Three 5G Home Broadband - Speeds to good to be true?

andholm

Hi Guys,

I am currently with Eir for my broadband (fibre to the cabinet, get about 30-40Mbps), but as I have a direct line of sight to a three 5G mast, I thought I would try out a three sim and see what speeds I get. When I am outside my house, I have been getting 500Mpbs download speeds (20Mbps upload) on the three network. I have signed up for the home service with an external antenna which will be installed in the next couple of days. My question is, are there factors that could dramatically reduce the speeds I'm getting on my tests? Are wireless networks more unreliable than the wired alternative, or does having a good line of sight to 5G mast provide ample stability. It all just seems too good to be true and wanted to see if anyone here had any advice. Also, the ping time is 30ms with speedtest.net, vs 9ms wth with my wired eir connection.

Thanks

KildareP

It's good in all likelihood because you are probably amongst the first to avail of it in your area.

5G on phones is still primarily the reserve of high end smartphones and 5G modems and packages are only really starting to be pushed in recent months.

3G and 4G both had incredible speeds when they first launched but when practically no-one was using them, over time contention and oversubscribing saw speeds plummet at peak times (I can easily surpass 250Mbps on Three 4G+ at home in the middle of the night, but at 8PM I'd be lucky to maintain 5Mbps).

5G will be no different.

All it takes is a few heavy downloaders in your area to subscribe to Three and your 500Mbps could easily go down to the same 30-40Mbps but with far greater likelihood of jitter and packet loss.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058212909/three-5g-home-broadband-speeds-to-good-to-be-true

Line of sight not always necessarily a deciding factor. Whilst 3 are making some progress on its 5g network its an ongoing process and congestion will be your biggest issue IMO. 3 currently offer 2 options re a 5g service, full install , requiring an external aerial and booster and they charge for this service or just a router ( not requiring a full install ) , my definition, if your requiring a full install , the fact you require a full install would concern me personally and in essence answers the point you raise about being in line of sight.

I've had their 4g service for years, use a 4g router/modem , no external athenna etc , it's adequate for my needs, 3 claim 5g is in my area ( slieve bloom mountains) , a number of neighbours tried it and have since cancelled and went with imagine . Essentially the 3 4g service more stable , consistent with similar speeds being achieved on the 5g service. In fact they said, 90% of the time the service was 4g not 5g, the routers supplied handle both.

I'd be absolutely 100% certain of a cancellation policy , I'm not questioning wether 3's 5g will work , just advising caution and I'd have to say Fibre if you have it would be far more stable.

All in my own humble opinion 😌

andholm

Thanks guys. really appreciate your comments. Sounds like I should cancel the order!

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118012804#Comment_118012804

If you have an opt out clause might be worth trying but cancelling with 3 can be a tricky process , particularly if there's a physical installation required , but yes, caution to the wind as they say 😉

kittytwister

Got a HUAWEI 5g CPE pro 2 from three about 3 months ago. Was getting a steady 70 mbs from mast 9 km. away. Two months ago the mast in Thomastown was upgraded to 5g and speed was excellent. Checked on phone and it was circa 100 mb and still is. Problem is that the 5g received by the router have dropped gradually down to 30 during day and 15 after 6 pm. I still see the iPhone 13 which has 5 g from three also has the same speed of circa 100. On ringing three, they tell me they are different signals, frankly I doubt it, can anyone explain ? I get the feeling the router has been throttled backl switched sims and yes the router sim in my iPhone worked up to 100 but in the router only gets 30. A customer service person in Mumbai for three tells me once the signal is between 2-70 it’s deemed 5g.

Tony H

Hi Three site says 5G broadband is available at my postcode ,would that mean a 5G signal would be available by phone as well ,sorry for the stupid question but the only other way is to get a phone sim with a €25 euro topup .

Jjjjjjjjbarry

Just looking at this now too. Three seem to be the only ones offering 5G in my area. (other than Imagine who I'm not sure can be trusted?).

Three 5G gold is only 39.99 a month with free engineer installation to put up an antenna. It seems a bit too good to be true. The catch seems to be a 24 month contract. Did anyone go ahead with it?

TheDriver

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119801870#Comment_119801870

There's a thread on three 5G and ppl seem quite happy with it

Buddy Bubs

I've seen speeds up around 400 at times with it beside the router, just did speed test now about 10m away from router and got 200mb. No noticeable difference in performance between those speeds unless downloading heavily. Dropped once since I got it and had to reset it, that's in about 6 months.

I'm very happy with it and was my only realistic option to move away from virgin and their ridiculous pricing increases. Its just as good as the virgin service and half the price

-=al=-

I'd recommend a fixed line connection over mobile bb every day.

