than my old 14mb ‘fibre’

Welcome to new forum members @Jason_Morgan, @colin_gillespie, @Darryl_Walker and @Karl_Hunt

It’s unusual we get four posts in a row, all from new members. Did you guys find this topic via a link from elsewhere?

Is that a 4g router on the Three network??

Cheap fast and it works… The days of fibre and wired broadband are numbered…

The thread just randomly popped up on my Google feed, almost as if they’re tracking us all and know which people can give useful answers … So I signed up and answered.

Ah that’s interesting - Google News, is that, or Google Search (or some other Google feed)?

Yeah I’ve got the 4g router… I have 5g on my phone so I’ll be upgrading to the 5g router when I get chance.

I don’t think mobile operators have enough spectrum/bandwidth to wipe out wired broadband, but certainly they can give it a run for it’s money in many areas and even more with the 5G roll out.

Competition’s certainly good for us consumers too.

I’ve got a Google feed on my phone that posts news/media/trending articles that it thinks I’m interested in… and it’s pretty accurate for the most part…

Not yet I agree… But it’s on its way… Elon musk is seeing to that

I have a mobile WiFi dongle plugged in constantly as my home wifi with a Smarty SIM in as they have a cheap unlimited deal. They are owned by three and the speeds are probably what I expect with three anyway. Coverage is not that good in my area so I get mainly 10mbps with a max about 20mbps download speeds on 4g

Google. Popped up on my phone.

Yes.

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Just to verify, this is coming up in the newsfeed of articles for people. I also have 3 for home internet. 4g router/Alexa speaker thing. As has been mentioned it is VERY sensitive as to location in the home, however once you find the sweet spot it’s very good. We run laptops gaming TV streaming and Google home devices with no real problems and it covers 3 floors. You need to check the 4g coverage in your area but if its strong then it’s worth it. Also if you are already a customer they discount this package (ot they did 5 months ago when I got mine) down to £20 a month with unlimited data.

I must admit that I am surprised (pleasantly) by the speeds people are getting off 4G.
I never thought that real world speeds would be anything like what I am seeing reported here…

Could u please share which aerial booster you are using , and which website its available on

Thanks for sharing the information about how you found this website. I’m very excited to see Google newsfeed app(s) linking to our forum, bringing knowledgeable people such as yourself here

I wouldn’t personally purchase Three broadband i did about 7 years ago it was okay best way to go about it get a sim only deal I’m paying 20 per month unlimited everything plus make sure you get a high end phone not iPhone I have nothing against Apple but the chip they use for the network data is horrible you will struggle to get 5 to 10mbs download speed on the iPhone awful hardware Apple uses. You need to get an Samsung Galaxy Note 9 or 10+ I’m getting around 90mbs download and around 40mbs upload speed that’s via tethering also note this is only 4G not 4G+ when I do get 4G + I’m hitting over 100mbs Three is a awesome network been with them nearly 15/16 years! Three rock!

What phone do you own ?

I am just outside M25. But on a long line, so get 10mb max through fibre to the cab. So I have been looking at three also, their 24 month SIM only contract is current £11 for 6 months and £22 then on.
I have almost line of sight to their mast, and tested with EE SIM and Three trial SIM with my mobile - Google Pixel 2XL. EE got 140 down and 20 up. Three got 100 down and 40 up. That’s just on a mobile held to an upstairs window.

I plan to get a good dedicated modem - TP-Link Archer MR600 AC1200 Mbps 4G+ Cat6 Mobile Wi-Fi Router Dual Band. That’s my current thought. Hard wire to my office, WiFi to the rest. £130ish I think.

Just need to wait till current landline contract is up… Grumble. Stuck on 10mb in lockdown!

I moved over to Vodafone a few weeks ago on a contract SIM only 4g deal and i’ve been impressed by the speeds. i pretty regularly get 50 Mb/s in Perry Vale. Almost as good as my BT Halo fibre deal at nearly four times the price which gets me about 64 MB/s download speed (although the upload speed is much better on fixed). 3 as a mobile only provider would i imagine launch a compelling 5 g fixed wireless product when we finally get the tech down here.

I bought a Three router as I was having trouble with regular broadband and couldn’t get an engineer due to Covid. Saw an offer on HUKD, £17 for 24 months, unlimited data (fair use policy) so I went for it. Next day delivery and setup was a breeze. I’ve got a pi-hole to block ads, and had to change the Huawei router DNS settings to get it to work. It’s possible but they’re hidden by default - revealing them is possible using Chrome browser.

Speed-wise no problems so far but that depends on how strong a signal you get from 3. I’m lucky to get 5 bars, but I’m up north where I’ve heard they have better coverage. I’m due to move house soon, Covid permitting, and I’m pathetically excited about taking the router with me and being up and running straight away.

Can’t wait for 5G to come to my area.

I get between 40mbps and 90mbps and rarely drops I love it.

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I recently jacked in Sky Fibre and bought a sim from 3. I pay £18 a month for unlimited data. I just hot spot my phone and have no problems. I get 35 down and 10 up but varies a little. I have no issues streaming content and PC gaming. I am going to purchase a 5g router and stick it in there so I’m good when they put 5g in my area. My brother does this also no problems.