terrible 3 broadband

eimhainmacha

I have a three router that runs on a SIM card and I live in Kilkenny. Despite terrible download speeds >1 mbs, three insist that they are providing me with an adequate service therefore i cant get out of an 18 month contract.
They have wasted so much of my time holding me on calls and referring me to different departments. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to break a contract or have you similar stories/

ssmith6287

firstly did they give you a guaranteed download, or when you went in you said what purpose you had for the broadband.

Secondly I found in my old house by moving the router from the front to an upstairs back bedroom, and keeping it in the window gained me nearly 6mbs, that was with meteor.

download speed test app on your phone, and literally walk around the house and look for spikes

redcup342

eimhainmacha wrote: »

I have a three router that runs on a SIM card and I live in Kilkenny. Despite terrible download speeds >1 mbs, three insist that they are providing me with an adequate service therefore i cant get out of an 18 month contract.
They have wasted so much of my time holding me on calls and referring me to different departments. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to break a contract or have you similar stories/

Wrap it in a plastic bag, get a long USB Cable and hang it out the window.

Three cannot guarantee any signal in your house.

L1011

redcup342 wrote: »

Wrap it in a plastic bag, get a long USB Cable and hang it out the window.

Three cannot guarantee any signal in your house.

They said router - I doubt its USB.

You can get external antennae for the majority of UMTS routers. If repositioning doesn't help; this might

You may also just have an overloaded local cell site. Very hard to prove to a satisfactory manner to get them to let you off a contract.

redcup342

L1011 wrote: »

They said router - I doubt its USB.

You can get external antennae for the majority of UMTS routers. If repositioning doesn't help; this might

You may also just have an overloaded local cell site. Very hard to prove to a satisfactory manner to get them to let you off a contract.

The 3 routers are powered from USB, short plug won't reach out a window.

L1011

redcup342 wrote: »

The 3 routers are powered from USB, short plug won't reach out a window.

Those aren't routers by any realistic measure. Mobile wifi access points, at best.

If it is actually one of those - get a proper 3G router that takes the SIM.

ED E

Those devices are referred to as "Dongles" usually. Then you have "Mifi" units which are micro-routers of sorts. Both are sh1te.

The final type are proper 3/4G routers. They stand up on their own is the big hint. Much better throughput when coverage is borderline.

ssmith6287

3g/4g routers only effect the distribution of the signal. they still require a source which would be your dongle

L1011

ssmith6287 wrote: »

3g/4g routers only effect the distribution of the signal. they still require a source which would be your dongle

Or the built in UMTS modem they have.

ED E

ssmith6287 wrote: »

3g/4g routers only effect the distribution of the signal. they still require a source which would be your dongle

They're DSL/Cable routers with a cellular failover. Slightly different.

Cerco

Op, take a look over on the midband forum. There is a long discussion thread there on 3 "broadband routers.

The B593s is quite good.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1147

my3cents

OP not much chance of getting out of contract but if you want to follow up on this the way to do it is as follows.

1) Put in a formal complaint. You have to do this on three's website contact form. State clearly you are making a formal compliant the complaint and what you want done to rectify it.

2) Wait 10 working days then follow up your complaint with comreg.

3) At some stage three will reply that everything is working fine and there are no issues, go back to 2) and tell comreg nothing has changed. Comreg will reopen the case.

4) Repeat until you get bored then make a Small Claims Court case against three for the return of your money paid for a non performing contract and to be released from the contract.

tbh if you have speeds around 1Mbps you are very unlikely to get out of contract but if you can gather a weight of evidence that your speeds are less than about 400kbps and you are regularly cut off at peak times then you may have a chance. It would also help if to get a sale the sales person told you that you would get higher speeds.

njs030

How long have you had it?