I've used most mobile bb services with a router + external antenna, and three was always the poorest performing in comparison to the others for my location anyways. I'm sure hardware and services have changed, but I'd still opt for a fixed line if possible.

I'd rather have a solid and consistent 4g+ signal at 8pm, over a 5g signal that was 500Mbps at 3am. A solid fixed line is king!

Ah-Watch

We signed up to the 5G Gold plan during the summer with professional installation. The speeds were mostly between 100-400 megs which was pretty good. It did drop down to 9meg for a full day in the 14 days cool off period so I ended up cancelling it because I couldn’t chance being stuck in a 24 month contract if it would dip that low. I chanced putting in an Eir sim into it to see what speeds it would get and they were far more stable than 3s and faster too- that was just pure curiosity, didn’t stick with 5G broadband

theres 14 day cooling off if you buy it through three.ie but to be honest it was a 4/5 week ordeal trying to get them to cancel the account despite providing the cool off return number and sending it back to them.

Ended up ordering SIRO in the end which became available the same week. No comparison.

Jjjjjjjjbarry

I got Three 5G and am very happy with it. I've only got it at the window for now as I'm waiting on the installer to come but it's lightning fast and has not let me down once yet.

smuggler.ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119893412#Comment_119893412

"lightning fast" is not definitive, do you have numbers? Thanks

Jjjjjjjjbarry

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119893439#Comment_119893439

Ha ok fair enough! To me it is. I had Vodafone/Eir 4G and was getting 0.3mbs at bad times and maybe 20mbs at best of times but usually 3-5mbs and always fluctuating from high to low. So at peak times, I could not stream in HD and d/l always poor.

Now I'm getting reliable speeds of over 70mbs - 120mbs and that's with the antenna inside my window. When it's installed properly outdoors, it should be much better. I noted the worst drop was down to 30mbs but on next speed test, it was back up at 70+mbs. So the lowest speed was still super fast to me.

smuggler.ie

Great, please update after completed install.

FlubberJones

Have had three 5g BB for about 6 weeks now and it's perfect so far, high rates 450+ up and 70 down.

Have the unit installed on the inside of the window frame and the router below it.

Two people working from home, high use of Zoom / Teams video calls and stability needed for customer sessions. And half the price of the Virgin solution I had.

Jjjjjjjjbarry

I find it brilliant. I'm also getting a ping of between 19-20 when I do a speedtest. I think this is pretty good. Probably nowhere near fibre pings but I can't get fibre.

Gatling

I'm less than impressed with mine ,

Had the old 3g three wireless router,they said with the signal strength in my area I wouldn't need a professional install and the oppo plug and play router will do the trick,

On average getting 30 /40 megs no sign of any 5g signal on any of our devices instead were only seeing a wifi6 signal on the different devices

Jjjjjjjjbarry

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120314548#Comment_120314548

If you got the Three 5G you should insist on a professional install. It's advertised as coming with free professional install so that sounds odd or unprofessional.

Definitely should be faster than the plug and play 3G/4G indoor speeds, as you're getting the outdoor signal indoors. But depends on your location as 5G is different technology to 4G. If you installed yourself, have you tried various sides of the house to get the best signal?

Anyone any updates on this over a long period of time? It’s been offered in my area as an alternative to eir and virgin 100mb packages.

Im sickened because SIRO is available right across the road but not being offered at my address.

smuggler.ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121553187#Comment_121553187

mobile is mobile - it varies from install to install. Personally i have better DL on 4G than 5G in my place, little better UL on 5G

5G on ZTE MC801A

4G on Huawei B818

By the looks of it, my 4G speed is limited by mast capability(no fluctuation, regardless day time), not by signal/hardware, as its steady like at the "ceiling" level.

YMMV, you could be in better spot than i am

I’m 5 km away from the nearest mass. Will do some more research. I just need something stable even if it’s 100 mbs or so.

smuggler.ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121554124#Comment_121554124

5km unlikely will provide 5G.

4G feasable, but likely will require external antenna. Can recommend Iskra P60

smuggler.ie

comreg

cellmapper

Buddy Bubs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121553187#Comment_121553187

Yes I have it for about 2 years now at home. It's been flawless. Have seen speeds of 400 at times but don't really care, it just works.

The above means nothing to you though because you don't live in same place as me, depends on your area.

Yeah they’re offering the external antenna but 4G speeds wouldn’t be as high as 100mb would they?

smuggler.ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121554773#Comment_121554773

Most likely three offer ZTE MC7010(external modem) + T3000(internal router) combo - usually indicate that they expect 5G coverage. In areas that 5G not available they dont.

You have my screnshot of 4G@190Mbps (YMMV)

I should say i agree with opinion of cable better than MBB. As long its ~100/20 it might be more reliable than MBB and perhaps less hassle. Cost is the other aspect of it.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121554788#Comment_121554788

So if they are inspecting 5G coverage, probably indicates that they expect there to be at least 100mb speed. Some people have said they wont install unless they guarantee it.

Wonder would it be any use for gaming and WFH I guess could test within the 14 day cooling off period, but seems a short amount of time to test

Do you do much gaming on it?

smuggler.ie

MBB dont have "minimum" assurance I'm afraid.

I do not game online so cant share experience in this regard.

14d cool off is for online purchases only - be mindful

martco

if you know your local area well is there any way to check precisely what masts have what hardware installed? (4g 5g LTE etc?) is that info published anywhere? or do ya have to know a friendly engineer :) ?

I was hoping for 5g as I'm stuck in a pocket of VDSL without hope of any improvement ever it seems....now I do live about 300M line of sight from what I think is the main mobile mast serving the area, perched atop a business building on the main street, afaik both 3 and Eir have plant on it (seems the tool I used last time I checked into this maybe gone or I just can't remember lol) BUT when I look on comreg mobile coverage map it claims that I am served by both 3 and Eir "very good" for "outdoor" coverage

my intent was to buy my own router (there's a fella on Adverts selling latest Huawei cpe...or maybe likes of a Mikrotik Chateau) and run off a 5g sim only plan BUT I don't have any 5g android handset to test/verify signal info on to hand and I didn't want to spend money on a test only to fail and be out of pocket...I'm thinking if I could verify at least the mast had the carrier kit aboard carrier there would be a very fair chance I'm on a winner...?

anyone know howto check what's actually installed on a mast carrier side?

Gatling

I've had it 12 months now and barely get more than 60mps while it's adequate it's definitely not great either it's definitely not giving 5g speeds my contract is up as of this week so I'll be changing to another provider

smuggler.ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121567215#Comment_121567215

check links in the post #25

check with mobile provider website for coverage

zoom_cool

I had it bad contention in my area mast oversubscribed. Good speed in early morning to mid afternoon about 150mbps evening to night would drop to 10mbps

ctgarvey

Great thread. Has anyone gone for 5G THREE Broadband in Moyville/Rathfarnham/Ballyboden area? Is it useable? Is it even 50% as good as virgin broadband? The trustpilot reviews of three broadband are awful. If i look at the https://www.nperf.com/ map for my area, i am surrounded by 4G colour only.

KildareP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121891257#Comment_121891257

If you can get 50Mb+ on a wired/cable connection then I would never recommend mobile broadband over it to be honest. A wired connection isn't all that more expensive than what Three are pricing theirs at either.

If you can get fibre to the home then it's a no-brainer.

Three's broadband in particular tend to be massively oversold relative to the capacity they have available.

And while it may be briliiant for you this week, day or night, for what you need, 6 months into a 24 month contract it could nosedive if loads of your neighbours sign up.

Or, as many during Covid found out, it might be fine for working from home during the day when most are at an office or at school. Everyone suddenly forced to stay home and the networks completely fell apart.

Orebro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121891312#Comment_121891312

"Everyone suddenly forced to stay home and the networks completely fell apart." - this is simply not true, including for Three - the networks managed to deal with record levels of volume and there wasn't any that buckled under the pressure. Many on this forum have excellent experience with Three speeds including myself and it was a godsend while waiting for the fibre rollout - it is an excellent solution if you are waiting for fibre or don't have a better landline alternative.

KildareP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121891356#Comment_121891356

Well you've just proven my point - it worked great for you. Which has absolutely no bearing on it working well for someone else in another area or for it continuing to work well as usage in your surrounding area changes 6, 12, 18 months into a typical 24 month contract.

In our area in the peak of Covid (rural), but when schools were back open, you'd easily get 280Mb+ on Three between around 11pm and 1pm.

From around 2pm onwards it would decline rapidly. Jitter and packet loss would shoot through the roof. Video calls or remote desktop sessions were virtually impossible from about 3pm. By 8pm it could barely manage a Netflix stream.

When the schools were off as well during that time then you might as well have been shouting out the window than trying to do a video call at any time of the day.

Once Covid ended and the area has since largely been upgraded to FTTP, Three easily sustains a minimum of 100Mb+ day or night but packet loss and latency still goes through the roof from early evening which suggests congestion is still happening somewhere further into their network core.

Orebro

Well that sounds like an oversubscribed mast, different conversation.